Questions[software](server)

Here's the thing: One of my friends has a server with software RAID-1 with a set of two disks. The task at hand is simple: clone the disks into another set of two empty disks.

He is running CentOS, I don't know which version though.

Now, I know that the most straightforward way is to manually fail one of the drives, put an empty drive on its place and let it rebuild. Then fail the other old drive, put the other empty drive and let it rebuild from the newly-rebuilt new drive. Then he'd be left with 4 drives, as he wants but presumably he'd need to "reassemble" the RAID on the two old drives.

However, I am interested to hear if any other options exist to do this.

I recommended him to try CloneZilla. While it works wonderfully for single drives, it failed on him with software RAID. It is described on their website that cloning Software RAID-1 is not supported, but I didn't do the reading before I suggested it. Maybe it has improved?

He tried it by putting the source drive and the destination drive on another computer(I do not know why, but this shouldn't be the culprit). It seems to fail due to excluding the RAID member partitions, which is exactly what he wants.

I suggested to try a workaround on this by adding nodmraid or dmraid=false to the boot parameters with no luck. Told him to try the Ubuntu-based image as well, as it includes more non-free drivers but that didn't lead to any improvement. Is there perhaps any way to force CloneZilla to include RAID members?

He tried a program called "AOMEI Backupper" which seemed to work, but then disk was unbootable.

Any other suggestions?

P.S. I am sorry if there is already an answer somewhere to this question, I just couldn't find it.

A scenario. You have to group of employees, identified in AD as Agents and Engineers. Can I set up controls so that: Agents cannot install software Engineers CAN install software

Thank you in Advance Jame

We are preparing 3000 computers for deployment in a short amount of time. We do this every year. We had a last minute change and we are turning them on one by one to update them and while doing so I'm noticing about 10% of the workstations don't have all of the software packages that were supposed to install after imaging. I assume this would be user error for not leaving the machine on long enough to "let the magic happen". However we are blindly assuming after 24 hours of on-ness it is done. I don't like uncertainty.

The computers are in a collection and the software is applied to the collection. The workstations pick this up after the image is done automatically.

Is there a quick visual thing that can be configured like a background change to let a tech know when all of the software packages have installed after the computer has imaged? Something that doesn't require running a report or logging into each workstation?

This is sort of similar to Q123566, but I want to add a few clarifications:

• KVM is the Linux-kernel-based virtualization technology (specifically: a hypervisor) that underlies most non-Xen FOSS virtualization platforms/tools.
• QEMU is an atomic tool/utility/program, that, today, fills the role that kvm(1) did while its eponymous hypervisor was under development. It is capable of using kvm(3) as an emulation backend; this is its most efficient mode of operation on x86_64-based platforms.
• Neither of these are virtualization solutions in the way that ESXi and Hyper-V (which each pack their own, purpose-built, type-1 hypervisor) are.
  • A solution (not a tool or technology), whether developed in-house or acquired externally, is a crucial aspect of any enterprise IT deployment.

Clarifying that last point: a kernel module per se does not facilitate devops, nor does QEMU run itself. A tool is not a solution (though a sufficiently robust tool may lull a sysadmin into thinking their ad-hoc, in-house, undocumented solution is viable).

None but the most "confident" of sysadmins believe that an array of machines running manually-installed operating systems, configured by a (manually-administered) smattering of systemd.unit(5) files invoking various instances of qemu-system-x86_64(1), is sustainable or scalable.

That gap—that KVM (partly due to being a type 2 hypervisor) is the only "odd one out"; it's a hypervisor not locked to a particular tool and/or solution—is where Red Hat's virt-manager, comes in. It seems to be (aside from oVirt, apparently a layer-on-top-of / interface-to virt-manger,) the only enterprise-grade QEMU-based (and, by extension, KVM-based) virtualization solution currently on the market.

But whereas many companies use ESXi¹ and Hyper-V², it's hard to find any³ that use virt-manager. And while a handful of companies identify as using KVM-based solutions⁴, information on how KVM is actually used is scarce.

So, how is KVM used with enterprise workloads, which can't afford the assorted risks of running on a shoestring shell-script-and-SSH infrastructure? Is it used at all? Do companies just commandeer something like SaltStack to corral KVM+QEMU as part of an in-house solution? Is virt-manager actually in wide use but a well-kept secret? I can't figure out why there's this information-black-hole around what is apparently the virtualization solution powering Red Hat, Inc's (and nobody else's?) entire infrastructure.

We have a Windows server environment where we deploy software updates using GPO Software Deployment.

This works fine for everyone in the office, however if a user is logged on from a remote location, the updates are not installed.

We don't currently have an always-on VPN configure, so the user has to manually connect the VPN after logon.

Is software deployment like this possible or will it only work if there is a connection to the DC when the GPO is processed.

Would an always-on VPN fix this issue?