Re: Live Upgrade for Linux

At Wed, 26 Mar 03, Unidentified Flying Banana Eric Rostetter, said:
> This isn't the same as Live Upgrade. With Live Upgrade, I can install a

I will state first of all that I have very limited familiarity with Live Upgrade, and I don't know of any "complete solution" available for Linux that can provide all of it's functionality.

However, at least one Distribution can be upgraded from one version to another without rebooting, and while the system is running. Debian does provide this capability. Upgrading from, for example, Debian 2.2 Potato to Debian 3.0 Woody can be done with a simple change to /etc/sources.list, and running 'apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade'.

This will go through and upgrade all the installed software on live running machine, without need for a reboot or running a special installer utility/CD.

> I agree you can do updates (install security patches, etc) this way.

A full install would be somewhat trickier, though with a little work, it should be doable. A major OS upgrade is definitely possible, but you should be prepared for possible minor down time while individual applications are upgraded.

> The alternative I use, and it sucks, is:

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Someone else mentioned User Mode Linux. Combining UML with a chroot for your upgrade or new install might be a feasible way to achieve what you're looking for. It would likely require some work though, and would not be as slick or easy to use as Solaris's Live Upgrade sounds to be.

> --
> Eric Rostetter

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| Christopher
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