To re-autoinstall a previously autoinstalled machine named bingy.acs.uci.edu: Log on to the machine you wish to reinstall. Generate a list of files that have changed: /dcslib/allsys/etc/check-stamp | elim-dirs > /var/tmp/output. This will take a while, and should only generate a burst of output right at the end of its execution. Save the files that changed. You can create a tar archive of the changed files with gtar clzSTf /var/tmp/output backups@autoinst.acs.uci.edu:bingy.changed.tar.gz. Be sure to set up the backups account on autoinst.acs to allow incoming rsh from bingy.acs.uci.edu, via the .rhosts file. Also be sure to touch ~backups/bingy.changed.tar.gz on autoinst first, otherwise gtar will complain. Seriously consider a full backup as well. Note that check-stamp does not typically check "leftover space" on the system disk - EG, /export/home. If you need to save what's in non-system filesystems on the system disk, back them up! I recommend using something like cd /export/home && gtar clzSf backups@autoinst.acs.uci.edu:bingy.export-home.tar.gz .. Be sure to touch ~backups/bingy.export-home.tar.gz on autoinst first, otherwise gtar will complain. Inspect /var/tmp/output. Many of the files listed are "noise files" - log files, and things that are created or changed in day-to-day operation of the OS, that do not need to be replicated by a reinstall. If you run check-stamp on three or five machines, and do an install or two, you'll probably get a good feel for what's noise, and what isn't. Make an attempt to replicate the non-noise changes in after (see Components of Autoinstall). This usually means some light bourne shell programming. Test! Try not to assume. Be sure not to leave out your $ROOT's. Check the Before you install a machine document. There's some information that could save you a lot of trouble in there! Proceed to one of the platform-specific installation procedures from there - there are links to them in the aforementioned document. Inspect the system. Try to avoid making changes right after the machine is done being installed, so stamp will only record those changes made by autoinstall. You can tell "stamp" is running, with top - the buffer cache will be a mess until it's done, too :). If you make all changes to a machine's configuration in "after", and on external disks, you'll find your upgrades become very easy. That means, for example, that you're better off not just copying things into /usr/local. If you must use that pathname, try making it a symlink to an indirect (automount) map. If you don't make all your changes through run-after, you'll probably find upgrades almost as painful as they were prior to autoinstall. One reason that autoinstall can be such a huge benefit, is that it amounts to a step beyond what the best sysadmins of the past have done: keeping a complete log book of every change ever made to a machine. It's a step beyond, because the modifications are not only logged, they're automatically redone when you upgrade. http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/dcs/automation/upgrading.html