From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 2 16:24:46 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6ECA9106564A for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 16:24:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nlandys@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ww0-f42.google.com (mail-ww0-f42.google.com [74.125.82.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 01B898FC13 for ; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 16:24:45 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wwe15 with SMTP id 15so5904789wwe.1 for ; Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:24:45 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=sV9DDUoDoJpwwK63uje+jOL7fgKNBKE8erfre6m6JIA=; b=n/ldPIKRNjYu2FO0fH+ABBD2vkUAi5zAAsENk79FkjTmwKiT9PyykOkvSmBqqlET9Q vv1LL4o2hwRtzcVyPMn8QHStAY/V/Z8rNpERB7GYZ+WSnaY8Ecj110DDwlI9T4ACxS2j yzoTudXDkOeiPlwE9nn6JmN/GZiY1iY+JzWe0= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type; b=jk2Mknh51zQMKeCiipGTtavKIl7RA1KAirzGQKiXItiuctIqbCV9/KF9zlWFE8Q5+b paDqTHbVmuqiONaLtRnXYtacv7AuYMZPaazSo9mGLhlnwu0P2DLQTiDpAU66GWF40jHa 43lq1s+RQ3qF+xHimJSRTVqAFqQ71jaiHoHmQ= MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.227.54.19 with SMTP id o19mr7639214wbg.112.1299083084952; Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:24:44 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.227.137.203 with HTTP; Wed, 2 Mar 2011 08:24:44 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <4D6E6B16.7010508@my.gd> Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 08:24:44 -0800 Message-ID: From: Nerius Landys To: Ed Flecko Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Finish upgrading remote server without physically being there? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:24:46 -0000 > Two questions - > > 1.) If rebooting into single user mode isn't obviously a > requirement...I wonder why so many tutorials, books, etc. tell you to > do this? Dropping into single user mode is highly recommended especially if you're upgrading from, say, 8.1 to 8.2 (a minor version upgrade). If you're upgrading for example from 8.1-p3 to 8.1-p4 ("patch" upgrade), then what i normally do is, instead of the single user mode, I shut down all processes that are safe to shut down and still allow me to log in remotely. For example, I'd leave sshd running, but shut down all processes controlled by scripts in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/, and I'd shut down things like ntpd, maybe even syslog and cron. For you to get console access to a server where you want to go into single user mode, a data center normally gives you KVM access, which allows you to use a browser plugin to access your server's console. A KVM switch is an apparatus that connects to the VGA port and the PS/2 keyboard port, and one accesses its functionality over the internet. Another way to do this, but is quite rare, is to log in via serial console. This requires you to configure serial logins to your server (quite easy, but you should test it first) and it requires the data center to somehow make it possible to log in via serial console. That is that part that is quite rare. - Nerius