HOWTO Restore a FreeBSD system using the fixit CD

[Mark Hannon]

Here are some notes I made when recently restoring an install.  Perhaps
something could go into the handbook?  Regards/Mark

  =============================================================
  HOWTO Restore a FreeBSD installation directly from dump files
  =============================================================

These instructions document how to restore a FreeBSD installation from a
series of dump files stored on a local HDD.  They have been used to
migrate a FreeBSD installation from a vmware guest install to a local
HDD install.

Step One - Backup
-----------------

Backup your FreeBSD installation to a series of dumpfiles.

# /sbin/dump -L -0 -f root.0 /
# /sbin/dump -L -0 -f var.0 /var
# /sbin/dump -L -0 -f usr.0 /usr

This will create three dumpfiles with your root, var and usr partitions.

Move the files to a local disk partition.

Step Two - Create FreeBSD partition
-----------------------------------

Boot the 5.4-RELEASE-disc1 CD and select the Configure->Fdisk option.
Create a FreeBSD partition and select W to write the changes.  Ignore
the warnings and quit.

Step Three - Create FreeBSD disklabel
-------------------------------------

Select the disklabel option and create and mount new options as per
normal.  Sysinstall creates the disklabel, makes the new filesystems and
mounts them all under /mnt.  i.e in the automatic disklabel mode the
user will end up with the following filesytems created and mounted:

  / 	= /mnt
  /tmp 	= /mnt/tmp
  /var	= /mnt/var
  /usr	= /mnt/usr

The following steps will restore the backup installation into these
partitions.

Step Four - Restore the Filessystems
------------------------------------

Select the fixit -> cd/dvd option and enter the Fixit shell.

Start csh to get command line completion

  Fixit# csh

Setup a large /tmp filesystem so that restore doesn't complain.  Do this
by linking to the restored systems /tmp.

  # mv tmp/ tmp.old
  # ln -sf /mnt/tmp tmp

Mount the local disk partition with the files to restore.

  # mkdir /dumpfiles
  # /mnt2/usr/sbin/mount_msdosfs /dev/ad0s5 /dumpfiles

Restore the root partition

  # cd /mnt
  # /mnt2/sbin/restore xf /dumpfiles/root.0

Restore the remaining partitions

  # cd /mnt/var
  # /mnt2/sbin/restore xf /dumpfiles/var.0
  # cd /mnt/usr
  # /mnt2/sbin/restore xf /dumpfiles/usr.0

Enter the installed system to cleanup

  # /mnt2/sbin/chroot /mnt

Correct the /tmp permissions in the installed system

  # chmod 1777 /tmp

Edit fstab etc

  # vi /etc/fstab etc
  # vi /etc/rc.conf

Exit the installed chroot, fixit csh and fixit shells

  # ^D 
  # ^D
  # ^D

Step Five - Reboot
------------------

Reboot and start your new system (either via another bootloader or by
setting the FreeBSD partition active).