restoring to new hardware with extra nic. Problem?

[bradbarnes]

I am restoring a backup to new hardware. The new box has 3 nics and the old box has two. Before I run this is could someone tell me if there will be a problem or conflict? My hope is that it will just pick any two cards and just config them.

Thanks in advance

[johnsonx42]

when you go into config->networking->interfaces, it will tell you that the interfaces have changed, and you'll need to confirm the configuration; you'll also have a chance to remap the interfaces to match how you have them plugged in. it's the same basic procedure as when you first setup untangle.

[sky-knight]

Yeah, and it will happily fall on its face right after that. I've restored four servers in the last month, and two of them I can confirm didn't get configured properly afterward. Untangle is not reconfiguring something quite right... I was able to get mine fixed to limp by, I'll be working with UT support Monday to see if we can't nail this down.

But suffice to say, this procedure doesn't always work. The only time backup/restore always works, is on the same hardware.

[johnsonx42]

So far I've not had a problem doing such trickery, but I'll admit the obvious that I've done ever so slightly fewer of these than sky... ok, maybe a LOT fewer. I've previously taken a backup from a VMWare UT and restored it onto a new physical box, and then ended up rebuilding that box with a different hard drive and restored the backup again; later I built another UT just for testing and booted up with the original hard drive from the first box with a completely different motherboard (which had not only different NICs, but only 2 instead of 3), all without signifcant fanfare. However it's no surprise to me that sometimes it doesn't work right.

I'm curious to hear from bradbarnes how it went.

[sky-knight]

Do it with a current version just as a test.

I've got three desktops here I've put two of those dual port Intel's in that gotkimchi is selling on these forums. Fresh installation, working well. Pulled those two interfaces, replaced them with two more, ran the refresh and the box fell over.

I've also had four servers in the last month fail over thanks to interface failures or hardware differences on restore. Something is quite wrong with 8.1.1. Perhaps this is an issue that stems from old systems, all four servers that bailed have been around since the 5.x days. I have no clue what's going on, but it hurts... and given the impending elimination of the 7 interface limit... this has me rather worried.

We have new hardware coming that is modular, we can upgrade a unit from one interface count, to another interface count, or even swap copper interfaces for fiber or something else.