lost network during freebsd-update install

[Bas Smeelen]

On 03/10/2011 04:24 PM, Tom Worster wrote:
> before resorting to cd.

Hi, I've read your last post, this sucks.
I missed a point which you have thought about (see below)
The best thing would have been either rollback or reboot and continue, see
below.
> the handbook describes a procedure:
>
> A) 1st freebsd-update install: The kernel and kernel modules will be
> patched
>
> B) reboot
>
> C) 2nd freebsd-update install: The state of the process has been saved and
> thus,freebsd-update will not start from the beginning, but will remove all
> old shared libraries and object files
>
>
> i'm just guessing... A) did not complete because its shell exited. i was
> left with a half-patched kernel. when i did "freebsd-update install"
> again, instead of doing A) over from scratch, it attempted C) and started
> dumping cores all over the carpet. result: system can't get the kernel up
> properly.
>
> or another guess... A) did complete while i was disconnected. when i
> repeated "freebsd-update install" it attempted C) but because the old
> kernel was still running it didn't work and started dumping cores all over
> the carpet. result: system hangs attempting to start some userland part.

I guess you're right here.
When ssh disconnects the shell does not immediatly exit, it takes some minutes.
So freebsd-update succesfully installed the kernel and when you got
connected again and ran install the second time it tried to install a new
userland on top of the old running kernel which in case of this major
version upgrade did not work. Why so much stuff is missing though is not
clear to me, I would think that freebsd-update just overwrites the old binaries.

> it seems a pity now that freebsd-update chose to use the same command verb
> for both A and C.

It would be nice if freebsd-update had the same command sequence (without
the build parts) as in a source upgrade. First fetch of course, then
freebsd-update installkernel with a message to reboot on succes or rollback
on failure, then after reboot freebsd-update installworld, with a check if
the new kernel is actually loaded, after that and rebuilding ports
freebsd-update delete-old-libs

I would like to know how others think about this approach, or am I thinking
completely wrong here?
> real hw.
>
> i'm considering going to the clouds. i could easily restore from a vm
> snapshot. but for that i need to learn linux, another big time sink.
>
> add votes here:
> http://feedback.rackspacecloud.com/forums/71021-product-feedback/suggestion
> s/989519-create-a-freebsd-image

Voted.
I run FreeBSD on real hardware and in virtual machines, both work fine over
the years.

Hope you have your server up and running again and from your posts I trust
you have good backups and a reliable fast way to restore.



DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is for the intended recipient(s) only. Access, disclosure, copying,
distribution or reliance on any of it by anyone else is prohibited. If you have received it
by mistake please let us know by reply and then delete it from your system.