Question: Moving SageTV Server to new computer

[sflamm]

I am moving my SageTV Server to another physical machine (will be 100% the same otherwise).
My recorded TV directory location is a UNC on my NAS.
I plan to keep the same recording directory (UNC path)

Can I just copy the wiz.bin from the old computer to the new? (or does the wiz.bin contain information about the server machine as well?)

If I need to set the "advanced_video_file_recovery=true" flag is it necessary that I move my recorded TV to another UNC location, or can I keep it in the same location?

Thanks in advance.

[robogeek]

I know others probably won't recommend it, but when I upgraded to a new motherboard and went from XP to WHS, I was able to copy the SageTV folder from the XP machine to the new WHS machine without issues. I did have to make some manual changes to the .properties files to correct some pathnames since I had SageTV installed to the D: drive on XP and the C: drive on WHS. Just look through each of the .properties files and make sure the pathnames are all correct for the new installation before starting up SageTV on the new machine. If you have complex stuff like SageMC UI, BMI, or the Jetty web server installed, copying the SageTV folder from the old machine to the new machine will spare you from having to try to install all of those things again.

Otherwise, yes, you can install and configure SageTV on the new machine and then shutdown SageTV and copy the wiz.bin file over to the new installation. As long as the recording directories and import directories pathnames are the same, you shouldn't need to do any of the video recovery stuff from the FAQ. Just keep a backup of the old SageTV directory so you have a copy of the old .properties and wiz.bin files if you notice something amiss.

[GKusnick]

See the FAQ.

[sflamm]

The FAQ doesnt cover the case where the new Server has the same UNC directory path. It assumes that the new Server will have a different storage location. In my case, the location is NOT changing - it is on my NAS at the SAME UNC location.

[nwboater]

Originally Posted by robogeek

I know others probably won't recommend it, but when I upgraded to a new motherboard and went from XP to WHS, I was able to copy the SageTV folder from the XP machine to the new WHS machine without issues. I did have to make some manual changes to the .properties files to correct some pathnames since I had SageTV installed to the D: drive on XP and the C: drive on WHS. Just look through each of the .properties files and make sure the pathnames are all correct for the new installation before starting up SageTV on the new machine. If you have complex stuff like SageMC UI, BMI, or the Jetty web server installed, copying the SageTV folder from the old machine to the new machine will spare you from having to try to install all of those things again.

Otherwise, yes, you can install and configure SageTV on the new machine and then shutdown SageTV and copy the wiz.bin file over to the new installation. As long as the recording directories and import directories pathnames are the same, you shouldn't need to do any of the video recovery stuff from the FAQ. Just keep a backup of the old SageTV directory so you have a copy of the old .properties and wiz.bin files if you notice something amiss.

I too am moving Sage from an XP machine to a new WHS server I just built. I sure do like the method robogeek used of just copying the SageTV file over to WHS. Do have some questions though:

1. On some other threads I have read of a SageTV for WHS. I guess Robogeeks method doesn't use this?

2. I have also read of needing to install Java with SageTV for WHS. Again I guess this doesn't need to be done with his method?

3. I have installed and have WHS running. Have two 1.5 TB drives. Changed drive 1 to 64 K clusters, but did not attempt to do it with drive 0 as it is the C & D drive. Should this be OK?

Thanks for any help.

Rod

[gplasky]

If you run Sage on WHS you want to get the .msi install and install is as a WHS add-in. DO NOT just run the .msi. Read up on WHS if you don't know how to install an add-in. (The .msi goes in the add-in directory and you install thru the WHS console.) If you do it any other way you will mess up the install.

Actually installing Sage for WHS installs the runtime version of java to the jre directory in SageTV. You won't see this install. To get the latest version of java you would need to download and install.

You will be fine with drive 1 as 64k. You don't want drive 0 64k because the OS is on there. As long as you have more than 1 drive then the D: drive does not have to be 64k.

Gerry

[nwboater]

Gerry,

Thanks very much for the prompt response. I do (as of this morning) know how to install an add-in. I did it for the "Disk Management" add-in. If I'm understanding correctly there are two ways for me to install Sage on WHS.

1. The way you are suggesting, by installing the .msi add-in. I take it this is a full version of Sage TV? And this will install a run timeversion of Java.

2. Copy all of my Sage folder over to WHS as RoboGeek did it. I will need to install Java with this method.

Thanks for the okay on my 64k formatting.

Rod

[robogeek]

Originally Posted by nwboater

Gerry,

Thanks very much for the prompt response. I do (as of this morning) know how to install an add-in. I did it for the "Disk Management" add-in. If I'm understanding correctly there are two ways for me to install Sage on WHS.

1. The way you are suggesting, by installing the .msi add-in. I take it this is a full version of Sage TV? And this will install a run timeversion of Java.

2. Copy all of my Sage folder over to WHS as RoboGeek did it. I will need to install Java with this method.

Thanks for the okay on my 64k formatting.

Rod

The WHS .msi is a full SageTV version but the SageTV Server only installs as a service. If you installed the standard Windows version on WHS, be sure to uninstall it before installing the WHS .msi so you don't confuse the WHS Console Addons and Add/Remove Programs apps. Since Java is installed with the standard Windows installer, I would assume WHS SageTV installer installs Java as well, but you'll probably want to go to java.com to get the latest release anyway since the latest Java release is probably not going to be included in the installer.

Another important note...if you install the latest version 6.6.2 on WHS, be sure that same version is installed on XP before copying your SageTV directory from XP to WHS.

Once Java and SageTV are installed on the WHS machine, you should be able to copy the SageTV folder from the XP machine to the WHS machine to carry over your SageTV plugins, configuration, and recording info. I had 2 PVR500 tuners in my XP machine and moved them over to the WHS machine using a completely different motherboard, and I didn't have to reconfigure any tuners after moving the configuration. Just be sure you have all pathnames (both local and UNC) set properly in the sage.properties and in the clients\*.properties files on the WHS machine before restarting SageTV after copying the configuration from XP to WHS. And keep a copy of your SageTV directory from your XP setup incase something goes wrong...that way you still have a valid wiz.bin database file to fall back on if bad things happen and your recordings end up listed as Imported Videos.

[nwboater]

Thanks very much Jason for all the info. Hate to say it but I'm still a bit confused. I haven't installed Sage yet on WHS, so at least don't have to deal with uninstalling it. But if I understand you correctly I should first install the WHS version of Sage (this is what is referred to as the .msi?).

After that is done I should copy over my SageTV folder to WHS. Wont this overwrite what I have just installed - the WHS SageTV? Or is that the idea? I then get all my settings copied over. I also find it also a bit confusing that there is a folder named SageTV within the SageTV parent folder. I trust you mean to copy over the parent (higher level) folder that contains everything?

In http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...t=38107&page=2 there is talk of needing to install Java with the WHS SageTV install. But that was back in April. Perhaps by now Sage is including it with the WHS installer. Just noticed Gerry's post above and it seems that Java is now included with WHS Sage.

And thanks for the tips re path names and backing up the Sage directory.


Rod

[robogeek]

Originally Posted by nwboater

Thanks very much Jason for all the info. Hate to say it but I'm still a bit confused. I haven't installed Sage yet on WHS, so at least don't have to deal with uninstalling it. But if I understand you correctly I should first install the WHS version of Sage (this is what is referred to as the .msi?).

That is correct.

After that is done I should copy over my SageTV folder to WHS. Wont this overwrite what I have just installed - the WHS SageTV? Or is that the idea? I then get all my settings copied over. I also find it also a bit confusing that there is a folder named SageTV within the SageTV parent folder. I trust you mean to copy over the parent (higher level) folder that contains everything?

The standard Windows version and WHS version of SageTV are essentially identical so the XP files are the same as the WHS files. Copying the XP SageTV directory won't harm the WHS installation. Just copy the C:\Program Files\SageTV directory from the XP machine to the same location on the WHS machine and overwrite all files.

In http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...t=38107&page=2 there is talk of needing to install Java with the WHS SageTV install. But that was back in April. Perhaps by now Sage is including it with the WHS installer. Just noticed Gerry's post above and it seems that Java is now included with WHS Sage.

And thanks for the tips re path names and backing up the Sage directory.


Rod

You can check the Add/Remove Programs control panel after installing SageTV to see if Java is installed. If it's not there, just grab it from java.com.

Another possible wrinkle in your migration...If your new WHS setup will see the existing recordings at pathnames that are different from your XP setup, then you may need to follow the FAQ regarding the procedures for moving recordings in order to get the recordings to be picked up properly under the new WHS setup.

[nwboater]

IT WORKS!!!

Followed Jasons approach and it's up and running. I still have to move my recordings over, and do a few other odds and ends, but that's minor in the scheme of things.

After installing Sage for WHS I checked in Add/Remove programs and Java wasn't there. So downloaded it from the Sun site.

Can't thank you folks enough for all your help.

BTW I originally started on the following thread for my server build: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44170 I switched over to this thread for the Sage installation because it was a lot about what I was going to do.

So thanks again!

Rod

[gplasky]

FYI
Just so you know java is actually installed in the WHS isntallation. You will find it in the \JRE directory under Program Files\SageTV\SageTV. It's not your standard java installation-it is the necessary runtime files. This runtime installation will give you a functional SageTV installation on WHS. Any upgrades for those files will need to be done with a regular download and install of java.

Gerry