howto reinstall/reinitialize os x server

I hope you backup your lion server. On lion server I would archive the Open Directory info and then do whatever backups you need such as mail etc...

Anyway best to put mountain lion on USB flash drive along with OS X Server app. Boot from flash drive reformat the hard drive and install mountain lion. Then install the Server app. I do believe there's an import opinion in the Server app.

i'll be doing a test migration process over the weekend.

Is there a way to start over again and re-run the initialisation process?

Hi,

The answer is: maybe, depending on what you mean by 'initialization'. If you did an in-place upgrade, I don't think you will be able to redo the portions of setup that upgrade your Lion Server data and configuration for the new server version - other than by restoring your entire system from a backup, and then doing the upgrade again.

It is possible to re-run the setup processes that convert a mac into a server, though. Move Server.app to the trash; this should tell all running server services to shut down and prepare to be jetisoned. Any existing server-related user data will be preserved in /Library/Server. You can then re-install Server.app and go through setup again.

If you want to reset all the service data and configuration to the default 'fresh install' state, as well as re-run Server setup:

1. Move Server.app to the trash
2. Rename /Library/Server to /Library/Server.backup, or just delete it if you're sure there's no data there you need to save.
3. Reinstall Server.app and proceed with setup.

Hope this helps,

-dre

The method of dreness worked for me. As I was not suspecting server.app to be corrupted,

1. I put Server.App in the bin,

2. this is detected by the system and trigger all the services to stop within a few seconds: confirmation required.

3. I deleted /Library/Server (or change name)

4. I moved back Server.App in the application folder

5. I restarted Server setup from the beginning.

Thanks

have also a look to my post:

TIPS: OS X server installation lessons learnt (for non Guru)

I got a bunch of servces that don't work and the migration failed.

Got a lot of error messages in the Library/Logs/ServerSetup.log:

22:09:14.306 Setup extra failed:

path: /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/ServerSetup/Migrati onExtras/30-ftpconfigmigrator.pl

RESULT CODE: 1

STDOUT: Did not supply a valid language for the --language parameter, needs to be one of [en|fr|de|ja]

I did the following to rerun the migration process

First, I solved my problem "Did not supply a valid language for the --language parameter" by doing:

Set system language to English ( open terminal, type sudo languagesetup and choose option 1 )

change language to English in System Preferences

Run setup assisted again:

I put Server.App in the bin, this is detected by the system and trigger all the services to stop within a few seconds: confirmation required.

Rename the folder "Migrated" (/Library/Server/Migrated) to "Previous".

Remove all other folders from /Library/Server/ folder.

Reboot

Move back Server.App in the application folder

Run the Server.App

It solved the problem for me!

Rebooting before putting the server.app in the folder application is a good idea of Roben.

Note that as soon as you put the server.app in the applicaiton folder, some process starts like folder creation in /library.

In my case it killed at least a ruby process which was taking 100% CPU

Hi everybody...

I have so many problems with osx server (mountain lion) and want to perform a clean install.

I followed your instructions and it works but what i want is to delete completely the previous settings and start with a completly fresh server. (with your method, when reinstalling server, it take back all the settings and i don't want that...)

I also try to delete server apps with appcleaner but i'm not able to clean all these previous settings...

Thanks for your help...

Make sure you have all data you want to keep saved or migrated.

To uninstall the server app, please enter the following into terminal:

sudo rm -rf /Applications/Server.app

And remove the directory /Library/Server

After this you have mountain lion (client) again and you can reinstall OS X Server.

Hi Mark and thanks for your answer.

In fact, your solution do exactly the same job as other solutions in this post... And when i reinstall os x server, it take back all the settings previously used...

What i want is to restart with a complettly clean server without any settings...

have you rebooted after following my suggestions?

look here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4827

and skip step 6

Mark23 wrote:

have you rebooted after following my suggestions?

Yes

And your other solution is exctly what i've done... Each time, when reinstalling, server apps re use old config like file sharing, dns and so...

Try this if you will:

sudo rm /var/db/.ServerSetupDone