Restore from desktop to vmware

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 in vmware esxi 4.1).

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).

Restore smeX in vmware using winscp

1. Make backup from original server to desktop 2. install new SME server (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 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 the new SME server to latest packages before restoring - before update set yum straight check if this is still needed here: 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 the backup file - first make a snapshot in vmware, so you have a snapshot with updated packages (in case something goes wrong) - copy sme.tzg to / directory new sme server (for instance form windows desktop with [winscp]http://winscp.net/eng/index.php (= cp via ssh) ) - log into the new SME server via SSH and run commands below

cd /
signal-event pre-restore
tar -C / -xzvf smeserver.tgz

If you are replacing an original SME-server that is still running, shut it down NOW before rebooting the new restored 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

login to the restored server as admin and choose configure this 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 - in Vmware make sure the new server boots after a shutdown of the vmware host