Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:52:15 -0500 From: "Steve Bertrand" <iaccounts@ibctech.ca> To: "'David Kirchner'" <dpk@dpk.net> Cc: 'FreeBSD Questions' <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: Release engineering confusion Message-ID: <20051117005224.5DE2343D45@mx1.FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <35c231bf0511161645y1dbf3f08v8e19f334847f9767@mail.gmail.com>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: dpkirchner@gmail.com [mailto:dpkirchner@gmail.com] On > Behalf Of David Kirchner > Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 7:45 PM > To: Steve Bertrand > Cc: RW; FreeBSD Questions > Subject: Re: Release engineering confusion > > On 11/16/05, Steve Bertrand <iaccounts@ibctech.ca> wrote: > > Thank you. However, that entire page out of the handbook > pretty much > > clarifies that a production environment should *not* track either > > STABLE or CURRENT. > > > > So I'm assuming I'm best off with RELENG_6_0 etc, etc? Does anyone > > here actually run STABLE or CURRENT in a production > environment? I've > > personally had the most luck with RELENG_4 which is still > my main box, > > but now my curiosity has got the best of me. > > > > Steve > > Ultimately it depends on how much downtime and difficulty > you're willing to endure, just in case the -STABLE branch > ends up not working for your servers for some particular > reason. We use -RELEASE almost exclusively (we have one > -STABLE machine, because we needed a newer version of a > kernel driver) as we manage hundreds of servers, and there's > no one -STABLE release (to properly describe the -STABLE > version you're using you have to have the date and time of > the cvsup, as opposed to -RELEASE versions being like > 5.4-RELEASE-p9). It's easier, and thus more reliable, for us > to have stable(heh) version strings. I can appreciate the fact it's easier to follow one string for so many servers. > If you're just working with a handful of servers, -STABLE > would probably be fine, as long as you have backups and know > how to revert to previous versions when it becomes necessary. I do only have a handful of servers, however thousands of users, and indeed, I do have backups. The problem arises in a criticality that >20 minutes of downtime would lead to a severe problem....which brings up another good question...how do YOU revert back to a previous release? If you manage so many servers, I'd love to know what type of routine you'd use to revert back (and so would many others I'd think ;) Usually, as per my last message Re: Chad, the upgrades usually fail during one or two places: buildworld, or rebooting after installkernel. Both of those are easy to recover from. *knock on wood*, I've never had a showstopper after installworld before. I wouldn't know what to do if that happened. If installkernel reboots, then I've always been good after that. Steve
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