Hi, this follows on from some previous problems that have occured, which I dont think I have fully resolved, and believe it will be easier just to re-install the entire distro and start from scratch.

However, I want to do this with minimal distruptions to service.

So... here is what I plan to do.

Create a new install of RH small, reboot, mount the new disk image (and the old ones...) then move all the files for the websites, apache conf etc... over to the new image etc... then once im happy with it try and boot up configuration.

So, will this actually work? If so... how? Ive created a new distro but how do I mount that distro to the current file system (is that even possible?)

Cheers
alex

I just did something similar with an old RH9 Install and a new Fedora Core 1 Install.

1. Prep the new disk images to support Fedora Core 1.
2. Wait till I know the down-time will have the least impact on my sites and services.
3. Issue a reboot from the web control panel for the new (FC1) profile.
4. Login and begin performing the re-installs of any customized packages using the information from my old config files on the old profile (mounted via the profile manager and the mount command).
5. Reboot into old profile to restore services.
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 until process is complete.

I found that this worked really well because I could copy specific parts of the old configs and update the software at the same time. I was also able to copy over all of the web files that existed.

It took me about 8 hrs to do a complete re-install spread out over about a week while suffering from the flu so depending on what you need to install / update, it could take more or less time.

Hope this helps.

ok, i think I get that.....

So, what do I need to do to my disk images to support fedora core 1? and is it even worth upgrading to that?

The process should work the same for just putting up a brand new install of the RH and may be simpler. If memory serves, The FC1 image does not contain several of the required compilers that will be required to complete a full install and I didn't really take good notes when I was doing it.

I do know that I made frequent use of apt-get install and depending on the packages / software that you need it may require several different things to get it going.

I use php, mysql, apache, named, and qmail on my server so your setup may have slightly different requirements. Once I had created the second distro, I rebooted and just started trying to install those packages that I knew I would need (php, mysql, apache, qmail, etc.).

As I encountered problems I would then install the needed compilers or libraries to continue and then move on. I know that I had to install a lot of devel packages (for the header files) and a few basic compilers (gcc-c++ I think). If you use the standard source installations for things like php and apache you will get warnings about missing libraries and such which will guide you to the missing items.

Just remember....DO NOT copy the config files over. DO use the old config files to re-create your new config files. I only state this because the files may have changed from the old system to the new and you could experience some problems if you just copy them over. You should be safe to copy over web files and the like. If you are using mysql or a database system you will most likely want to perform a dump and then re-import that on the new system.

When I did mine, I just mounted the old file system under /rh9 which allowed me to copy things like the web files and named zone files rather than having to recreate from scratch or upload from an offsite (aka home computer) backup.

If you have any questions or issues while upgrading to the FC1 install, just post them here and I'm sure someone will be able to address them. Otherwise, happy upgrading. Just remember to keep the old config profile for your Linode until your happy with the new setup so that you can always wipe and start over (or boot back to the old) on the new config if you have to without having to worry.

Apologies if parts of this don't make much sense. I'm working on very little sleep here (3 hrs?) and looking forward to another long day today.

And YES, FC1 is worth the upgrade as RH9 is no longer being updated by the RH community in general. I am using FC1 on my Linode and at home because it does support many of the more recent packages as RH9 has more problems.