hi everyone, i have a ubuntu server at home for cctv and other bits and the rockstor for files and media sharing. the server hardware running rockstor is better that the other and need a bit more beef for the hd cctv system so was thinking about swapping hard drives around. i am sure about the ubuntu server running on just about everything, but in doubt about the rockstor. is there anything i need to know before i throw everything away?
my rockstor is quite simple, with os on internal disk and data on a usb hhd.
Assuming the hardware on the machine you’re transferring to is compatible with CentOS, I don’t see any particular issues with at least getting the system booted.
I can foresee a couple of usability issues:
Rockstor likes to manage the network interfaces, and stores some information in it’s internal database for this purpose. As your interface IDs may change, this could cause some issues.
Likewise, I believe that disks are mapped by the disk IDs, which may change with the hardware change.
If you have a stable subscription, this relies on a hardware ID generated specifically for your system, thus your stable subscription will no longer be valid. You can contact the Rockstor team to have this resolved.
Depending on how complex your configuration is, it may be a better idea to reinstall your Rockstor OS on the new box, re-import your pools and shares, then re-create the shares exposures (SMB/CIFS, NFS, etc)
Also, how is your CCTV currently managed? It may be easier still to simply setup your Rockstor box as your CCTV recorder.
@Haioken has generously mostly already covered things here but I can chip in a bit also.
If you are also moving over the Rockstor system disk, as well as it’s data drives, then you should be OK, ie the entire system and it’s config should just move over. As @Haioken states, there might be an issue with the network but it has always just picked up where it left off for me. If not then look for duplicate interfaces or the like, the nmcli may help here. But for me moving systems from one machine to another has ‘just worked’ on the network.
Very early Rocsktor did track drives by their temp names, ie /dev/sda etc, but for the last few years we track drives by their serial number, as reported by udev: see: Device management in Rockstor
“Subtitle: Rockstor’s Serial Obsession”
So you should be OK on that front as they shouldn’t change from one system to anther.
This is true, however it is generated on first boot after install and will then remain stable irrespective of hardware changes there after. However if you then re-install after you have changed motherboard then a new appliance id will be generated. So if one is moving an existing install then no worries on the appliance id as it will move with the system disk and remain the same for the lifetime of that install.
thanks so much for your precious suggestions, when i have a bit of spare time may try and refer back but not sure if I do it, as I found configurations hidden in Zoneminder which lets me run and record HD streams with minimal cpu and ram usage.
i prefer to have cctv and media on 2 different servers. first of all, the Zoneminder rockon version is way behind and had some visual problem running it, and second, as one of my cameras is pointing to the street in front of the property, there could be occasions if something happens police just comes around and ask me for the server and don’t really want to hand over my digital life made of media, photos, videos to them. in this situation i would only remove the hard drive from the server with just the cctv footage, and have a spare back up hard drive with same system to replace it.