Fedora Core 6 No More

[Les Mikesell]

Alan wrote:

>>>     I have been using fedora core 6 in production since its launch, I
>>> have
>>> applied all the software and kernel updates till data using software
>>> updater. As redhat/fedora announced its (core 6) end of life; I am
>>> doubtful
>>> about continuing its use in future??
>>>     I am satisfied with the performance so far, iptables and selinux
>>> (enforcing/targeted) are configured properly.
>>>  My question is
>>>
>>>  1) Shall I continue using this version or shall I upgrade to Fedora 8??
>>>  2) What actually end of life means??
>>>  3) Can I apply (kernel/software) updates after end of life?
>>>  4) Is there any security threat?
>> If you are happy with the application versions that FC6 included, almost
>> exactly the same set is included in CentOS 5 which will be supported
>> with security and bugfix updates for many more years, and the install
>> and administration is nearly identical. I'd switch anything where having
>> new features or the latest application versions is less important than
>> stability and time required for maintenance.
> 
> The hard part is switching over.  It is not quite a straight over upgrade.
>  (At least when I tried it.)  Is there a way to force CentOS to upgrade an
> FC6 install?

It is theoretically possible using the install disk and the 'upgradeany' 
boot option, but I wouldn't even try because of the possibility of 
having random leftover packages or settings that will cause 
unpredictable problems later. Remember that the CentOS install is going 
to be good for years with no attention other than periodic 'yum update's 
and is worth the time to get it right in the first place. This is a lot 
easier if you have an identical spare machine to build a replacement 
that you can tweak and test before swapping into production, but I'd go 
that route even if I had to do initial testing under vmware and repeat 
the process to convert the existing machine.  You'll want a full backup 
of course (whether you are doing a conversion or not...). 
Clonezilla-live (http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/clonezilla-live/) is 
a handy way to make an image-level copy with a choice of ways to access 
storage for them (nfs/smb/ssh).

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com