Device mirror questions

hi-
I was looking at the instructions for setting up a mirrored device per https://github.com/syncloud/platform/wiki/Device-Mirror
but a few of quick questions before I start:
1 - do the devices need to be equivalent. in my case, I have a second system that is the same as the primary system. but just curious if it has to be matching.
2 - do I have to activate the second system thru syncloud.org?
3 - so if my primary system dies, what is the process for moving to the second system. the github page doesn’t say anything on this.

thanks
steve

1 - do the devices need to be equivalent. in my case, I have a second system that is the same as the primary system. but just curious if it has to be matching.

No.
Mirroring happens by transferring backups from primary device using Syncthing and then restoring them by schedule. Because backups are now cross platform there is no need to have the same type of device. Of course apps need to support both devices, for example Rocketchat is not supported on arm32. The whole arm32 will go away at some point.

2 - do I have to activate the second system thru syncloud.org?

Device has to be “activated” to know it’s dns name for apps to open correctly.
We have three modes, Free and Premium require an account on syncloud.it for public dns updates. The third one called Custom does not require such account and lacks automatic public dns (so you have to know what you are doing)

3 - so if my primary system dies, what is the process for moving to the second system. the github page doesn’t say anything on this.

Let me update the wiki, but in case of losing the primary device the procesure is this:

  1. Reactivate the secondary device on primary domain name (dns) so it becomes primary. Currently reactivation removes users so you will have to create them again (we need to fix that)
  2. Get a new secondary device (depends on what went wrong)
  3. Setup mirror backup again.

Just to clarify the disaster recovery plan, you do not have to do anything immediately after the disaster and just use secondary domain name. This is why I would suggest to have two working devices on free or premium plans:

Primary: name.syncloid.it
Secondary: name2.syncloud.it

And test from time to time that name2.syncloid.it is up and running. (Probably we could automate that in some form)

In case of ipv4 network it is impossible to have more than one device behind a roiter on the same https/443 port, so secondary will be internal only.

ah, got it. thanks.

1. Reactivate the secondary device on primary domain name (dns) so it becomes primary. Currently reactivation removes users so you will have to create them again (we need to fix that)

that would be the 1 hiccup in this

Device has to be “activated” to know it’s dns name for apps to open correctly.

activated, but external access not enabled. so my steps to move to the secondary device:

  1. reactivate the secondary device on primary domain name
  2. change router port 443 routing to secondary device
  3. enable external access

good to go… sounds good to me, thanks.

got everything set and running. devices sync’d. question though: on the secondary device it’s just syncthing installed and nothing else? if i need to move to the secondary device, i would still need to install the apps, correct? or does it make sense to just go ahead and install all the apps i use on the primary device, would that cause any problems?

thanks

Correct, you can install apps on secondary and they should start showing the mirror data because of auto backup restore mode enabled.

If you do not install them now it will be possible to install when primary dies as backups are all mirrored, but I would install now to check from time to time.

sorry, my dumb question. mirror data of course apps need to be installed…
from what i’ve tested so far, Nextcloud and Plex are good to go.
Bitwarden data doesn’t seem to show up. must be something in the settings for the location of the vault maybe?

What error do you get?

No error, just no data. I’ll play around a bit more when i get some time. I was mainly interested in Nextcloud and Plex. And those seem to be good.