Ackward timing for me FC1-FC2?

[Rodolfo J. Paiz]

At 09:47 3/9/2004, you wrote:
>I'm a newbie with a nice FC1 install, handling some web hosting and email 
>filtering for a small group with SpamAssassin.  This is on a really 
>old/slow machine that was borrowed from another location for 
>experimentation and needs to return to its usual home.  I have a new 
>server now that awaits an OS.
>
>1.  Should I go ahead and put FC1 on it?  If so, when a stable FC2 comes 
>out, how best to retain what I have going, e.g. Apache conf, mail conf, 
>SpamAssassin conf etc, or would I just have to manually save all pertinent 
>configuration files and then reinstall each software after the new install 
>of FC2?
>
>2.  OR, should I install FC2 testing now?  If I do that, will I be able to 
>yum update to the stable version when it's released, or will that still 
>require a new full install?

Do not install FC2 Test 1. It is a *test* release, inherently likely to be 
broken *somewhere* and is released to help people look for those bugs. It 
is *not* intended to be used in production systems. There is also no 
defined upgrade path to the stable FC2 later... you *must* reinstall.

Do install FC1 stable. In that case you *will* be able to upgrade to FC2. 
You will also get the most stable system possible under your current 
conditions.

Personally, I run as little as possible on my servers. When doing operating 
system upgrades, I do prefer to manually back up relevant files, do a clean 
install (not an upgrade), then reconfigure my packages the way I want them. 
IMHO, this tends to create more reliable systems.

For something as important as the mail/web server, and in order to have as 
close to zero downtime as possible, I might go as far as to rebuild that 
old/slow box and put it into service for a day. Then you can take your own 
sweet time getting the real server moved to FC2, configured, tested, washed 
and polished. Once you're sure that you're good to go, swap them back. Not 
a necessary move, since usually I can install a server in less than an 
hour, but one more option anyway...


-- 
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz at simpaticus.com
http://www.simpaticus.com