SBP SLE OffLine Upgrade Local Boot - Color - en
SBP SLE OffLine Upgrade Local Boot - Color - en
SBP SLE OffLine Upgrade Local Boot - Color - en
Performing Major Version Upgrades of SUSE Linux Enterprise When Standard Boot Options Are
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This guide shows how to perform an upgrade of a SUSE Linux Enterprise
system to a new major version in environments which do not allow for stan-
dard booting of the installation, neither via the local boot media, nor via
PXE boot.
Contents
1 Introduction 3
2 Terminology 3
3 Requirements 4
9 Legal Notice 9
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1 Introduction
To upgrade your SUSE Linux Enterprise system to a newer service pack, there are tools available
which allow for an online upgrade of the system. This means that new packages are installed
while the system is running. After the installation of the packages, a reboot is necessary.
This process has the advantage that you only need access to the system, be it a local console or
an SSH session. You do not need to configure the rmware to boot a different media.
However, upgrading a system to a new major version cannot be performed online. To perform
an upgrade, you need to boot the system from the installation media (DVD, USB stick), or start
it via PXE boot.
In some environments, it is not possible to insert a new media to the server, configure the
rmware to boot from a different or even a virtual disk, or prepare the PXE boot environment
for starting the upgrade process. This can be the case for example in clouds or in remote server
rooms.
This document describes how the existing boot loader can be used in such environments to
perform an upgrade from SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 to SUSE Linux Enterprise 12, or from SUSE
Linux Enterprise 12 to SUSE Linux Enterprise 15.
While the examples below focus on the AMD64 or Intel 64 system architecture, a similar ap-
proach can be applied to other architectures too.
2 Terminology
The Installation Media is the media you use to boot the installation. It can be either a physical
DVD or USB stick, an ISO image attached to a virtual machine, or the content on such media
available via a network share.
For SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 products, the installation medium is the rst DVD of the respective
product. For SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 products, it is the unified installer DVD.
The Installation Repository contains packages for installation and metadata. It is included in the
installation media. Online repositories, which are for example mirrored on the Subscription
Management Tool (SMT), can serve the same purpose.
The Installation System is the environment which contains all tools that are needed to perform
the installation (including for example YaST). It is also available from the installation media.
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3 Requirements
To perform an upgrade, you need to have prepared the following components:
The installation repository should be either copied to a local disk, or made available via the
network. The installer supports all common transfer protocols, like HTTP(S), FTP, NFS, SMB.
For local media, it supports a local disk or a CD/DVD drive. It is recommended to copy the entire
content of the installation media, so that the installation system is included. The required disk
space is approximately 5 GB for upgrading to SUSE Linux Enterprise 12, and approximately 1 GB
for upgrading to SUSE Linux Enterprise 15, on top of the disk space needed for the upgrade itself.
The installation kernel and initrd must be made available in the boot area of the respective
hardware architecture. For example, for legacy booting of AMD64 or Intel 64 systems, this is
the /boot directory. The required disk space is approximately 100 MB.
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5 Preparing the Installation Kernel and Initrd
To boot the installer, you need to extract the installation kernel and initrd from the media
and put it to the location where the boot loader can load it from. There are two ways to obtain
the installation kernel and initrd :
From the DVD1 of the SUSE Linux Enterprise 12-based product, respective the SUSE Linux
Enterprise 15 unified installer
The examples below require as system architecture AMD64 or Intel 64 with legacy booting,
and as product SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. For other products or architectures, the paths or
package names may differ.
# cp /mnt/boot/x86_64/loader/initrd /boot/initrd.install
# cp /mnt/boot/x86_64/loader/linux /boot/linux.install
# rpm -i tftpboot-installation-SLES-12-SP4-x86_64-14.337.5-1.33.noarch.rpm
# cp /srv/tftpboot/SLES-12-SP4-x86_64/boot/x86_64/loader/linux /boot/linux.install
# cp /srv/tftpboot/SLES-12-SP4-x86_64/boot/x86_64/loader/initrd /boot/initrd.install
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# rpm -e tftpboot-installation-SLES-12-SP4-x86_64
For <options> , nd below the parameters which need to be included. Make sure that the root
value matches the one of your other sections so that it points to the same partition. Optionally,
you can configure GRUB to boot a different default section next time. To do so, adjust the number
according to your menu, starting from 0:
# grubonce 2
Using entry #2: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Installer
menuentry 'SLES 12-SP4' --class sles --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os
$menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-cd77493e-f701-4624-8074-21f0061e0727' {
load_video
set gfxpayload=keep
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insmod gzio
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint='hd0,msdos2' cd77493e-
f701-4624-8074-21f0061e0727
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root cd77493e-f701-4624-8074-21f0061e0727
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 4.12.14-94.41-default ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-94.41-default root=UUID=cd77493e-
f701-4624-8074-21f0061e0727 resume=/dev/vda1 splash=silent quiet showopts
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd-4.12.14-94.41-default
}
Next, open the le /etc/grub.d/40_custom and create a custom entry in it. It will only differ
from the one above in the title, path to kernel, and initrd and kernel parameters (see the lines
menuentry , linux and initrd ):
Keep the lines you do not need to change unchanged. They ensure that the boot loader loads
the right modules to load your installation kernel.
For <options> , nd the parameters which need to be included below.
After the menu entry is created, re-create the GRUB menu and, optionally, set the default boot
option for the next reboot:
# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
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Generating grub configuration file ...
Found theme: /boot/grub2/themes/SLE/theme.txt
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-4.12.14-94.41-default
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd-4.12.14-94.41-default
done
# grub2-once --list
0 SLES 12-SP4
1 Advanced options for SLES 12-SP4>SLES 12-SP4, with Linux 4.12.14-94.41-default
2 Advanced options for SLES 12-SP4>SLES 12-SP4, with Linux 4.12.14-94.41-default
(recovery mode)
3 SLES 15 Upgrade
4 halt
# grub2-once 3
install=<URL> points the installer to the URL that hosts your installation repository. Set
it according to where you prepared the installation media.
upgrade=1 is necessary to start the upgrade workflow instead of performing a new in-
stallation.
autoyast=<URL> is necessary if you choose to not upgrade manually, but via AutoYaST.
Set the location of the AutoYaST profile to drive the upgrade process.
For more information about AutoYaST and how to use it for a system installation or upgrade,
refer to the Deployment Guide of the respective product.
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7 Preparing the Installation System for an Upgrade
via SMT
SMT or RMT provide the repository mirrored from SUSE Customer Center (SCC). However, this
repository does not include the installation system, which is necessary to start the upgrade.
Since the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise 15, it is possible to get the installation system from
a different location than the installation repository.
The installation system is located on the installation media under the path /boot/<architec-
ture>/root . It is also located in the directory /srv/tftpboot/<product>-<version>-<ar-
chitecture>/boot/<architecture>/root , which is shipped with the online repositories of
the respective product (package tftpboot-installation-<product>-<version>-<archi-
tecture>.noarch.rpm ). To use the installation environment from a different path, copy this
patch from the installation media to another location, where the installer can fetch it (the same
limitations as for the installation repository apply).
The full kernel parameters for booting usually look as follows:
upgrade=1
instsys=tftp://<server-IP>/SLE-15-x86_64/boot/x86_64/root
install=http://<server-IP>/repo/SUSE/Products/SLE-Product-SLES/15/x86_64/product/
The paths above are based on the standard path on the SMT server and on the location of the
installation system provided by the package from the repository. Adjust them if necessary.
9 Legal Notice
Copyright ©2006–2019 SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved.
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Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or (at your option) version 1.3; with the Invariant
Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license version 1.2 is included in
the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.
SUSE, the SUSE logo and YaST are registered trademarks of SUSE LLC in the United States
and other countries. For SUSE trademarks, see http://www.suse.com/company/legal/ . Linux is
a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other names or trademarks mentioned in this
document may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
This article is part of a series of documents called “SUSE Best Practices”. The individual docu-
ments in the series were contributed voluntarily by SUSE's employees and by third parties.
All information found in this document has been compiled with utmost attention to detail.
However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy.
Therefore, we need to specifically state that neither SUSE LLC, its affiliates, the authors, nor the
translators may be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof. Below we draw
your attention to the license under which the articles are published.
Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE
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edgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".
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9. TERMINATION
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If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts". line with this:
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If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public
License, to permit their use in free software.
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