Some questions about upgrading to Amahi 8 from Amahi 7

[PatrickDickey]

Hi there,

From reading another post, I understand that I can't do an upgrade to Amahi 8 (because I have the Gnome Desktop installed), so I have to do a clean install. I do have some questions though.

1. I have my system hard drive set up with the partitions for the boot/root/home/swap as one part, and my /var/hda/files taking up the rest of the drive space. Then I have three other drives installed (one internal, and two USB connected). My question is, when I do the installation, will it wipe the data off of my /var/hda/files, or can I select not to format that partition? (Custom install, have it format all partitions except that one)
2. Do I need to disconnect the other drives, or will I be able to specify just that it format the partitions on the main (system) drive?
3. Will I be able to install any desktop afterwards? I ask this, because I use TeamViewer to manage my computers, and it requires a desktop to work.
4. If I choose not to run the DNS/DHCP servers, will that affect the ability to access my server from outside of my network? I found that it wouldn't update my IP address if those were shut off in the past. Is this still true?
5. Did you include any IPv6 networking with Amahi 8?
6. Is Greyhole included by default, or will we have to manually install/configure it?

Have a great day.
Patrick.

[bigfoot65]

I understand your concerns and have answered your questions below:

1. I have my system hard drive set up with the partitions for the boot/root/home/swap as one part, and my /var/hda/files taking up the rest of the drive space. Then I have three other drives installed (one internal, and two USB connected). My question is, when I do the installation, will it wipe the data off of my /var/hda/files, or can I select not to format that partition? (Custom install, have it format all partitions except that one)

ANSWER: This may be possible, but untested. We cannot provide support as it deviates from our recommended install guidance.

2. Do I need to disconnect the other drives, or will I be able to specify just that it format the partitions on the main (system) drive?

ANSWER:You may be able to leave them connected, but this is untested. We strongly recommend you disconnect them .

3. Will I be able to install any desktop afterwards? I ask this, because I use TeamViewer to manage my computers, and it requires a desktop to work.

ANSWER:Support with Gnome or any other desktop was discontinued in Amahi 7 and will not be supported in Amahi 8 or future versions. Is there any reason you cannot manage other systems in your network without a desktop?

4. If I choose not to run the DNS/DHCP servers, will that affect the ability to access my server from outside of my network? I found that it wouldn't update my IP address if those were shut off in the past. Is this still true?

ANSWER:We were unaware of this being an issue in Amahi 7. No problems have been reported with this in Amahi 8.

5. Did you include any IPv6 networking with Amahi 8?

ANSWER:No. We are considering it for Amahi 9, however adding this appears to be quite complicted. Undetermined at this point if it will be part of future releases.

6. Is Greyhole included by default, or will we have to manually install/configure it?

ANSWER:No. Greyhole will continue to be an add-on just like Amahi 7. We do have the Greyhole UI application which integrates it in the HDA dashboard and makes setup simple. You can also choose to manually install and configure Greyhole.

I hope I have provided sufficient guidance to answer your concerns. The recommended install method is the install from scratch, but you could try following the upgrade path. Please understand you accept risk that the later could break your HDA. We can only provide limited support in such cases.

[PatrickDickey]

I understand your concerns and have answered your questions below:


3. Will I be able to install any desktop afterwards? I ask this, because I use TeamViewer to manage my computers, and it requires a desktop to work.

ANSWER:Support with Gnome or any other desktop was discontinued in Amahi 7 and will not be supported in Amahi 8 or future versions. Is there any reason you cannot manage other systems in your network without a desktop?

Thanks for the quick reply bigfoot65. The reason that I wanted a desktop is that my other computers are a mixture of windows and linux computers. I use TeamViewer to be able to remotely connect to them, in case I need to do some troubleshooting or other tasks. So it's purely a desire to be able to do that with my HDA as well. It's not a requirement--just something I was hoping for.

I'm going to go through the wiki (and the greyhole wiki) to find out how to force it to clear out my /var/hda/files (the landing zone on my system drive). Then I'll do the install from scratch, and recreate it.In the past, I've just destroyed the other partitions and reallocated that space for the system, leaving the /var/hda/files alone. Either way works for me.

Have a great day.
Patrick.

[bigfoot65]

I use TeamViewer to be able to remotely connect to them, in case I need to do some troubleshooting or other tasks.

You could probably install some sort of SSH or command line program on each client and still remotely access using OpenSSH.