[zfs-discuss] Server upgrade

Enda O''Connor
2012-02-15T17:26:54Z

On 15/02/2012 17:16, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
> While I''m not in need of upgrading my server at an emergency
level, I''m
> starting to think about it -- to be prepared (and an upgrade could be
> triggered by a failure at this point; my server dates to 2006).
>
> I''m actually more concerned with software than hardware.  My load
is
> small, the current hardware is handling it no problem.  I don''t
see myself
> as a candidate for dedup, so I don''t need to add huge quantities
of RAM.
> I''m handling compression on backups just fine (the USB external
disks are
> the choke-point, so compression actually speeds up the backups).
>
> I''d like to be on a current software stream that I can easily
update with
> bug-fixes and new features.  The way I used to do that got broke in the
> Oracle takeover.
>
> I''m interested in encryption for my backups, if that''s
functional (and
> safe) in current software versions.  I take copies off-site, so
that''s a
> useful precaution.
>
> Whatever I do, I''ll of course make sure my backups are ALL
up-to-date and
> at least one is back off-site before I do anything drastic.
>
> Is there an upgrade path from (I think I''m running Solaris
Express) to
> something modern?  (That could be an Oracle distribution, or the free
> software fork, or some Nexenta distribution; my current data pool is 1.8T,
> and I don''t expect it to grow terribly fast, so the fully-featured
free
> version fits my needs for example.)  Upgrading might perhaps save me from
> changing all the user passwords (half a dozen, not a huge problem) and
> software packages I''ve added.
>
> (uname -a says "SunOS fsfs 5.11 snv_134 i86pc i386 i86pc").

so this is the last opensoalris release ( ie not Solaris express )
S11 express was build 151, this is older again.
Not sure if there is an upgrade path to express from opensolaris. I
don''t think there is.
And S11 itself is now the latest, it''s based off build 175b. There is
an
upgrade patch from Express to S11, but not from opensolaris to Express
if I remember correctly.
>
> Or should I just export my pool and do a from-scratch install of
> something?  (Then recreate the users and install any missing software.
> I''ve got some cron jobs, too.)
>
> AND, what "something" should I upgrade to or install?
I''ve tried a couple
> of times to figure out the alternatives and it''s never really
clear to me
> what my good options are.
>