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If your servers have a hardware RAID controller and mirrored system disks, it might be possible to take one disk from the installed server, replace it with a blank disk and let the RAID rebuild, then move the removed disk to a new server and use it there as an initial system disk (might need vendor-specific steps to make the RAID controller accept the disk without wiping it), then let the RAID controller on that system rebuild it into another mirror set. You now have 2 configured servers.
Repeat the procedure with both configured servers in parallel, and you'll have 4 configured servers. Then once more for the fifth server.
Active Contributor
392 points
Have you considered Relax-and-Recover (http://relax-and-recover.org/) as a cloning solution?
Guru
9710 points
Hi Abe,
You may want to consider using Clonezilla to clone the disk or single partitions - it is known to be a reliable tool.
You might need to edit the fstab file and change the hostname on the servers you've cloned the system to. :)
Regards,
Christian
The solution suggested by Matti works excellent when there are similar hardware infrastructure. Also, ReaR does a fantastic job in getting this done, all that is required is to make a backup first and then boot new system using *.iso file created by backup program. Make sure to erase network interface MAC address and other system unique details before running backup, you may refer some of the steps mentioned in this KB https://access.redhat.com/solutions/198693, only those steps documented with the heading "Un-configure..." can be used.
As Christian mentioned, even Clonezilla does a good job i heard about it but never used.
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