Hi,
I will probably have to migrate a few servers running Red Hat 9 to CentOS and I'd like to have opinions. One server to migrate is running Fedora core 4.
Reason for migrating to CentOS: no more security updates available, hardware change planned anyway.
Here are the services to be migrated:
sendmail pop (not sure which daemon, I think it is running the default daemon in RH9) DNS apache+PHP website FTP Dansguardian Samba Perforce Squid
I haven't seen any directories like LDAP or windows Active Directory, so I assume for now that all authentication is done locally.
Anyone has experience with that? I'm not too scared about sendmail, Bind, apache/PHP (except that maybe the PHP upgrade may break the website, but this is easily managed and can be tested), ftp.
However, I don't know dansguardian much, but I guess it would be a good idea to integrate it with squid.
I don't know squid much, but depending on what they're doing with it, it should be fairly simple.
For samba, are there major changes between the default version in RH9 and Centos4 or 5?
Anyone migrated a perforce environment?
I'm also wondering whether I migrate them to centos3, 4, or 5. 3 would be to make the transition easier, while still letting them have many years of security updates.
4 is the version I use most, I barely touched 5.
5 would be for xen and... your ideas?
I usually use OpenVZ for virtualization, but they might want to virtualize windows servers too, which OpenVZ can't do.
Any input would be appreciated,
Regards,
Ugo
Ugo Bellavance wrote:
Hi,
I will probably have to migrate a few servers running Red Hat 9 toCentOS and I'd like to have opinions. One server to migrate is running Fedora core 4.
Anyone has experience with that? I'm not too scared about sendmail, Bind, apache/PHP (except that maybe the PHP upgrade may break the website, but this is easily managed and can be tested), ftp.
However, I don't know dansguardian much, but I guess it would be a good idea to integrate it with squid.
I don't know squid much, but depending on what they're doing with it, it should be fairly simple.
For samba, are there major changes between the default version in RH9 and Centos4 or 5?
Anyone migrated a perforce environment?
I'm also wondering whether I migrate them to centos3, 4, or 5. 3 would be to make the transition easier, while still letting them have many years of security updates.
4 is the version I use most, I barely touched 5.
5 would be for xen and... your ideas?
I usually use OpenVZ for virtualization, but they might want to virtualize windows servers too, which OpenVZ can't do.
Any input would be appreciated,
No answer yet... I guess I must have done something wrong in my post.
I'll try to get more details about what is to be done and I'll post again. Still, if you have an advice about anything in my original post, please let me know.
Regards, Ugo
On Thu, 2007-11-22 at 09:51 -0500, Ugo Bellavance wrote:
Ugo Bellavance wrote:
Hi,
I will probably have to migrate a few servers running Red Hat 9 toCentOS and I'd like to have opinions. One server to migrate is running Fedora core 4.
Anyone has experience with that? I'm not too scared about sendmail, Bind, apache/PHP (except that maybe the PHP upgrade may break the website, but this is easily managed and can be tested), ftp.
However, I don't know dansguardian much, but I guess it would be a good idea to integrate it with squid.
I don't know squid much, but depending on what they're doing with it, it should be fairly simple.
For samba, are there major changes between the default version in RH9 and Centos4 or 5?
Anyone migrated a perforce environment?
I'm also wondering whether I migrate them to centos3, 4, or 5. 3 would be to make the transition easier, while still letting them have many years of security updates.
4 is the version I use most, I barely touched 5.
5 would be for xen and... your ideas?
I usually use OpenVZ for virtualization, but they might want to virtualize windows servers too, which OpenVZ can't do.
Any input would be appreciated,
No answer yet... I guess I must have done something wrong in my post.
I'll try to get more details about what is to be done and I'll post again. Still, if you have an advice about anything in my original post, please let me know.
---- questions were far to general to get specific responses
There is no supported upgrade path for either RHL 9 or Fedora 4 to CentOS but you certainly can use anaconda to do that by appending...
linux upgradeany
to the boot parameters of the CentOS 3/4/5 installer
You get to keep the pieces that are broken.
per info on Centos web site... http://centos.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=43
CentOS 3.x is in maintenance updates only mode...hardly makes sense to me to install this on anything UNLESS you have specific software that will only run on 2.4 kernels
CentOS 4.x enters into maintenance updates only mode March 1st, 2008 - not that far off
I don't know anything about 'perforce environment' and thus have nothing to offer. Similarly, I haven't use squid for many years and likewise dansguardian.
Apache/PHP/MySQL are all starting to show their age on CentOS-4.x but thankfully, there is CentOS Plus repository for updated php & mysql but if I were thinking in terms of updates that I didn't have to bother with for a few years, I would certainly go all the way to CentOS 5
You might find some useful information here...
http://centos.org/search.php?query=upgradeany&andor=AND&action=resul...
Craig
Craig White wrote:
On Thu, 2007-11-22 at 09:51 -0500, Ugo Bellavance wrote:
questions were far to general to get specific responses
That is what I thought.
There is no supported upgrade path for either RHL 9 or Fedora 4 to CentOS but you certainly can use anaconda to do that by appending...
linux upgradeany
In fact I won't upgrade the current machines, as they're old. I'd setup new servers and migrate services one to one from the old to the new ones.
You get to keep the pieces that are broken.
per info on Centos web site... http://centos.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=43
CentOS 3.x is in maintenance updates only mode...hardly makes sense to me to install this on anything UNLESS you have specific software that will only run on 2.4 kernels
CentOS 4.x enters into maintenance updates only mode March 1st, 2008 - not that far off
I don't know anything about 'perforce environment' and thus have nothing to offer. Similarly, I haven't use squid for many years and likewise dansguardian.
Perforce is a CVS-like system (proprietary).
Apache/PHP/MySQL are all starting to show their age on CentOS-4.x but thankfully, there is CentOS Plus repository for updated php & mysql but if I were thinking in terms of updates that I didn't have to bother with for a few years, I would certainly go all the way to CentOS 5
You might find some useful information here...
http://centos.org/search.php?query=upgradeany&andor=AND&action=resul...
All very good info, thanks!
Ugo
Ugo Bellavance wrote:
Hi,
I will probably have to migrate a few servers running Red Hat 9 toCentOS and I'd like to have opinions. One server to migrate is running Fedora core 4.
Anyone has experience with that? I'm not too scared about sendmail, Bind, apache/PHP (except that maybe the PHP upgrade may break the website, but this is easily managed and can be tested), ftp.
However, I don't know dansguardian much, but I guess it would be a good idea to integrate it with squid.
I don't know squid much, but depending on what they're doing with it, it should be fairly simple.
For samba, are there major changes between the default version in RH9 and Centos4 or 5?
Anyone migrated a perforce environment?
I'm also wondering whether I migrate them to centos3, 4, or 5. 3 would be to make the transition easier, while still letting them have many years of security updates.
4 is the version I use most, I barely touched 5.
5 would be for xen and... your ideas?
I usually use OpenVZ for virtualization, but they might want to virtualize windows servers too, which OpenVZ can't do.
Any input would be appreciated,
No answer yet... I guess I must have done something wrong in my post.
I'll try to get more details about what is to be done and I'll post again. Still, if you have an advice about anything in my original post, please let me know.
Regards, Ugo
Just like any other migration do you tests in other machines and do parallel tests every migration needs fixes
Leonel
Leonel Nunez wrote:
Just like any other migration do you tests in other machines and do parallel tests every migration needs fixes
Leonel
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
I can second this. I am in the process of migrating 5 research labs from Suse 10.0 to CentOS 5 (for various reasons). The migration has been in testing phase for over 3 months and a lot of bugs have been found and corrected in that time.
A migration from any OS to another is a very tedious and time consuming step. You will need to work on each part of the migration individually. Start with the services that you are most familiar with or that you feel you could learn the quickest.
Setup a machine with CentOS 5 and begin testing that service. When you are confident that said service is operating as it should, shift that service from the production server to your testing server. Let it run there for a bit because chances are you'll find bugs and that will give you a chance to fail the service back over (if necessary) while you correct the issue.
Once you've gotten all the services over to the new box you'll be happy to know you did it the "right way" and that you've incurred the least amount of pain for you, your fellow workers who work with you and your users.
IMHO, you should spend a lot of time testing the Perforce migration, followed by your web services. Migration of any SCM is a potentially complicated operation. I haven't used Perforce before, but be careful.
Secondly, careful testing of your web services is crucial. You'll most likely be upgrading version of Apache, PHP and libraries at the same time which can break things like backward compatibility. Samba depending on it's function within your institution would be a close third, if not a tie for number 2, but that's up to you.
The squid services are probably not all that complicated if they're only using a caching server (forward or reverse).
Of course, with proper software unit testing and a bit of elbow grease I'm sure it will all go over well.
There are various papers on best practices for OS migrations and various other system administrator task on the web just google for migration best practices and you'll find lots.
James A. Peltier wrote:
Leonel Nunez wrote:
I can second this. I am in the process of migrating 5 research labs from Suse 10.0 to CentOS 5 (for various reasons). The migration has been in testing phase for over 3 months and a lot of bugs have been found and corrected in that time.
A migration from any OS to another is a very tedious and time consuming step. You will need to work on each part of the migration individually. Start with the services that you are most familiar with or that you feel you could learn the quickest.
Setup a machine with CentOS 5 and begin testing that service. When you are confident that said service is operating as it should, shift that service from the production server to your testing server. Let it run there for a bit because chances are you'll find bugs and that will give you a chance to fail the service back over (if necessary) while you correct the issue.
Once you've gotten all the services over to the new box you'll be happy to know you did it the "right way" and that you've incurred the least amount of pain for you, your fellow workers who work with you and your users.
IMHO, you should spend a lot of time testing the Perforce migration, followed by your web services. Migration of any SCM is a potentially complicated operation. I haven't used Perforce before, but be careful.
Secondly, careful testing of your web services is crucial. You'll most likely be upgrading version of Apache, PHP and libraries at the same time which can break things like backward compatibility. Samba depending on it's function within your institution would be a close third, if not a tie for number 2, but that's up to you.
The squid services are probably not all that complicated if they're only using a caching server (forward or reverse).
Of course, with proper software unit testing and a bit of elbow grease I'm sure it will all go over well.
There are various papers on best practices for OS migrations and various other system administrator task on the web just google for migration best practices and you'll find lots.
Wow, excellent advice!
Thanks!
Ugo
Ugo Bellavance wrote:
James A. Peltier wrote:
Leonel Nunez wrote:
I can second this. I am in the process of migrating 5 research labs from Suse 10.0 to CentOS 5 (for various reasons). The migration has been in testing phase for over 3 months and a lot of bugs have been found and corrected in that time.
A migration from any OS to another is a very tedious and time consuming step. You will need to work on each part of the migration individually. Start with the services that you are most familiar with or that you feel you could learn the quickest.
Setup a machine with CentOS 5 and begin testing that service. When you are confident that said service is operating as it should, shift that service from the production server to your testing server. Let it run there for a bit because chances are you'll find bugs and that will give you a chance to fail the service back over (if necessary) while you correct the issue.
Once you've gotten all the services over to the new box you'll be happy to know you did it the "right way" and that you've incurred the least amount of pain for you, your fellow workers who work with you and your users.
IMHO, you should spend a lot of time testing the Perforce migration, followed by your web services. Migration of any SCM is a potentially complicated operation. I haven't used Perforce before, but be careful.
Secondly, careful testing of your web services is crucial. You'll most likely be upgrading version of Apache, PHP and libraries at the same time which can break things like backward compatibility. Samba depending on it's function within your institution would be a close third, if not a tie for number 2, but that's up to you.
The squid services are probably not all that complicated if they're only using a caching server (forward or reverse).
Of course, with proper software unit testing and a bit of elbow grease I'm sure it will all go over well.
There are various papers on best practices for OS migrations and various other system administrator task on the web just google for migration best practices and you'll find lots.
Wow, excellent advice!
Thanks!
Ugo
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
I forgot to mention. Document EVERYTHING! It will often help you in times of frustration to ensure that you are not doing the same thing over and over and over again and coming up with the same results. Not only that, but you'll be able to refer back to it in a case of system failure when you need to get the service up NOW. ;)
-
Craig White -
James A. Peltier -
Leonel Nunez -
Ugo Bellavance