Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 11:17:13 +0000 (GMT) From: Jan Grant <Jan.Grant@bristol.ac.uk> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.org> Cc: stable@freebsd.org, Claus Guttesen <kometen@gmail.com>, Marian Hettwer <MH@kernel32.de>, Pete French <petefrench@ticketswitch.com>, Ronald Klop <ronald-freebsd8@klop.yi.org> Subject: Re: upgrading 5.4 -> 6.0 without reinstalling. safe ? Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.62.0511101112200.19268@mail.ilrt.bris.ac.uk> In-Reply-To: <20051110090912.C33260@fledge.watson.org> References: <E1EZp9T-0008i7-Kg@dilbert.firstcallgroup.co.uk> <b41c75520511090501nbef3235j@mail.gmail.com> <4372256F.2020800@kernel32.de> <op.szzszvxc8527sy@outgoing.local> <20051110090912.C33260@fledge.watson.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, 10 Nov 2005, Robert Watson wrote: > > On Wed, 9 Nov 2005, Ronald Klop wrote: > > > > > PS.: Just did an upgrade remote from 5.4-RELEASE to 6.0-RELEASE without > > > any problems. Steps taken as described above ;) > > > > How do you reboot into single-usermode from remote? (Rebooting isn't really > > the problem, working in single-usermode is.) > > Typically, using a serial console which allows you to specify the boot flags > and access the console remotely. A serial console is an invaluable tool for > remote administration in the event of upgrades, hardware failures, etc, > especially if your box supports remote bios and raid management using a serial > port but not a command line tool. > > It is possible to do upgrades without single user mode, but it comes with > risks -- if you do this, you want to make sure that you've shut down any > important services, and blocked logins by users. Otherwise applications may > keel over as shared objects are replaced (generally, pluggable ones), > configuration files change, programs start and stop working for windows as > they are replaced, etc. This is not a recommended approach, and I don't > promise it will work, but I've done remote upgrades on multiuser but quiesced > systems many, many times without problems. FWIW I've just done a successful remote source-based upgrade from 5.4 to 6.0 (I'm brave) with no problems. I use a second root and /usr to be able to run mergemaster, etc, on a spare copy whilst preserving the "live" system, then nextboot to boot the second drive. Providing you remember to rebuild or disable any 5.x-era kernel modules from ports (nvidia, rtc, etc) prior to the reboot it should work fine and offers a simple backout in the case of disaster. On a multiuser system this obviously works better if you arrange your setup to work in a "read-only root/usr" setup, so late-in-the-day changes by users to stuff under /etc aren't lost. -- jan grant, ILRT, University of Bristol. http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ Tel +44 (0)117 3317661 http://ioctl.org/jan/ Goedel would be proud - I'm both inconsistent _and_ incomplete.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.GSO.4.62.0511101112200.19268>