[mythtv-users] Move to new master backend

[Michael T. Dean]

On 11/18/2009 03:05 PM, Mark J. Small wrote:
> On November 18, 2009, Gerald Brandt wrote:
>   
>> ----- "Jim Stichnoth" wrote:
>>     
>>> On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 11:10 AM, Mark J. Small wrote:
>>>       
>>>> I'm planning to move my current mythtv backend to a new box. What is
>>>> the best method? Do I simply back up the database, install myth on the
>>>> new box, copy the existing recordings and restore the database there?
>>>>         
>>> Basically correct, except you need to do something special if the
>>> hostname is changing.
>>> http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-23.html#ss23.14
>> I just did such a move. The poster above, by mentioning hostname, means the
>>  hostname entered into mythtv-setup, and not necessarily the systems
>>  hostname. I, for example, always used the systems IP address instead of
>>  the hostname, so I didn't do anything special when I went to a new IP.
>>  However, myth uses the data in the hostname field for look ups in
>>  recordings, rather than going directly to any storage. It is this hostname
>>  that must stay the same, and resolve to the current (even different) IP
>>  address.
> Thanks that's good to know.  The beauty of a well designed system is that 
> complicated tasks are easier than expected. 

Actually, you don't specify a hostname in mythtv-setup.  You specify an 
IP address.  Myth always pulls the hostname of the current system using 
libc and uses it as a unique system identifier for the settings 
(including the IP address you specify).

There is, however, a (poorly-named) LocalHostName /override/ in 
config.xml/mysql.txt that allows you to say, "Use this value as a unique 
identifier of my system instead of using my hostname."  Unless you 
specify this override, you /must/ do a hostname change as described if 
your hostname--or even the /value/ returned by the hostname 
command--changes.

What do I mean, "or even the value..."?  Well, depending on how you or 
your distro has configured your system, your hostname may be reported as 
a "short hostname" (i.e. myhost) or a fully-qualified hostname (i.e. 
myhost.mydomain).  If you go from a system that returns fully-qualified 
to a system that returns short, you /must/ do a hostname change.

Mike