Nick Howitt wrote:

]BMbackup backs up the same files as a Configuration Backup and a bit more. The config backup is created nightly with a rolling 10 files for history. They can be downloaded from the webconfig or are in /var/clearos/configuration_backup.

S'ok, I know what bmbackup saves - and I'm not interested in just 10 days configuration - I'm interested in the entire server. The backup lives on the PARENT server, and saves 2 VMs; the mail server, and a Windows 10 machine. By saving the entire VM means I can reinstate both within a matter of minutes on any machine that can support VirtualBox. Much better/easier than having to completely rebuild a COS box! Particularly as I then would need to set LetsEncrypt (amongst others!) up from scratch!

The version I've created also means I can recover files for a file server if one of the backups is corrupt due to a server crash (experienced ...) that I'd never be able to do with a single entry bmbackup - been there, done that ...

Richard George wrote:
AFA testing is concerned, I'm happy to test stuff - assuming I'm actually using/got the necessary hardware , but with regard to the ISO, not knowing what changed between the previous version that I'd used and the new one, it's a bit difficult .. it really needs some release notes so we know what's changed from the previous release. I've read the stickies you mention, but as I don't have the relevant equipment target, there's little point. Presumably there are people out there that have raised issues that were addressed?

There are no release notes for the iso. It is just a snapshot of the rolling updates at any particular point in time. All that needs to be done is a test install and a basic operation. I didn't test mine far enough to exerise the marketplace and there was a fatal bug introduced in 7.8 which didn't affect people doing rolling updates. Fortunately one person spotted it so I had to release another RC iso.

The 7.9 iso is being released today.

I've a modified BMbackup that rotates through 3 backups daily .. it's saved me when I had a corruption that killed the latest backup and I just reinstated the previous one (the corruption killed the VM/mailserver; if I didn't have the modified bmbackup I've have been dead in the water.

BMbackup backs up the same files as a Configuration Backup and a bit more. The config backup is created nightly with a rolling 10 files for history. They can be downloaded from the webconfig or are in /var/clearos/configuration_backup.

Ok, updates are run daily between midnight and 7 am. (well, 6.59...)

That explains why updates sometimes get skipped the mail server; I've got the backup on the parent (the VM being suspended ..) running from midnight. Think I'll tweak the mail server code so that updates are done around 23.00 when most of the family are asleep.

Might think about seeing what's needed to perhaps giving the user the ability to define when updates are actioned.

I'll look into the cron job aspect .. any idea what id it runs as?

RE: thread on updates; that's fine - I just wondered as I'd not seen anything.

AFA testing is concerned, I'm happy to test stuff - assuming I'm actually using/got the necessary hardware , but with regard to the ISO, not knowing what changed between the previous version that I'd used and the new one, it's a bit difficult .. it really needs some release notes so we know what's changed from the previous release. I've read the stickies you mention, but as I don't have the relevant equipment target, there's little point. Presumably there are people out there that have raised issues that were addressed?

I've a modified BMbackup that rotates through 3 backups daily .. it's saved me when I had a corruption that killed the latest backup and I just reinstated the previous one (the corruption killed the VM/mailserver; if I didn't have the modified bmbackup I've have been dead in the water.

AFAIK Software Updates are randomised and, I think, the cron job gets re-written when it runs so the timing changes every night. Sort of update server balancing.

I stopped the thread on weekly updates as I had to slow down with releasing as my work was redirected to issues to do with the ClearPHONE infrastructure. Also there seemed to be little community interest in doing the testing so I lost heart. It seems people want updates but are not happy to test them. I have even put up stickies for particular things I want testing and they go by without comment. Have a look at this ISO testing thread. One response in a month. The previous thread it replaced only had one person responding with results. When you think there are BIOS, UEFI and VM installations possible, when do we see that it is OK to release? We do some testing internally but there is no way we can cover all hardware/software combinations

It sits in a VM so I guess it's possible something glitched, but as far as I can see, the only indication that something happened was that the various services all went into the failed state. I couldn't initially figure out what was going on as everything appeared to be running when I tried the webapp, but IMAP access was throwing an error. I then thought I'd check the services and found that the server and webapp services were running, but the others were all stopped. Probably just me, but thought I'd ask the question. I'll watch what happens on future updates - which incidentally I haven't seen any notifications recently .. ?

The VM is suspended every night and backed up in case of a complete failure, so I often see updates not completed .. the automatic update doesn't appear to work during the day .. what time is it normally scheduled to kick in? - maybe that's my underlying problem .. that is clashes with the down time.

Odd. This is the first report of it and the update was pushed a month or so ago. Is there anything in the logs to indicate what happened? Right at the end of the upgrade it should restart all services if they were running.