From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Jun 27 0:13: 7 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F0A4C37B400 for ; Thu, 27 Jun 2002 00:13:02 -0700 (PDT) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1]) by smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.4/8.12.4) with ESMTP id g5R7D04W031792; Thu, 27 Jun 2002 08:13:00 +0100 (BST) (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost) by happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.4/8.12.4/Submit) id g5R7CtDC031791; Thu, 27 Jun 2002 08:12:55 +0100 (BST) Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 08:12:55 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman To: BSD Freak Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: The next best thing to single user mode Message-ID: <20020627071255.GB71869@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> References: <19b47cd19acf21.19acf2119b47cd@mbox.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <19b47cd19acf21.19acf2119b47cd@mbox.com.au> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Thu, Jun 27, 2002 at 11:33:15AM +1000, BSD Freak wrote: > I need to remotely (via SSH) perform a "make installworld" on some > servers. Is it possible to have SSH running in single user mode or is > there something as safe as single user mode that will let me do the > installworl remotely.... The best solution in this sort of case is a console server, like eg. http://www.lightwavecom.com/server_management/console800.html --- you remotely log into the console server and it gives you access to the console of your machine. For those that don't have infinitely deep pockets, then you're going to have to extemporise. If you have more than one machine at the same site, you can use serial cables to let you access one machines' console via tip(1) from a neighbouring machine: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/serialconsole-setup.html If that's out of the question, then you're going to have to do the job the risky way. That's to just do the whole `make installkernel ; make installworld ; mergemaster; reboot' cycle in multiuser mode. You'll probably be able to get away with that, but you should certainly make sure the system is quiescent while you do it --- shutdown apache and whatever other servers you can without rendering the machine unusable. Kick everyone else off the box. Keep fingers crossed. The risks you run are that if something goes wrong you can leave your machine in an unbootable state, with no way to apply remedial action other than a fast trip to the hosting center. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way Tel: +44 1628 476614 Marlow Fax: +44 0870 0522645 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message