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documentation.suse.com / SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Documentation / Deployment Guide / Updating and Upgrading SUSE Linux Enterprise / Upgrading Online
Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5

22 Upgrading Online

SUSE offers an intuitive graphical and a simple command line tool to upgrade a running system to a new service pack. They provide support for rollback of service packs and more. This chapter explains how to do a service pack upgrade step by step with these tools.

22.1 Conceptual Overview

Before upgrading your system, read Section 20.3, “Preparing the System”.

SUSE releases new service packs for the SUSE Linux Enterprise family at regular intervals. To make it easy for customers to migrate to a new service pack and minimize downtime, SUSE supports migrating online while the system is running.

Starting with SLE 12, YaST Wagon has been replaced by YaST migration (GUI) and Zypper migration (command line). The following features are supported:

  • System always in a defined state until the first RPM is updated

  • Canceling is possible until the first RPM is updated

  • Simple recovery, if there is an error

  • Rollback via system tools; no backup/restore needed

  • Use of all active repositories

  • The ability to skip a service pack

Important
Important: Upgrading SUSE Manager Clients

If the system to upgrade is a SUSE Manager client, it cannot be upgraded by YaST online migration or zypper migration. Use the Client Migration procedure instead. It is described in the SUSE Manager Upgrade Guide, available at https://documentation.suse.com/suma/.

22.2 Service Pack Migration Workflow

A service pack migration can be executed by either YaST, zypper, or AutoYaST.

Before you can start a service pack migration, your system must be registered at the SUSE Customer Center or a local SMT server. SUSE Manager can also be used.

Regardless of the method, a service pack migration consists of the following steps:

  1. Find possible migration targets on your registered systems.

  2. Select one migration target.

  3. Request and enable new repositories.

  4. Run the migration.

The list of migration targets depends on the products you have installed and registered. If you have an extension installed for which the new SP is not yet available, it could be that no migration target is offered to you.

The list of migration targets available for your host will always be retrieved from the SUSE Customer Center and depend on products or extensions installed.

22.3 Canceling Service Pack Migration

A service pack migration can only be cancelled at specific stages during the migration process:

  1. Until the package upgrade starts, there are only minimal changes on the system, like for services and repositories. Restore /etc/zypp/repos.d/* to revert to the former state.

  2. After the package upgrade starts, you can revert to the former state by using a Snapper snapshot (see Chapter 7, System Recovery and Snapshot Management with Snapper).

  3. After the migration target was selected, SUSE Customer Center changes the repository data. To revert this state manually, use SUSEConnect --rollback.

22.4 Upgrading with the Online Migration Tool (YaST)

To perform a service pack migration with YaST, use the Online Migration tool. By default, YaST does not install any packages from a third-party repository. If a package was installed from a third-party repository, YaST prevents packages from being replaced with the same package coming from SUSE.

Note
Note: Reduce Installation Size

When performing the SP migration, YaST will install all recommended packages. Especially in the case of custom minimal installations, this may increase the installation size of the system significantly.

To change this default behavior and allow only required packages, adjust the solver.onlyRequires option in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf.

solver.onlyRequires = true

Also, edit the file /etc/zypp/zypper.conf and change the installRecommends option.

installRecommends=false

This changes the behavior of all package operations, such as the installation of patches or new packages.

To start the service pack migration, do the following:

  1. Deactivate all unused extensions on your registration server to avoid future dependency conflicts. In case you forget an extension, YaST will later detect unused extension repositories and deactivate them.

  2. If you are logged in to a GNOME session running on the machine you are going to update, switch to a text console. Running the update from within a GNOME session is not recommended. Note that this does not apply when being logged in from a remote machine (unless you are running a VNC session with GNOME).

  3. If you are an LTSS subscriber, you must deactivate the LTSS repository. This cannot be done with YaST. Instead, run these commands, using the version number of the installed repository:

    tux > sudo SUSEConnect -d -p SLES-LTSS/12.2/x86_64
    tux > sudo zypper ref -s

    See the following support bulletin for more information: https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7022381.

  4. Install the package yast2-migration and its dependencies (in YaST under Software › Software Management).

  5. Restart YaST, otherwise the newly installed module will not be shown in the control center.

  6. In YaST, choose Online Migration (depending on the version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server that you are upgrading from, this module is categorized under either System or Software). YaST will show possible migration targets and a summary. If more than one migration target is available for your system, select one from the list.

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

  8. In case the migration tool offers update repositories, it is recommended to proceed with Yes.

  9. If the Online Migration tool finds obsolete repositories coming from DVD or a local server, it is highly recommended to disable them. Obsolete repositories are from a previous SP. Any old repositories from SCC or SMT are removed automatically.

  10. Check the summary and proceed with the migration by clicking Next. Confirm with Start Update.

  11. After the successful migration restart your system.

22.5 Upgrading with Zypper

To perform a service pack migration with Zypper, use the command line tool zypper migration from the package zypper-migration-plugin.

Note
Note: Reduce Installation Size

When performing the SP migration, YaST will install all recommended packages. Especially in the case of custom minimal installations, this may increase the installation size of the system significantly.

To change this default behavior and allow only required packages, adjust the solver.onlyRequires option in /etc/zypp/zypp.conf.

solver.onlyRequires = true

Also, edit the file /etc/zypp/zypper.conf and change the installRecommends option.

installRecommends=false

This changes the behavior of all package operations, such as the installation of patches or new packages. To change the behavior of Zypper for a single invocation, add the parameter --no-recommends to your command line.

To start the service pack migration, do the following:

  1. If you are logged in to a GNOME session running on the machine you are going to update, switch to a text console. Running the update from within a GNOME session is not recommended. Note that this does not apply when being logged in from a remote machine (unless you are running a VNC session with GNOME).

  2. Register your SUSE Linux Enterprise machine if you have not done so:

    sudo SUSEConnect --regcode YOUR_REGISTRATION_CODE
  3. If you are an LTSS subscriber, you must deactivate the LTSS repository. Run these commands, using the version number of the installed repository:

    tux > sudo SUSEConnect -d -p SLES-LTSS/12.2/x86_64
    tux > sudo zypper ref -s

    See the following support bulletin for more information: https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7022381.

  4. Install the latest updates:

    sudo zypper patch
  5. Install the zypper-migration-plugin package and its dependencies:

    sudo zypper in zypper-migration-plugin
  6. Run zypper migration:

    tux > sudo zypper migration
    Executing 'zypper  patch-check'
    
    Refreshing service 'SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_12_x86_64'.
    Loading repository data...
    Reading installed packages...
    0 patches needed (0 security patches)
    
    Available migrations:
    
        1 | SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 x86_64
        2 | SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 x86_64

    Some notes about the migration process:

    • If more than one migration target is available for your system, Zypper allows you to select one SP from the list. This is the same as skipping one or more SPs. Keep in mind, online migration for base products (SLES, SLED) remains available only between the SPs of a major version.

    • By default, Zypper uses the option --no-allow-vendor-change which is passed to zypper dup. If a package was installed from a third-party repository, this option prevents packages from being replaced with the same package coming from SUSE.

    • If Zypper finds obsolete repositories coming from DVD or a local server, it is highly recommended to disable them. Old SCC or SMT repositories are removed automatically.

  7. Review all the changes, especially the packages that are going to be removed. Proceed by typing y (the exact number of packages to upgrade can vary on your system):

    266 packages to upgrade, 54 to downgrade, 17 new, 8 to reinstall, 5 to remove, 1 to change arch.
    Overall download size: 285.1 MiB. Already cached: 0 B  After the operation, additional 139.8 MiB will be used.
    Continue? [y/n/? shows all options] (y):

    Use the ShiftPage ↑ or ShiftPage ↓ keys to scroll in your shell.

  8. After successful migration restart your system.

22.6 Upgrading with Plain Zypper

If you cannot use YaST migration or the Zypper migration, you can still migrate with plain Zypper and some manual interactions. To start a service pack migration, do the following:

  1. If you are logged in to a GNOME session running on the machine you are going to update, switch to a text console. Running the update from within a GNOME session is not recommended. Note that this does not apply when being logged in from a remote machine (unless you are running a VNC session with GNOME).

  2. Update the package management tools with the old SUSE Linux Enterprise repositories:

    sudo zypper patch --updatestack-only
  3. If the system is registered, it needs to be de-registered:

    sudo SUSEConnect --de-register
  4. Remove the old installation sources and repositories and adjust the third-party repositories.

  5. Add the new installation sources, be it local or remote sources (for the placeholder REPOSITORY, refer to Section 19.7, “Repository Model”):

    sudo zypper addrepo REPOSITORY

    You can also use SUSE Customer Center or Subscription Management Tool. The command for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP1 on x86-64 is:

    sudo SUSEConnect -p SLES/12.2/x86_64 OPTIONS

    Keep in mind, cross-architecture upgrades are not supported.

    Zypper will display a conflict between the old and new kernel. Choose Solution 1 to continue.

    Problem: product:SLES-12.2-0.x86_64 conflicts with kernel < 4.4 provided by kernel-default-VERSION
     Solution 1: Following actions will be done:
      replacement of kernel-default-VERSION with kernel-default-VERSION
      deinstallation of kernel-default-VERSION
     Solution 2: do not install product:SLES-12.2-0.x86_64
  6. Finalize the migration:

    sudo zypper ref -f -s
    sudo zypper dup --no-allow-vendor-change --no-recommends

    The first command will update all services and repositories. The second command performs a distribution upgrade. Here, the last two options are important: -no-allow-vendor-change ensures that third-party RPMs will not overwrite RPMs from the base system. The option --no-recommends ensures that packages deselected during initial installation will not be added again.

22.7 Rolling Back a Service Pack

If a service pack does not work for you, SUSE Linux Enterprise supports reverting the system to the state before the service pack migration was started. Prerequisite is a Btrfs root partition with snapshots enabled (this is the default when installing SLES 12). See Chapter 7, System Recovery and Snapshot Management with Snapper for details.

  1. Get a list of all Snapper snapshots:

    sudo snapper list

    Review the output to locate the snapshot that was created immediately before the service pack migration was started. The column Description contains a corresponding statement and the snapshot is marked as important in the column Userdata. Memorize the snapshot number from the column # and its date from the column Date.

  2. Reboot the system. From the boot menu, select Start boot loader from a read-only snapshot and then choose the snapshot with the date and number you memorized in the previous step. A second boot menu (the one from the snapshot) is loaded. Select the entry starting with SLES 12 and boot it.

  3. The system boots into the previous state with the system partition mounted read-only. Log in as root and check whether you have chosen the correct snapshot. Also make sure everything works as expected. Note that since the root file system is mounted read-only, restrictions in functionality may apply.

    In case of problems or if you have booted the wrong snapshot, reboot and choose a different snapshot to boot from—up to this point no permanent changes have been made. If the snapshot is correct and works as expected, make the change permanent by running the following command:

    snapper rollback

    Reboot afterward. On the boot screen, choose the default boot entry to reboot into the reinstated system.

  4. Check if the repository configuration has been properly reset. Furthermore, check if all products are properly registered. If either one is not the case, updating the system at a later point in time may no longer work, or the system may be updated using the wrong package repositories.

    Make sure the system can access the Internet before starting this procedure.

    1. Refresh services and repositories by running

      sudo zypper ref -fs
    2. Get a list of active repositories by running

      sudo zypper lr

      Carefully check the output of this command. No services and repositories that were added for the update should be listed. If you, for example, are rolling back from a service pack migration from SLES 12 SP1 to SLES 12 SP2, the list must not contain the repositories SLES12-SP2-Pool and SLES12-SP2-Updates, but rather the SP1 versions.

      If wrong repositories are listed, delete them and, if necessary, replace them with the versions matching your product or service pack version. For a list of repositories for the supported migration paths refer to Section 19.7, “Repository Model”.

    3. Last, check the registration status for all products installed by running

      SUSEConnect --status

      All products should be reported as being Registered. If this is not the case, repair the registration by running

      SUSEConnect --rollback

Now you have successfully reverted the system to the state that was captured immediately before the service pack migration was started.