Migrating from windows to linux.

[dnlmln]

Hi,

I've been running a dedicated, windows based, sagetv server with 2 MVP's for the past three years. This setup has worked flawlessly.

Since I'm a unix sysadmin by profession, I am tempted to migrate the sagetv server to Linux. I haven't decided on which distro but it will probably be debian.

I've got four WinTV-PVR-150 MCE tuners in the server right now as well as one WinTV-PVR-USB2 and one HDHomeRun (for OTA HD) I plan to add at a later date.

I also ordered the SageTV HD Media Extender STX-HD100 that I plan to use as soon as I receive it.

From what I've read in the forums, everything should work just fine with the possible exception of the HDHomeRun . Can anyone confirm this ?

I plan to migrate the wiz.bin from the windows server to the new linux based server. My GF will have my head if I mess with her recordings . Is there a documented procedure on how to do this?

Has anyone tried recording to an NFS mount point ? If so, does it work well ?

If the recordings stay local to the server, do I need any special mount options for the recording directories ?


Thanks

Dan

[bcjenkins]

I think when I moved from windows to linux I let the wiz.bin start over. The biggest challenge is replicating the path to the video files. You can always reimport tv shows with the web server add on.

B

your hw looks fine, I think the HDHR is now supported in 6.3.5 as well.

[dpackham]

you will also need a new license as the windows license is not transferable. tried to do that myself and was told i needed to buy a whole new package to move to Linux.

hope that helps
still running windows

Dave P

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

I think when I moved from windows to linux I let the wiz.bin start over. The biggest challenge is replicating the path to the video files. You can always reimport tv shows with the web server add on.

When I set up my Linux test system, I copied wiz.bin and my method to get around the path issue was to simply use Delete on all the recordings -- since the path didn't lead to anything, there were no actual files deleted, but the recordings were removed from the list. After doing that, you could move recordings to the Linux recording dirs & have them recognized.

- Andy

[bastafidli]

Andy, what distribution do you use?

Are the features the same between Windows and Linux? I do not have tuner on my server so I do not care about the recording portion at this time. In the future I would get whatever tuner works the best on that platform.

I am running HD media extender at this time with Windows trial running on dedicated headless server. I am deciding whether to go with Windows server or Linux server. Will the HD Media extender work the same way (play the same files) regardless of what platform the backend runs on or does it depends on some packages/libraries which must be manually downloaded/installed on the Linux?


Thank you

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bastafidli

Andy, what distribution do you use?

I just installed Gentoo, as the directions on the SageTV site show. But, don't expect many Linux answers from me, as I had help setting it up. Other people around here speak Linuxese more fluently.

Are the features the same between Windows and Linux?

Linux uses a Placeshifter client as its UI; there is a FAQ about the difference between SageTV Client and PS.

I am running HD media extender at this time with Windows trial running on dedicated headless server. I am deciding whether to go with Windows server or Linux server. Will the HD Media extender work the same way (play the same files) regardless of what platform the backend runs on or does it depends on some packages/libraries which must be manually downloaded/installed on the Linux?

As far as I know, it should work just about the same when connected to a Linux server as when connected to a Windows server.

One thing I noticed is that the Linux server takes longer to delete a file (or at least my install does), so when I delete a recording it sits for a while before continuing.

- Andy

[jpappas]

Originally Posted by Opus4

One thing I noticed is that the Linux server takes longer to delete a file (or at least my install does), so when I delete a recording it sits for a while before continuing.

I assume that you are using Ext3. I have have good experience with ReiserFS, but XFS is what I am using now (Both are not inode based, so they tend to handle large video files better). I would like to try running this on a Solaris box with ZFS/ZRAID, just to see, but I have no box to try it

Just .02 cents, albeit late!
John

[ecoolman]

Originally Posted by drewg

I saw Solaris mentioned in the poll, and that gave me hope that perhaps somebody is running the linux version in a linux environment on an OS which supports ZFS natively, like Solaris or FreeBSD.

Originally Posted by jpappas

I would like to try running this on a Solaris box with ZFS/ZRAID, just to see, but I have no box to try it

I'm a bit confused that two threads in a row (this and Distro/OS) make mention of wishing to try Sage on Solaris with ZFS when Sage has not been ported to Solaris (Solaris != Linux) ... if you guys are looking to test ZFS with SageTV, I would think OSX Leopard or ZFS on FUSE/Linux should be where you are looking.

Eric

[jpappas]

Originally Posted by ecoolman

I'm a bit confused that two threads in a row (this and Distro/OS) make mention of wishing to try Sage on Solaris with ZFS when Sage has not been ported to Solaris (Solaris != Linux) ... if you guys are looking to test ZFS with SageTV, I would think OSX Leopard or ZFS on FUSE/Linux should be where you are looking.

There are other options than native execution on Solaris. One could export ZFS via NFS or CIFS (Samba).

I understand that SageTV runs in a Java JVM. I am sure that the complete set of functionality would not be available (not to mention tuner driver availability/usability issues), but this aspect of my concept was only related to video storage methodologies, not actual implementation discussion.

I do not think that ZFS/Fuse would perform nearly as well as a native driver/userspace toolset, though.

I did forget that ZFS has been ported to OSX. I agree, that is a much more realistic possibility, as that introduces supported OS and Native FS implementation.

I wonder if any tests have been done with OSX/ZFS...

Thanks!
John