Re: [hobbit] Moving to new Hobbit server

[Buchan Milne <bgmilne (at) staff.telkomsa.net>]

On Tuesday 28 February 2006 07:56, ZanDAhaR wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> Can't seem to find anything on this but then again I haven't gone
> through all the results that come up on the mailing list search either.
>
> We moved from BB server to a Hobbit server a while ago but it was on the
> same box so there was no issue there. We are shuffling some old hardware
> around and decided to give our hobbit server some more grunt and also
> add some other odd apps on it. We'll want to progrssively move the hosts
> over to the new server so the clients are cool, just update the ip in
> windows ones, and the ip and hostname in the nix ones
>
> As for the server I'm assuming I can just copy the data dir over for the
> host I'm moving. I cannot imagine there being anything server specific
> in any of the status messages or graphs ?
>
> So action plan would be, shut down client on XYZ, define it in bb-hosts
> file on NEWHOBBIT, has it out in the OLDHOBBIT bb-hosts file, copy
> appropriate data folders from OLDHOBBIT to NEWHOBBIT (update ownership
> if need be), update ip addy and hostname in XYZ client settings, start
> client XYZ, be happy :)
>
> Any flaws in this thinking or suggestions of easier way even though I
> cannot imagine one can you please let me know

Depending on how many hosts are involved (ie, how much data there is to copy), 
I might rather:

1)Set current hobbit server to have bbproxy listening on the usual bb port 
(1984) and proxy the traffic to your current server (start hobbitd on a 
different port) and the new server. You can do that with something like this 
in hobbitlaunch.cfg:

[bbproxy]
        #DISABLED
        ENVFILE /usr/lib/hobbit/server/etc/hobbitserver.cfg
        CMD $BBHOME/bin/bbproxy --hobbitd 
--bbdisplay=<old_server>:1985,<new_server>:1
984 --report=$MACHINE.bbproxy --no-daemon --pidfile=$BBSERVERLOGS/bbproxy.pid
        LOGFILE $BBSERVERLOGS/bbproxy.log

Replace <old_server> and <new_server> as appropriate.

You will also have to change BBPORT in hobbitserver.cfg to match the port 
number (1985 in this example).

2)Set the new server up, and ensure all the configuration is correct.

3)Stop hobbit on the current server, copy the data across to the new server, 
and start hobbit again.

4)Ensure anyone watching hobbit is watching the new server (maybe abuse 
mod_proxy on the original server), and that the new server is displaying all 
data correctly, collecting data etc.

5)Change configuration on the clients to point to the new server

6)When all hosts on the original host are purple, you can remove it.

I used this method to migrate from BigBrother, and also to migrate from 
BigBrother on one host to Hobbit on another. The advantage here is that you 
should never get any purples visible on the hobbit server (if you ensure 
people see the correct one), and you don't lose any data during the 
transition.

Regards,
Buchan

-- 
Buchan Milne
ISP Systems Specialist
B.Eng,RHCE(803004789010797),LPIC-2(LPI000074592)