Update root server 10.1 to 10.3

Hi,
I have a x64 root server (remote terminal access only) at 1and1 (german), and they got the most terrible support I have ever experienced.

At the moment I have suse 10.1 on the machine, uname -a


2.6.20.20-071008a #1 SMP Mon Oct 8 09:52:37 CEST 2007 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

What I actually want to do:
I want a newer php version (>=5.2), but in my yast update repos, there is only php 5.1. There are no souces for 10.1 ( I could find).
What am I planning to do:
I want to update 10.1 to 10.3. I don’t think about 11.x, because I think there will be more problems when upgrading a major version.
Why I post here:
I am not a total greenhorn, I already managed to set up a webserver in debian, but suse and yast scare me a bit. So here are my questions:

  1. How to perform the upgrade? Is there a more or less one click solution?
  2. What are the right sources I have to insert in yast
  3. Is there a simple way to upgrade php 5.1.2 to 5.2.x for a greenhorn? The problem is that I don’t know what I should pass in ./configure.

Thank you so much

Moving from 10.xxx to 11.1 isn’t that big of a deal, and I’ll be the first of several posts here to tell you that you should do that. The primary reason is so that your server can receive security updates. If you’re exposing a Webserver to the world, you shouldn’t do it on an older, unsupported operating system. 10.3 is nearing End Of Life (EOL), so it will be unsupported shortly.

As for upgrading, the only answer there is, “it depends.” Where are the document files? Is there a single directory for document root, or do you have virtual hosts as well? You need PHP, so that tells me that you’re probably doing some things with it. All of these things affect the answer. If it’s a simple Webserver with a single document root, I’d back up the docs, build the server with Yast, the copy/restore the site into the new server.

Swerdna has a great walkthrough for setting up a fairly complete Web server, if you want to get an idea:

HowTo: Configure a Linux Apache Web Server on Suse/openSUSE for SSI, Includes, CGI, Common Gateway Interface, AddHandler, ExecCGI, AllowOverride, htaccess, DocumentRoot

Hi,
Thank you for your reply. I guess the main problem is the plesk on my box. There are about 20 plesk users/domains and I can not afford days of downtime.
All htdocs are located in /srv/www/vhosts, the normal plesk setup. Of course I could all do it without plesk, but I need a customer frontend.
So there is no “just enter a 10.3 update source and click update” solution.
The server shall run only for two more month, but right now I need a 5.2 feature - so another server is not partical. After the two month I will kill the machine and reinstall maby suse 11 - so I 10.3 is ok for me.
Anyway thanks

The option is there but seriously, you admit this is a production server this is no way to do an upgrade. Sure it may go fine but then it maybe a disaster. The recommendation to do a clean install will be less hassle than trying to untangle the mess an upgrade may get you into.

If it is possible I would try to clone the remote and get the clone working when satisfied then replace the original with the updated clone.

Here I would of thought the easiest would be to get the src.rpm for 10.3 and try a rebuild. Or as these seem to of done just try the 10.3 and resolve the deps

Upgrade to php 5.2 in suse 10.1 - HowtoForge Forums | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

You shouldn’t need days of downtime. If it was me, and there was any way I could get my hands on a second machine, I’d build that one up as a clone (as FeatherMonkey suggested), test it to death, then put it online. (Even if you have to borrow a personal machine from home for a few weeks.)

All htdocs are located in /srv/www/vhosts, the normal plesk setup. Of course I could all do it without plesk, but I need a customer frontend. So there is no “just enter a 10.3 update source and click update” solution.

I don’t know of a good, quick solution for you, then. No, I doubt seriously if even upgrading from 10.1 to 10.3 will guarantee that the Plesk stuff stays intact (you’d better have a good backup before you start!). That’s why I suggest just biting the bullet and moving on up to 11.1.

If you want to avoid having to do all this again in a couple of years, you might consider going with Suse Enterprise. That OS is fully supported for years and years.