Finish upgrading remote server without physically being there?

[Damien Fleuriot]

On 3/2/11 7:07 PM, Lowell Gilbert wrote:
> Damien Fleuriot <ml at my.gd> writes:
> 
>> On 3/2/11 5:15 PM, Ed Flecko wrote:
>>> Thanks Damien.
>>>
>>> :-)
>>>
>>> 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?
>>>
>>
>> Rebooting single user ensures that most daemons aren't launched, as well
>> as stuff related to networking and so on.
>>
>> It's safer but not mandatory per se.
>>
>> I've done 7.4-PRE to 8.0-REL upgrades just fine without the single user
>> step, AND the machine came back alive ;)
> 
> I do this all the time too, but if the new kernel doesn't boot, you
> end up in more trouble than needing an extra reboot.  The reboot part is
> definitely important -- you can reboot into multiuser mode and do the
> installworld that way, but if you have the new utilities and have to
> drop back to an old kernel, you may have to reinstall the base system.
> 

No you don't.


after you make installkernel

cd /boot
mv kernel test
mv kernel.old kernel
nextboot -k test
reboot

...

all goes well

...

cd /boot
mv kernel kernel.old
mv test kernel
reboot


Bless nextboot :)