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documentation.suse.com / SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Documentation / Upgrade Guide / Upgrading offline
Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4

4 Upgrading offline

  

This chapter describes how to upgrade an existing SUSE Linux Enterprise installation using YaST which is booted from an installation medium. The YaST installer can, for example, be started from a DVD, over the network, or from the hard disk the system resides on.

4.1 Conceptual overview

  

Before upgrading your system, read Chapter 3, Preparing the upgrade first.

To upgrade your system, boot from an installation source, as you would do for a fresh installation. However, when the boot screen appears, you need to select Upgrade (instead of Installation). The upgrade can be started from:

4.2 Starting the upgrade from an installation medium

  

The procedure below describes booting from a DVD, but you can also use another local installation medium like an ISO image on a USB mass storage device. The medium and boot method to select depends on the system architecture and on whether the machine has a traditional BIOS or UEFI.

Procedure 4.1: Manually upgrading to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4
  

  1. Select and prepare a boot medium, see Part I, “Installation preparation”.

  2. Insert the Unified Installer DVD for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 and boot your machine. A Welcome screen is displayed, followed by the boot screen.

  3. (Optional) To force the installer to only install packages from the DVD and not from network sources, add the boot option media_upgrade=1.

  4. Start up the system by selecting Upgrade in the boot menu.

  5. Proceed with the upgrade process as described in Section 4.4, “Upgrading SUSE Linux Enterprise”.

4.3 Starting the upgrade from a network source

  

To start an upgrade from a network installation source, make sure that the following requirements are met:

Requirements for upgrading from a network installation source
  
Network installation source

A network installation source is set up according to Chapter 16, Setting up a network installation source.

Network connection and network services

Both the installation server and the target machine must have a functioning network connection. Required network services are:

  • Domain Name Service

  • DHCP (only needed for booting via PXE, IP can be set manually during setup)

  • OpenSLP (optional)

Boot medium

A bootable SUSE Linux Enterprise DVD, ISO image or functioning PXE setup. For details about booting via PXE, see Section 17.4, “Preparing the target system for PXE boot”. Refer to Chapter 11, Remote installation for in-depth information on starting the upgrade from a remote server.

4.3.1 Manually upgrading via network installation source—booting from DVD

  

This procedure describes booting from a DVD as an example, but you can also use another local installation medium like an ISO image on a USB mass storage device. The way to select the boot method and to start up the system from the medium depends on the system architecture and on whether the machine has a traditional BIOS or UEFI. For details, see the links below.

  1. Insert the Unified Installer DVD for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 and boot your machine. A Welcome screen is displayed, followed by the boot screen.

  2. Select the type of network installation source you want to use (FTP, HTTP, NFS, SMB, or SLP). Usually you get this choice by pressing F4, but in case your machine is equipped with UEFI instead of a traditional BIOS, you may need to manually adjust boot parameters. For details, see Chapter 7, Boot parameters and Chapter 8, Installation steps.

  3. Proceed with the upgrade process as described in Section 4.4, “Upgrading SUSE Linux Enterprise”.

4.3.2 Manually upgrading via network installation source—booting via PXE

  

To perform an upgrade from a network installation source using PXE boot, proceed as follows:

  1. Adjust the setup of your DHCP server to provide the address information needed for booting via PXE. For details, see Procedure 17.0, “”.

  2. Set up a TFTP server to hold the boot image needed for booting via PXE. Use the Installer DVD for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 for this or follow the instructions in Section 17.2, “Setting up a TFTP server”.

  3. Prepare PXE Boot and Wake-on-LAN on the target machine.

  4. Initiate the boot of the target system and use VNC to remotely connect to the installation routine running on this machine. For more information, see Section 11.3, “Monitoring installation via VNC”.

  5. Proceed with the upgrade process as described in Section 4.4, “Upgrading SUSE Linux Enterprise”.

4.4 Upgrading SUSE Linux Enterprise

  

Before you upgrade your system, read Chapter 3, Preparing the upgrade first. To perform an automated migration, proceed as follows:

Note
Note: SUSE Customer Center and Internet connection

If the system you want to upgrade is registered with the SUSE Customer Center, make sure to have an Internet connection during the following procedure.

  1. After you have booted (either from an installation medium or the network), select the Upgrade entry on the boot screen.

    Warning
    Warning: Wrong choice may lead to data loss

    Make sure you select Upgrade at this point. If you select Installation by mistake, your data partition will be overwritten with a fresh installation.

    YaST starts the installation system.

  2. On the Welcome screen, choose Language and Keyboard. Proceed with Next.

    YaST checks your partitions for already installed SUSE Linux Enterprise systems.

  3. On the Select for Upgrade screen, select the partition to upgrade and click Next.

  4. YaST mounts the selected partition and displays the license agreement for the upgraded product. To continue, accept the license.

  5. On the Previously Used Repositories screen, adjust the status of the repositories. By default all repositories are removed. If you have not added any custom repositories, do not change the settings. The packages for the upgrade will be installed from DVD, and you can optionally enable the default online repositories in the next step.

    If you have custom repositories, you have two choices:

    • Leave the repository in state Removed. Software that was installed from this repository will be removed during the upgrade. Use this method if no version of the repository that matches the new release is available.

    • Update and enable the repository if it matches the new release. Change its URL by clicking the repository in the list, and then click Change. Enable the repository by checking Toggle Status until it is set to Enable.

    Do not keep repositories from the previous release, as the system may be unstable or not work at all. Then proceed by clicking Next.

  6. The next step depends on whether the upgraded system is registered with the SUSE Customer Center or not.

    1. If the system is not registered with the SUSE Customer Center, YaST displays a pop-up message suggesting using a second installation medium, the SLE-15-SP4-Full-ARCH-GM-media1.iso image.

      If you do not have that medium, the system cannot be upgraded without registration.

    2. If the system is registered with the SUSE Customer Center, YaST will show possible migration targets and a summary.

      Select one migration target from the list and proceed with Next.

  7. In the next dialog you can optionally add an additional installation medium. If you have additional installation media, activate the I would like to install an additional Add On Product option and specify the media type.

  8. Review the Installation Settings for the upgrade.

  9. If all settings are according to your wishes, start the installation and removal procedure by clicking Update.

    Tip
    Tip: Upgrade failure on SMT clients

    If the machine to upgrade is an SMT client, and the upgrade fails, see Procedure 3.1, “Deregistering a SUSE Linux Enterprise client from an SMT server” and restart the upgrade procedure afterward.

  10. After the upgrade process has finished successfully, perform post-upgrade checks as described in Section 6.1, “Post-upgrade checks”.

4.5 Upgrading with AutoYaST

  

The upgrade process can be executed automatically. For details, see Section 4.10, “Upgrade”.

4.6 Upgrading with SUSE Manager

  

SUSE Manager is a server solution for providing updates, patches, and security fixes for SUSE Linux Enterprise clients. It comes with a set of tools and a Web-based user interface for management tasks. See https://www.suse.com/products/suse-manager/ for more information about SUSE Manager.

You can perform a system upgrade using SUSE Manager. The AutoYaST technology allows upgrades from one major version to the next.

If your machine is managed by SUSE Manager, update it as described in the SUSE Manager documentation. The Client Migration procedure is described in the SUSE Manager Upgrade Guide, available at https://documentation.suse.com/suma/.

4.7 Updating registration status after rollback

  

When performing a service pack upgrade, it is necessary to change the configuration on the registration server to provide access to the new repositories. If the upgrade process is interrupted or reverted (via restoring from a backup or snapshot), the information on the registration server is inconsistent with the status of the system. This may lead to you being prevented from accessing update repositories or to wrong repositories being used on the client.

When a rollback is done via Snapper, the system notifies the registration server to ensure access to the correct repositories is set up during the boot process. If the system was restored with another method, or the communication with the registration server fails, trigger the rollback on the client manually. An example for manually triggering a rollback can be that the server was not accessible because of network issues. To do a rollback, execute: 

> sudo snapper rollback

We suggest always checking that the correct repositories are set up on the system, especially after refreshing the service using: 

> sudo zypper ref -s

This functionality is available in the rollback-helper package.

4.8 Registering your system

  

If the system was not registered before running the upgrade you can register your system at any time using the Product Registration module in YaST.

Registering your systems has these advantages:

  • Eligibility for support

  • Availability of security updates and bug fixes

  • Access to SUSE Customer Center

  1. Start YaST and select Software › Product Registration to open the Registration dialog.

  2. Provide the E-mail address associated with the SUSE account you or your organization uses to manage subscriptions. In case you do not have a SUSE account yet, go to the SUSE Customer Center home page (https://scc.suse.com/) to create one.

  3. Enter the Registration Code you received with your copy of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

  4. If one or more local registration servers are available on your network, you can choose one of them from a list.

  5. To start the registration, proceed with Next.

    After successful registration, YaST lists extensions, add-ons, and modules that are available for your system. To select and install them, proceed with Section 9.4, “Managing modules and extensions in a running system”.