Save all Settings in an external Files ???

[DeeJayOne]

Hello,

I haven't found any "save" and "Restore" options in the Squeeze Center Settings menus.
This feature could be usefull to save all settings in a external file that could be recall to restore them later (after an new server application installation...)

Could this feature be add in a next software version ?

Regards

[pski]

Hello,

I haven't found any "save" and "Restore" options in the Squeeze Center Settings menus.
This feature could be usefull to save all settings in a external file that could be recall to restore them later (after an new server application installation...)

Could this feature be add in a next software version ?

Regards

Welcome to the fun!

Normally, updating SBS does retain all the previous settings. They are saved in files ".prefs" which are normally in the \program data\squeezebox directory.

There is a dangerous option in the SBS control panel program that allows you to throw-away your preferences.

P

[JJZolx]

I haven't found any "save" and "Restore" options in the Squeeze Center Settings menus.
This feature could be usefull to save all settings in a external file that could be recall to restore them later (after an new server application installation...)

Could this feature be add in a next software version ?

You shouldn't have to do any kind of restore when upgrading. All settings are left intact by the upgrade process.

But if you want to back things up for whatever reason, it's pretty simple. You only really need to save the contents of the "prefs" folder. Server settings are all kept in the server.prefs file. Logging settings are kept in the log.conf file. Plugin preferences are all contained in the plugins subfolder located below the prefs folder.

If you also want to backup your playlists then also backup the contents of the playlists folder.

There are also a logs folder and a cache folder. No need to backup the logs. And there's usually little need to backup the cache folder, where the Squeezebox Server database and things like cached artwork thumbnails are located. Both are easily recreated by running a full library rescan. If your system is really slow at running a scan then it might be worthwhile to backup the cache folder so that if you needed to restore from a backup you wouldn't have to run a new scan.

[SteveC]

Scuse me - I've been putting off an update to 7.5.1 because of this. IIRC in the past there was a step in the guidance web page where one is recommended to run some kind of cleanup utility before installing the new SBS. Are you saying in effect to skip this step if one wants to keeps settings, preferences etc across a server update, or what?

[Mnyb]

Scuse me - I've been putting off an update to 7.5.1 because of this. IIRC in the past there was a step in the guidance web page where one is recommended to run some kind of cleanup utility before installing the new SBS. Are you saying in effect to skip this step if one wants to keeps settings, preferences etc across a server update, or what?

Depnds on platform in this tread windows ,

If you got a NAS then the cleanup might be needed also historically 7.3 to 7.4 on some linux has demanded clean installs to really work.

And Logitech do recomend clean installs on linux or NAS systems .

But incremental upgrades may work just fine like 7.5.1 to 7.5.2 or within the same beta is usually not a problem, larger version jumps can be a problem.

it is usually the dB thats is the problem but sometimes prefs can be incompatible too.

But some NAs platforms are very touchy so if it is recomended to do it cleanly I would do that maybe copying over my old server.prefs file after wards just to try.

[DeeJayOne]

Hello,

In my case, I use the SqueezeBox Server application on a NAS (SYNOLOGY DS207+) and it's not an easy way to locate and save the Prefs Folder Files of the SqueezeBox application.

I think that adding a function as saving and restoring all settings into/from a single file should be usefull in this case.

Regards

[aubuti]

In my case, I use the SqueezeBox Server application on a NAS (SYNOLOGY DS207+) and it's not an easy way to locate and save the Prefs Folder Files of the SqueezeBox application.
Actually it's easy to locate the prefs folder. Go the SBS web ui, and click "Settings" in lower right corner. Click on the "Information" tab and scroll down to near the bottom of the page. There it is under "Preferences folder". You may also want to copy files in the "Plugin folders", which are listed immediately below the Preferences folder.

Copying and restoring them is a straightforward file copy operation. Note that you should stop the SBS server both when copying your older prefs folders and when overwriting the default files on your new installation.

[Mnyb]

Actually it's easy to locate the prefs folder. Go the SBS web ui, and click "Settings" in lower right corner. Click on the "Information" tab and scroll down to near the bottom of the page. There it is under "Preferences folder". You may also want to copy files in the "Plugin folders", which are listed immediately below the Preferences folder.

Copying and restoring them is a straightforward file copy operation. Note that you should stop the SBS server both when copying your older prefs folders and when overwriting the default files on your new installation.

Ok what he meant was not being able to ssh or scp to the NAS (how did you install sbs on NAS that demands linux knowledge)

Now for example if I want to backup my router settings (wrt54gl with tomato)
I can do that in the web-UI and and a backupfile (archive of some kind) land in my home directory or my desktop .
Neat.
Thats the functionality these people want .
Retrieve settings to and from and to their headless box :)

If sbs is running on your regular PC anyone can find the files themselves if it where properly documented somewhere which it is not.
The location of the files is very well documented.
But not exactly which files you should pick for a complete backup of all your settings this is not clearly outlined anywhere I easily can find.

Is there a bug for this request in bugzilla yet ? http://bugs.slimdevices.com/

If it where a button click in the web-UI it would save every person thats wants to backup his/hers sbs settings some hours googling and registering in this forum and searching the forum (which don't work to well) and finally making a post about it. Then 2-3 hours or possible 2-3 days to wait for an answers and then have the faith to believe some strangers instead of an officially documented way. Having it on the basic settings page under the scan settings would be nice

[aubuti]

Yes, I understand what the user wants, although when saying he/she couldn't "locate and save" I take it at face value: the user can't even find the files first. I was merely saying that while waiting for that magic button to appear on the UI, there is an easy way to do it. Moreover, OP has never said he/she has any problems using linux, so no reason to assume that. And for that matter, WinSCP doesn't require any linux knowledge whatsoever.

[simanski]

Actually it's easy to locate the prefs folder. Go the SBS web ui, and click "Settings" in lower right corner. Click on the "Information" tab and scroll down to near the bottom of the page. There it is under "Preferences folder". You may also want to copy files in the "Plugin folders", which are listed immediately below the Preferences folder.

Copying and restoring them is a straightforward file copy operation. Note that you should stop the SBS server both when copying your older prefs folders and when overwriting the default files on your new installation.

I'm running SBS on DS211j and I don't see that button you are refering to in my web ui.. The actual problem I have is that many of the settings I change do not get saved. I suspect that the file where these settings are store has no write access for the application...
Thanks for any feedback...

[aubuti]

I'm running SBS on DS211j and I don't see that button you are refering to in my web ui.. The actual problem I have is that many of the settings I change do not get saved. I suspect that the file where these settings are store has no write access for the application...
Thanks for any feedback...
I never said anything about a "button". Point your browser to http://<NAS_IP>:9000/ , but substitute the real IP address of your NAS in place of <NAS_IP>. That's the SBS web ui. Look in lower right corner of the screen and there is the word "Settings", which is a hyperlink to the SBS settings page. It will have several "tabs" across the top. The furthest one on the right is labeled "Information". Choose that one, and scroll to the bottom to find the location of your log files. Post back here if you still can't find it.

It does sound like a permissions issue, and if that is the case then SBS can't help you. You need to use the NAS's configuration software or a shell client such as telnet or ssh to get into your NAS and change the permissions.

[simanski]

thanks for your feedback, i've found the file.
I've meanwhile changed the permission to 777 which had no effect.
I checked the content of the pref file, which is a regular text file. I noticed that those items which could be changed via webgui did have rather obvious entries while those which cannot be changed show just a large integer number.
No clue yet what this means.....

[simanski]

found the issue....
I'm using IE9 for browsing, during install of Squeezebox server, the installation wizard indicated that I should select a more simple skin. I just clicked classic an continued...I realized that actually my browser was not recognized which probably resulted in not saving settings correctly.
I reinstalled the server package this time using firefox.. The WebGUI looked totally different and also settings work fine now....
So win7+IE9 doesn't seem to work very well.

[fabtech]

I read all of the threads about saving the SB settings and I still have no idea where the settings will be saved and how to retrieve them. I have a Synology DS712+ and SB 7.7.1 and need to change the file system of my 2 HDDs. I would like to save all of my SQ settings so that I do not need to insert every one from scratch. I do not see a simple button that saves all of the required settings and retrieve them when needed.
I have to say that the GUI of the SB is really 1980s. My feeling is that Logitech does not have a dedicated engineer of product manager involved with the SB. It seems to me that this feature should be a basic one. There are 12 settings to save (where?) in the SB 7.7.1. No idea where they go.
I hope that a product manager will take over the SB soon.