Upgrading SUSE Linux Micro from Previous Releases
- WHAT?
This document offers a comprehensive guide to upgrading SUSE Linux Micro from previous versions to the latest version, detailing the preparatory steps, upgrade process, and potential rollback options.
- WHY?
You want to have the new release of SUSE Linux Micro.
- EFFORT
It takes approximately 20 minutes to read the article.
- GOAL
A new running release of SUSE Linux Micro.
- REQUIREMENTS
A registered SLE Micro version 5.5 or 6.0
NetworkManager as the network managing service
1 Introduction to the upgrade procedure #
SUSE supports upgrades between two releases of SUSE Linux Micro. Whether it is better to upgrade or perform a fresh installation depends on your specific scenario. While upgrades involve less work, fresh installations ensure you benefit from all the new features of a release, such as disk layout changes, specific filesystem features, and other improvements. To get the most out of your system, SUSE therefore recommends fresh installations in most scenarios.
SUSE releases a new version of SUSE Linux Micro twice a year and the product comes with 4 years of general support (for details regarding SUSE Linux Micro lifecycle, refer to https://www.suse.com/lifecycle).
SUSE Linux Micro uses transactional updates to upgrade from one version to the next. This has the following advantages:
Canceling is possible until you reboot your system.
Simple recovery if there is an error.
Possible “rollback” via system tools—no backup or restore needed.
Use of all active repositories.
2 Preparing SUSE Linux Micro for upgrade #
Before you start the upgrade procedure of SUSE Linux Micro, you need to perform checks as described in this section.
2.1 Identify the SUSE Linux Micro version #
To check the SUSE Linux Micro version, view the file
/etc/os-release
. Machine-readable XML output is
available with zypper
:
>
sudo
zypper --no-remote --no-refresh --xmlout --non-interactive products -i
<?xml version='1.0'?> <stream> <message type="info">Ignoring repository 'SLE-Micro-5.5-Debuginfo-Pool' because of 'no-remote' option.</message> <message type="info">Ignoring repository 'SLE-Micro-5.5-Debuginfo-Updates' because of 'no-remote' option.</message> <message type="info">Ignoring repository 'SLE-Micro-5.5-Pool' because of 'no-remote' option.</message> <message type="info">Ignoring repository 'SLE-Micro-5.5-Source-Pool' because of 'no-remote' option.</message> <message type="info">Ignoring repository 'SLE-Micro-5.5-Updates' because of 'no-remote' option.</message> <message type="info">Loading repository data...</message> <message type="info">Reading installed packages...</message> <product-list> <product name="SLE-Micro" version="5.5" release="1" epoch="0" arch="x86_64" vendor="SUSE" summary="SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5" repo="@System" productline="SLE-Micro" registerrelease="" shortname="SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro" flavor="" isbase="true" installed="true"><endoflife time_t="1809043200" text="2027-04-30T00:00:00Z"/><registerflavor/><description>SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5</description></product> </product-list> </stream>
2.2 Read the release notes #
Find a list of all changes, new features, and known issues in the release notes.
The release notes usually only contain the changes between two subsequent releases.
Check the release notes to see whether:
your hardware needs special considerations
any used software packages have changed significantly
special precautions are necessary for your installation
2.3 Register the machine #
On registration, the system receives repositories from the SUSE Customer Center (see
https://scc.suse.com/) or a local registration proxy like SMT.
The repository names map to specific URIs in the customer center. To list
all available repositories on your system, use zypper
as follows:
#
zypper
repos -u
This gives you a list of all available repositories on your system. Each
repository is listed by its alias, name and whether it is enabled and
will be refreshed. The option -u
also gives you the URI
from where it originated.
To register your machine, run the transactional-update
command as follows:
>
sudo
transactional-update
register -r REGCODE
To check your locally installed products and their status, use the following command:
#
SUSEConnect
-s
2.4 Update the system #
Upgrading the system is only supported from the most recent patch level. Make sure the latest system updates are installed by running:
>
sudo
transactional-update patch
2.5 Make a backup #
Before upgrading, back up your data by copying the existing configuration
files to a separate medium (such as tape device or removable hard disk).
This primarily applies to files stored in /etc
and
some directories and files in /var
and
/opt
. You may also want to write the user data in
/home
(the HOME
directories) to a
backup medium.
Back up all data as root
. Only root
has sufficient
permissions for all local files.
2.6 Check disk size #
Software tends to grow from version to version. Therefore, take a look at the available partition space before updating. If you suspect you are running short of disk space, back up your data before increasing the available space by resizing partitions, for example. There is no general rule regarding how much space each partition should have. Space requirements depend on your particular partitioning profile and the software selected.
On a Btrfs file system, the output of df
can be
misleading, because in addition to the space the raw data allocates, a
Btrfs file system also allocates and uses space for metadata.
Consequently, a Btrfs file system may report being out of space even though it seems that plenty of space is still available. In that case, all space allocated for the metadata is used up.
Make sure there is enough free space as the root file system uses Btrfs
and might consume a significant amount of space. Check the available
space on all mounted partitions. In the worst case, an upgrade needs as
much disk space as the current root file system (without
/.snapshot
) for a new snapshot.
The following recommendations have been proven:
For all file systems, including Btrfs, you need enough free disk space to download and install big RPMs. The space of old RPMs is only freed after new RPMs are installed.
For Btrfs with snapshots, ensure you have at least as much free space as your current installation requires. We recommend having twice as much free space as the current installation.
If you do not have enough free space, you can try to delete old snapshots with
snapper
:>
sudo
snapper
list>
sudo
snapper
delete NUMBERHowever, this may not help in all cases. Before migration, most snapshots occupy only little space.
2.7 Shut down virtual machine guests #
If your machine serves as a VM Host Server for KVM, make sure to properly shut down all running VM Guests prior to the update. Otherwise, you may not be able to access the guests after the update.
3 Upgrading to a new release #
Before starting the upgrade procedure, make sure the following requirements are met:
- Internet connection
Make sure that your machine has a network connection throughout the entire upgrade process.
- SLE Micro 5.5 or 6.0
The upgrade to is possible only from the 5.5 or 6.0 versions.
To start the upgrade process, proceed as follows:
Run the command:
>
sudo
transactional-update migration
Invoking the command creates a new snapshot and refreshes the repositories.
Enter the number of the migration target.
A list of packages to be changed is displayed. Press
y
to continue.If the process completes successfully, reboot your machine:
>
sudo
reboot
If the upgrade procedure fails, you can roll back your system to a previous snapshot. Refer to the rollback procedure.
4 Legal Notice #
Copyright© 2006–2024 SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved.
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”.
For SUSE trademarks, see https://www.suse.com/company/legal/. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Trademark symbols (®, ™ etc.) denote trademarks of SUSE and its affiliates. Asterisks (*) denote third-party trademarks.
All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither SUSE LLC, its affiliates, the authors, nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.