Upgrade from 3.x to 4.0 >>> Saving/Restoring for the upgrade

[Marinerdevil]

I would like to upgrade from 3.3-1 to 4. I have read the instructions in the Proxmox Wiki and it seems straightforward but I have a couple of elementary questions about doing this via a new installation. Currently, I only have one VM (that I am concerned about) running. It is a Sophos UTM and it is running on a HDD that is passed through to the VM. The Proxmox VE iso was installed on a SSD and is the only thing currently running on that SSD (except Rockstor, which is not completely set up and I don't mind if I have to reinstall it). This is a personal setup so down time is only an inconvenience.

My questions are:

1. "Save all files from /etc/pve/... on a save place" >>> what does this mean? I have an idea but am not sure. And secondly, where do I save it to?
2. "Restore /etc/pve/storage.cfg" >>> restore it from where?
3. Is there a way to get back to a previous working state if I poopoo the upgrade?Thanks for the help.

 

[wolfgang]

Hi,
to be sure everything is working strait forward please update first to PVE 3.4.
This can be done with

apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade

1. Save it on as USB or external HDD or NAS.
2. you have to restore the storage.cfg what you saved in 1.
3. No

I think in you situation it is easier to make a clean installation.
There you have only backup all you VM/CT and install new.

 

[Marinerdevil]

Ok got it, Thank you. I know this was a very basic and rather obvious process but I want to be crystal clear on what to do........Two follow up questions.>>>> 1.)Where do I store the backup of the VM I want to save (Local, network, USB, other)?>>>> 2.)What is contained in the storage.cfg file?

 

[dragonslayr]

Ok got it, Thank you. I know this was a very basic and rather obvious process but I want to be crystal clear on what to do........Two follow up questions.>>>> 1.)Where do I store the backup of the VM I want to save (Local, network, USB, other)?>>>> 2.)What is contained in the storage.cfg file?

Do you not have backups already?
Anyway, My motto is always give yourself a way out.

We cannot tell you where to put the backup, because we do not know what you have. If you have another linux machine, just rsync it.

Or a usb drive.
1. Backup to a usb drive
2. Shutdown the vms and do something like this: rsync -av /var/lib/vz/images/ /mnt/usbdrive/ (This gives you a second manual copy of the vms.)
3. Remove the drive in the machine now (This gives you yet another backup for safety) Keep in mind, I usually just do the new install on a new machine altogether.
4. make a copy of /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/hosts (Makes the new install easy if you have those settings.)
5. When you restore the backup to the new machine, if it's kvm qcow2 etc..

Below command restores the vm to the proper location. You can change the id at the end to give it a new id if you wish. I like the id to be the last 3 numbers of the ip address of that vm.
qmrestore vm-100-disk-2.qcow2 110
You can practice this on the machine you have now and you will have effectively made a clone of the vm which should run fine.
If you need help to format the usb drive, just say the word and we'll help.

I've rambled on here, but it really would help if you tell us what you'd like to back it up to.. usb network, etc..

 

[Marinerdevil]

OMG...WHAT A CLUSTER@#$%! I tried everything possible to break my PVE with a simple upgrade to 3.4. Evidently Proxmox is pretty noob resistant and I was able to get it done. Lesson 1 learned>> don't stop your router VM to do the update if that is the way your PVE has access to the internet, duh. In my defense the official PM instructions say to shut down running VM's. Lesson 2 learned>>>don't forget to unplug any HDD that were left over from an abandoned project, I think. Well at least after doing that things updated lickitysplit. This is how things usually go for me when "enjoying" my hobby, yet I persevere.

@Dragonslayer, please I would greatly appreciate a little help.

OK, with that out of the way what I want to do is:

1. Back up my two VMs to a USB stick. I would like to retain all of the settings associated with the respective VM's especially networking (suggestions for anything else will be greatly appreciated). I currently have backups made from within each application using the backup feature in the application itself. I do not have a backup of the VM itself made from within Proxmox.... As I indicated in my initial post, one VM is on a HDD that passed through. At least I think that's what I did. It works so something must be right.
2. Upgrade to 4.0 via a nice new shiny install>>>>are there any setting for the host that need to be backed up or taken note of?
3. Restore VMs from above USB stick to get the same functionality I had before the upgrade.
4. Enjoy!

At least in my noob mind that's what I am envisioning. If this not how it works, I can accept that also.

Please keep in mind I am not a even remotely skilled at this kinda stuff and it is a hobby for me, so I may need a little hand holding. With that said I ain't scared and I don't mind trying an learning. So, if I break something it will only piss of the kids.

Thanks again for help'n a noob out!

Oh, and I did purchase a subscription

 

[dragonslayr]

Busy at the moment, but do have a question, how big is the usb stick and how big are your vm's?

 

[Marinerdevil]

I have a 16 gb USB3

How do I determine the size of my VM's ?

wait does this help,

 

[dragonslayr]

I have a 16 gb USB3

How do I determine the size of my VM's ?

wait does this help, View attachment 3107

Looks reasonable. I might have gone to /var/lib/vz/images/id and done ls -all
on them. But it looks as if the gui has you figured out.
Now then, I'm going to let you google on how to mount that drive as I've never mounted a usb stick from the command line. Heck I've never stuck a usb stick in a server.

Here's what I'd do on a usb hard drive.. It's likely the same.
fdisk -l and figure out which device it is. Probably will say it's fat or dos or maybe even ntfs
Then
WARNING, MAKE SURE YOU ARE DOING THIS TO THE CORRECT DRIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mkfs -t ext4 -q /dev/sd?1 -L proxmoxbackup
Then
mkdir /mnt/usbstick
Then mount it by label
mount -L proxmoxbackup /mnt/usbstick

When you have this mounted, you can go back to the proxmox gui and add it to the storage, then back up to it.

Note to others, if there is an easier "proxmox" way, feel free to jump in..

 

[Marinerdevil]

@dragonslayr

haven't punched out...just crazy busy, all of a sudden, and no time to implement your suggestions...I will though!

 

[Marinerdevil]

Ok, here's where I am.

learned how to mount and make FS's, got more comfortable using the terminal. Which is a good thing.

So, I created a backup usb and got it show up in the GUI. WOOOHOOO. I backed up one VM no problem, so I know the dragonslayrs instructions where right. This VM lives on the actual boot disk (local/shared disk, whatever you call it) for the PVE. My other VM has its own HDD and boots from its own drive, not the boot drive for the PVE.

So here's the new problem. When I try to backup the VM, that lives on his own HDD, to the USB the USB runs out of room fast. See below.


This HDD is 250 Gb's and the USB is 16 Gb. I don't think the VM and its associated data is using that much space but guess it is.

So I guess I am back where I started. How do I backup this VM so that can restore it in the new PVE4? If possible. Do I need a backup drive that is equal in size?

Since it is only one VM I don't mind re-installing the whole shebam, and the kids will have to get over the downtime, since it's the router for our LAN.

OK so.....

Can I just backup all of the files suggested above without making an official backup of the VM. Create a new VM then re-install the application in that new VM and restore the application from the application's backup. Then copy the suggested files above back to where they were. As I indicated (probably multiple times) my main interest is retaining the VM settings primarily networking.

 

[Marinerdevil]

Hold the phone!

Think I got it. Formatted a 1TB in ext4, mounted that dude and trying to backup to that. It's working on it now.

-that did the trick. No wonder the backup to the USB failed, the backup is 92GB!

 

[Marinerdevil]

Got it upgraded!

However, backup didn't work. Not a big deal just re-installed application and restored that backup. Worked out better.

Now if I can just get a HDD passed to a KVM I would be happy.


Thanks again for the help.