Upgrading from Version 4 to 4.x

You can upgrade SUSE Manager from version 4 to 4.x (when available) using either the YaST online migration tool or the Zypper command line tool. This procedure is also known as SP migration (service pack migration). This procedure does not replace the server with an updated copy. It is an in-place upgrade. Example: 4.0.x → 4.1.0.

Upgrades should be run from a text console, rather than a graphical interface like GNOME. If you are logged into a GNOME session running on the machine you are going to migrate, you will need to switch to a text console. This does not apply if you are logged in from a remote machine (unless you are running a VNC session with GNOME).

Upgrade Using YaST

To perform the upgrade with YaST, use the Online Migration tool.

Procedure: Upgrading with YaST

  1. From the command prompt, as root, launch the YaST online migration tool:

    yast2 migration

    YaST will show the possible migration targets with detailed summaries.

  2. Select the appropriate target, and follow the prompts to complete the migration.

  3. Reboot the server.

  4. Ensure the spacewalk services are running:

    spacewalk-service start

If the process fails, check these issues first:

  • If YaST does not have the online migration module available, install the yast2-migration package. After installing, restart YaST to ensure the module is available.

  • If there are older updates available, YaST will notify you and ask to install them first. You must install all package updates before performing the migration. For more information, see server-update.adoc.

During the upgrade, YaST will install all recommended packages. This can significantly increase the installation size of the system. To only install required packages, open the /etc/zypp/zypp.conf configuration file and set these variables:

solver.onlyRequires = true
installRecommends = false

This changes the behavior of all future package operations.

Upgrade Using Zypper

To perform the upgrade with Zypper, use the Zypper migration tool.

Procedure: Upgrading with Zypper

  1. From the command prompt, as root, launch the Zypper migration tool:

    zypper migration

    Zypper will show the possible migration targets with detailed summaries.

  2. Select the appropriate target, and follow the prompts to complete the migration.

  3. Reboot the server.

  4. Ensure the spacewalk services are running:

    spacewalk-service start

If the process fails, check these issues first:

  • If Zypper does not have the migration tool available, install the zypper-migration-plugin package.

  • If there are older updates available, Zypper will notify you and ask to install them first. You must install all updates before performing the upgrade.

Database Schema Upgrade

Most likely, you also must upgrade the database schema. For more information, see server-update.adoc, Procedure "Upgrading the Database Schema".