Taking an image backup of an entire server?

Posted by WarDoGG on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by WarDoGG
Published on 2012-03-18T16:42:07Z Indexed on 2012/03/18 18:01 UTC
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linux

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virtualization

I am currently using a dedicated server for my hosting needs. However, the costs are too high and I would like to suspend everything until I work out my business strategy again.

Is there a way I can take a complete backup of the filesystem and run it in VMWare ? I cannot just copy the entire filesystem because there are lots of tools installed and tight changes to the server configuration files I myself dont know about (by the developers), but I need a snapshot of the entire disk image along with processes installed and everything is as is because for development needs, I need to work on this copy in VMWare or VirtualBox etc.

Is it possible for me to take a full image copy ? How do I do it ?

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