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Restore from Workstation

Offline andy_wismer

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Restore from Workstation
« on: July 13, 2011, 08:36:31 AM »
Hello
I'm not quite sure if this ought to go to the Bugtracker...
The function "Backup to Workstation" works as expected and as reliable as in SME7.
Tried to migrate a server using "Restore form Workstation" with mixed results...

Target Server: Fresh installation of SME8-B6
Restore method: Restore form Workstation
Restore source: Backup to Workstation from SME8-B6 (On a SME7 acting as Backup-File-Server)

Results: File Data (about 220 GB) restored intact to the right ibays, home directories, usw.
No config data was restored correctly, besides the server name.
There are NO ibays, users, groups or domains visible in the server-manager, other than the out of the box default.
The DB folder under /home/e-smith/db contained the default values of the fresh installed server (Had the correct name, or a restore from workstation wouldn't be possible.).

I'll try this on another SME8-B6 system to verify, but at the moment I'm not sure if this is a Bug or an
just a bad constellation or plain "misbehaviour" on the sme side.

Reasons could be: Backup ran "overnight", past midnight.
Backup overwritten by original server (shouldn't be, but not verified yet...)

Anyone had a similiar experience or can verify that restore from workstation works as expected on SME8-B6?

The SME8-B6 has been running "productive" in a 20 User Windows environment, acting as PDC.
Very stable for the past 4 weeks, but the server IO wasn't quite up to expectancies, so we tried to move to better hardware...

Will post more...

Andy Wismer


Offline Stefano

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Re: Restore from Workstation
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2011, 10:39:24 AM »
please report any issue in bugzilla, thank you

also, consider that atm the migration to SME8 is not fully supported

finally, I've moved successfully a SME7.5.1 to SME8.b6 using Affa (hw migration too)

HTH

Offline andy_wismer

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Re: Restore from Workstation
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2011, 10:53:31 AM »
Hello Stefano
See Bug 6686 ;-)
Logfile extract included.

Yes, this server was migrated 8 weeks ago from a completely cleaned out SME7 server.
- Save to Workstation in SME7
- Installed fresh SME7 on new HW
- Restore from Workstation (Still Version 7, but NO Contribs on pristine SME7, but all users, mails, data, etc...)
- Update via CD to SME8
- Windows Workstations needed to rejoin the Domain
- 8 Weeks in productive mode (as VM in ESXi)

Due to performance probs in our ESXi, we moved the SME8 back to dedicated HW.
- Save to Workstation in SME8
- Installed fresh SME8 on new HW
- Restore from Workstation
- Reboot

Results:

Data migrated, but /home/e-smith/db not?
No users besides admin in Server-manager, No iBays configured besides Primary.
iBays were there though, including contents.

Manually rsynced the contents across, rebooted, corrected a few stuff like IP, Name rebooted.
All seems OK.

The manual step shouldn't be needed, it never was on SME7.

But: It could be a rather Murphyesque Situation, due to several issues of migration. Race conditions due to Backup-Time Window, and other unusual circumstances. Besides Server, the Telefon System was also moved to a VOIP PBX.

This might actually NOT be a bug!

Thanks for your feedback and good luck with SME8.
My experience in productive environments is good, with about 25 Users / PCs (WinXP / Win7) using SME8 as PDC, and eGroupWare 1.6.x as Webmail/GroupWare.