BiblioViva Documentation
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Installation

Move BiblioViva to another computer

This page explains how to take BiblioViva, with all its data, from one computer to another: to replace an old computer with a newer PC or with a Raspberry Pi, for example. It is for whoever administers BiblioViva.

Procedure

Make the full backup

  1. Save the archive with Export everything, as described in the section Save the configuration with everything else of the step Backups. The file contains the database, the photos, the covers and the whole configuration, including the card and label templates.
  2. Copy the file to a USB drive or to another computer, and check that the copy opens. The file may weigh a few hundred megabytes.

Important. The nightly backup of the backups folder does not contain the configuration (staff accounts, settings, templates): to move BiblioViva Export everything is needed.

Stop the old computer

From this moment the work at the desk must not continue on the old computer: the loans recorded after the backup would not pass to the other computer.

  1. On the old computer, open the terminal as at the step Connect to the computer.

  2. Stop BiblioViva (the data stay on the disk).

    cd ~/biblioviva && docker compose down

With Tailscale: free the name

BiblioViva with Tailscale takes the name biblioviva in the school's network. If the old computer is still enrolled, the other gets a name with a number (biblioviva-1) and the address changes. Tailscale describes the rule in the page Machine names.

  1. Open the "Machines" page of Tailscale's admin console.
  2. Find the biblioviva row, open the row's menu and choose to delete the machine ("Delete" entry) [VERIFY: name of the menu and of the entry in the console, visible only when signed in].

On the local network there is nothing else to free: just remember that the other computer will have another address, unless whoever manages the network reserves the old one's address for it.

Prepare the other computer

  1. Carry out steps 1-4 of the chosen path, in the same order, with the same way of connecting (Tailscale or local network) as the old computer. The paths are in the page Installation.
  2. At the step First run open the guided procedure and stop at its first screen, without answering the questions: the restore in the next section replaces its choices.

With Tailscale the key from the step Prepare the network can be reused if it is still valid, because it was generated as reusable; otherwise a new one is generated.

From the first run

  1. On the first screen of the guided procedure, under the choice of language, press Restore from a backup.
  2. Press Choose the archive and choose the file biblioviva-export-YYYYMMDD-HHMM.zip. BiblioViva checks it and shows what it contains.
  3. Press Restore, wait for "Restore completed" and press Go to the login. The detail is in the section From the first run of Restart from a backup.
  4. Log in with the admin account of the old computer.
  5. Open Administration, Configuration, Performance and check the Computer field: the backup brings that of the old computer; choose one suited to the other computer.

From this moment the staff accounts and their passwords are those of the old computer.

Check and switch off the old computer

  1. On the other computer, check a known patron, book and loan, and read a card with the scanner.
  2. Check the desk devices: with Tailscale the address is the same as before (https://biblioviva.<tailnet>.ts.net); on the local network, communicate the address if it changed (see Connect the devices).
  3. Keep the old computer switched off but intact for a few weeks, then wipe it as in Uninstall BiblioViva: it contains the patrons' data.

Result

The other computer serves BiblioViva at the same address (with Tailscale) or at an address communicated to the devices (on the local network), with the same data, the same photos and the same settings as the old one.

Possible problems

Backups
Restart from a backup
Uninstall BiblioViva
Installation

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