Backend problem

Edward Doolittle edward.doolittle at gmail.com
Thu Jan 26 00:17:28 EST 2017


On 25 January 2017 at 15:56, Adrien Monteleone <adrien.monteleone at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Ubuntu issues releases every 6 months. Those have support for 18 months.
> Every 24 months, they issue a Long Term Support (LTS) release that they
> commit to supporting for 5 years. This doesn’t mean end of life. The
> software doesn’t stop working. And indeed, some software will still be
> updatable on it and someone usually compiles backports for a spell of the
> most popular apps. However, you won’t receive security patches after that 5
> years. Ubuntu offers LTS > LTS upgrade paths. I’ve already used it twice
> with zero issues on multiple machines. (once from 12.04 > 14.04 and again
> from 14.04 > 16.04, I’ve even done more critical boxes from 12.04 > 16.04
> at once albeit in two steps) Certainly, it is trivial to script application
> installation and configuration if you even wanted to fresh install the
> upgrades. My current server plan is to use 16.04 until support ends in
> April 2021, then upgrade to a more seasoned 20.04 and use that till April
> 2025, upgrade to 24.04 etc. I’ll be jumping two LTS versions every four
> years, but always to the latest version which has already had two rounds of
> point release bug fixes.
>

I've had one upgrade from 14.04LTS to 16.04LTS go smoothly, and another go
rather badly. I admit that it's mostly my fault, but nevertheless it was
quite a bother. I eventually fixed it without losing anything, but it took
a few hours and some meditating.

Instead of upgrading in place, what I recommend for Unix, especially for
critical systems, is to set up 3 or 4 partitions, ideally on several
different disks. One of the partitions should be for local data (/home and
perhaps /usr/local, etc.), and the other 2 or 3 for operating systems.
Install Ubuntu on one of the partitions, tune it up, then copy to another
partition. A few modifications will have to be made (e.g., to grub
configuration). When it comes time to upgrade, you can upgrade just one of
the operating system partitions; the other will be a backup, ready to run
in case something goes wrong. If you have a lot of trouble with the
upgrade, you can just wipe one OS partition and do a fresh install of the
newer operating system. When you're sure the new one is running smoothly,
copy it over the partition with the old operating system, or just upgrade a
second time.

If the operating system is on a different disk from /home and other local
data, you can even upgrade by swapping the hard drive with the old OS for a
new hard drive with the new OS, then just run through a check list of local
modifications to configuration files (e.g., fstab, grub, hostname, users,
passwords). It will take some time to prepare the hard drive offsite, but
from the client's perspective, an upgrade could literally take minutes if
all goes well. Try that with Windows.

> Bluntly, Win10 is not a solution to this person's problem. It opens up
> > huge problems, as the plan is to store a private database on what is
> > well reported to be a system which "calls home" repeatedly.
> >
> > A commercial NAS box, or a home built one, would be a better solution.
> >
> >
> > Liz


Edward

-- 
Edward Doolittle
Associate Professor of Mathematics
First Nations University of Canada
1 First Nations Way, Regina SK S4S 7K2

« Toutes les fois que je donne une place vacante, je fais cent mécontents
et un ingrat. »
-- Louis XIV, dans Voltaire, Le Siècle de Louis XIV, Chap. XXVI


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