Clonezilla on Merlin

[Marko Polo]

Yes, guys, I know that this is a pretty mad idea , but nevertheless! Is it possible (and had anybody have a trial to do it) to install clonezilla on Merlin?
It uses GRUB which has very loyal and simple hardware requirements so at least theoretically it should be possible. No?
I have an idea to utilize it for backups between several machines in my LAN. Whilst launching Clonezilla on some host requires unloading OS which prevents shared access to this host, so placing Clonezilla loader to router seems pretty logical.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Neither the router's hardware or OS appear to be supported platforms, unless I'm missing it in the doc's.

 

[Marko Polo]

Yep, ARM CPUs are not supported, only x86. Not cool.

 

[Fitz Mutch]

Are you trying to PXE boot a regular computer with Clonezilla Live (PXE boot image) loaded off the router TFTP server? Or, are you want todo network backups? I'd say either is probable, depending on what you're trying to do.

 

[Marko Polo]

I wanted to boot Clonezilla from router's USB HDD like it is done on regular PC from boot-enabled USB-stick.
But if you know how to boot Clonezilla image via PXE, feel free to share it as well. It should be nice option too.
For example, one can place Clonezilla image on all machines and boot from either, depending on backup target.

Yep, I wanna network backups: one machine backups it's storage to another via LAN.

 

[Fitz Mutch]

Is this what you try to do?
http://clonezilla.org/clonezilla-SE/

 

[Marko Polo]

Exactly! Wow, cool! Didn't know they have such option.
So frustrating one can't install this server on Merlin and need to set up separate machine for that

 

[RMerlin]

Exactly! Wow, cool! Didn't know they have such option.
So frustrating one can't install this server on Merlin and need to set up separate machine for that

It's a router, not a server...

 

[Marko Polo]

It's a router, not a server...

Yes, but! We can install on the router dozens of server-mode applications (transmission, asterisk, backup solutions, cron tasks) which otherwise would require separate machine too. What differs them from Clonezilla? Only ARM CPU (in)compatibility, as I see it.
Hardware requirements for clonezilla are negligible in comparison with bulky Asus stock apps (AiDisk, Time Machine) and GRUB is available for all platforms, incl. ARM.

Spoiler: Requirements from www.clonezilla.org

• X86 or x86-64 processor
• 196 MB of system memory (RAM)
• Boot device, e.g. CD/DVD Drive, USB port, PXE, or hard drive

 

[sentinelvdx]

I would suggest a NAS... why someone would deploy an imaging server tool on a router?

Sent from my SM-G935FD using Tapatalk

 

[RMerlin]

Yes, but! We can install on the router dozens of server-mode applications (transmission, asterisk, backup solutions, cron tasks) which otherwise would require separate machine too. What differs them from Clonezilla? Only ARM CPU (in)compatibility, as I see it.
Hardware requirements for clonezilla are negligible in comparison with bulky Asus stock apps (AiDisk, Time Machine) and GRUB is available for all platforms, incl. ARM.

Grub implies having a disk-based operating system, with a standard x86 BIOS booting. That's not the case of embedded ARM-based devices, the bootloader is a custom one, stored in flash, and being designed to directly boot the Linux kernel stored on a specific flash partition.

Also, routers have also very limited IO performance and RAM.