On Tue, 2008-06-17 at 11:01 +0200, ab wrote:

hello list,

what i am still looking for over many years is a good and reliable way to remotely (ssh/network only) upgrade a distant suse/opensuse box.

will it with the help of the current zypper development and all whats involved, be possibble to remotely upgrade such older opensuse versions without physically inserting cd/dvd media and such?

i have read various discussions on the net, but i am still confused about whats really currently possible and what not.

there is this network booting method with this alternate kernel described at http://en.opensuse.org/Network_Install has helped me in the past, but this is not always possible at places i am using opensuse, as some of these sites need ppp connection to the internet (pppoe with xdsl for example) and thats not really a supported network type during this network booting stage. only simple ethernet network interface cards seem to be possible without too much hassle. its sometimes even pretty hard with multiple network interface cards present at the destination to assign the ips and so on to the proper network card.

anyways, so i am looking for simple and good methods to remotely upgrade older suse installations, or also for the future of the opensuse project.

will the situation get better with the ongoing zypper development (zypper dup, whatever....)? i read something about "unsolvable" library issues during setup from the current system, needing to replace libraries and stuff thus making it impossible to do this from the system itself running/live.

in the past i have also read some things about apt for suse being some way to do upgrades, and if i recall correctly the debian folks also support distribution upgrades from inside their systems, being able to completely upgrade their entire system via ssh/network.

any pointers and information regarding this upgrade topic, current development and hints would be really appreciated.

thanks.

Hi Ab, I'm not sure if you realy want to persue this path... Firstly, netboot and installing from a remote repository is very nice, IF you have enough bandwith. Secondly, upgrading takes more time then fresh install, if at all possible. Often (not allways) an older installation indicates older, slower, hardware. Do you have a "plan-B" incase installation fails, and you and-up with a unstartable system? Besides, fresh install gives you the possibility to correct partition layout and so on... No chance of sending an USB-stick (or a dedicated installation dvd) via snailmail? Might be faster! hw --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-factory+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-factory+help@opensuse.org