Restore JSS via Time Machine

[pearlin]

All discussions of best practices aside, has any one attempted to restore a JSS from a Time Machine backup? Any success or horror stories out there? This is with regard to Mountain Lion server.

[Chris_Hafner]

I hate to reply without offering any useful info, especially since you asked we avoid 'best practice' discussions... but does anyone else have the spin tingling sensation upon reading this title? Whatever is prompting you to ask this, I feel for you.

[pearlin]

Let's just say that our JSS resides on a server that hosts all of the network accounts for our classroom environment, which is currently running Lion and is hosed beyond recognition (SUS doesn't work, neither does Profile Manager or even email alerts). In an ideal world, I would wipe the server and start from scratch. However, since I can't figure out a way to cleanly import the OD master backup into ML (without losing the passwords for all of the users), I'm planning to heave the ball down field and hope for the best...

What's the worst that could happen, right? I mean, our sever barely functions as it is, so how much worse can this make it?

[Chris_Hafner]

Well, OD on Mac is REALLY DANGEROUS in that sort of a situation I watched an old network admin remotely NUKE 250+ computers in a matter of moments trying something like that. Unfortunately, I'm no OD wiz so I don't have much for you there. However, restoring 'a' unit from the TM backup would bring it back up for you to at least get the JSS databases off and ready to install on a fresh box.

[pearlin]

The problem isn't with our JSS. Actually, it's working fine. The issue is with the Server services not functioning properly. So, the JSS is the innocent by-standard caught in the crossfire. The good news is that the network accounts are on a drive separate from the Server HD, but wiping the Server HD and performing a clean install will break the OD. I'm just hopeful that wiping the Server HD and restoring the pertinent data from a Time Machine back up, which will include the JSS data, will work. I know this isn't an ideal path to upgrade from Lion to Mountain Lion, but I don't really want to stick around in Lion, as it has been problematic from the start.

[jarednichols]

Do a separate database dump

mysqldump -u root -p > /path/to/databasedump.mysqldump

You can suck it back in later with another easy mysql command.

[pearlin]

If any one was wondering, the JSS restore from Time Machine wasn't a problem. It worked fine. As for the OS X server restore, that was a disaster. So, in the end, I had to pave anyways and perform a fresh install and JSS database restore.

[ted_brown]

I just did a Time Machine restore of Jamf 10.4/MacOS 11.13.4 (already existing external drive with the database) and had relatively no problem. "Relatively" because this was my first ever experience of an SSD drive failing (30 years experience and this machine ran for 5 years straight with maybe a dozen reboots). Swapped HDD in a Mac Mini, restore from Time Machine, off and running (after some updates). I am now attempting the same thing with the database...

[Chris_Hafner]

I had completely forgotten about this post. Good to hear!

Seriously though, back up your database and fresh install onto another machine. You can even cross platforms that way! Besides, the JSS is a relatively easy install on most platforms.

[alexjdale]

Yup, I love Jamf partially because it's so portable. If you have the database, you can quickly rebuild the JSS anywhere. Compare this to our SCCM infrastructure...