Stuck with Amahi 6 and Ubuntu 12.04

[princeps]

Dear Amahi users,

For some time, I have had a copy of Amahi 6 that worked perfectly with Ubuntu 12.04; among other things, it serves a file server for 5 harddrives set up in Ubuntu software raid5 and is connected to the internet to serve as a DNS server for the other computers on my network.

However, Ubuntu now nags me about upgrading to 14.04, and as I understand it, if I do not upgrade I will stop getting security patches. But since Amahi is now longer supporting Ubuntu, what do I do? Besides the lack of support and updates onwards, I love my current set-up and would preferably change as little as possible.

What kind of a risk am I running if I delay upgrading Ubuntu to 14.04? It will take some time before I can afford harddrives to back-up my raid5 volume; the most important 500 gb is back-up daily into the cloud, but old movies and stuff are not. I like Ubuntu, but have no experience in Fedora - should I switch? If so, how do you propose to do it with a minimum of fuss?

Thanks in advance.

Petter

[bigfoot65]

Ubuntu 12.04.x will receive OS updates for 3 years (Desktop) and 5 years (Server). Since it came out in April 2012, that means the longest support time will end in Apr 2017. BTW, if you attempt to update Ubuntu to any other version it will break your HDA. We cannot help you and a complete reinstall will be required.

I recommend you upgrade to Amahi 7 on Fedora 19. Not only is Amahi 6 on Ubuntu 12.04.x in "Maintenance support ONLY" status, we no longer update or add new apps or features.

To help with the transition to Amahi 7, we have provided an HDA OS Migration Guide to help users. Based on feedback from those who have used this guidance, it works fairly well.

Obviously it's your choice if you want to remain on Ubuntu 12.04.x, but understand OS updates will end soon. That could leave your system vulnerable, especially if you have it exposed to the world.

BTW, if you attempt to update Ubuntu to any other version it will break your HDA. We cannot help you and a complete reinstall will be required.

[princeps]

Thanks, as always, for you swift reply. I had already understood that updating Ubuntu to 14.04 would break my HDA, but the support until Apr 2017 means I do have some time making the transition work smoothly. I realize Amahi 6 is in maintenance mode only, but my current set-up serves me very well and although I will upgrade to Amahi 7 when time permits, it is nice to prepare it properly when you are a Linux amateur. Thank you for the useful link to the OS migration guide!

All the best,
Petter

[bigfoot65]

No problem.

If you need assistance when the time comes to upgrade, please let us know.

[evylrat]

Did you ever perform the upgrade to Amahi 7? I too am in this boat, running my old Ubuntu 12.04.

I don't know the best way to ensure ALL my data is copied across when I install Amahi 7 fresh and add my storage pool. At the moment, I know I have files missing (another post to start on the forum). Best to add storage pool or copy fresh (between Amahi 6 and Amahi 7).

[bigfoot65]

I would recommend you fix the missing files, then you can follow the HDA OS migration guide.

This is the best solution in my opinion.