[CentOS] Fastest 4.6 -> 5.1 upgrade path

Fri May 30 15:07:17 UTC 2008
Johnny Hughes <johnny at centos.org>

Adrian Marsh wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
>  
> 
> I've a question on upgrading Centos with the least downtime...
> 
>  

The best way to accomoplish this is to backup all data and not upgrade 
the install at all.  That is how Red Hat recommends that you do it for 
RHEL and how CentOS recommends it be done as well.

> 
> I've a centos 4.6 machine, hosting my local Centos respository.  I'd
> like to upgrade the OS to 5.1
> 
>  
> 
> I've practised in a VMware machine upgrading it by booting from a CD,
> but I wondered if YUM could do it, whilst keeping the rest of the
> machine "alive".
> 
>  

This method is the best of the upgrade methods, but it will leave behind 
old packages and several configuration files will not work and will need 
attention.

See this link for the upstream recommendation:

http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.1/Installation_Guide/ch-upgrade-x86.html

You might spend less total time upgrading (including troubleshooting of 
things with problems) if you backup data and just reinstall.  I know it 
sounds like I am crazy ... but it is easier :D

> 
> Am I better to shutdown and upgrade, or is yum really *that* good?
> 
>  

Yum upgrades are the hardest to do, and are NOT recommended or 
supported.  They can be accomplished in stages, however it is easy to 
get a non-bootable system.

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