Reformat and Reinstall OS X Server - Keep Data Store

[rnmikes]

OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 on a Mac Mini Late 2012, 2.5 GHz, 16 GB. Server version 4 (14S333)

Running the following services:

• Caching
• Calendar
• Contacts
• File Sharing
• Mail
• Profile Manager
• Time Machine
• DNS
• Open Directory

I moved my service data and file shares to an external hard drive. When I format my startup hard drive, reinstall the operating system and server, what do I have to do to connect to the service data on my external hard drive? I imagine that I have to establish user accounts with the same credentials.

Really, what I am after is that I'm trying to get Profile Manager to work right with my iOS devices. And I have a wide variety of them (about 12 of them). None of them work. They get a profile installation failure. The research I've done seems to point to just reformat and reinstall. But in doing so, I don't want to lose the service data. Any help you can provide, please...I need reassurance that when I reinstall everything, I'll be able to have access to the data store again.

Thank you for your direction.

 

[chrfr]

Really, what I am after is that I'm trying to get Profile Manager to work right with my iOS devices. And I have a wide variety of them (about 12 of them). None of them work. They get a profile installation failure. The research I've done seems to point to just reformat and reinstall.

You may have to fully reset Profile Manager to get it to work, but you do want to get OS X and Server updated to 10.10.3 and Server 4.1. PM seems to be more reliable with these later versions.
Do you have a backup of the server? It's easiest to migrate from that. For convenience I might move the service data back to the internal disk, clone the internal disk, then use that as your migration source.

 

[Les Kern]

My first inclination is to rSync all to an external, export the server settings and save that to a USB drive, reformat, install, migrate, import settings.

 

[rnmikes]

Upated and Profile Manager Reset: FAIL

You may have to fully reset Profile Manager to get it to work, but you do want to get OS X and Server updated to 10.10.3 and Server 4.1. PM seems to be more reliable with these later versions.
Do you have a backup of the server? It's easiest to migrate from that. For convenience I might move the service data back to the internal disk, clone the internal disk, then use that as your migration source.

I am now on 10.10.3, and installed Server 4.1.

I fully reset Profile Manager with this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202523 .

I am still not able to install profiles on my ios devices.

I am hoping to get clear direction on how to reinstall my server. I forgot to mention that I keep regular backups using time machine. I am certainly just fine with moving the data store back. I am good with most server tasks. But this whole move thing is kicking my butt. I just want to make sure that I know what I'm doing before I completely hose the server and all the services. Really, though, I just care about the data and Mail.

So, If I am going to reformat and install from scratch, what are the specific steps to recover fully once I reinstall?

 

[chrfr]

I am still not able to install profiles on my ios devices.

I am hoping to get clear direction on how to reinstall my server. I forgot to mention that I keep regular backups using time machine.

If you reinstall, you'll be prompted for Migration Assistant and can restore from your backups that way. However, doing this may bring back the issue that's the cause of your problem. Have you investigated the Profile Manager logs to see if you are finding any specific errors? Did Profile Manager ever work?