Update from 12.2 to newer version - advice needed please.

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi,

I have 2 (raid) servers running opensuse 12.2 one is a backup server. I am contemplating updating to a newer version but I have some questions:

Firstly I don’t want to screw up big style as the servers are used daily. My main concern is that I have compiled a number of programs from source. .not sure how many. If I follow update procedures I assume the compiled programs will not work afterwards and will need to be recompiled if not available in the repository. Is this correct?

I there a way to list all programs which have been installed from compiled sources.?

If I do update, what is a sensible version to update to. i.e. one which will give newer program versions but not need a lot of work to get running.

Thanks

Bignige

#2

On 2015-08-19 11:46, Bignige wrote:

> Firstly I don’t want to screw up big style as the servers are used
> daily. My main concern is that I have compiled a number of programs from
> source. .not sure how many. If I follow update procedures I assume the
> compiled programs will not work afterwards and will need to be
> recompiled if not available in the repository. Is this correct?

Short answer: no.
Long answer: depends.

> I there a way to list all programs which have been installed from
> compiled sources.?

Depends how you installed them.
Typically local installations go to /usr/local/*, but you might have
created rpms for them.

> If I do update, what is a sensible version to update to. i.e. one which
> will give newer program versions but not need a lot of work to get
> running.

For servers, 13.1. But you should have done that long time ago. It is an
LTS, whereas 12.2 was not. The previous version was 11.4, still
maintained somewhat.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

#3

> I there a way to list all programs which have been installed from
> compiled sources.?

I haven’t created any rpms. Stuff mostly goes in /usr/local* as you pointed out.

> If I do update, what is a sensible version to update to. i.e. one which
> will give newer program versions but not need a lot of work to get
> running.

I assume LTS means ‘long term stable’ … does this mean 12.2 cannot update to 13.1?

The servers are very stable and need little attention. My main reason to update is to get the latest mod_php for Apache2. Having the latest kernel and ‘new stuff’ is secondary but I guess it would help future proof my setup. What is crossing my mind is that I could try to update the backup server, which is very similar hardware wise and then if successful update the main server. All data is backed up to cloud anyway.

My experience with linux covers 15 years when I inherited a suse 9.3 server. I built a new one in 2013 and put on 12.2 which was current then. I then built the backup server and use lsync to back it up. I am not a linux expert (just had to look up LTS) so I don’t want to take on a major project if its not necessary.

What do you recommend? or advise? I appreciate your input.

#4

does this mean 12.2 cannot update to 13.1?

it can and I recommend the the full DVD rather than the online method. But don’t expect it to be perfect it is not a supported path.

compiled programs will have problems with the new libraries since they were compiled with and linked to older ones. You will have to recompile. Also recommend you get new source since newer has better chance that bugs or holes are fixed. You may want to check that such programs may be in the repos now which may save you from recompiling. But if you don’t know which they are there is no way we can tell you.

#5

Ok, thanks for the advice…it sounds like a job for a rainy weekend. :slight_smile:

#6

Ok, thanks for the advice…it sounds like a job for a rainy weekend. :slight_smile:

not neseseraly, a big issue with upgrades is do you have 3rd party drivers or extra repositories?

if done right the online upgrade should be fast and in theory painless.
see this opensuse wiki
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:System_upgrade

you should note that some packages might have had substantial changes and you would need to reconfigure them.
always do a full backup as things tend to go wrong.
remove any propitiatory drivers (nvidia ati etc.) remove any extra repositories and well follow the above wiki
but according to that wiki

You must only zypper dup to the next release. Hopping over a release, e.g., going from 12.2 -> 13.1, is not supported.

in theory you should go 12.2->12.3->13.1 but the same can be said for the DVD upgrade, you might get it working with a jump to 13.1 still that’s your risk and a lot of work.

ps. even if you go for a dvd upgrade remove extra drivers and repositories beforehand as it might complicate things.

about the old binaries it depends on a lot, skype was build for opensuse 12.1 it still works for 13.2. they might work but plan for them not working.

#7

about jumping releases even the DVD method states that jumping releases is a bad idea
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Offline_upgrade

It is highly recommended you upgrade to the next available release, one-by-one, until you end up at the release you want. For example, if you are on 12.3, but want to upgrade to 13.2, do this: from 12.3 upgrade to 13.1, then from 13.1 upgrade to 13.2. If you do decide to skip over a version, remember that the more versions you skip, the chances of failure goes up significantly. Also remember that you can not report bugs for unsupported openSUSE versions or if you decide to skip version when upgrading.

so you’d need to get 2 DVD’s and upgrade twice.
this is a safer method, but using zypper dup and rebooting twice should be faster.

#8

On 2015-08-19 18:36, I A wrote:

>> You must only zypper dup to the next release. Hopping over a release,
>> e.g., going from 12.2 -> 13.1, is not supported.
> in theory you should go 12.2->12.3->13.1 but the same can be said for
> the DVD upgrade, you might get it working with a jump to 13.1 still
> that’s your risk and a lot of work.

With the DVD upgrade you can jump two or three versions. I have not seen
any official note that it is not supported, whereas I have seen them
about zypper dup.

> ps. even if you go for a dvd upgrade remove extra drivers and
> repositories beforehand as it might complicate things.

No. You don’t need to remove anything yourself, because the offline
procedure (dvd upgrade) removes them automatically. You have to re-add
them yourself, manually, during the procedure, if you want them.

> about the old binaries it depends on a lot, skype was build for opensuse
> 12.1 it still works for 13.2. they might work but plan for them not
> working.

I have binaries built on 2001 still working :slight_smile:

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#9

On 2015-08-19 18:46, I A wrote:
>
> about jumping releases even the DVD method states that jumping releases
> is a bad idea
> https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Offline_upgrade
>> It is -highly recommended- you upgrade to the next available release,
>> one-by-one, until you end up at the release you want. For example, if
>> you are on 12.3, but want to upgrade to 13.2, do this: from 12.3
>> upgrade to 13.1, then from 13.1 upgrade to 13.2. If you do decide to
>> skip over a version, remember that the more versions you skip, the
>> chances of failure goes up significantly. Also remember that you can not
>> report bugs for unsupported openSUSE versions or if you decide to skip
>> version when upgrading.

This has been a recent modification to the text written by somebody, and
I don’t agree with it. Notice that I wrote the whole page myself.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#10

On 2015-08-19 16:16, Bignige wrote:

> robin_listas;2724691 Wrote:
>> On 2015-08-19 11:46
>> For servers, 13.1. But you should have done that long time ago. It is an
>> LTS, whereas 12.2 was not. The previous version was 11.4, still
>> maintained somewhat.
>>
>
> I assume LTS means ‘long term stable’ … does this mean 12.2 cannot
> update to 13.1?

Yes. No.

In openSUSE parlance we differentiate between update and upgrade, or
rather “system upgrade”.

A system upgrade lets you go from, say, 12.2 to 12.3.

An update to 12.2 stays in 12.2. It only updates a few packages.
Official updates (those done by “zypper patch” or “yast online update”)
mostly apply patches to packages to solve security issues, keeping the
same basic version of the packages (backporting).

Thus, 11.4 has been receiving updates till now, keeping the core
packages secure.

But 12.2 has received none since about January 2014.

>
> The servers are very stable and need little attention.

But they are vulnerable to attack.

> What do you recommend? or advise? I appreciate your input.

Me, I would do a full backup. I would image the system partitions, so
that I can recover them completely if things go awfully wrong. And I
would do a rsync backup of data.

Then I would attempt an offline system upgrade to 13.1.

Online upgrade
method
Offline upgrade
method
Chapter 16. Upgrading the System and System Changes
Chapter 16. Upgrading the System and System Changes
openSUSE 12.3 Release Notes
openSUSE 13.1 Release Notes
openSUSE 13.2 Release Notes

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#11

Does that mean that an upgrade with zypper dup from 12.2 to 13.1 is OK?
I’m asking this for my own knowledge I do agree that a best way to upgrade a production system is with the install disk.

#12

On 2015-08-19 23:46, I A wrote:

> Does that mean that an upgrade with zypper dup from 12.2 to 13.1 is OK?

No. I only write about the DVD, aka offline upgrade method.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

#13

Let us try to be clear you certainly can do a online upgrade from 12.3 to 13.1 But depending on how different your setup is from a standard you will have problems. They can be solved but thing may not work out of the box.

The recommended method is to upgrade to 12.4 then 13.1 but again you may have issues depending on how odd your set up is compared to a default standard set up. Since you say you have many self compiled programs you need to deal with that on a program by program bases. No install or upgrade method can possible deal with that.

#14

My setup is fairly standard. I probably only have about 6 compiled programs, the main ones being apache2 (because of enable ssl) , squid (because of enable -icap-client) the others are not a problem to recompile if they break.

12.2 system uses both systemV and systemd startup scripts. I am not sure if 13.1 will like my systemV scripts. maybe there will now be systemd scripts for those packages.

Still a little unsure which to upgrade to: 12.2 > 13.1 or 12.2 > 12.3 -> 13.1 or 12.2 > 12.3 > 12.4 > 13.1 my gut feeling says the more steps, the more chances of failure. thanks all for the input.

#15

There was no 12.4 I think gogalthorp meant to say 12.2 to 12.3
ps you don’t need an extra build of apache2 as according to this
https://software.opensuse.org/package/apache2

Mod_ssl is no longer a separate package, but is now included in the Apache distribution

the default build should have ssl support, that might need re-configuring.
about squid according to this
https://build.opensuse.org/package/view_file/server:proxy/squid_32/squid.spec?expand=1
there is an squid version with icap enabled
so you won’t need extra builds for those, but you better read the official manuals as I don’t use them.
I think the best way to upgrade is with the 13.1 install DVD, but first backup all your partitions to an external Disk or on several DVD’s (DVD’s are dirt cheep, better safe then sorry)