Hello,
I'm testing what in object in a test env.
For this I downloaded the async 1 iso of the node, released on 14/07:
https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/ovirt-4.4/iso/ovirt-node-ng-installer/4.4.7-2021071400/el8/ovirt-node-ng-installer-4.4.7-2021071400.el8.iso

and downloaded to manually install and avoid 4.4.8 appliance:
https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/ovirt-4.4/rpm/el8/x86_64/ovirt-engine-appliance-4.4-20210705172723.1.el8.x86_64.rpm
released on 05/07
BTW: what is the difference with
https://resources.ovirt.org/pub/ovirt-4.4/rpm/el8/x86_64/ovirt-engine-appliance-4.4-20210720124053.1.el8.x86_64.rpm
as both the rpm in changelog contains at top:
* Mon Jul 05 2021 Sandro Bonazzola <sbonazzo@redhat.com> - 4.4
- oVirt 4.4.7 GA appliance

I'm in the phase where I have installed the iso, manually installed the 4.4.7 appliance rpm and then:
tmux
hosted-engine --deploy --restore-from-file=backup.bck

It seems I'm stuck at step:
[ INFO  ] changed: [localhost -> 192.168.222.153]
[ INFO  ] TASK [ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Remove temporary yum configuration file]
[ INFO  ] changed: [localhost -> 192.168.222.153]
[ INFO  ] TASK [ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Set offline parameter if variable is set]
[ INFO  ] ok: [localhost -> 192.168.222.153]
[ INFO  ] TASK [ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Restore engine from file]
[ INFO  ] skipping: [localhost]
[ INFO  ] TASK [ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Run engine-setup with answerfile]

under /var/log/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup of host:

[root@novirt2 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup]# ls -lrt
total 1376
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 142169 Aug 24 18:12 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-ansible-get_network_interfaces-20210824181152-6kd9pq.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 270803 Aug 24 18:18 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-ansible-initial_clean-20210824181738-su4zk6.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 378903 Aug 24 18:34 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-20210824181101-r03y91.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 610288 Aug 24 18:34 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-ansible-bootstrap_local_vm-20210824181850-m1gx97.log
[root@novirt2 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup]#

and

[root@novirt2 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup]# tail ovirt-hosted-engine-setup-ansible-bootstrap_local_vm-20210824181850-m1gx97.log
2021-08-24 18:34:18,155+0200 INFO ansible ok {'status': 'OK', 'ansible_type': 'task', 'ansible_playbook': '/usr/share/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup/ansible/trigger_role.yml', 'ansible_host': 'localhost', 'ansible_task': 'Set offline parameter if variable is set', 'task_duration': 1}
2021-08-24 18:34:18,156+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args <ansible.executor.task_result.TaskResult object at 0x7f3c88732400>  kwargs
2021-08-24 18:34:19,035+0200 INFO ansible task start {'status': 'OK', 'ansible_type': 'task', 'ansible_playbook': '/usr/share/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup/ansible/trigger_role.yml', 'ansible_task': 'ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Restore engine from file'}
2021-08-24 18:34:19,035+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args TASK: ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Restore engine from file  kwargs is_conditional:False
2021-08-24 18:34:19,037+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args localhost TASK: ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Restore engine from file  kwargs
2021-08-24 18:34:19,885+0200 INFO ansible skipped {'status': 'SKIPPED', 'ansible_type': 'task', 'ansible_playbook': '/usr/share/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup/ansible/trigger_role.yml', 'ansible_task': 'Restore engine from file', 'ansible_host': 'localhost'}
2021-08-24 18:34:19,886+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args <ansible.executor.task_result.TaskResult object at 0x7f3c88662358>  kwargs
2021-08-24 18:34:20,761+0200 INFO ansible task start {'status': 'OK', 'ansible_type': 'task', 'ansible_playbook': '/usr/share/ovirt-hosted-engine-setup/ansible/trigger_role.yml', 'ansible_task': 'ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Run engine-setup with answerfile'}
2021-08-24 18:34:20,762+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args TASK: ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Run engine-setup with answerfile  kwargs is_conditional:False
2021-08-24 18:34:20,763+0200 DEBUG ansible on_any args localhost TASK: ovirt.ovirt.engine_setup : Run engine-setup with answerfile  kwargs
[root@novirt2 ovirt-hosted-engine-setup]#

Inside the (still local) vm:

[root@novmgr ovirt-engine]# cd /var/log/ovirt-engine/setup/
[root@novmgr setup]# ls -lrt
total 12084
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root   394589 Aug 24 18:25 ovirt-engine-provisiondb-20210824182500-rqqgls.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root   395744 Aug 24 18:25 ovirt-engine-provisiondb-20210824182505-tq5b8z.log
-rw-------. 1 root root    14196 Aug 24 18:25 restore-backup-20210824162459.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 11559016 Aug 24 18:35 ovirt-engine-setup-20210824183421-ri4rdq.log
[root@novmgr setup]#

[root@novmgr setup]# tail ovirt-engine-setup-20210824183421-ri4rdq.log
2021-08-24 18:35:21,233+0200 DEBUG otopi.plugins.otopi.packagers.dnfpackager dnfpackager.verbose:75 DNF Downloading Ceph packages for x86_64 1.02/1.02KB
2021-08-24 18:35:21,235+0200 INFO otopi.plugins.otopi.packagers.dnfpackager dnfpackager.info:79 DNF Downloaded Ceph packages for x86_64
2021-08-24 18:35:21,361+0200 ERROR otopi.plugins.otopi.packagers.dnfpackager dnfpackager.error:84 DNF Importing GPG key 0xE451E5B5:
 Userid     : "CentOS Storage SIG (http://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Storage) <security@centos.org>"
 Fingerprint: 7412 9C0B 173B 071A 3775 951A D4A2 E50B E451 E5B5
 From       : https://www.centos.org/keys/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-SIG-Storage
2021-08-24 18:35:21,362+0200 DEBUG otopi.plugins.otopi.dialog.human human.format:69 newline sent to logger
2021-08-24 18:35:21,363+0200 DEBUG otopi.plugins.otopi.dialog.human human.confirm:293 confirm GPG_KEY
2021-08-24 18:35:21,363+0200 DEBUG otopi.plugins.otopi.dialog.human dialog.__logString:204 DIALOG:SEND                
2021-08-24 18:35:21,364+0200 DEBUG otopi.plugins.otopi.dialog.human dialog.__logString:204 DIALOG:SEND                 Please confirm Confirm use of GPG Key userid=CentOS Storage SIG (http://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Storage) <security@centos.org> hexkeyid=E451E5B5 [yes/no]:

20 minutes passed
[root@novmgr setup]# date
Tue Aug 24 18:56:16 CEST 2021
[root@novmgr setup]# 

I suspect the error related to the gpg key import....

any insights?

Does my strategy to keep 4.4.7 on upgrade from 4.3.10 apply, or anyway the appliance will upgrade anyway to 4.4.8 during the setup?

thanks,
Gianluca