My lab's mail server crashed

These day, my lab's mail server was not good condition.
The server had been freezed sometimes.

Today, the server gone...
The file system of the machine had been damaged.
Fortunately, our important data were not erased.

So, we had to recover our environment as soon as possible.
To take information directly form the dead machine, we used Knoppix.
Knoppix is a really useful tool, I think.

The following command is also very useful. The trick is from LINUX SERVER HACKS.

$ cd /mnt/hda2/home
$ tar -cvf - . | ssh root@MAILSERVER "cat > home.tar"

In the end, the crashed server has been replaced by a new machine,
and the temporary stopped services are now available.

I recommand you to read my favorite book.