Help needed upgrading a box with broken backups

[eladhen]

Hi all,
I’ve got a box I’d like to upgrade (still running Ubuntu 18.04). The problrem is, when lack of space in the box made it unavailable I manually deleted my backups. This is all fine but I might have broke something in the system, because now it gives me this message in the mail every few days:

Traceback (innermost last):
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 86, in <module>
    with_tempdir(main)
  File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 70, in with_tempdir
    fn()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_main.py", line 1575, in main
    do_backup(action)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_main.py", line 1597, in do_backup
    action).set_values()
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 751, in set_values
    backup_chains)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 764, in set_matched_chain_pair
    sig_chains = sig_chains and self.get_sorted_chains(sig_chains)
  File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 969, in get_sorted_chains
    assert len(chain_list) == 2
 AssertionError

Something is wrong with the backup: ERROR 30 AssertionError
. Traceback (innermost last):
.   File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 86, in <module>
.     with_tempdir(main)
.   File "/usr/bin/duplicity", line 70, in with_tempdir
.     fn()
.   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_main.py", line 1575, in main
.     do_backup(action)
.   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_main.py", line 1597, in do_backup
.     action).set_values()
.   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 751, in set_values
.     backup_chains)
.   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 764, in set_matched_chain_pair
.     sig_chains = sig_chains and self.get_sorted_chains(sig_chains)
.   File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/duplicity/dup_collections.py", line 969, in get_sorted_chains
.     assert len(chain_list) == 2
.  AssertionError

I assume this means something is wrong with the backups, which is fair, as I tampered with them.

I’d like to upgrade my box (and get it some more space while doing that). I’d like to get the stuff that’s in the mail now, if possible, to the upgraded box, which seems to rely on my backup working… Which I suspect it isn’t.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[KiekerJan]

What you can try is: 1) spinup a new VPS with Ubuntu 2204. 2) install Mailinabox 3) copy over /home/userdata to the new box 4) rerun sudo mailinabox

Do this on a separate vps first to try it out. If all is well after step 4, you should be able to do it to your real installation

[eladhen]

If I’m spinning a copy of the machine don’t I need to make it identical in the dns server and such? won’t that cause problems?

[KiekerJan]

You don’t need that to check that the installation works. Obviously you can’t use it for receiving mail until you change the dns.

[eladhen]

I’m just looking through the MIAB installation instructions and I guess I’m not sure where I need to follow them and where not… I’m not very knowledgeable about this stuff. The instruction start with setting up reverse DNS…

[box]

The new VPS will have different IPv4/IPv6 assigned
(unless you can power down the old VPS,
and reuse your currently assigned IPv4/IPv6 - highly unlikely IMHO).

When you set-up the MIAB, you had to

• have rDNS (PTR) record set
  (you will need to set {ask your VPS provider} the same on the new IPv4/IPv6)

• amend/change Glue Records in your Domain Name registrar
  (replace old IPv4/IPv6 with the new ones from the new VPS)
  [It can take up to 72h to propagate fully]

• Set the same Hostname on the new machine

Good luck.

EDIT:
I would spin out another VPS, test your DATA (or backup in the new VPS.

Once satisfied that all is good, reinstall your old VPS,
and import the DATA back,
you do not need to mess around with DNS.
(problem with getting new IPv4 especially is
that you never know if you end up on some block list with that new IP address …)

Tried disabling the Backups in the Admin?
(back up your back ups before doing so

I was logged in to Admin portal and performed upgrade v73->v74 and got all sort of error messages, so logged out and closed the website Admin window and upgrade completed without any error.