Updating BigBlueButton from 2.6.x or 2.7.x to 3.0.x

[Sam Islam]

Hello,

I have two BigBlueButton with two different major version running on Ubuntu 20.04. One is v2.6.18 and other is v2.7.16.

I would appreciate if someone answer my questions:

• If I want to update to latest version of BBB, is it recommended to install the latest version 3.0.x on Ubuntu 22.04.
• In this case, which files I should take from the old version to keep my room settings, user accounts and recordings to new version. If there is any guideline, please share.
• Can I update my BBB to latest version 3.0.x  directly from 2.6.18.
• Do I need to dump my old version postgresql db to new BBB server 3.0.x
• Which greenlight version is recommended for BBB version 3.0.x
  
  

Thanks
Sam

[Jean Pluzo]

Hi,

- Yes. You can't install BBB 3 on a Ubuntu 20.04 Server. You will have many problems.

- I think you might be confusing things. Room settings and accounts sound like you're talking about Greenlight. These (rooms, accounts) are stored in a postgres db in a docker container. You should backup said DB to keep those settings. Recordings are handled by BBB and you should backup everything under /var/bigbluebutton/ as well as /etc/bigbluebutton/

- No. Since BBB 3 is not compatible with Ubuntu 20.04, you have to install a brand new Ubuntu 22.04 server and then install BBB 3.

- Not sure what you're talking about here. 2.7 uses a MongoDB, 3 uses a PostgreSQL DB but I have never had to backup and/or restore them to a new server.

- 3

Regards,

J.

[Anton Georgiev]

Hi Sam,

Please make sure to read the section in the docs about this -- https://docs.bigbluebutton.org/administration/install/#upgrading-from-bigbluebutton-26-or-27

About Greenlight migration - check https://docs.bigbluebutton.org/greenlight/v3/migrationtonewserver/

What J. wrote looks correct but we already have sections about this in the docs since it's a common question (and for a good reason).

Anton

[Christian Waidelich]

Hi Sam,

if you dont have any recording, then my proposal is to set up a new Ubuntu 22 machine and install a fresh BBB with Greenlight on it (Login, Mate API, General Configurations, DailIn/Freeswitch). 

After you are making sure, that it is working, you should only need to migrate the Greenlight Postgres DB to have your old users and rooms available. I did this successfully with 2.7 to 3.0.x.

One thing that I didnt migrate was the avatar pictures of the user. That was not straight forward and I didnt want to have people with wrong avatars. 

If you need to migrate the records, which I didnt do, I would try to copy the /var/bigbluebutton/recording folder from one server to the other, this depends where you are pointing your recording to in the proporties file.

The other suggestions of the folks here work as well.

Hope it helps. 

Christian

[Sam Islam]

Hi Christian,

Thanks for your reply. I have one issue with postgres DB. How did you migrate that postgres DB. Could you please elaborate. Did you have to take the dump and restore it in the new server?

I think I have different problem here. I have system package postgres.12.22-0ubuntu0.20.04.2, not the postgres docker. And so far I know this postgres docker version 14. Can I take the dump of postgres 12 and restore it in version 14 to have my users and room settings?


Thanks
Sam.

[Christian Waidelich]

Hi Sam,

if you have BBB and Greenlight on the same server, you could have a Postgres package as a service, but you should also have a docker container.

Check 

docker ps

or check the docker-compose.yml file in the greenlight folder (usually root home)

Regarding the DB migration, these were my steps:

Export:

docker exec -it postgres pg_dump -U postgres -d greenlight-v3-production > db.sql

Import (new Server):

- name: Stop all containers but the database

  shell: docker compose down && docker compose up postgres -d

- name: Upload file to container

  shell: docker container cp db.sql postgres:/tmp/db.sql

- name: Make Backup of current database -- you never know

  shell: docker exec postgres pg_dump -U username -d greenlight > /tmp/greenlight_db_old.sql

- name: Delete Database

  shell: docker exec postgres dropdb -U username greenlight

- name: Create empty Database

  shell: docker exec postgres createdb -U username greenlight

- name: Import Data

  shell: docker exec postgres psql -U username -d greenlight -f /tmp/db.sql

... Later -> Delete Recordings (if you need the scripts, let me know.)

about the 12 vs 14 issue: I don't think that you have to worry about it to much, as you could just try it out. Worst case, GL does not start, then you restore the DB. In that case, you would need to find an online 12 to 14 postgres migration tool, or manually transport the data of the 3-4 tables that you need.

[Sam Islam]

Hi Christian,

Thank you for sharing this. It will help me to prepare for the update plan.

Now I have only one question. I have greenlight v2. Do I need to migrate greenlight v2 to v3 before updating bigbluebutton version to 3? As I want my existing user accounts and room settings. 


Thanks
Sam 

[Christian Waidelich]

We were already on GL v3 before jumping to BBBv3.0.x, so my answer would be yes.