From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jun 21 01:34:18 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 64C23F90 for ; Sat, 21 Jun 2014 01:34:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: from zoom.lafn.org (zoom.lafn.org [108.92.93.123]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1305C2FB0 for ; Sat, 21 Jun 2014 01:34:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [10.0.1.2] (static-71-177-216-148.lsanca.fios.verizon.net [71.177.216.148]) (authenticated bits=0) by zoom.lafn.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id s5L14lDN033383 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NO); Fri, 20 Jun 2014 18:04:49 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from bc979@lafn.org) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 6.6 \(1510\)) Subject: Re: binary upgrade of a remote box From: Doug Hardie In-Reply-To: <20140620122400.GA26444@admin.sibptus.tomsk.ru> Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 18:04:46 -0700 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <0049E329-310A-4BE9-829B-FE22AC54490F@lafn.org> References: <20140620122400.GA26444@admin.sibptus.tomsk.ru> To: Victor Sudakov X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1510) X-Virus-Scanned: clamav-milter 0.98 at zoom.lafn.org X-Virus-Status: Clean Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 01:34:18 -0000 On 20 June 2014, at 05:24, Victor Sudakov wrote: > Colleagues, >=20 > I have some remote boxes running outdated versions of FreeBSD like > 8.2-RELEASE-p6 or even 7.4-RELEASE-p5 >=20 > What's the least painful way of updating those systems to something > like RELENG_9_2 ?=20 >=20 > I am comfortable with the "make world" method and have done this > remotely before, but those boxes are too weak to compile their own > world, and the disks are too small. Mounting /usr/{src,obj} from a > remote host is not an option because of relatively slow and unreliable > WAN links. >=20 > I am very uncomfortable with "freebsd-update upgrade", at least it's > not something I would risk remotely. >=20 > Any more ideas of a way to perform a smooth binary upgrade? Here is the approach I use: I keep one system that is purely for development/test. Its large enough = to hold and build the entire system. Note, these machines are all = remote. I use freebsd-update to keep it up to date. I then rebuild = kernels and userland on it since I need to have non-defaults in the = kernel and changes to sendmail to support STARTTLS. That machine is = also configured as a NFS server. On the actual production machines, I mount /usr/src, /usr/obj, and = /usr/ports via NFS and then to an install kernel and installworld. Once = that is done, I use mergemaster and then reboot the machine. Upgrades = across major versions often require additional steps like recompiling = all my local apps. Those then have to be transferred to the production = machines. I have a terminal controller setup to enable me to access the server's = console ports via TCP. Thats just in case there are issues. It does = get used much more often that I would like.