[Spacewalk-list] trick to doing CentOS 6.3 > 6.4 update via spacewalk?

Mon Mar 11 20:34:50 UTC 2013

I use a similar process.

I have a parent channel named "CentOS 6 - x86_64" - no repository assigned

I have child channels named Base, Extras, Updates, Fasttrack, etc...

They are linked to the CentOS repository mirrors using the generic "6" links like so

http://mirrors.kernel.org/centos/6/os/x86_64/

Instead of using the minor version 6.3 links 

http://mirrors.kernel.org/centos/6.3/os/x86_64/

When a new minor release ships, I remove all the packages in the child channels.  The packages stay on the filesystem and in the database but they become temporary orphans - they will show up in the Manage Packages areas as belonging to no channels.  I leave them that way at that point.

Then I re-sync all the child channels - during this process only the packages that are new are actually downloaded.  Any packages that Spacewalk already had download are simply linked back into the channels.

When the sync is done and I'm quite sure that all the child channels synced correctly (log files in /var/log/rhn/reposync) then I go into the Manage Packages area and delete all of the packages that belong to no channels to reclaim the space.  These packages are no longer on the CentOS mirror so I no longer want them in Spacewalk.

I've used this to migrate from 5.4 all the way up to 5.9 and from 6.0 up to 6.3 successfully.

It's a clunky process in Spacewalk no matter how you do it but this one works for me.

You could in theory also do this process but skip the remove package step.  You would simply have old packages available in Spacewalk but yum is smart enough to handle that correctly.

Anyway - to answer your original question the easiest thing to do is yum upgrade on one test system and see why it is failing.  Fix that and then Spacewalk will be able to upgrade the rest in the web GUI.

Regards,
--Tony

-----Original Message-----
From: spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Scott Worthington
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 4:02 PM
To: spacewalk-list at redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] trick to doing CentOS 6.3 > 6.4 update via spacewalk?

What I do is have a CentOS parent channel named "CentOS 6 - x86_64". It has NO packages assigned to it. 

Under that parent channel, create channels for 6.3 x86_64 Base, Updates, and Extras (and link and populate from external repos).

Kickstart distros are linked to the "CentOS 6.3 - x86_64 Base".

When 6.4 is released, create new child channels under "CentOS 6 - x86_64" named "CentOS - 6.4 - x86_64 - Base", "CentOS - 6.4 - x86_64 - Updates", and "CentOS - 6.4 - x86_64 - Extras".  Link the new channels to external repos.  Perform a Sync for each channel (actually, I download the ISO DVDs #1 & #2 for Base and rpmpush the ISO into Base).

Finally, when your new Base, Updates, and Extras are fully populated, you change your servers from CentOS 6.3 Base, Updates, and Extras to the new 6.4 Base, Updates, and Extras.

Then, on the servers, perform a yum update (or use the Spacewalk web GUI to push the updates).

On 3/11/2013 3:47 PM, Giovanni Torres wrote:
> What error are you getting?  As far as I know, this is a rolling update and can be done via Spacewalk.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------!
 ---
> Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:21:47 -0400
> From: prmarino1 at gmail.com
> To: spacewalk-list at redhat.com
> Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] trick to doing CentOS 6.3 > 6.4 update via spacewalk?
> 
> Based on my past experiences I think it needs to be done via yum but I'm not 100% sure.
> 
> 
> 
> -- Sent from my HP Pre3
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------!
 ---
> On Mar 11, 2013 3:09 PM, Andy Ingham <andy.ingham at duke.edu> wrote:
> 
> Friendly list --
> 
> Now that CentOS 6.4 is available, I have 40+ servers that I'd like to 
> update from 6.3 > 6.4.
> 
> I just finished bringing all the (spacewalk-managed) servers up to 
> date with osad, rhn-check, rhn-client-tools, rhn-setup, rhnlib, etc. 
> (I'm at version 1.8 still.)
> 
> Scheduling the update via spacewalk results in a failure, though.
> 
> Does the 6.3 > 6.4 upgrade need to happen via yum from the client? Or 
> is there some trick to getting it to take via spacewalk?
> 
> TIA,
> Andy
> 
> Andy Ingham
> IT Infrastructure
> Fuqua School of Business
> Duke University

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