Switching Pro and Plus key files?

[ElJimador]

I have 2 Pro licenses already for a home and shared Plex server and I'm wondering if I buy a new Plus license for a third server for offsite backup would be possible to switch one of the Pro and Plus keys between servers?  I overestimated the capacity needed on the shared Plex server and would like to apply the new Plus license to that and move it's Pro key over to the new backup server.  

 

Assuming that's kosher, any particular instructions for doing that?  Or is it simply a matter of buying the new Plus key and then copying the Pro and Plus key files between the flash/config folders?

[Hoopster]

License keys aren't tied to servers, they are tied to the GUID of the flash drive.  You can can move any USB drive/key to any server (of course you'll want to copy the relevant config files, etc).  As long as the number of drives in the array doesn't exceed the amount allowed by the license, the rest doesn't matter.

Edited January 26, 2018 by Hoopster

[ElJimador]

Thanks Hoopster.  Is it just the Pro.key and Plus,key files under flash/config that would need to be switched or any other config files along with them?  

[Hoopster]

13 minutes ago, ElJimador said:

Thanks Hoopster.  Is it just the Pro.key and Plus,key files under flash/config that would need to be switched or any other config files along with them?  

 

Depends on what you want to preserve.  If you want the array configuration, dockers, plugins, go file, shares definitions etc. preserved, you have to copy the entire config folder, shares folder and whatever else you want to preserve.  So, if you buy a new Plus key and want that for your Plex server, copy the config, shares and other folders from the usb drive that you currently have in that server.  Then you can move the Pro keyed USB currently in your Plex server to the backup server and do a new config,

Edited January 26, 2018 by Hoopster

[ElJimador]

No the new server will be an entirely different config.  So just need to switch the actual license keys themselves then.  Got it.  Thanks.

[Hoopster]

You can't just move the license keys between USB sticks.  Remember, the license is tied to the GUID of the USB drive.  Your new Plus key will be licensed on a new USB drive, unless you can get Limetech to allow you to swap license/GUID registrations.  He may do that and it would make your swap very easy.  Otherwise, to get the right configuration with the right license you will need to copy some files.  Does this make sense, or am I misunderstanding your intention?  My understanding is you are trying to move a current Pro key to the new server and you wanted to buy a new Plus key and use it on the Plex server, but, perhaps I misunderstood,

Edited January 26, 2018 by Hoopster

[ElJimador]

That's right I just want to switch the licenses only.  New Plus key applied to the shared Plex server while it's Pro key goes over to flash drive I'll be using in the new backup server.  

 

I'm still waiting for hardware for the new server, so instructions for the how part is not as big a priority to me right now as just confirming that I will be able to do this before I buy the new license.  So I guess I'll wait for a mod to chime in or email support if I don't get confirmation here.

 

Thanks for your input.

[Hoopster]

5 minutes ago, ElJimador said:

That's right I just want to switch the licenses only.  New Plus key applied to the shared Plex server while it's Pro key goes over to flash drive I'll be using in the new backup server.  

 

I'm still waiting for hardware for the new server, so instructions for the how part is not as big a priority to me right now as just confirming that I will be able to do this before I buy the new license.  So I guess I'll wait for a mod to chime in or email support if I don't get confirmation here.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

When it comes to licensing issues, it is usually best to contact Limetech directly.  What you want to do is possible, but, only Limetech can help you swap licence key/GUID.

 

Good luck with it all.

[ElJimador]

Will do.  Thanks again.

[Sayuuk]

3 hours ago, ElJimador said:

That's right I just want to switch the licenses only.  New Plus key applied to the shared Plex server while it's Pro key goes over to flash drive I'll be using in the new backup server.  

 

I'm still waiting for hardware for the new server, so instructions for the how part is not as big a priority to me right now as just confirming that I will be able to do this before I buy the new license.  So I guess I'll wait for a mod to chime in or email support if I don't get confirmation here.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Yes, you can do this, it's quite simple.

 

a) do NOT copy/move the key files, they need to stay on their original USB stick. The USB stick has an internal serial number that the license is bound to!

 

b)

- copy the config folder off your Pro/Plex USB stick (all the server settings, plugin and docker settings are there) to your Desktop

- create a separate, new USB stick for your new Plus/Plex  server

- copy the backup you created in step 1 (on your Desktop) to the new Plus/Plex Stick (the config folder)

-> your Plex server should now be running with a Plus license, no major configuration changes should be necessary

 

- use your "old" Pro/Plex USB stick in your off-site server (you can start with a fresh install of unRAID + restore the key, or you can start the existing installation and get rid of the dockers etc. that you don't need anymore.

 

Hope this was helpful

 

Cheers

Stefan

[Frank1940]

My suggestion is to make a backup copy of ALL your unRAID Flash Drives to you PC.  Label each backup so you know which server the copy is from.  (The actual software and the server's settings are for that particular server.  You want to preserve those. ) That way if you make a mistake, it will be easy to recover from it.  

 

Remember that each key file is associated with a specific Flash Drive!!!!!!  Label each Flash Drive directly on the drive with a unique name.

 

Copy the key file from each Flash Drive to its own folder naming the folder in a way that you know which Flash Drive, the contained key  file is associated with.  

 

Now all you have to do is to swap the flash drives.  Basically, you are going to easing all of the files from those Two Flash Drives.  Copy the Backup folder you made to the proper Flash Drive associated with the key file for that server.  Delete the key file from the config folder.  Now copy the key file for that physical Flash Drive to the config folder.  (I would personally rerun the make-bootable batch file at this time.)  Put the Flash Drive into the proper computer and it will come up running using the new key file.  Repeat for the other Flash Drive and server. 

 

It can be confusing and that it the reason for making all those backups.  Once everything is back working again---  Back up those Flash Drives again!!!!   (You can't imagine how many folks who have run into some issue where a backup copy of that Flash Drive would have saved hours of work!)

Edited January 26, 2018 by Frank1940

[limetech]

1. From Main click Flash then click Flash backup.  This will create a complete flash backup zip file and download to your PC.
2. Next use our USB Creator tool to create a bootable flash device, specifying the zip file as the source.
3. Now put the proper key file for that USB flash in the 'config' directory.
4. Profit!

[Frank1940]

57 minutes ago, limetech said:

1. From Main click Flash then click Flash backup.  This will create a complete flash backup zip file and download to your PC.
2. Next use our USB Creator tool to create a bootable flash device, specifying the zip file as the source.
3. Now put the proper key file for that USB flash in the 'config' directory.
4. Profit!

 

Wow!  That is easy.  I never realized that feature had been added in.  Is this document in the manual yet?  (hint-- hint)

[pwm]

Proper backup of the flash drives is really important.

 

A note should be added in this feature request thread - and hopefully unRAID may also receive an update were it after important reconfiguration suggests mailing the flash configuration and also write copies to one or more data disk locations.

 

 

[ElJimador]

On 1/26/2018 at 11:25 AM, limetech said:

1. From Main click Flash then click Flash backup.  This will create a complete flash backup zip file and download to your PC.
2. Next use our USB Creator tool to create a bootable flash device, specifying the zip file as the source.
3. Now put the proper key file for that USB flash in the 'config' directory.
4. Profit!

Thanks.  I noticed that flash backup mentioned in the 6.4 release notes and and have already tried it.  Works great!  

 

Only wish there was a way to do this remotely so I don't have to drive 100 miles to the shared Plex server that I want to switch from Pro to Plus.  My niece hosts that server for me because she has fiber internet and I'm not sure anyone in her family even has a computer otherwise I'd just call her to walk her through it.  But whatever.  I get why you'd have to pull the thumb drive and not just copy the key files only while the servers are running and hope that rebooting them would accomplish the same thing.

 

If there is any other way that can be done remotely (ie. without physically having to pull the thumb drive) then let me know.  Otherwise I'll just coordinate with my niece and I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Thanks again.

[limetech]

3 minutes ago, ElJimador said:

Thanks.  I noticed that flash backup mentioned in the 6.4 release notes and and have already tried it.  Works great!  

 

Only wish there was a way to do this remotely so I don't have to drive 100 miles to the shared Plex server that I want to switch from Pro to Plus.  My niece hosts that server for me because she has fiber internet and I'm not sure anyone in her family even has a computer otherwise I'd just call her to walk her through it.  But whatever.  I get why you'd have to pull the thumb drive and not just copy the key files only while the servers are running and hope that rebooting them would accomplish the same thing.

 

If there is any other way that can be done remotely (ie. without physically having to pull the thumb drive) then let me know.  Otherwise I'll just coordinate with my niece and I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Thanks again.

 

The difference between Plus and Pro is 40 bucks man, maybe that's cheaper than 100 mile round trip?

[Frank1940]

1 hour ago, ElJimador said:

Thanks.  I noticed that flash backup mentioned in the 6.4 release notes and and have already tried it.  Works great!  

 

Only wish there was a way to do this remotely so I don't have to drive 100 miles to the shared Plex server that I want to switch from Pro to Plus.  My niece hosts that server for me because she has fiber internet and I'm not sure anyone in her family even has a computer otherwise I'd just call her to walk her through it.  But whatever.  I get why you'd have to pull the thumb drive and not just copy the key files only while the servers are running and hope that rebooting them would accomplish the same thing.

 

If there is any other way that can be done remotely (ie. without physically having to pull the thumb drive) then let me know.  Otherwise I'll just coordinate with my niece and I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Thanks again.

 

You can just copy the new Pro key file to the server and reboot.  (I would rename the old plus key to be double sure that nothing can go wrong... gor wrong.   )   The OP already had the two Key files (Plus and Pro) and wanted to switch the licenses between two servers keeping the configuration for each which required that not only the Flash Drives had to be switched but also the configuration settings and their software.   What you want to do is to upgrade the license on a single server which is simple.   Doing that remotely is a bit of challenge if there isn't a computer on the other end.  

 

Edited January 28, 2018 by Frank1940

[ElJimador]

On 1/26/2018 at 11:25 AM, limetech said:

1. From Main click Flash then click Flash backup.  This will create a complete flash backup zip file and download to your PC.
2. Next use our USB Creator tool to create a bootable flash device, specifying the zip file as the source.
3. Now put the proper key file for that USB flash in the 'config' directory.
4. Profit!

Okay I always assume user error when things don't work right but I think there may be a problem with the Flash backup utility.  I followed the steps above on my Windows laptop but when I put the thumb drive for the new server back in (now with the Pro key swapped out from the other server's Flash backup) I got a BIOS error on boot:  "Warning: No Configuration File Found".  Made sure I had fast boot disabled and all that but still no dice so I thought maybe I was supposed to run the make_bootable batch file (which is not in the instructions for the USB Creator tool so wasn't sure if that's still required?).  Anyway, put the thumb back in the laptop and ran that as administrator and got "ERROR- syslinux executable not found, expected at G:\syslinux\syslinux.exe".  So now I figured I just borked something in the process of unzipping the Flash backups, swapping the keys, and zipping them back up again.  So I formatted the flash and this time I pointed the USB Creator tool back to the new server's original Flash backup zip file with the Plus key but still got the same errors on boot and running make_bootable.  So I got curious and unzipped the Flash backups of my other 2 servers currently running and compared the contents of those to the actual flash drives, and sure enough the syslinux folders in the running flash drives are not present in the any of unzipped Flash backups. (Again, these are the original Flash backups untouched by me except to unzip them.)

 

I'll futz around and see if copying the syslinux folder from one of the running servers and zipping it back up with the rest of the contents of the new server's Flash backup gets it to work but in the meantime please let me know if I did something wrong here on my end.  If not, you might want to have someone look at the Flash backup utility and make sure it's actually backing up all the contents needed to recover from the zip file it creates.

[ElJimador]

Update:  I was able to copy the syslinux folder from one of my other servers and got the new server to boot again.  Then since that worked I made a new Flash backup of that then followed the same process to re-create it as the new flash I was trying to make, this time with the Pro key swapped in.  That also booted but now in the banner of the GUI the licensing reads:  "unRAID Server Pro - Invalid Key" and clicking the link there gives me this screen shot attached -- LEX_Registration.pdf

 

Am I to gather from this that instead of swapping key files between the 2 flash devices that I was supposed to keep the keys where they were, swap out all the rest of the contents instead, and then physically swap the thumb drives between the 2 machines?  Sorry if I'm being dense but this is turning out to be a little more complicated than I thought.

[limetech]

1 hour ago, ElJimador said:

Update:  I was able to copy the syslinux folder from one of my other servers and got the new server to boot again.  Then since that worked I made a new Flash backup of that then followed the same process to re-create it as the new flash I was trying to make, this time with the Pro key swapped in.  That also booted but now in the banner of the GUI the licensing reads:  "unRAID Server Pro - Invalid Key" and clicking the link there gives me this screen shot attached -- LEX_Registration.pdf

 

Am I to gather from this that instead of swapping key files between the 2 flash devices that I was supposed to keep the keys where they were, swap out all the rest of the contents instead, and then physically swap the thumb drives between the 2 machines?  Sorry if I'm being dense but this is turning out to be a little more complicated than I thought.

 

You only need the key file that corresponds to the usb flash boot device to be present in the 'config' directory.

 

[ElJimador]

27 minutes ago, limetech said:

 

You only need the key file that corresponds to the usb flash boot device to be present in the 'config' directory.

 

Yeah that's what I figured.  Thanks for confirming.  I'm going out to the shared Plex server tomorrow and I've got the flash drive that goes w/the new Plus license ready with the rest of the contents copied from the Plex server's Flash backup + the copied syslinux folder.  I'm sure that will do the trick this time but will post back then to confirm.

[ElJimador]

Alright, switched the flash drives between the servers and everything went according to plan.  The only wrinkle, when I first booted up the shared Plex server with the flash + Plus key that had been in been in the new one I got "unclean shutdown detected" on the main page, however rebooting again it went away and showed configuration valid.

 

Anyway, mission accomplished and thanks again.