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Data Scavenger
Asked: 2011-07-16 03:55:49 +0800 CST

Upgrading old FreeBSD system

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I have a very old FreeBSD server at work.

atlas:~>uname -mprs FreeBSD 6.4-RELEASE-p8 i386 i386

I'd like to update it. I'm quite familiar and comfortable with the "make world" methods. I've just never used it for a system that was 1.5 years out of date.

What do you feel would be the upgrade method with the lowest risk? I can think of using freebsd-update and cvsup/make-world. I can go straight to the newest version or I can go to the newest 6.x version and then go to 7.x and then to 8.x. That "stepping stone" method seems safest, but also uses a lot of time.

Thoughts? Is freebsd-update able to go through so many versions at the same time? How about cvsup/make-world?

Thanks in advance!

freebsd

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    The upgrade method with the lowest risk is to build a new machine, copy your data over, test, and cut over when you're sure it works.

    The next lowest risk is to do the same thing using virtual machines, then when you know the upgrade works in a virtual environment back up all of your data, re-install the server with the new OS and all the applications you will require (via ports or packages), and then restore your data.

    The third lowest risk option is to back up your data, cvsup to the next major version (e.g. you're currently running 6.x so you would cvsup to a release on the 7.x branch) and perform the steps in /usr/src/UPDATING. Repeat as necessary until you hit the version you intend to run in production.
    If you want to do this you should clone your current environment in a virtual machine and test the upgrade path: It is exceedingly likely that things will break during the upgrade process.

    The fourth lowest risk option is to do the third lowest risk option, minus the backups.
    We can call this the "High risk" or "if-you-do-this-on-a-production-box-you-should-probably-be-fired" option.

    Once you have dragged your environment up to the release you want to run you need to commit to tracking releases on a regular basis - If you neglect updates and let the environment fall this far behind again you will wind up having to do this all over in 2 years.

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  2. Question is already answered, I just wanted to add some tips.

    1. If you have fully backed up system and it has mirror - you can break the mirror, upgrade, test, re-add devices to mirror. It can be risky, but IMHO ability to rollback any mess worth it.
    2. Also to minimize risk of breaking some packages dependencies you should add COMPAT_FREEBSD6 option to your kernel and install compat6x port
    3. Newer versions of FreeBSD have ZFS, so you can create a clone before an update.
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