Migrate from 0.8.6j to 0.8.7a - New Hardware and OS

[turlockaviator]

It's been a learning experience with a number of challenges maintaining my Cacti installation. I started at 0.8.6h if I recall, made it to 0.8.6j without too much hair loss. Needless to say, my Linux administration skills have improved (I'm no longer just a network manager).

So, here's the deal. Looking to migrate off of a Suse Linux Enterprise Server 10 running Cacti 0.8.6j to an Ubuntu 7.10 Feisty Fawn Server running Cacti 0.8.7a. We're talking about separate hardware here with fresh installation of Cacti 0.8.7a on the Ubuntu host (actually, this is all running on VMWare ESX guest hosts).

Haven't a clue where to begin. Would like to retain all of my historical data. So I'm guessing some sort of mysql backup and restoration as well as copying all my rrd files? How about plugins? Saw some mention somewhere that all plugins would have to be rewritten to support 0.8.7? I'm using PHP Network Weathermap, Thold, Superlinks, and a couple of other plugins. Certainly want to retain those.

I guess I'm wondering if there is any sort of documentation that might help me get through this and/or if anyone else has any advice.

Sure do appreciate the invaluable assistance these forums provide.

Thanks in advance...

Happy Holidays to ALL!!!

[fmangeant]

Moving to the proper forum.

[turlockaviator]

Which forum might that be?

Thanks!!!

[fmangeant]

This one

[turlockaviator]

I see the light!!!

Thanks. Hopefully my questions will garner some responses now that they're in the correct location...

[fmangeant]

Here's what I would do :

• copy your Cacti 0.8.6j directory from the Suse to the Ubuntu
• export your MySQL database from the Suse, and import it on the Ubuntu
• create a MySQL user on the Ubuntu
• check that Cacti 0.8.6j works on the Ubuntu
• upgrade to Cacti to 0.8.7a on the Ubuntu

That way, you can't break anything, as your Suse server won't be touched.

[turlockaviator]

Hmm, didn't look at it that way. Expected a migration to 0.8.7a through moving data and not the application itself would be cleaner. I'll have to see if I can make this work. If my suspicions turn out that many of my plugins won't work unless modified tor 0.8.7, I may end up sticking with 0.8.6j for a while as I don't really want to do all that work again.

Appreciate the help...

I'm looking forward to the day when there are automated scripts to do upgrades and a Cacti upgrade doesn't break anything else (i.e. plugins, existing scripts, etc.). Of course, if it was all that easy, then there wouldn't be a need for those of us with these skills sets.



Thanks again...

[TheWitness]

I am in full agreeent. Nothing like a challenge once and a while. Once we include the PIA into Cacti itself, we will be in better shape. We also have discussed process changes with some of the "key" plugin developers to avoid problems in the future.

TheWitness