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Friendica install/configuration question

@Friendica Admins
Hello,

A couple years ago, I had a running friendica node. After an upgrade, it stopped working.

I am back to try again:)

I have 2 questions for the moment to get things going:
1 - Can I use the same domain and user name as my old friendica server as I did back then? I recall someone saying that their might be issues because the new server would not have the same "signature" or some identifying thing(a node number maybe). Is this true?
2 - I also recall that by default, that some kind of data is stored by a publicly visible location, and you need to point the data storage location to a folder outside the visible folder. I did that before. Is if still this way by default?
3 - Because the data was regularly changing(because it was inflowing message form the social media feeds), it tended to take up a lot of space. My old back ups of my system were 15GBs. I wan to move the data off my friendica server, and put it on my NAS. The idea was to redirect the folder location to a folder on my NAS. It is just a cable/switch/cable away, so it is a local server being used for it) Will this cause any issues for friendica? Will the delay between the friendica server and the NAS cause issues of their own?

Thanks for any and all assistance. I want to do this a better than last time:)

Joseph

@Friendica Admins

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utzer [Friendica]
utzer [Friendica]
• •

@Joseph Hogan

  1. better don't use the same domain. Just use a sub domain oder another sub domain.
  2. Maybe the media folder? I like to use the database storage, that way the database gets big, but backups and restores are fast and easy. The downside of storing media on the SSD for me is that backup and restored will have to read/write millions of folder and files, while the DB is just a continues file per table.
    But I am sure others will have different opinion.
    Maybe use database for storage at first, you can change that later.
  3. Not sure what what you mean here. Storing some data in a mount on your NAS? Well the you need to ensure it is always available and the switch never dies. I think the 2ms round trip do not matter.

If your server has plenty of memory and storage start easy and keep all local and use database for storage. It can all be changed later.

Look into borg backup or something like that. Do backups daily at least and always before you fiddle around in the system.

@Joseph Hogan

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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@utzer [Friendica]

What do you mean by SSD?

When setting up the system, where does it talk about using a DB vs folders for storage? There is a guide/manual?

@Michael Vogel @Andy H3 Anyone else have an opinion about using the DB vs folders for storage?

Thanks

@Michael Vogel @Andy H3

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Michael Vogel
Michael Vogel
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I appreciate the storage in the database, since you can quickly run into permission problems, when you - for example - use different users for the command line and the web server.

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utzer [Friendica]
utzer [Friendica]
• •

@Joseph Hogan @Michael Vogel @Andy H3 SSD or HDD in the meaning of what actually holds the files/data.

The storage backend is just a setting in /admin/storage, also the existing items can be moved from Database to Filesystem.

There is some add-on that allows other storage backend I think.

Does that help?

@Michael Vogel @Andy H3 @Joseph Hogan

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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@utzer [Friendica] @Michael Vogel
OK, HDD and SSD(physical or memory chip based hard drive)

The setting for where the data is stored, makes sense.
If the setting i changed, does friendica move the data for you if you change the setting? You just need it to process the files, and it will take awhile?

By default, how is it set up? Seems to me that the DB storage has its advantages.

@Michael Vogel
This entry was edited (4 months ago)

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utzer [Friendica]
utzer [Friendica]
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@Joseph Hogan @Michael Vogel @Andy H3 default is DB I think. Transfer for existing items is semi automatic, you need to run a command in CLI that will move files.
@Michael Vogel @Andy H3 @Joseph Hogan

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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Thanks. This is good to know. I'll note this and get in touch when/if the time comes.

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Michael Vogel
Michael Vogel
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You will run into issues with Diaspora-Connections when using a handle that existed before. Concerning the NAS: Can you run a database server directly on it?

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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@Michael Vogel
I justnoticed that I can not use the same handle either?

my old address was: smokinjo@social.mmaj.ca
My new domain might be:
smokinjo@local.mmaj.ca

I can use the same handle, but on a new domain, right?

Thanks

@Michael Vogel

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Andy H3
Andy H3
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Welcome back @Joseph Hogan ! 🙂

Start your server by using the DB table as a storage backend for photos. Once it is up and running, you can look into storing photos in a directory on your file system such as /var/storage/.

I'm not sure if pointing the storage backend to a NAS drive will work. I think, there are (experimental) backend options like AWS.

@Joseph Hogan
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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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@Andy H3
You mention using the DB for photos.

What other data needs to be stored, and where is it stored? Can the location of this other data be changed when needed as well?

@Andy H3

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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@Michael Vogel @utzer [Friendica]
@Andy H3@friendica.hubup.pro

I get the message. I will change the domain name. This is an easy decision. Thanks.

Let me explain the idea behind the externalizing the storage.
I am using a VM for the friendica server. I thought that minimizing the server, which remain stale in size, with the exception of media and social media streams. Having a NAS in the same network, I wanted to use it.

With the media and social media posts storage being a large space, it grows larger and larger. I want to avoid running out of space on my server. I've had this happen, and freeing up the space, and resizing the HD is an inconvenience and down time the server

Can I limit the amount storage, so the server do not fill up? Or, does this more mean Illimit the number of days of stored data?

I see that @utzer [Friendica] and@Andy H3 suggest using the DB for photos. It can be moved later. This is noted. I'll come back later for guidance on this.

@Michael Vogel asked about can my NAS run a DB, and th e answer is we are not sure. I am using TruNAS, and we are seeing if mysql or maria db is available as an application for trunas. Anyone with experience?
I think, to simplify things, that I can start by keeping everything local, then later, if/when needed/desired, it can be moved.

If one was to have a dedicated VM for friendica, as in my case, what would be a spec for it?

2CPU and 2 cores?
8GB Ram?
50GB HD?

I know that there is the following to consider:
1 - ubuntu will take upa minimum or space - 3-4 GBs form what I have seen.
2 - ubuntu allocated space that is unusable by the system, so this space is lost
3 - the amount of RAM affects the HD space (from what I was told)
4 - My last system back up files were 4GBs for the DB and 11GBs for the friendica folder. Is this normal? This needs to be factored into the overall HD need.

I also want to make sure that the VM does not become super large and is managable.

Thanks for any comments and ideas.

Joseph

@Michael Vogel @Andy H3

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Michael Vogel
Michael Vogel
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You can disable the avatar cache. This will reduce the needed space very much. But this will lead to longer page loading times.

Concerning the size of the VM I delegate this question to people with small installations.

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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Thanks @Michael Vogel

Can you point to the install manual where ti shows how to set this up?

This way, I can know how to turn it on and if the need arises.

Thanks

@Michael Vogel

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Andy H3
Andy H3
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@Joseph Hogan It's in the admin panel. Once your node is running, you can adjust this setting.
@Joseph Hogan

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Michael Vogel
Michael Vogel
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The admin grew quite a lot in the last version. I added a bunch of previously hidden gems there.

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Andy H3
Andy H3
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2CPU and 2 cores?
8GB Ram?
50GB HD?

@Joseph Hogan I think that's sufficient for a small installation.

@Joseph Hogan

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Joseph Hogan
Joseph Hogan
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Thanks @Andy H3

I'll start with this. I'll adapt as I go/grow where needed. When it is time to get bigger, I can look at ways of making my server larger, or using external storage for part of my data.

@Andy H3

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