Hi all, I run a Synchronet BBS (mutinybbs.com) and I've been making regular backups but I will soon need to restore a backup because I plan to replace the IDE hard drive with a compact flash card.
A few years ago I ran this BBS on a Microsoft Virtual PC instance (running xp) and when I decided to move it to a dedicated box I tried to copy the syncrhonet directory tree from the virtual PC to the new PC and the system didn't seem to recognize that synchronet had been properly installed. I then did a clean install of synchronet and then dumped in my backup overwriting files where necessary but the board still didn't work properly.
I was wondering if, in addition to backing up the /sbbs directory tree should I also be backing up/restoring registry keys and if so which ones?
Have any of you Synchronet sysops had experience restoring from backup and if so can you give me some tips?

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þ Synchronet þ MutinyBBS.com port 2332

Re: Synchronet Backups?
By: Divarin to All on Wed Oct 21 2020 09:04:33

didn't seem to recognize that synchronet had been properly installed. I then did a clean install of synchronet and then dumped in my backup overwriting files where necessary but the board still didn't work

That *should* work and is really the best way to do it on Windows as far as I know.

Please have a good read-through of the Migration section here:

http://wiki.synchro.net/faq:misc#migration

I would suggest that you follow those instructions (which are basically what you did before) and then come here for help with any problems you encounter afterward. (With details and error messages re: anything that isn't working as expected.)

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echicken
electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com
þ Synchronet þ electronic chicken bbs - bbs.electronicchicken.com

Re: Synchronet Backups?
By: Divarin to All on Wed Oct 21 2020 09:04 am

Hi all, I run a Synchronet BBS (mutinybbs.com) and I've been making regular backups but I will soon need to restore a backup because I plan to replace the IDE hard drive with a compact flash card.
A few years ago I ran this BBS on a Microsoft Virtual PC instance (running xp) and when I decided to move it to a dedicated box I tried to copy the syncrhonet directory tree from the virtual PC to the new PC and the system didn't seem to recognize that synchronet had been properly installed.

Please provide details on what that means (error messages, log entries, etc.). Synchronet does not actually require "installation".

I
then did a clean install of synchronet and then dumped in my backup overwriting files where necessary but the board still didn't work properly.

Details?

I was wondering if, in addition to backing up the /sbbs directory tree should I also be backing up/restoring registry keys and if so which ones?

The registry settings are only for the visual settings/style of the control panel. No need to backup or restore the Synchronet registry settings.

Have any of you Synchronet sysops had experience restoring from backup and if so can you give me some tips?

Tip #1: provide details when reporting problems. :-)

digital man

Synchronet "Real Fact" #65:
Synchronet can dynamically compress and uncompress message bases (using LZH). Norco, CA WX: 72.1øF, 72.0% humidity, 3 mph NE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

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þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

On 10/21/2020 6:04 AM, Divarin wrote:

Hi all, I run a Synchronet BBS (mutinybbs.com) and I've been making regular backups but I will soon need to restore a backup because I plan to replace the
IDE hard drive with a compact flash card.

If you're doing this on an SBC (like the rPI), you're better off using a
USB3 to Sata adapter with a sata drive... I've seen several power
spikes, etc take out the flash drive in those kinds of computers more
than once. It doesn't happen all the time, just my own suggestion.

A few years ago I ran this BBS on a Microsoft Virtual PC instance (running xp)
and when I decided to move it to a dedicated box I tried to copy the syncrhonet
directory tree from the virtual PC to the new PC and the system didn't seem to
recognize that synchronet had been properly installed. I then did a clean install of synchronet and then dumped in my backup overwriting files where necessary but the board still didn't work properly.
I was wondering if, in addition to backing up the /sbbs directory tree should I
also be backing up/restoring registry keys and if so which ones?
Have any of you Synchronet sysops had experience restoring from backup and if so can you give me some tips?

I'd suggest upgrading to the latest version, with a clean install,
shutdown anything running, restore then start again. I haven't had much trouble migrating between systems. MY local windows install has files
from my test linux install that I had up before that locally. No reall issues, but not running everything.

--
Michael J. Ryan
tracker1 +o Roughneck BBS

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­ Synchronet ­ Roughneck BBS - coming back 2/2/20

Re: Re: Synchronet Backups?
By: Tracker1 to Divarin on Wed Oct 21 2020 17:02:34

If you're doing this on an SBC (like the rPI), you're better off using a USB3 to Sata adapter with a sata drive... I've seen several power
spikes, etc take out the flash drive in those kinds of computers more
than once. It doesn't happen all the time, just my own suggestion.

Nope this is a notebook computer designed for Windows XP. The XP installation that's on it has become unstable and I have periodic issues with it slowing to a crawl for a few minutes. I decided to re-install XP and since I wanted to go to a CF card as well it makes sense to do both at the same time.

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þ Synchronet þ MutinyBBS.com port 2332

Re: Synchronet Backups?
By: Digital Man to Divarin on Wed Oct 21 2020 13:42:27

Please provide details on what that means (error messages, log entries, etc.

I don't have any details sorry this is something I tried like 3 years ago. I'm not really reporting a problem I'm just asking for advice / best practices on backing up / restoring synchronet backups.

It sounds like just copying over the sbbs folder should be sufficent so if I have any issues there then I'll be sure to ask for troubleshooting with as much details as I can provide.

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þ Synchronet þ MutinyBBS.com port 2332

Re: Synchronet Backups?
By: Divarin to Digital Man on Fri Oct 23 2020 01:30 pm

I run my system on Windows Server and have a backup script run about 2AM every day which literally dumps the entire directory into a folder on another drive, sorted with the day name (too lazy to write a more complex script.)

The script will delete whatever data is present for the day in question when it runs, meaning I always have a rolling set of backups going back 6 days from the current date, just in case.

In all my testing experience, and based on the wordage of the wiki in various points, just dumping the data works fine, generally speaking. A complete backup can be dropped in place of an existing install and things will be fine - alternately, fresh installs overwritten with the backed up data.

Usual logic with backups applies of course, but the basic principle is solid - just dump the data for the backup, and dump it into the working directory if you need to restore from a backup.

You would of course need to reset the message pointers from VERT for Dove-Net messages, so you get back the ones you may have lost in the mean time before things went bad, and the same would need to be done for any other networks you're on in their own context, but yeah, to make it short,just copying the folder does work. :D
_____
Kurisu Yamato
www.xadara.com

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