Since nobody else mentioned it, try Brian Finley (formerly of VA)'s System
Imager.

http://systemimager.org

Brian's a cool guy, and the project has matured nicely.  I've used it as
the basis for tools to image MANY boxes, even from remote (setting up some
files on the remote via ssh and instructing LILO to boot to a "reimage"
kernel, rerunning LILO and rebooting).  I imaged over 1,000 boxes, with no
remote hands, on four continents :)

It did a repartition, created ext2 filesystem on the newly created
partition(s), and then used rsync over ssh to lay the files in the image
onto the new filesystem.

Out of the box it (used to anyway) be geared toward imaging a serverfarm
type environment.  Using a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to the hosts
as they came up, then based the hostname off of that IP in a special hosts
file on the "imageserver."  Its scripts can be customized to meet whatever
needs you may have.  I had it detecting the number of scsi drives we had
in a given box, and partitioning appropriately.  Was a pretty slick
arrangement :)

Even if you don't go with running an imageserver and doing all of this,
you can manipulate the tools he already built.  We made a tarball out of a
system, then used the base scripts, just customized them to pull the image
not off the network, but rather to extract it from the tarball.  You'll
have to get a statically compiled tar (and gzip if you want/need it) into
the bootable image though.

For a general-purpose, recovery/forensic/whatever CD, check out the little
LinuxCare business card CD's.  I think they have the image used online, so
you can build your own.

HTH :)  Good luck,

Wes

--
Wes Bateman, GCIA
Chief Security Officer
ManISec, Inc. - "Managed Internet Security Services"
http://www.manisec.com
wes@manisec.com


On Mon, 13 Aug 2001, Furmanek, Greg wrote:

> To be more specific I would like to create CD that
> 
> 1. Boots kernel image.
> 2. Auto partitions drives.
> 3. Formats Drives.
> 4. Restores applications.
> 5. Restores data.
> 
> All that with no assistance. (well maybe with the
> exception of putting the cd in the tray and turning
> the power switch)
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Furmanek, Greg 
> Sent: Monday, August 13, 2001 8:19 AM
> To: PLUG (E-mail)
> Subject: Custom Recovery CD.
> 
> 
> Hi gang...
> 
> I would like to create custom recovery CD for my
> boxes.  I have looked into Norton Ghost, but it 
> appears it requires a windows box or at least a
> partition to dump the image onto.  So here is a
> task.  
> 
> 1. How can I create a bootable CD that restores
> my drive that does not need windows?  
>  
> 2. Has anyone seen a project like that already?
> 
> 3. Has anyone done a this type of setup?
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------
>             Greg Furmanek
> -------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
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