Comments on: Challenges of Upgrading Linux http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/ Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 16:50:37 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Michael http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1783 Michael Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:25:54 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1783 Have you thought of trying FreeBSD? The upgrades are quite easy, especially upgrading minor versions. Have you thought of trying FreeBSD? The upgrades are quite easy, especially upgrading minor versions.

]]> By: Tyler Thompson http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1756 Tyler Thompson Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:42:09 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1756 Let's not flame my author without reason here - we are here to do you a service by putting content online that will help you at some point. Its a blog, folks - its informational. He had a hell of a time upgrading... that's it. The fact that he didn't mention backups has nothing to do with the article itself. The purpose was to talk about the "Challenges of Upgrading Linux" that our author ran into. Someone who types that into Google will get this site as the second hit, so it may be useful to them if they are curious about it. As far as upgrades are concerned, why wouldn't you try an upgrade? Sure, Windows upgrades suck and should never be done because of significant changes to the kernal, but Linux? Even with a change in kernal versions, the operating system has not changed how it functions significantly for years. I would consider an upgrade compared to setting everything up all over again, personally. Our author is by NO means dumb or incompetent - and if you think so, perhaps you should look in a mirror. They don't hand out MCP/CCNA/CCSP out to just anyone. Let’s not flame my author without reason here – we are here to do you a service by putting content online that will help you at some point. Its a blog, folks – its informational. He had a hell of a time upgrading… that’s it.

The fact that he didn’t mention backups has nothing to do with the article itself. The purpose was to talk about the “Challenges of Upgrading Linux” that our author ran into. Someone who types that into Google will get this site as the second hit, so it may be useful to them if they are curious about it.

As far as upgrades are concerned, why wouldn’t you try an upgrade? Sure, Windows upgrades suck and should never be done because of significant changes to the kernal, but Linux? Even with a change in kernal versions, the operating system has not changed how it functions significantly for years. I would consider an upgrade compared to setting everything up all over again, personally.

Our author is by NO means dumb or incompetent – and if you think so, perhaps you should look in a mirror. They don’t hand out MCP/CCNA/CCSP out to just anyone.

]]> By: MercerR http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1751 MercerR Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:43:04 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1751 Back in 1999 I built a Red Hat 7.0 machine for email and web services. I have since upgraded it remotely from 7.0 to 7.3 to 8.0 to 9.0 to Fedora Core 1 to FC2 to FC3 to FC4 to FC5. Every upgrade was done remotely. For the first few upgrades, I used apt-get and for the last few I used yum. The only time that I had to visit the machine was when I switched from the lilo bootloader to the grub bootloader. I had made a mistake in my grub.conf file. I created a grub boot disk and used it to boot and correct my mistake. I've had various other issues that I was always able to correct remotely. Backups are always a good idea if you care about your data. To upgrade from Fedora Core 5 to Fedora Core 6 with yum. Go find a mirror that contains the FC6 distribution and find the fedora-release package for FC6. Download it and install it with the "rpm -Uvh fedora-release*.rpm" command. It may require another package, download the required package and install them together "rpm -Uvh *.rpm" Then use "yum update" to upgrade the OS. You might have some dependency problems, I usually remove packages that complain about dependency issues and then install the new version after the upgrade. yum install packagename Good luck, google and patience are required. No, I don't guarantee that this will work for anyone. You have to be a bit of a geek. If you screw up your box and can't find a way out of it, you will have to rebuild. Back in 1999 I built a Red Hat 7.0 machine for email and web services. I have since upgraded it remotely from 7.0 to 7.3 to 8.0 to 9.0 to Fedora Core 1 to FC2 to FC3 to FC4 to FC5. Every upgrade was done remotely.

For the first few upgrades, I used apt-get and for the last few I used yum. The only time that I had to visit the machine was when I switched from the lilo bootloader to the grub bootloader. I had made a mistake in my grub.conf file. I created a grub boot disk and used it to boot and correct my mistake.

I’ve had various other issues that I was always able to correct remotely.

Backups are always a good idea if you care about your data.

To upgrade from Fedora Core 5 to Fedora Core 6 with yum. Go find a mirror that contains the FC6 distribution and find the fedora-release package for FC6. Download it and install it with the “rpm -Uvh fedora-release*.rpm” command. It may require another package, download the required package and install them together “rpm -Uvh *.rpm”

Then use “yum update” to upgrade the OS. You might have some dependency problems, I usually remove packages that complain about dependency issues and then install the new version after the upgrade.

yum install packagename

Good luck, google and patience are required.

No, I don’t guarantee that this will work for anyone. You have to be a bit of a geek. If you screw up your box and can’t find a way out of it, you will have to rebuild.

]]> By: Kyle Gordon http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1736 Kyle Gordon Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:21:11 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1736 It's a tricky position to be in. A lot of RPM distributions seem to recommend the 'format and reinstall' variety of upgrading. I've been a Debian and Ubuntu user of many years, and quite often track the Debian Testing branch. This ensures that all packages are always up to date, and I don't really encounter any of the large release updates that plague other distributions. Even tracking Debian Stable avoids this. Although it will have a major release every few years, you can selectively upgrade the system a section at a time. Apache first, Exim second, kernel last, or whatever you choose. It will also save all your config files and data :-) Enjoy - it's a learning experience every day It’s a tricky position to be in. A lot of RPM distributions seem to recommend the ‘format and reinstall’ variety of upgrading. I’ve been a Debian and Ubuntu user of many years, and quite often track the Debian Testing branch. This ensures that all packages are always up to date, and I don’t really encounter any of the large release updates that plague other distributions. Even tracking Debian Stable avoids this. Although it will have a major release every few years, you can selectively upgrade the system a section at a time. Apache first, Exim second, kernel last, or whatever you choose. It will also save all your config files and data :-)

Enjoy – it’s a learning experience every day

]]> By: BranhamS http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1735 BranhamS Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:55:03 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1735 Good posts Everyone. I appreciate the feedback. As many of you said I didn't stress the importance of backups as I should have in this article (didn't mention them at all actually). Before you make any serious changes to a system make sure you have a good backup you can restore from. In all my production environments I use a product that NetStandard resells called DataSafe. It allows me to perform all my backups over the web and its so intuitive I almost forget about it sometimes. Thanks again for the comments! Good posts Everyone. I appreciate the feedback.

As many of you said I didn’t stress the importance of backups as I should have in this article (didn’t mention them at all actually). Before you make any serious changes to a system make sure you have a good backup you can restore from.

In all my production environments I use a product that NetStandard resells called DataSafe. It allows me to perform all my backups over the web and its so intuitive I almost forget about it sometimes.

Thanks again for the comments!

]]> By: lachild http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1734 lachild Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:17:08 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1734 Hike, "If you do something STUPID, don’t tell EVERYBODY!!! Learn from it and go on!!!" No DO tell everyone! It's inevitable that someone else is going to do the same thing. If you've found a solution post it! Saves everyone else from struggling like you did for hours. For instance, as the author says "inevitable answer on each forum I found is “format and install FC 5 clean.”" but now for someone going from FC2 to FC5or6 we now have a possible work around no matter how sloppy a work around it is. Lachild Hike,

“If you do something STUPID, don’t tell EVERYBODY!!! Learn from it and go on!!!”

No DO tell everyone! It’s inevitable that someone else is going to do the same thing. If you’ve found a solution post it! Saves everyone else from struggling like you did for hours.

For instance, as the author says “inevitable answer on each forum I found is “format and install FC 5 clean.”” but now for someone going from FC2 to FC5or6 we now have a possible work around no matter how sloppy a work around it is.

Lachild

]]> By: NoSway http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1733 NoSway Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:43:01 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1733 hike, He says as a follow up note that he's got his data on a second partition. Learn to read before you insult people. hike,

He says as a follow up note that he’s got his data on a second partition. Learn to read before you insult people.

]]> By: hike http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1732 hike Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:28:49 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1732 Dude, you're dumb! Backup your data & do a clean install! **Microsoft suggests this--the experts tell you this. **Sun Microsystems/Solaris tells you this--their OS "update" is to a new partition according to their system engineers **From FC2 to FC6? Nobody suggest a jump of 4 version levels! That's like going from Windows ME to Vista on the same disk! Microsoft doesn't even approve of that! **Red Hat suggests backuping your data and configuration files before attempting an on-disk upgrade. If you do something STUPID, don't tell EVERYBODY!!! Learn from it and go on!!! **You blew-up a working system. **You didn't research before the upgrade. (DECENT system administrators research BEFORE--it's in the rule book--don't you have one?) For instance, Apache 1.x is different than Apache 2.x in configuration syntax. **You didn't make backups--it's in the rule book, too! **You insult "people"; names are important: RED Hat, not Redhat. **You have no way to restore to you older configuration! Hard drive are cheap--no need for you to be also! **You think you are better than you are: (dumb != decent)! Dude, you’re dumb!

Backup your data & do a clean install!
**Microsoft suggests this–the experts tell you this.
**Sun Microsystems/Solaris tells you this–their OS “update” is to a new partition according to their system engineers
**From FC2 to FC6? Nobody suggest a jump of 4 version levels! That’s like going from Windows ME to Vista on the same disk! Microsoft doesn’t even approve of that!
**Red Hat suggests backuping your data and configuration files before attempting an on-disk upgrade.

If you do something STUPID, don’t tell EVERYBODY!!! Learn from it and go on!!!
**You blew-up a working system.
**You didn’t research before the upgrade. (DECENT system administrators research BEFORE–it’s in the rule book–don’t you have one?) For instance, Apache 1.x is different than Apache 2.x in configuration syntax.
**You didn’t make backups–it’s in the rule book, too!
**You insult “people”; names are important: RED Hat, not Redhat.
**You have no way to restore to you older configuration! Hard drive are cheap–no need for you to be also!
**You think you are better than you are: (dumb != decent)!

]]> By: werner http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1731 werner Thu, 04 Oct 2007 12:23:23 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1731 I had the same problem, repairing a RedHat server of another person. The solution is just, to type #tune2fs -L / /dev/hda1 . For coming in, use any live CD, mount the installed partition, and chroot. The reason for this is the stupidness that in the last time more and more distros mount the partition by the LABEL option. I had the same problem, repairing a RedHat server of another person.

The solution is just, to type #tune2fs -L / /dev/hda1 . For coming in, use any live CD, mount the installed partition, and chroot.

The reason for this is the stupidness that in the last time more and more distros mount the partition by the LABEL option.

]]> By: Sid Boyce http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-1729 Sid Boyce Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:33:22 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/challenges-of-upgrading-linux/#comment-1729 I always back up my critical stuff and anything else I deem useful, either to another hard drive - internal or usb attached - or to another box. When upgrade problems have reared their ugly heads on occasions, I've gone ahead and done a fresh install without reformatting the partitions. On the SuSE's, this has left my /home totally intact on drives that have only / and swap partitions. One to remember, there has always been some way for me to get out of trouble with Linux. Solaris is another matter, change to new hardware and move your disks over and there is no way it will work on the new platform, a colleague and I spent a day trying to do that on a customer's site and in the end we had to do a fresh install and NFS copy his data across from the old box overnight. I always back up my critical stuff and anything else I deem useful, either to another hard drive – internal or usb attached – or to another box.
When upgrade problems have reared their ugly heads on occasions, I’ve gone ahead and done a fresh install without reformatting the partitions. On the SuSE’s, this has left my /home totally intact on drives that have only / and swap partitions.
One to remember, there has always been some way for me to get out of trouble with Linux. Solaris is another matter, change to new hardware and move your disks over and there is no way it will work on the new platform, a colleague and I spent a day trying to do that on a customer’s site and in the end we had to do a fresh install and NFS copy his data across from the old box overnight.

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