From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 8 19:03:03 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 56AC71065671 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2008 19:03:03 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsdlists@gmail.com) Received: from mail-gx0-f17.google.com (mail-gx0-f17.google.com [209.85.217.17]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 11A778FC22 for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2008 19:03:02 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from fbsdlists@gmail.com) Received: by gxk10 with SMTP id 10so8670298gxk.19 for ; Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:03:02 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to :subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=OLvVz7CfmTtJD2kPDr+9Vglk3Ujp6NkY5MPAiQV/qrE=; b=ECnE445IbnWkfAleo7tSNw2hFrb6QGREuPPYESutvEgnzhN0JmfFvKDqO2mvAGk+l7 EGDPGVLgUI5isj9Y+fljdQ4XNgow31h62x2/hGe1ros/zFlJN3D0/jw2q30EKYrd50ml rvykg8NARZPvOqg8Rt77WYeK0LgIU9ndtApg8= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition :references; b=BRt5Bzm9MA5kGWok5n0HvQ4l4GhbtUs+eLjeQ81cqx/Ctbd+XsoEDplIvJkLeKxgAM 5KxB5GLQuYHWzAW4jUxxeAxQNbpGJVcN8SEECP5s5v+PaoDE5criC9p5ZOyvJjnI9UCm 2vOZ4AoGbwV5T7GMnMtWSJj4AMBDt+FGfB2qY= Received: by 10.150.143.5 with SMTP id q5mr15113077ybd.90.1220900582019; Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:03:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.150.97.11 with HTTP; Mon, 8 Sep 2008 12:03:01 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <54db43990809081203x11e0bae3u2909c1158d44832b@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 15:03:01 -0400 From: "Bob Johnson" To: "John Almberg" In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <20080908033359.D75A810656C2@hub.freebsd.org> <48C50960.17104.472ED1DE@iwrtech.iwr.ru.ac.za> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: safest way to upgrade a production server X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:03:03 -0000 On 9/8/08, John Almberg wrote: >> >>>> uname -a >>> FreeBSD ***servername*** 6.3-PRERELEASE FreeBSD 6.3-PRERELEASE #1: >>> Mon Dec 3 09:46:53 EST 2007 root@***servername***:/usr/obj/usr/ >>> src/sys/INET_ON amd64 >> >> oooh, that is a bit old I think. > > I chose this server as an example, because it's the oldest one. I > didn't install the OS on this server, the vendor did. Not sure why > they chose a prerelease version... perhaps 6.3 was almost ready to go > and they wanted to put us on the 6.3 branch? I don't know. > I had the same problem, except I was the vendor. Set up a system with 6.3-PRERELEASE for testing, then forgot it wasn't -RELEASE and put it in production. > Anyway, I guess what I should do is patch this to the latest 6.3 > version? > My strategy was to do a source-base upgrade to 6.3-RELEASE, and then use freebsd-update to apply critical patches. Freebsd-update only works on -RELEASE versions with generic kernels, but I find it much faster and easier than trying to do upgrades from source. You also need to keep track of ports that need updating: use portaudit for that. > Or should I go to the latest 6.x version? I am pretty sure I don't > want to experiment with a 7.x upgrade. I believe 6.3 is the latest 6.x version. For now the thing to do is get to an up-to-date 6.3 system. Then take your time figuring out the best strategy for the transition to 7.x. - Bob