Topic: Migration to new hardware - can't I just back up and restore?

[Mangetout]

My new server will arrive next week and although I can see there's a fairly straightforward method of migrating everything detailed here (using Affa), can't I just back up the server configuration on the old machine, then install SME on the new one, then restore the configuration to it?

Or does it expect the restore to be done on identical hardware?

[mmccarn]

According to http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:FAQ#Backups_.26_Restores you can do a 'backup to USB' on the old system, then restore from the USB drive during the installation onto the new hardware.

The point of the Affa method is to minimize down-time...

[Mangetout]

Thanks.  That worked just fine - I installed SME Server on the new hardware and waited until the reboot/startup before backing up the old server to USB and and taking it down - downtime was about two minutes - or it would have been, except that after restoring the backup onto the new machine, it didn't recognise the network card.

This was easy to sort out by just taking the NIC out of the old server and installing it in the new one, but what actually happened here? - I guess it could be just that the onboard network in the new server happened to be an unsupported one, or is it the case that the network device configuration was part of the backup?

[byte]

[..] it didn't recognise the network card.

This was easy to sort out by just taking the NIC out of the old server and installing it in the new one, but what actually happened here? - I guess it could be just that the onboard network in the new server happened to be an unsupported one, or is it the case that the network device configuration was part of the backup?

What you would have needed to do is re-run the server set up via the console menu and leave all the ip/names as they are but then it will detect your new network cards.

[rkscscc]

Most probably the config of the old card was included in the backup....  Will confirm this tomorrow as doing major upgrade tomorrow...

Suggestion though, when new box starts up, whip through the server setup and just confirm the settings...  Should be picked up as a problem there if the network card is unsupported or if it needs to be changed...

--> Hallo Byte, congrats on typing quicker than me

[Mangetout]

What you would have needed to do is re-run the server set up via the console menu and leave all the ip/names as they are but then it will detect your new network cards.

Thanks - I thought about doing this, but bottled out, as I didn't know whether it would re-initialise all sorts of other stuff...

[byte]

Thanks [...]

Don't forget to hit the [applaud] button under my name on the left 

[Mangetout]

Am I being whooshed?  I can't see any applaud button 

[rkscscc]

look for karma

[Mangetout]

I see that - but there's nothing clickable there - it looks like this:

[raem]

Mangetout

You need to be logged in to the forums as a user.

[Mangetout]

Is that different to logging in to post?  I'm not familiar with this board software.

[byte]

I can't see any applaud button 

OK, reason you cannot see a applaud/smite button is because you need a set number of posts before you can apply applaud/smite action to another user.

[Mangetout]

Ah! - Well, here's one more toward the count!

[raem]

Mangetout

I realise you have resolved your task, but here is a simple way to transfer configuration to another server, without the data.
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=35672.0

Just run the Configure this server option after the restore and change any IP or other settings, and as mentioned detect different NIC's, and perhaps change to server only mode if it's going to be a second server on your network (where the backed up server was a server/gateway) and disable the dhcp server.

You can then transfer the data accross the network from server to server totally or in limited form as required using command line, tar and scp. You can delete any users and other settings not required on the restored server via server manager (eg change workgroup name or domain controller settings etc).

It's a good way to create a clone 2nd server without going through all the setup again.