Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 22:55:19 +0200 From: pbdlists@pinboard.com To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: install via console with boot from harddisk Message-ID: <20020730225519.A84970@pinboard.com>
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I've got a number of machines running at various customer locations, some of them on the other side of the world. At each site there are at least two machines and they are always interconnected via null-modem cables, so I can access the console on the serial port. I have done a number of installations this way, preparing a set of boot floppies (with serial console set) for the customers and having them boot the machines from these floppies. What I'm trying to do (as incredible as it may sound, for some customers it is even difficult to boot a system from a pair of floppies and with others time difference is a big problem): for upgrades I want to install the contents of the boot disks onto the harddisk of the running old installation and boot the machines into these installation routines. (full system upgrade via source code not possible for space reasons etc.) I have spent several days trying everything I could think of, but I can't get anything which does work. The furthest I could get once, was as far as starting the installation and then the system somehow got confused trying to re-layout the harddisk from which it was booted. And I always thought mfsroot is copied into memory and work done from there, leaving the boot media alone. Now I'm out of ideas and knowledge. Has anybody ever succeeded copying installation kernel etc. of a new version of FreeBSD on the disk of a running older version, booting into it and successfully do an install of the new version? How did you do it? Thanks, Kurt To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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