[SLL] Procedural advice wanted.

[Paul Franz]

On Mon, March 16, 2009 6:47 pm, Anand Vaidya wrote:
> On Tuesday 17 March 2009 10:09:45 Paul Franz wrote:
>> I have a server I want to upgrade with a clean install. I don't want to
>> take the server down until it the replacement is working. In order to do
>> the upgrade I need access to the running server for files to transfer and
>> existing configurations to reference.
>>
>> If I install the OS on a new machine in the network, it will have the name
>> and IP associated with that name. Maybe I should do that and change the
>> name before testing. It seems to me this will be frought with problems.
>> Maybe the configurations for installed software such as bind, mail,
>> dovecot, etc will take on the characteristics of the new machine, for
>> example. Or maybe the test didn't work and I have to change the name back
>> to something else.
>>
>> There are quite a number of files under /etc/ that have the server's name
>> in it so renaming would be a chore.
>
> Paul,
> Why not create a VM from the running server and then tweak the VM offline? You
> can assign the same hostname / IP to the VM but leave it disconnected until
> you are ready to test. A quick cable switch can be used to test. If something
> seems wrong, you can always go back to the working server.

Could you be more specific?

Starting with two machines on the same network, (1) is a server I don't want to take
down and (2) is ready to be configured as (1)'s replacement, having the Distro DVD in
the tray and ready to be started. (2)is actually configured as a dual boot machine now
with but the Linux partitions can be overwritten as required.

>
> I did this recently for a Apache/SVN/bugzilla server migration and did not
> encounter any  problems.
>
> Regards
> Anand
>>
>> Any advice?
>
>


-- 
Paul Franz
425.440.9505 (O)
425.241.1618 (C)