From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 8 06:28:32 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3A01016A4BF for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2003 06:28:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from sccrmhc13.comcast.net (sccrmhc13.comcast.net [204.127.202.64]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 20B5443FE1 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2003 06:28:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.no-ip.com) Received: from be-well.ilk.org (be-well.no-ip.com[66.30.200.37]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc13) with ESMTP id <2003090813282801600g3eone>; Mon, 8 Sep 2003 13:28:28 +0000 Received: from be-well.ilk.org (lowellg.ne.client2.attbi.com [66.30.200.37] (may be forged)) by be-well.ilk.org (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id h88DSRto016390; Mon, 8 Sep 2003 09:28:27 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from freebsd-questions-local@be-well.no-ip.com) Received: (from lowell@localhost) by be-well.ilk.org (8.12.9/8.12.6/Submit) id h88DSRZR016387; Mon, 8 Sep 2003 09:28:27 -0400 (EDT) X-Authentication-Warning: be-well.ilk.org: lowell set sender to freebsd-questions-local@be-well.ilk.org using -f Sender: lowell@be-well.no-ip.com To: "SUPPORT" References: <003401c373c4$75e78fc0$3501a8c0@pro.sk> From: Lowell Gilbert Date: 08 Sep 2003 09:28:27 -0400 In-Reply-To: <003401c373c4$75e78fc0$3501a8c0@pro.sk> Message-ID: <44y8wzh0jo.fsf@be-well.ilk.org> Lines: 45 User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: FreeBSD upgrade on production server X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: FreeBSD Questions List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003 13:28:32 -0000 "SUPPORT" writes: > I wish to upgrade my production firewall / mailserver / DNS server from > 4.3 to 4.8. The simplest way seems to be use of CVSUP. OK, but... Right, so far. > Is it safe ? It's not completely safe. Of course, neither is running a two-and-a-half year-old release of any operating system connected to the Internet. Risk is something you have to manage, not avoid. > What should I backup ? Everything you'd mind losing. For me, that's mostly /etc, /usr/local/etc, user data, kernel configs, and the log directory. > There is running well-configured > sendmail - are there some changes in its configuration between > versions 8.11.3 used in FreeBSD 4.3 and 8.12.8p1 used in > FreeBSD 4.8. There certainly are some changes. Some of them are related to important security fixes. You will need to merge your configuration into the updates. > This is my only mailserver and I don't have an secondary > if something fails... Well, the safest approach is to have a spare system, and build the modifications on that. If you can't do that, then almost as safe (and actually safer from your own oversights) is to have a spare machine to try out the upgrade on so you get used to the procedure. If you really can't spare a machine for any of these things, accept some downtime and make sure you're *very* careful as you go through the documented procedure. > Please, advice if you have some know-how :-))) All of my specific advice is *in* the Handbook. If I had any more advice, I'd submit it to, well, the Handbook. Good luck.