How do I create a backup image of my server?

[Az]

Hi, now that I have a "working version" of my server, I would like to back
it up. I am long time user of Nortons Ghost 2003 for my laptop. I like Ghost
so much that I am holding off upgrading to their new "Go Back " feature for
as long as I can. It allows me to create a compressed image and I can
generally have my laptop back up and running with everything on it, OS,
patches, email, files, etc. in about 45 minutes. 

Is there something similar that I can do with Ubuntu that will allow me to
save a working "snapshot" of my server? I know that as I as start to play
with it, I will blow it up and don't want to have to rebuild it from scratch
again.  

If someone can point me in the direction of a method, utility out there can
accomplish this, that would be much appreciated.

thanks