[mythtv-users] building a duplicate backend

Stephen Worthington stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz
Wed Jan 18 04:49:02 UTC 2023


On Tue, 17 Jan 2023 16:44:43 -0500, you wrote:

>On Tue, Jan 17, 2023, 4:19 PM Bill Meek <keemllib at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 1/17/23 14:56, James Abernathy wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Jan 17, 2023, 3:45 PM Bill Meek <keemllib at gmail.com <mailto:
>> keemllib at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >
>> >     On 1/17/23 14:17, James Abernathy wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      > On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 2:43 PM James Abernathy <
>> jfabernathy at gmail.com <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com> <mailto:
>> jfabernathy at gmail.com
>> >     <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >     On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 2:13 PM James Abernathy <
>> jfabernathy at gmail.com <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com> <mailto:
>> jfabernathy at gmail.com
>> >     <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >         On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 11:48 AM James Abernathy <
>> jfabernathy at gmail.com <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com>
>> >     <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com <mailto:jfabernathy at gmail.com>>>
>> wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >             On Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 11:10 AM Stephen Worthington <
>> stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz <mailto:stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz>
>> >     <mailto:stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz <mailto:stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz>>>
>> wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >                 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 <http://mythconverg_restore.pl> <
>> http://mythconverg_restore.pl <http://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.
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >             So does the mythexport/mythimport preserve metadata
>> for the recordings?
>> >      >
>> >      >             I might do that next time as this was more work than
>> I had anticipated. Since the backends had different names and different
>> >      >             hardware, mythtv-setup after the restore did the
>> usual crash 3 times until I got serious and ran mythtv-setup.real -v
>> >     most:debug and
>> >      >             that scared it into working. But I did have to do a
>> complete setup to get all the parameters right.
>> >      >
>> >      >             But in the end I have all the recordings with
>> metadata, and schedules on my travel backend. They will run in parallel for
>> a few
>> >      >             weeks before I leave and I'll move the travel BE to
>> my RV and set up the antenna system to the HDHR. I use Mobile Data and a
>> >      >             tethered AP/Router.
>> >      >
>> >      >             I'll have all the recordings on my production BE when
>> I return, but can delete the ones I've already seen on the travel BE.
>> >      >
>> >      >             Thanks, all,
>> >      >
>> >      >             Jim A
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >         Here's an odd one.  So I have the duplicate backend up
>> and running on my travel BE which is an Intel NUC.  Everything I've tested
>> >     works
>> >      >         and I can play all those recordings I did on the
>> production BE.  However, I installed Kodi and Kodi-pvr-mythtv and it can
>> launch
>> >     livetv,
>> >      >         but it can't play any of the previous recordings from the
>> old backend. mythfrontend can but not kodi. I looked in the log and it
>> >     can't
>> >      >         connect with the backend.  However, it connects fine for
>> all the new stuff. Even new recordings that get setup on the travel BE. Just
>> >      >         can play the ones brought over from the Production
>> backend.  I wonder what in the database is confusing the Kodi system.
>> >      >
>> >      >         Not a big deal since I'll probably use mythfrontend or
>> Leanfront on a FireTV most of the time, but Kodi is nice for videos and
>> music.
>> >      >
>> >      >         Jim A
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      >     It appears that the Recording Host is kept in the database.
>> If I look at the information "I" key twice in the List of recordings, my new
>> >      >     recording on the travel BE has its correct name.  The
>> recordings brought over had the Production BE name.  mythfrontend doesn't
>> care but
>> >      >     Kodi does.  Interesting.
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      > For those playing along at home:
>> >      > mysql> UPDATE recorded SET hostname = "den-pc";
>> >      >
>> >      > This set the hostname of all the old recordings to the new
>> hostname and now kodi works as well as mythfrontend.
>> >
>> >     Did you use the --change_hostname option of mythconverg_restore.pl <
>> http://mythconverg_restore.pl>?
>> >
>> >     --
>> >     Bill
>> >
>> >     ____________________________
>> >
>> >
>> > Unfortunately I not smart enough to have done that. But I think I
>> recovered nicely ?
>>
>> It's been a long time since I looked, but there are lots of tables in the
>> DB that
>> use the hostname. The settings table is a big user for example. I'd
>> consider retrying
>> the DB conversion. You'd need to re-do the capture cards as I saw the RV
>> host has
>> different ones.
>>
>> This list of tables using hostname is VERY old, don't use it to make
>> changes:
>> capturecard`
>> displayprofilegroups
>> housekeeping
>> internetcontent
>> inuseprograms
>> jobqueue
>> jumppoints
>> keybindings
>> logging
>> music_playlists
>> mythlog
>> netvisionsearchgrabbers
>> netvisiontreegrabbers
>> profilegroups
>> recorded
>> recordedartwork
>> scannerpath
>> settings
>> storagegroup
>> tvchain
>> videometadata
>> weatherscreens
>> weathersourcesettings
>>
>> --
>> Bill
>>
>
>I just remembered that there hasn't been any significant activity on the
>backend today so I could do another restore but this time with the right
>options. ?
>
>Jim A

I have never used --change_hostname myself, but from the help text, it
looks like you run it after you have restored the backup, as a
separate run of mythconverg_restore.pl, so I would just try running it
now.  Full help is here:

/usr/share/mythtv/mythconverg_restore.pl --help --help


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