remote upgradeability of suse linux pro (7.3, 8, 8.1, 8.2) editions
i was looking for some information on the possibility of how to remotly upgrade a suse linux system from some older release to a newer one (having all the dvd/cd media, but no physical access to the target boxes, only ssh/shell). the only access i have would be ssh/scp and tunneling, and maybe enough disk space and inet connection, for maybe transfering files/media-images to the target boxes, or remotely mount. any advice on how to handle this the best way? i didnt find too much info on this topic. how are you guys maintaining your remote servers, or is everybody using the enterprise software versions of suse, that probably come with some sort of remote upgrade means? thanks, andy
Andreas Bittner wrote:
i was looking for some information on the possibility of how to remotly upgrade a suse linux system from some older release to a newer one (having all the dvd/cd media, but no physical access to the target boxes, only ssh/shell).
the only access i have would be ssh/scp and tunneling, and maybe enough disk space and inet connection, for maybe transfering files/media-images to the target boxes, or remotely mount.
From what I've read SuSE does not support remote upgrades, it seems you need to do so by booting the computer(s) in question using the CDs and proceed from there. Needless to say that isn't always convenient. I've seen numerous articles about successful upgrades using aptrpm.. http://www.geocities.com/tanjakostic/linux/upgrade-82to90.html http://www.levardy.org/linux/suse-upgrade-via-ssh-by-apt4rpm.html http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/home.html If I'm wrong about SuSE not supporting remote upgrades then please correct me. If I'm not then I think this is something SuSE should definetly address. Perhaps even adopt aptrpm officially? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part =P
On Jan 13, Avtar Gill
Andreas Bittner wrote:
i was looking for some information on the possibility of how to remotly upgrade a suse linux system from some older release to a newer one (having all the dvd/cd media, but no physical access to the target boxes, only ssh/shell).
I think it is not professional to update boxes without any physical access. But, if you have enough bandwidth and harddisk space and a serial console (or someone who can help you with the bootloader on the remote machine), you may want to try this: * Create a partition for the new system. You have to reboot afterwards. This may be the trickiest part, if you don't have any kind of "rescue" system and the root partition consumes too much space * Set up the new system on a local machine and make an image from it (big advantage: You can test everything, adapt old config files to the new machine, etc.!) * Transfer the image to the remote system and put it on the new partition * reboot and select the new partition in the bootloader (preferred: grub) * A serial console support for the kernel would be nice. * Change the partitions as you want them. A little bit riskier, but still good, if you have a small rescue partition for maintainance: * Save the current root partition to a local file (e.g. on the home partition) and overwrite the old root partition. No reparitioning needed :) Most of this lives and dies with someone local who can press reset and a serial console. Markus PS: After thinking about this, I think that I'll have to make such a rescue partition for myself ;-) -- __________________ /"\ Markus Gaugusch \ / ASCII Ribbon Campaign markus(at)gaugusch.at X Against HTML Mail / \
You might wanna check all available options under manual install !! Tirsdag 13 januar 2004 16:00 skrev Andreas Bittner:
i was looking for some information on the possibility of how to remotly upgrade a suse linux system from some older release to a newer one (having all the dvd/cd media, but no physical access to the target boxes, only ssh/shell).
the only access i have would be ssh/scp and tunneling, and maybe enough disk space and inet connection, for maybe transfering files/media-images to the target boxes, or remotely mount.
any advice on how to handle this the best way? i didnt find too much info on this topic.
how are you guys maintaining your remote servers, or is everybody using the enterprise software versions of suse, that probably come with some sort of remote upgrade means?
thanks, andy
Hi!
You might wanna check VMware (www.vmware.com) for that. You can
make a full normal install on physical disks in virtual machine
mode, then may make slight changes in e.g. network config etc
(or even use the profiles provided by SuSE to be able to switch
between configurations easier) and then boot the "virtual"
system on real hardware... Guess there are some articles on
that...
good luck
Eduard
--- Andreas Bittner
i was looking for some information on the possibility of how to remotly upgrade a suse linux system from some older release to a newer one (having all the dvd/cd media, but no physical access to the target boxes, only ssh/shell).
the only access i have would be ssh/scp and tunneling, and maybe enough disk space and inet connection, for maybe transfering files/media-images to the target boxes, or remotely mount.
any advice on how to handle this the best way? i didnt find too much info on this topic.
how are you guys maintaining your remote servers, or is everybody using the enterprise software versions of suse, that probably come with some sort of remote upgrade means?
thanks, andy
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participants (5)
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Andreas Bittner -
Avtar Gill -
Eduard Avetisyan -
Markus Gaugusch -
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