Re: remote install of 6.2
I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. Hi Jerry, If you have a 6.2 machine handy, you can create dump files of each filesystem using dump(8), cpio(1) or pax(1) or whatever you're used to. Ship those dump files to your 4.8 machine via scp(1). Then use bsdlabel(8) to partition your second hard disk (the one you whish to install 6.2 on). Create filesystems on those new partitions. Mount those new filesystems into a chroot, for example /mnt/root, /mnt/usr, /mnt/var, etc. Then extract your dump files onto those new partitions. Don't forget to install a boot block on your disk with `bsdlabel -B` or with boot0cfg(8). That should do it. If you need more detailed step-by-step instructions, just say so, I'll send something on the list. Have fun, David -- David Robillard UNIX systems administrator Oracle DBA CISSP, RHCE Sun Certified Security Administrator Montreal: +1 514 966 0122 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
On Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 10:30:44AM -0500, David Robillard wrote: I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. Hi Jerry, If you have a 6.2 machine handy, you can create dump files of each filesystem using dump(8), cpio(1) or pax(1) or whatever you're used to. Ship those dump files to your 4.8 machine via scp(1). Then use bsdlabel(8) to partition your second hard disk (the one you whish to install 6.2 on). Create filesystems on those new partitions. Mount those new filesystems into a chroot, for example /mnt/root, /mnt/usr, /mnt/var, etc. Then extract your dump files onto those new partitions. Don't forget to install a boot block on your disk with `bsdlabel -B` or with boot0cfg(8). That should do it. If you need more detailed step-by-step instructions, just say so, I'll send something on the list. OK. First, it was someone else who posted. I was one of the responders. That can be a good way of doing it. I have posted a list of steps for doing essentially that (slightly different circumstances) a couple of times in the past. But there is one disadvantage in this particular case. Since the OP is running 4.xx and wants to move to 6.xx, he would probably also want to take advantage of the new UFS2 filesystem improvements. But, if he builds the file system using the 4.xx fdisk and disklabel (before bsdlabel replaced it) then it will use the older file system missing some performance and feature improvements. So, he will want to find a way to fdisk and bsdlabel using a 6.xx system if at all possible. Of course, it is not the end of the world to be stuck with the older file system, but is less than optimal. It would be possible for the person to sort of double up on your suggestion and do a first build with the existing fdisk and bsdlabel and then restore 6.2 dumps. Then build a 6.2 system that can run from memory that includes the essentials such as fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs and tink with booting to boot to that memory system, which would then allow that second disk to remain unmounted or accessed anywhere -- essential for building the file systems. Then use that memory mounted system to build the file systems and finally do the restores from dumps. It should work, but will take some figuring out. The last time I built anything resembling that was back in about FreeBSD 4.9 and I made a file of it and burned it to CD and did the boots from CD. But it should be possible to get it to run from a memory file system. jerry Have fun, David -- David Robillard UNIX systems administrator Oracle DBA CISSP, RHCE Sun Certified Security Administrator Montreal: +1 514 966 0122 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
OK. First, it was someone else who posted. I was one of the responders. My mistake! Sorry about this. That can be a good way of doing it. I have posted a list of steps for doing essentially that (slightly different circumstances) a couple of times in the past. But there is one disadvantage in this particular case. Since the OP is running 4.xx and wants to move to 6.xx, he would probably also want to take advantage of the new UFS2 filesystem improvements. But, if he builds the file system using the 4.xx fdisk and disklabel (before bsdlabel replaced it) then it will use the older file system missing some performance and feature improvements. So, he will want to find a way to fdisk and bsdlabel using a 6.xx system if at all possible. Of course, it is not the end of the world to be stuck with the older file system, but is less than optimal. It would be possible for the person to sort of double up on your suggestion and do a first build with the existing fdisk and bsdlabel and then restore 6.2 dumps. Then build a 6.2 system that can run from memory that includes the essentials such as fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs and tink with booting to boot to that memory system, which would then allow that second disk to remain unmounted or accessed anywhere -- essential for building the file systems. Then use that memory mounted system to build the file systems and finally do the restores from dumps. It should work, but will take some figuring out. The last time I built anything resembling that was back in about FreeBSD 4.9 and I made a file of it and burned it to CD and did the boots from CD. But it should be possible to get it to run from a memory file system. Indeed, you're absolutely right. An easy way to circumvent this filesystem issue would be to mount the ISO image of a 6.2 install CD as a virtual filesystem and use the binaries from there. This shows you how to proceed: http://www.freebsddiary.org/iso-mount.php Of course, you'll need a fair bit of RAM to do this. There's also this from Colin Percival that can be usefull: http://www.daemonology.net/depenguinator/ HTH, David -- David Robillard UNIX systems administrator Oracle DBA CISSP, RHCE Sun Certified Security Administrator Montreal: +1 514 966 0122 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
On Fri, Mar 09, 2007 at 11:39:31AM -0500, David Robillard wrote: OK. First, it was someone else who posted. I was one of the responders. My mistake! Sorry about this. That can be a good way of doing it. I have posted a list of steps for doing essentially that (slightly different circumstances) a couple of times in the past. But there is one disadvantage in this particular case. Since the OP is running 4.xx and wants to move to 6.xx, he would probably also want to take advantage of the new UFS2 filesystem improvements. But, if he builds the file system using the 4.xx fdisk and disklabel (before bsdlabel replaced it) then it will use the older file system missing some performance and feature improvements. So, he will want to find a way to fdisk and bsdlabel using a 6.xx system if at all possible. Of course, it is not the end of the world to be stuck with the older file system, but is less than optimal. It would be possible for the person to sort of double up on your suggestion and do a first build with the existing fdisk and bsdlabel and then restore 6.2 dumps. Then build a 6.2 system that can run from memory that includes the essentials such as fdisk, bsdlabel and newfs and tink with booting to boot to that memory system, which would then allow that second disk to remain unmounted or accessed anywhere -- essential for building the file systems. Then use that memory mounted system to build the file systems and finally do the restores from dumps. It should work, but will take some figuring out. The last time I built anything resembling that was back in about FreeBSD 4.9 and I made a file of it and burned it to CD and did the boots from CD. But it should be possible to get it to run from a memory file system. Indeed, you're absolutely right. An easy way to circumvent this filesystem issue would be to mount the ISO image of a 6.2 install CD as a virtual filesystem and use the binaries from there. This shows you how to proceed: http://www.freebsddiary.org/iso-mount.php Of course, you'll need a fair bit of RAM to do this. That can work. Make sure you check the added comments as well, although those refer to FreeBSD 5.xxx and you are still on 4.xxx. You will want to know it will be different once you start running the new one. Make sure that the ISO image is not stored on the drive to be fdisk-ed, bsdlabel-ed and newfs-ed. In this person's case, the system is already running on another disk, and he wants to put the 6.xx system on a second disk, so he just has to make sure to write the ISO to that first disk somewhere there is room and unmount anything on that second disk. There's also this from Colin Percival that can be usefull: http://www.daemonology.net/depenguinator/ This reference is really a different subject. jerry HTH, David -- David Robillard UNIX systems administrator Oracle DBA CISSP, RHCE Sun Certified Security Administrator Montreal: +1 514 966 0122 ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
Also see my post to doc about restoring dump files over an http connection, in case your existing systems' partitions don't have enough room to temporarily store them. http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-doc/2007-February/012190.html ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
remote install of 6.2
I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. I figure this is because the install process has changed a bit since 4.8. Is there a way to fix this and/or what is the best way to achieve my goal... which is: install 6.2 on a remote system without hammering the current system disk? Thanks, -mark ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 01:50:27PM -0800, Mark Messier wrote: I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. I figure this is because the install process has changed a bit since 4.8. Is there a way to fix this and/or what is the best way to achieve my goal... which is: install 6.2 on a remote system without hammering the current system disk? Are you using an install CD? Use that to boot the machine - download the ISO and burn it if needed or buy one. Boot it up and do the install to the second disk. I know you can make it work from another disk if you unmount the second one and do things just right. But, it is easier to just make the CD and do the install on the second disk. jerry Thanks, -mark ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 05:19:57PM -0500, Jerry McAllister wrote: On Thu, Mar 08, 2007 at 01:50:27PM -0800, Mark Messier wrote: I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. I figure this is because the install process has changed a bit since 4.8. Is there a way to fix this and/or what is the best way to achieve my goal... which is: install 6.2 on a remote system without hammering the current system disk? Are you using an install CD? Use that to boot the machine - download the ISO and burn it if needed or buy one. Boot it up and do the install to the second disk. I know you can make it work from another disk if you unmount the second one and do things just right. But, it is easier to just make the CD and do the install on the second disk. Ahhh, I overlooked the part about being a remote install. Well, if you can get someone to stick in a CD and then take it out when it comes time for reboot, that would still be the easier way. Otherwise someone is going to have to take some time and think about what the problem is. It is true that /stand/sysinstall has changed since 4.x. I am not sure just how much it would mangle things to use the old one. jerry jerry Thanks, -mark ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: remote install of 6.2
Mark Messier wrote: I have a remote machine running 4.8-p21. The system has two disks in it, but only one is used on a daily basis (the other is filled via dd every now and then). I want to get this remote machine running 6.2, so I figured I'ld install the new OS on the second disk, then boot off the second disk, leaving the original first disk with all the user data on it (plus as a way to back out). When I try to use /stand/sysinstall for this it seg-faults early in the installation, but after the Commit step. You could try to mount a 6.2 iso-file and use the sysinstall from there, if that does not work due to library dependencies you could partition the disk by hand using fdisk and disklabel (or do that with the 4.8 sysinstall). After mounting the new disk to /mnt etc. you can extract the kernel and userland using the install.sh script you will find at the set directories in ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/6.2-RELEASE/. I think you only need base and a kernel. Only drawback is you will not be able to use UFS2 I guess, because the 4.8 newfs doesn't know about that. But maybe someone has a solution to that. You could also use qemu to prepare a freebsd6 system and use dd to write it onto the second disk. greetings, philipp ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
