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We are about to upgrade our cluster from kernel 2.2.18 to 2.4.9, but we are running RedHat 6.2. Will everything work fine if we are running RedHat 6.2 and a 2.4.x kernel or do we have to upgrade to RedHat 7.1 for instance? If we don't have to upgrade to RH7.1, is there anything besides the kernel that we need to upgrade? And does anyone know where I can find some really good... dead dumb instructions for upgrading a kernel? Lots of questions huh? Thanks for any help you can give.
you'll get a shedload of dependencies, but I don't think you'll actually not be able to do it. i changed from 2.4.3 to 2.4.8 on rpms and had at least 8 dependencies... you might be in for a very long night!
Distribution: Slackware 10, Fedora Core 3, Mac OS X
Posts: 617
Rep:
you'll need to look at the chanelog.
here's the portion you need to see :
Quote:
Current Minimal Requirements
============================
Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've
encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently
running, the suggested command should tell you.
Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already
functionally running a Linux 2.2 kernel. Also, not all tools are
necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any PCMCIA (PC
Card) hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself
with pcmcia-cs.
o Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version
o Gnu make 3.77 # make --version
o binutils 2.9.1.0.25 # ld -v
o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
o modutils 2.4.2 # insmod -V
o e2fsprogs 1.19 # tune2fs
o reiserfsprogs 3.x.0j # reiserfsck 2>&1|grep reiserf
sprogs
o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V
o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
be warned though, there were some problems with security in the earlier releases of the kernel. i think ones>2.4.10 are fixed of this. if it won't be connected to the net thougb then that doesn't matter.
the only essential ones to upgrade are the GNU C GNU make binutils util-linux modutils and either e2fsprogs or reiserfsprogs (depending on which of these you use). the others you only need to upgrade if you are going to use them.
e.g. if you don't have a isdn modem you don't need to upgrade it.
it won't stop you from compiling if you don't have the non-essential items
generally, when you upgrade from a 2.2.x to a 2.4.x kernel, you'll need to also upgrade the modutils and the ppp modules. with the ppp changes, you'll also need to mess around a bit with the module aliases in the modules.conf file - but the INSTALL gives some good instructions. most standard installs of the other packages will usually be ok.
It might be easier to get a copy of RH7.2 and upgrade the entire system. If you do go for ext3 file system, you should be able to migrate an existing ext2 with no loss of data.
In my last experience doing this though... I upgraded from RH 7 to 7.1 which was also a 2.2.x to 2.4.x upgrade and it caused some errors on startup. That was my personal system and it wasn't a big deal. This is a cluster of 4 at work and it's network hardware is very, very sensitive to compatability issues so we can't have a lot of problems and it is very important that these computers can be upgraded quickly and with as little incident as possible. If there's a way to upgrade from 6.2 to 7.x without having a lot of problems.. I'm all ears. Thanks.
I think we'd rather just upgrade the kernel and leave the Red Hat version at 6.2 if at all possible. As long as we I upgrade all of those module dependencies posted above, I should be alright, correct?
most of those dependencies are already satisfied with 6.2 redhat... (i think ) but make sure to check your system first. i mentioned the modutils and ppp because both of those packages were heavily modified between 2.2 and 2.4, and need to be upgraded with the kernel.
generally, i try to stay away from entire distribution upgrades - especially if you've made any changes manually before the upgrade.
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