[CentOS] CentOS upgrade in Xen domU?

Mon Oct 22 11:37:14 UTC 2007
Alain Spineux <aspineux at gmail.com>

Hi

The installer way is not the only one to upgrade your system!
Especially if it fail to detect your disk/partitions.

You should be able to to make the upgrade using "yum upgrade/update"
Google on the web about centos upgrade for more info.

Regards.


On 10/21/07, Mike Edwards <pf-centos at mirkwood.net> wrote:
> I'm running into a slight problem trying to upgrade a CentOS 4.4
> install to 5.0.
>
> The configuration:
> CentOS 4.4 is an old install that used to boot natively.  That has
> since been backed up and restored to two seperate LVs (as the original
> install had two partitions).  The host system now runs Debian, and I've
> been able to successfully boot the old CentOS 4.4 install under Xen
> (with a Debian domU kernel, but that's besides the point).
>
> I've decided to upgrade the CentOS domU to CentOS 5.  After determining
> that the recommended upgrade path is to do so via the installer, I
> grabbed the CentOS installer kernel/ramdisk and configured my domU to
> boot from those.  The installer comes up without a problem.
>
> Things get hairy when the installer takes a look at the 'disks'.  I
> receive the following message:
> /dev/xvda currently has a loop partition layout.  To use this disk for
> the installation of CentOS, it must be re-initialized, causing the loss
> of ALL DATA on this drive.
>
> It looks like the installer doesn't like the fact that there are no
> partitions (which is correct, as the 'disk' is actually a logical
> volume under lvm).  As I'm trying to do an upgrade, and not blow away
> my existing setup, this isn't going to work.
>
> My question, therefore, is - how do I tell the CentOS 5 installer to
> ignore the fact that there are no partitions, and to simply do the
> install?  As mentioned previously, the CentOS domU does boot perfectly
> fine, and given the prevalence of volume groups, logical volumes and
> virtual machines these days, it seems rather silly to have an installer
> absolutely rely on the existence of partitions before it'll let one do
> an upgrade or install.
>
>
> --
>
> Mike Edwards                    |   If this email address disappears,
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> this address are not welcome.   |   reach me in that case, s/-.*@/@/
>
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> The human mind is our fundamental resource."
>   -- John F. Kennedy
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-- 
Alain Spineux
aspineux gmail com
May the sources be with you