System Backup

[John Strunk <jstrunk strunkco com>]

All,
I have been watching this list for the last few months and have found 
some good advice.  Thanks.

Now I have a situation that I need help to resolve.

I have four RedHat systems that I take care of, two are RH9 and two are 
RH8.  They are all servers with most everything available installed.  My 
backup strategy in the past has been to backup all data files both 
system and private.  Then if  there is a failure I can reload the system 
and download all the current patches and updates to the system and 
finally restore the data files.

Now that Red Hat is dropping support for release 8  and soon dropping 
support for release 9 I am faced with the problem of keeping a complete 
system backup as well as the data. 

I am not sure if I have the knowledge to do this.  Can anyone explain 
what system files I need to backup so that I can rebuild the system 
starting with the RedHat distribution DVDs? 

It may be a simple thing but I seem to lack a few of the details to pull 
it off.

Appreciate any help.

John