Topic: Backup And Restore Question ???

[sc300t]

Hi,

We have an SME 6.0.1 (originally upgraded from 5.5), and the machine is getting older and slower as we have more and more users. We decided to get a new server, so we need to migrate all the settings and users from the old server to the new one. I have a couple questions regarding this:

1. Which version should I install on the new server? Should I stay with 6.0.1 or try out the 6.5 RC1 or 7.0 beta2?

2. What is the easiest and safest way to backup the old data and restore it on the new server. I tried the Backup to Desktop and Restore From Desktop in the past with horrible outcome.

Thank you.

John

[gbaird]

SME 7.0 is in BETA that means still testing

I have used SME 6.5rc1 for sometime and it seems to be very stable for my needs

I need or greatly like the DMay contrib backup to workstation
makes me feel good anyway - have not found it to work on SME 7.0  
any version or beta

SME 6.5rc1 is only a small jump but nice addons
smtp-auth-proxy is a great feature as isp's now mostly block
sending your own mail

SME 7.0 has a good base os but I have found CentOS has a couple of problems I ran it on a test server and after I ran up to date that was it done had to reload could not even find out what the problem was WOULD NOT BOOT also a bit of a pain with some harddrive configurations

The crew at SME - Contribs however is great and have seen this problem. I am sure SME 7.0 final will be worth the wait but for now I recommend 6.5rc1 or wait

Hope DMay reads this and has the time to update his great contrib for SME 7.0

Question 2

I test SME alot, backup to workstation & restore work fine for me, some of your on mods or addons may not work or update/install but the server configuration and other important data gets restored - users, databases, ibays, etc

[gregswallow]

Hope DMay reads this and has the time to update his great contrib for SME 7.0

He did - I don't think he announced it anywhere though...
http://mirror.contribs.org/smeserver/contribs/dmay/smeserver/7.x/

[gbaird]

Greg this is Greg

I have been unable to get to work on any SME 7.0 versions

I will try 7.0 beta2 today and see if it works

I have been aware of the latest contrib for awhile
 as I use it all of the time also have used the Dag
RAR for it

[sc300t]

Thanks for the replies.

We will probably go with 6.0.1 with all the new updates. When they have the stable release of version 7, we will do the upgrade.

As far as migration. All we need actually just the users accounts and mails. So, we may do the following:
1. copy /home/e-smith/files/*
2. using lazy admin tool, do lat-dump from the old server, copy all the files generated to the new server, and do lat-restore on the new server
3. copy the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

It may not be the best approach, but what do you guys think about the user migration involving lat?

Thanks.

[dilligaf]

Thanks for the replies.

We will probably go with 6.0.1 with all the new updates. When they have the stable release of version 7, we will do the upgrade.

As far as migration. All we need actually just the users accounts and mails. So, we may do the following:
1. copy /home/e-smith/files/*
2. using lazy admin tool, do lat-dump from the old server, copy all the files generated to the new server, and do lat-restore on the new server
3. copy the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow

It may not be the best approach, but what do you guys think about the user migration involving lat?

Thanks.

I used the LAT and did as you describe.
THe users all showed locked accts.
So I copied over the /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow, assured the perms etc were right, signalled a post-upgrade, and a reboot and the accounts are still locked.
THis works sweet, I just need to figure out how to get the passwords over as well?

[sc300t]

I've got the same exact problem, so i ended up using the baackup to desktop, and luckily everything worked out well.

I read in the forum somewhere that someone successfully transfer the passwords, but I couldnt find it anymore. Anybody?

Thanks.