UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi. I have a situation here where I need to backup a users' home directory and restore onto another server. The issue here is that both servers have different operating systems and I am looking for advices on how to proceed.

The source server operating system is Tru64 v5.1, and here's the output from uname -a

Code:

# uname -a
OSF1 sigbrrd V5.1 2650 alpha

The destination server operating system is Solaris 9, and here's the output from uname -a

Code:

# uname -a
SunOS xxx 5.9 Generic_118558-22 sun4u sparc SUNW,Sun-Fire-880

The username I am trying to backup is _abc_ whose home directory is /abc. Here's the output from source server.

Code:

# finger abc
Login name: abc
Directory: /abc                       Shell: /bin/ksh
No Plan.

But this user's home directory happen to be a filesystem in the source server as df -h tells me.

Code:

# df -h | grep abc
emc21#xxx          25G       9993M         16G    39%    /abc

So, my questions are:
1) Will I need to create a new filesystem on the destination server in order for both structures layout to be the same? I need them to be exactly the same, on destination and source for user abc.
2) How would be the best method to backup and restore. I was thinking about tar. What would you suggest? (keep in mind, different operating systems).
3) If you can, make a short list of the steps I will need to make in order to make this possible. I will appreciate that fully.

P.S.: I am aware that binary files will not work on destination server since they are different operating systems, but this is a request for a new application we're going to update, they only need the file's structure to be the same on both.

Thank you!

Try doing a find command with -type d and output that to a file - then you would have the 'directory structure' required (if you really didn't want all the files).