Update or start from scratch?


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It has been mentioned in the past by a community member or two that I might want to start from scratch (because I opted to use a different name for appdata folder and a few other things like that). 

 

On my main server (which is nearly full) I'm still running 6.5.3. Part of the hesitation was potential issues with VMs that people were having with newer versions. It still has CouchPotato and SickChill while I'd like to give sonarr and radarr a go. 

 

I originally objected to the idea of starting fresh but now I'm considering it with 6.9 around the corner. My main hesitation at this point (aside from not having much time to pull it off and not wanting much downtime as the server also serves as our HTPC via VM) is successfully bringing all of the Plex watch data over. I've never been successful doing that in the past. 

 

Thoughts? Are there enough benefits to starting fresh or just do the in-place update, switch out the dockers and continue on; what would you do? 

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Have you considered using a new USB stick and running a trial version to see what problems you would encounter doing the upgrade?   (Copying over the config folder minus any .key files would basically be the same thing as upgrading the present USB stick.)

 

You would then see exactly where you will have any problems but able to quickly convert back to the 6.5.3 by rebooting with the old USB drive. 

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2 hours ago, TyantA said:

It has been mentioned in the past by a community member or two that I might want to start from scratch (because I opted to use a different name for appdata folder and a few other things like that). 

2 hours ago, TyantA said:

My main hesitation at this point (aside from not having much time to pull it off and not wanting much downtime as the server also serves as our HTPC via VM) is successfully bringing all of the Plex watch data over. I've never been successful doing that in the past. 

For your dockers, if you move or rename things on the host, then you will have to change the host paths of course, but if you keep the container paths the same then the containers will not know the difference and should continue to work as before.

 

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4 hours ago, Frank1940 said:

Have you considered using a new USB stick and running a trial version to see what problems you would encounter doing the upgrade?   (Copying over the config folder minus any .key files would basically be the same thing as upgrading the present USB stick.)

 

You would then see exactly where you will have any problems but able to quickly convert back to the 6.5.3 by rebooting with the old USB drive. 

Good call. I hadn't given much thought other than wondering if I could pull something off like this. (I was thinking moving to a new USB key). But a trial on a new key is a good idea, thanks!

2 hours ago, trurl said:

For your dockers, if you move or rename things on the host, then you will have to change the host paths of course, but if you keep the container paths the same then the containers will not know the difference and should continue to work as before.

 

Good to know; to clarify, where the docker lives can change (i.e. apps > appdata) but so long as the content it references doesn't change I should be good (i.e. /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos/).

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9 minutes ago, TyantA said:

where the docker lives can change (i.e. apps > appdata) but so long as the content it references doesn't change I should be good (i.e. /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos/).

For the referenced content that's half the equation, i.e. the host path. For the container to see no difference, the container side of that path must also match what was previously configured. If you had /media = /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos previously, and the new setup is /movies = /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos, then as far as the application is concerned, you moved everything from /media to /movies, and the content will no longer be found at /media.

 

The appdata location has nothing to do with what I just discussed.

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35 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

The appdata location has nothing to do with what I just discussed.

If your "appdata" host path is currently /mnt/user/apps, then you could move that "appdata" to /mnt/user/appdata if you wanted to. Then you would have to change the host path to /mnt/user/appdata, but as long as you didn't change the container path, for example, /config, then the container will never know the difference.

 

Do you understand docker volume mapping?

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5 hours ago, jonathanm said:

For the referenced content that's half the equation, i.e. the host path. For the container to see no difference, the container side of that path must also match what was previously configured. If you had /media = /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos previously, and the new setup is /movies = /mnt/user/Videos/Home-Videos, then as far as the application is concerned, you moved everything from /media to /movies, and the content will no longer be found at /media.

 

The appdata location has nothing to do with what I just discussed.

Right. I follow. Just wanted to confirm on the appdata side of things. I have no plans to change paths specified within containers or the way they are set up. 

4 hours ago, trurl said:

If your "appdata" host path is currently /mnt/user/apps, then you could move that "appdata" to /mnt/user/appdata if you wanted to. Then you would have to change the host path to /mnt/user/appdata, but as long as you didn't change the container path, for example, /config, then the container will never know the difference.

 

Do you understand docker volume mapping?

Gotcha. I believe so. Just looking for confirmation before I do anything. Sounds like trial + new key is the way to go, make sure I get Plex back up and running smoothly. 

 

What about switching docker releases? I.e. binhex to another? They should in theory behave the same? 

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  • 1 month later...

Nope, you didn't forget. Well, you forgot that you didn't forget :)

Quote

(Copying over the config folder minus any .key files would basically be the same thing as upgrading the present USB stick.)

So I didn't bring the .key file over. 

 

I just booted up, I'm seeing Unraid 6.8.3 but the array is stopped due to too many devices. Odd? Oh I see, because I haven't gotten a trial key. Gotcha. 

 

Any way to ditch the notifications that pop up? "Close all notifications" just takes out one page at a time. I have endless pages of "cache disk returned to normal" then not. 

 

Edit 2: Roadblock:

"It is not possible to use a Trial key with an existing Unraid OS installation.

You may purchase a Registration key corresponding to this USB Flash device to continue using this installation."

Edited by TyantA
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Right. Yesterday I made this fresh USB key. I booted to it (granted, on other hardware) and registered a trial. 

Today, I copied the /config from my production server, less its pro key, to said trial, overwriting existing files. Now it's telling me I can't use a trial key with an existing unraid OS install. 

 

Was my mistake registering the trial *before* copying over the config?

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Yeah, hence the roadblock. 

 

I've come to terms with the fact that it might be time to start my main server "from scratch" hopefully not 100% from scratch though. 

 

The main thing I need to figure out how to keep is my plex play data. So, with my secondary key, I'm going to revert back to the fresh trial install and start building it up as though it were my production key. Double the work but at least I can fall back on my main key. 

 

Are there any tips for speeding up this process? Or is it just best to start from "as scratch as possible" vs. copying old things over. Some of my dockers are messed up and I plan to swap some out for others, so that should be OK. I've been wanting to re-do my VMs anyway... really just the Plex docker. If I can replicate that setup on the trial key, that'll give me confidence to do this on my production. 

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