Restore from desktop to vmware

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Revision as of 21:54, 7 January 2013 by Hanscees (talk | contribs)
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You can restore an SME server simply by restoring from a desktop backup. This is usefull for instance when upgrading a version (I used it to upgrade from 7.51 to 8.0). Restoring from a backup file is a quick and useful method for instance in VMware environments, since using USB disks or CD-rom or DVD adds complications you might not need.

In this mini-howto I will show howto restore a desktop backup to a new server. In stead of using an USB-stick we will transport the backup using SSH (scp or secure copy). 

I upgraded form 7.51 -> 8.0 in vmware esxi 4.1 with the following steps. Perhaps it can help someone.


restore smeX in vmware

1. Make backup from original server to desktop 2. install sme8.x from iso in vmware 

   - do not use vmx network cards, but use e1000 nic's instead, see http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7197
   - log in via web-management console http://ip/server-manager and change remote acces so you can log in via ssh as root from internal network

3. install vmware tools, see http://wiki.contribs.org/VMware_Tools#SME_Server_8.0_Guest_on_ESXi_4.0_Update_1

                                                                1. in my case

SME Server 8.0 Guest on ESXi 4.0 Update 1

Download the required packages log in via ssh cd /root mkdir vmtools cd vmtools

wget http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/4.0u1/rhel5/i686/vmware-open-vm-tools-kmod-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm wget http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/4.0u1/rhel5/i686/vmware-open-vm-tools-common-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm wget http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/4.0u1/rhel5/i686/vmware-open-vm-tools-nox-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm

Install the packages and dependencies (some dependencies might be downloaded, click Y)

/usr/bin/yum localinstall \ 

vmware-open-vm-tools-kmod-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm \
vmware-open-vm-tools-common-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm \
vmware-open-vm-tools-nox-8.0.2-208167.el5.i686.rpm

Link the start script to run level 7

ln -fs /etc/rc.d/init.d/vmware-tools /etc/rc7.d/S90vmware-tools

Start the service

service vmware-tools start


(((((((((((((((((((( oeps, there is something wrong, must see into this later. Errors are:

  1. service vmware-tools start
  2. Checking acpi hot plug [ OK ]
  3. Starting VMware Tools services in the virtual machine:
  4. Switching to guest configuration: [ OK ]
  5. Paravirtual SCSI module: [FAILED]
  6. Guest memory manager: [FAILED]
  7. VM communication interface: [FAILED]
  8. VM communication interface socket family: [FAILED]
  9. Guest operating system daemon: [ OK ]

((((((((((((((((((((

4. update packages - before update set yum straight check if this is still needed here:

                    1. see http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,49362.0.html

yum clean all rpm -Uhv \ http://mirror.canada.pialasse.com/releases/\ /8.0/smeupdates/i386/RPMS/smeserver-yum-2.2.0-20.el5.sme.noarch.rpm signal-event yum-update

- update yum update

it will make a list, say Y wait while downloading lots of stuff & installing signal-event post-upgrade; signal-event reboot


4. restore with backup 

- make a snapshot
- copy sme.tzg to / directory new sme server (for instance form windows desktop with winscp (= cp via ssh) )
- run comnmands below

cd / signal-event pre-restore tar -C / -xzvf smeserver.tgz If you are replacing an original server that is still running, shut it down before rebooting the new server

/sbin/e-smith/signal-event post-upgrade /sbin/e-smith/signal-event reboot

After reboot login to admin-console to change IPs to suit network If you are replacing an original server that is still running, shut it down before rebooting the new server

Save & Reboot

Delete backup file

cd / rm smeserver.tgz

System should now be online & operational, Run tests if all works: - check email (send & retrieve) - check connections & websites

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