On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Rob Kampen <rkampen at kampensonline.com>
wrote:> Hi List,
> Early in dec I was forced to upgrade one of my server systems -
> initially built in 2004 on an intel server mb it finally failed.
> Under some time pressure, I replaced the mb etc with a 64 bit asus
> system and did a repair of the linux system upon reboot with a 64 bit DVD.
> As one can imagine there were some headaches as the kernel was now 64
> bit, but yum and friends were still 32 bit.
> I managed to upgrade the required packages to 64 bit, rebooted the
> server a few times and all appeared to function ok.
> BTW the server runs bind, apache, postfix, dovecot, mysql, php and
> related stuff.
>
> I have now relocated the server in a lights off situation and myself to
> the other side of the planet.
> Why all the history - well as I ssh into the box and do my weekly yum
> updates, I find that there have been no updates, however all my other
> servers have had multiple updates.
>
> Thus I did a rpm -qa and find there are only 65 rpm files listed - they
> are all 64 bit or noarch - none of the core server files are present.
>
> How do I systematically update all the files from 32 bit to 64 bit?
> As I am unable to physically get in front of this machine, I have zero
> room for error - and need the machine to be up and operating each
> business day.
> My google searches have not given me any hits that help.
> Any help, directions, things to be aware off etc - appreciated.
> TIA
I can't help with the 64-bit upgrade, though I suspect that will be
extremely touchy if it's possible, but for a server like that which is
business critical, you MUST add some kind of remote console access.
There is no question of "if", only "when" you will need it,
like a
reboot that needs you to press F1 or something. Attempting to perform
this kind of upgrade without that would be very foolish.
If it's Dell you can add a DRAC card (used ones are not that
expensive), or any other brand name will have something similar. If
it's not a brand name you can get pretty close using a Lantronix
Spider and a remote power switch. The system board might already have
a BMC with some ability for remote access.
Fix the remote access problem before trying the 64-bit upgrade.
? Brian Mathis