Planning for migration from Amahi 6 to 7 (or a future version) - recommendations?

[drkokandy]

Hi everyone,

I found and read this on the wiki: https://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/HDA_OS_Migration_Guide, but I'm wondering if anyone who has gone about this process can offer any additional advice before I try this. I want to do this, but frankly, I'm scared.

I'm eager to take advantage of some of the new Amahi 7 features and use newer packages... Even though good old Ubuntu 12.04 Precise is still supported, a number of packages I use (around virtualization and Ruby in particular) are only offered in versions that are not officially supported.

I've been trying to work up the courage to move forward with this, but I have two big concerns: I'm afraid of losing data and settings in the migration process (I have backups, but it would be a pain to restore...), and I am not at all familiar with Fedora, so if I entrust my HDA to Fedora, I would likely be super lost if anything goes wrong (and let's face it, I'll probably be the cause of the problem because idk Fedora). I had hoped that the release of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS would mean a new Amahi release for Ubuntu, which I believe was the project's goal at one time when Amahi had an Ubuntu developer. Since that's not happening, I'd need to migrate to Fedora at some point before April 2017 at the latest (but hopefully sooner... these old virtualization packages are really old, especially since the technology is so fast-paced).

Anyone have any recommendations, words of warning, or "happily-ever-after" stories to help me decide whether to go ahead? Has anyone else move forward with migration without knowing about Fedora and survived?

[bigfoot65]

Hello,

I actually documented this process and did test it. Of course everyone's experience and hardware is different, but hopefully this will make the transition simpler.

The main point is to disconnect all your Greyhole drives before installing Amahi 7. Also if there are any apps that have a database, you might want to back them up as well. I believe I mentioned it in the Tips section.

I think you will find that Fedora is not that much different than Ubuntu when it comes to command line. Linux has many flavors, but all have the same root core for most functions. The best thing to do is take your time and ask questions if you don't understand the process or have issues.

Maybe even doing a dry run is something that might ease your conscious.

My HDA is virtualized, so it's a simple process for me to upgrade. I stop the old HDA, create the new one and just point the Greyhole drives to a different VM. It makes life simpler for me.

[drkokandy]

Hi Bigfoot65,

Thanks for your reply. I don't actually use Greyhole - I added my additional disks using this method - https://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Adding ... o_your_HDA - would that make the migration easier? harder?

What would you recommend for a "dry run"? I have tried spinning up Amahi 7 in a VM, but that wreaked total havoc on my network and internet connection (probably something to do with dueling DNS/DHCP servers), and I tried running a virtualized Fedora server just to play with it, but my HDA occasionally hangs with it running (possibly due to the very-old virtualization packages :-/ )

What platform do you run your virtualized HDA on? Would there be any drawbacks to virtualizing Amahi as a guest on an Ubuntu 14.04 server host?

[bigfoot65]

I added my additional disks using this method - https://wiki.amahi.org/index.php/Adding ... o_your_HDA - would that make the migration easier? harder?

The guidance for adding disks in the HDA OS Migration guide refers to the same wiki page. You often can use the same entries from /etc/fstab to mount the drives typically.

What would you recommend for a "dry run"?

That was more of a statement to be familiar with the process before actually doing it. This way you are prepared and get no surprises.

What platform do you run your virtualized HDA on?

I use Proxmox VE. I don't pay for a subscription either and have not had any issues. There is a nag screen when logging into the web UI, but it's no big deal.

Would there be any drawbacks to virtualizing Amahi as a guest on an Ubuntu 14.04 server host?

The key to using virtualization is to have a powerful machine (i.e. Quad-core or larger and 8-16 GB RAM) so the VM performs like a real machine. I have an 8-core AMD processor, 16GB RAM, and 4 hard drives in mine. Nothing is on SSD, all normal 1 or 2 TB hard drives.

This allows me to run other VMs as well besides the HDA. I have a Turnkey Linux VM that has Couchpotato, SickBeard, and SABnzbd Plus to download my TV shows and Movies. I use the HDA shares for storage along with Greyhole. There is guidance in the wiki and forums for virtualization. It is quite a project, but once you have it up and running it's fairly painless.