Advice reqeusted to migrate MSR from Bare Metal to Container

[cw-kid]

Hi

Having to rebuild my Linux Debian box as the SSD failed. And I have forgotten exactly what I did the first time to get it all setup.

I have Debian 12 up and running on the new SSD, I only have console no Desktop GUI.

I am trying to do the bare metal install for MSR. However I am not sure if I am meant to install nodejs whlist logged in as the root user or as the none root user with my name ?

I used putty and connected via SSH and logged in as root and I installed nodejs but I think this was wrong as when logged in as my user name and I do a node -v command it says node is not installed or doesn't show any version number anyway.

But when logged in as root and I do a node -v command it does show me its installed and displays the version number. maybe its a path issue for my username and he can't see node is installed?

So now I am thinking I should of installed node whilst logged in as my user name and not as the root user.

This is how I installed nodejs as whilst logged in as root

Thanks in advance.

[cw-kid]

I also need to install node-red and HA-Bridge for other stuff, looks like I need nodejs installed first before I can install node-red. I use node-red to send TTS announcements to my Google Home speakers.

[toggledbits]

nvm is a per-user tool and installs node on a per-user basis. You need to run it logged in as the non-root user that will run Reactor and the other things you want to install. Be sure to install an LTS version of node, not just the highest-numbered version (e.g. nvm install --lts).

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits said in Which user to install nodejs as ? Debian Linux:

nvm is a per-user tool and installs node on a per-user basis. You need to run it logged in as the non-root user that will run Reactor and the other things you want to install. Be sure to install an LTS version of node, not just the highest-numbered version (e.g. nvm install --lts).

Great thanks I will try that today. I already removed what I installed yesterday as the root user.

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits I have managed to get MSR up and running again as my none root username.

I have copied the rules / rulesets / reactions back into the installation from a backup copy of all the reactor files I had on my PC. Those have now reappeared in MSR.

I am missing my Global Expressions however. Is there a file or folder I need to copy back for those?

Thanks.

EDIT: I just copied over the expressions.json file from the storage folder and restarted MSR but there are still no expressions showing in MSR.

I just copied the file over again and then looked at the file on the Linux machine and I could see stuff in there. However after restarting MSR and then looking at the file again, its seems to wipe out all the files contents and now it just has {} in the file nothing else.

[therealdb]

Copy everything. You’ll also get states.

[cw-kid]

@therealdb said in Which user to install nodejs as ? Debian Linux:

Copy everything. You’ll also get states

I might have to try that then.

I was just trying to get my node-red to run as a service with systemd, however its not working and I think its because I installed nodejs using NVM.

Several pages I have read say node-red will not run as a service if you used NVM like this one here:

"Using nvm
nvm is a tool that can help manage Node.js installations.

It is convenient when running Node-RED as an individual user, but it is not recommended if you want to run Node-RED as a system-level service. This is because nvm uses scripts in a user’s profile to setup its environment. When running as a service, those scripts do not get used."

I am now thinking I might have to format the SSD and start from the beginning again and use a different method to install nodejs other than NVM.

I think when I first setup this Debian box years ago I installed nodejs a different way as described in this article here in the section of the article titled "Installing Node.js with Apt Using a NodeSource PPA".

[cw-kid]

@therealdb said in Which user to install nodejs as ? Debian Linux:

Copy everything. You’ll also get states.

I just tried this but my Global Expressions are still missing.

[toggledbits]

If that's the case, your global expressions file is damaged/unreadable for some reason. I'll send you a link privately to upload it to me, and I'll see if I can repair it for you.

When backing up and restoring, the entire storage folder should always go as a unit. No cherry-picking.

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits said in Which user to install nodejs as ? Debian Linux:

When backing up and restoring, the entire storage folder should always go as a unit. No cherry-picking

Understood now thanks.

I uploaded the file to your dropbox. Cheers for the help!

Btw I formatted everything and started again earlier, no longer using NVM to install node.js I installed it globally instead with apt via the command from this webpage here. That seems to have fixed my Node-Red service file issues anyways. Both MSR and Node-Red are auto starting at boot now.

[toggledbits]

@cw-kid said in Which user to install nodejs as ? Debian Linux:

I installed it globally instead with apt via the command from this webpage here.

Sigh. OK. Unfortunately, that version (20) is already out of development, but at least it's LTS and will hold until 2026. Or maybe the header on the page is wrong and it's been updated to install the latest LTS. Either way, Reactor will support it as long as it's under maintenance with the authors.

There's nothing wrong with your expressions.json file. I'm guessing it's a permissions problem after you copy it from whatever source you copied it from (it's keeping the user and group IDs on the file from whatever source, and the user ID has changed between the two systems).

As I said, you should copy the entire storage directory, don't cherry pick, because there are other important files in there that align with your installation. Once you've copied everything, run the following commands in a shell from the Reactor install directory (where Reactor's app.js is located), substituting <user> and <group> with the user and group names, respectively:

sudo chown -R <user>:<group> .
sudo chmod -R ug=rwX,o= .

This should fix all file permissions. Then start Reactor.

[cw-kid]

@toggledbits

I used WINSCP to copy the file from my Windows PC to the Linux box.

It says rw-r--r-- next to the expressions file and has me as the owner of the file.

Regarding nodejs installed via apt it says its version v20.18.1 I think version 22.x is the latest. Maybe I can upgrade it somehow later.

[toggledbits]

Yeah, but I can see in that screen shot that there are other broken permissions that are going to cause problems. For example, look at the reactions folder. It's owned by root, with no write permission for group or other users, so that's going to prevent you from saving new reactions, at least, and depending on individual file permissions within that folder, editing and saving any existing reactions. So I suspect the parent folder storage, and maybe even the Reactor install directory itself, have gotten broken permissions/ownership along the way of your efforts.

You need to fix the entire directory tree to be safe, using the commands I gave you.

[cw-kid]

OK I ran these commands in the home/stuart/reactor folder where the app.js file is located. That appears to have worked and changed some of the folders and files from root to my name now.

Also after restarting MSR the expressions.json file is no longer changing from 9k to 1k in size and I can open the file from the Linux machine and see its contents are still all intact. It wasn't doing that before.

However in the MSR GUI in Expressions its still empty.

Edit I seem to have ballsed something up, i have a path now of /home/stuart/reactor/reactor hang on let me try and fix that.

[cw-kid]

Not sure how I ended up with a reactor folder in the reactor folder. I deleted it.
It now looks correct and I ran the commands again for the permssions.

However every time I copy the expression file from the PC to the Linux box its 9k in file size. But when I restart MSR it changes that file to be 1k and wipes out all its contents.

[cw-kid]

Think I have got it working now!

I ran these commands again logged in as me.

cd /home/stuart
pkill -QUIT node
tar xzvf /home/stuart/reactor-latest-24302-751a06b6.tar.gz
sudo systemctl start reactor

cd /home/stuart/reactor
npm i --no-save --omit dev

Will try and figure out how to update nodejs now from 20.x to 22.x.

[cw-kid]

It seems nodesource is just out of date and does not have the latest versions of nodejs

I tried this command instead and it still only wants to get version v20.18.1 as the latest one.

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_current.x | -E bash -

apt-get install -y nodejs

And when I run a "Which node" command its put it in this directory which I don't think is ideal?

/usr/bin/node

So now sure now the best way to update nodejs.

[toggledbits]

Frankly, I wouldn't update. The amount of changes you've made are making your entire system a moving target. You're good until 2026. Leave it alone for now. Get everything else working, and get it stable.

In the meanwhile, grab yourself a Pi or something else cheap that can run Linux, and practice. Install versions and get to know where things go and how they are connected together. Upgrade it. Blow it up, wipe it, and do it again until you understand why it blows up. The time you invest will pay you back later when you deal with your "production" system. Sandboxes are a lovely thing. Go play!

[therealdb]

Ah this point, if I was you @cw-kid , I’ll start taking a look at docker. That’s exactly why they built it: to easily install and manage applications. Just backup your docker file and settings and you’ll move in seconds. I have a backup installation always ready on my synology and ready to run in minutes in case of problems.

[gwp1]

@therealdb I have the hardware, just haven't had the time yet, to do exactly this.