[mythtv-users] New server problems

[Mike Carron]

On 10/24/2014 10:03 AM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 10/24/2014 12:20 PM, Joseph Fry wrote:
>>>>>>> Further reading of the mythconverg_restore.pl material in --help
>>>>>>> --help convinced me that a partial restore was what I really 
>>>>>>> wanted.
>>>>>> No, that's not what you want.  There is never a reason to do a 
>>>>>> partial
>>>>>> restore of the database unless you have a corrupt schema and/or 
>>>>>> corrupt
>>>>>> data in certain tables (the ones that aren't included in the partial
>>>>>> restore).
>>>>> ***
>>>>> It may not be what I want but the description of the option
>>>>> --partial_restore clearly states that it is required when setting 
>>>>> up MythTV
>>>>> on new hardware. Is that not so?
>>>> Well, it shouldn't.  Long ago, that was the approach that was used.
>>>> We've since found out that it's completely useless.
>>> Actually, useless isn't the proper word.  It's beyond useless--it's
>>> downright dangerous.  It makes it extremely likely for 
>>> misconfiguration to
>>> occur (since most users don't necessarily know all the configuration
>>> options they've set over the years of using MythTV, and those that 
>>> do may
>>> not recognize where/how to set them with the changes to the 
>>> configuration
>>> system that have occurred since they originally specified them).  
>>> And at
>>> the end--though people once thought there was benefit--there's 
>>> absolutely
>>> no benefit to the process other than saving approximately 4-8kB of HDD
>>> space (not RAM, just space on the hard drive) in the MySQL data 
>>> files per
>>> host that was once used and is no longer used.  And, if all that's 
>>> changing
>>> is the name of the hosts (and not the number of hosts) in use, then the
>>> mythconverg_restore.pl --change_hostname option can be used against a
>>> full restore to make it so no space is saved.
>>>
>>> A much better process for new hardware setup is to do a full restore,
>>> then--if necessary--mythconverg_restore.pl --change_hostname (for all
>>> hosts whose name you're changing), then go into mythtv-setup and 
>>> "Delete
>>> all capture cards" (not "Delete all capture cards on<hostname>") and
>>> "Delete all video sources", then reconfigure just the TV capture 
>>> portions.
>>>
>>> I'll try to make some time to push a fix that removes the "new 
>>> hardware"
>>> stuff from the script documentation.
>>
>> Dangerous is an awfully strong word. A partial restore is appropriate in
>> some circumstances, the user just needs to understand when.  If the
>> objective is to preserve nothing but your existing recordings, rules, 
>> and
>> history... it's a great solution.  Only appropriate in a few situations
>> though, for example:
>>
>> a) you want to start over on a new build and clean out years of 
>> tweaks you
>> may have made, knowing that you may have to remake some of them.
>
> That's the point.  There's no benefit to this.  There is nothing 
> you've set that you can't unset--almost all settings are just user 
> options based on user preference and need not be configured any 
> specific way to get a working system, so clearing them out/setting 
> them to default doesn't accomplish anything other than changing the 
> way MythTV works from the way you prefer to the way "some else" 
> prefers.  And, more importantly, there's almost no situation at all 
> where something you had once set will need to be unset, with the small 
> exception being TV capture settings, but...
>
>> b) your entire environment changed such that starting over is easier 
>> than
>> cleaning up the old, for example you bought all new backend&  frontend
>> hardware and are moving from SD to HD sources (something I actually did
>> once)
>
> Delete all capture cards deletes *all* of the TV capture settings.  
> Delete all video sources deletes all of the channel configuration 
> (i.e. if you're moving to a new TV market or changing 
> cable/satellite/TV signal providers).  New backend and frontend 
> hardware (the non-capture portions) have no special settings compared 
> to previous hardware--as a matter of fact, other than capture 
> card/input/disecq settings, there really aren't any hardware-specific 
> settings in all of MythTV.  The closest to a hardware-related 
> non-capture setting is your video decoder choice in Playback Profiles, 
> but changing the Playback Profile Group is a simple change--and one 
> that would almost definitely need to be made even after setting it 
> back to defaults***
>
>> c) You are building out a box for a friend/family member and are
>> pre-loading it with content from your box.
> Well, since the only content that you could possibly be sharing--since 
> you wouldn't share any of the copyrighted content that you 
> time-shifted by recording (allowing *you* to watch the broadcasted 
> show at a later time)--is Video Library content, putting it on a new 
> system is simply a matter of putting it in place in the Videos Storage 
> Group.  And even if you do illegally share those copyrighted shows 
> (and please don't say so if you do since stealing is not what MythTV 
> is about and we don't allow discussion of it on list), you don't want 
> your recording history to prevent your friend/family member from 
> recording shows they want.
>
> The *only* situation where --partial_restore is the proper answer is 
> when you have a known-corrupt schema and/or known-corrupt data (in the 
> non-recordings/non-rules/non-recording-history parts of MythTV) and 
> you want to fix it/get back to a proper/working schema.  And if you 
> have known-corrupt data in some of the recordings-related parts of 
> MythTV, even a partial restore may not work--you may need to start 
> over from scratch.
>
> Mike
>
>
> *** And even if you've changed the example Playback Profile Groups, 
> you can reset them to defaults as described here: 
> https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Playback_profiles#Default_profile_groups 
> .  And if you want to reset your key bindings, just choose "Reset All 
> Keys to Defaults" in the mythfrontend Utilities/Setup|Edit Keys 
> section, and if you want to get rid of all Storage Groups, run 
> mythtv-setup on the master host and select DELETE ("D") on each 
> Storage Group listed and confirm the delete when prompted, and ...  
> The only settings we don't have a "reset to default" for (yet) are the 
> user-preference settings, and rather than resetting those to defaults 
> (someone else's preference) and trying to then find and set the ones 
> for which you had a different preference, it makes more sense to just 
> go through with your current preferences and see if there's anything 
> you'd like to change.
>
***
I decided to proceed with a full restore and unlike previous attempts 
this time appears to have been successful. I was able to change the 
DataBase IP from the old machine to the new one and it stuck. config.xml 
still shows localhost however.

Now for a few days of operating with fingers crossed and I'll be ready 
to make it the production MBE.

mike