[mythtv-users] building a duplicate backend

[Stephen Worthington]

On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 09:07:44 -0500, you wrote:

>I want to confirm what I think I need to do to create a duplicate backend
>so I can take it with me.
>
>My production backend has a lot of TV recordings that I have not
>watched yet. I thought I would take a snapshot of my production backend
>with me.
>
>Both my production backend and traveling backend are v32 on Ubuntu 22.04
>derivative Distro's.
>
>I think all I have to do is move the contents of the production backend
>Storage Group directories to the same relative directories on the traveling
>backend and then take a backup of the production mythconverg database and
>restore that to the traveling backend's database.
>
>Since the tuner hardware on the production backend is a Hauppauge WinTV
>Quad PCIe card and the traveling backend is HDHomeRun tuners, I have some
>setup work to do but am I missing anything else?
>
>Jim A

If you want fully identical duplication, you can backup the production
database and restore it on the traveling machine.  But that means that
you will need to have both machines using the same hostname and
possibly also the same IP address.  This makes it difficult to have
both machines on the same network.  It is better to use different
hostnames and use the --change_hostname option of
mythconverg_restore.pl to change the hostname when doing the database
restore.

Personally, I use my laptop as my traveling machine, and it has two
hard drives in an external dual USB mount that I just transfer
recordings onto to take with me.  I use mythexport/mythimport to do
that.  So the laptop has an independent setup and just gets imported
recordings added to its database.  There is no way I would want to
take my production box's hard drives away with me, as I need them on
that box doing recordings while I am away.  My laptop is capable of
recording using a couple of USB tuners, but I rarely do that as two
drives of recordings is quite enough for a few weeks away from home.
And if I am staying somewhere there is decent enough Internet, I can
just download some new recordings from home and import them.  I run an
OpenVPN server on my home network and VNC servers on each PC so I have
full control of the PCs at home as long as I have even a basic
Internet connection.  The four drives that store my videos, photos,
music and so on are on a quad SATA/USB drive carrier that I can just
disconnect from the production system SATA port and plug into the
laptop via its USB port, so I also take that with me.  One of the USB
tuners has an IR receiver onboard, so I can use an IR remote just like
at home, and I have a long HDMI cable to plug into any big screen that
is available.  But the laptop has a 17" screen anyway, so it is fine
for a couple of people to watch at the same time.