Since a few weeks I have a new dedicated root server. It has a rescue mode and from there one can install a few minimal images. One of them is a very minimal SuSE 9.3. I only have SSH access to the server.

Since this 9.3 is such a minimal setup I want to install OpenSuse 10.2. on this remote server.

- As said I have to do this over SSH
- The default bootloader is Lilo, changing it to grub locks the server, so I guess i'm stuck with lilo (i've read somewhere that LILO is needed for certain server hardware if i remember well)
- The machine is a PIV 2.4 with 1gyg mb and 80gyg HD
- I have no physical access to the server, nor can I ask someone to put in a dvd/cd.
- Server 'll be a LAMP, Squid Proxy and mailserver machine (for a limited amount of users).

Now my question: does anybody have experience with this? Is there a good howto/tutotial avalable somewhere (haven't found one so far).?
What steps do i need to follow? Etc ...

Any help/tips very welcome.

Regs
FB

Do you have *only* SSH access, or do you have console access? I.e. can you get into the BIOS?

I believe this is bordering on impossible.

There's only one kludge that I can think of, which may or may not work...

1) Install 10.2 on a system that you have physical access to, and get it running as a basic setup. Make an image of the disk (or of each partition). Repartition the server's disk to fit your images (and whatever free space you need). Copy the images onto the partitions, and verify that it seems to be a ready-to-go install. Now... *** edit the settings for LILO to boot to the proper partition that you just installed to.

*** warning: I'm maybe 50% sure that this will work. PLEASE try it on a local machine (that you can afford to F up) first. If the LILO configuration gets messed up, the system will NOT boot AT ALL.

How much bandwidth do you have?

If you have BIOS access and the bandwidth, perhaps there's some way you can do PXE over the 'net?

Will an available guru please chime in...

Now that I mentioned the long shot (thought zebras) let's think horses... you said you only have SSH access and no physical access, so I assume that it's a colocated server? What are the specs? i.e.:

1) Is it possible for you to arrage physical access?
2) do you own the machine? specifically...
3) are you sure you're *allowed* to do this?
4) can they do it for you, at some cost?
5) have you tried calling the colocation provider and asking for suggestions?

- correct, no physical access, few 1k miles away from here. and I have full root access over ssh (of course once my server is setup i can run a remote gui)
- specs: PIV 2.4GHz, 1024MB RAM, 80GB HDD, 1 IP + 2 extras, no DHCP

1) nope
2) its a dedicated machine (www.netdirekt.com) we rent. There is a bootcd with some very basic images (debian 3.1 minimal, suse 9.2 minimal, some gentoo & FC). Still SUSE is the only operating system I've worked with in the last 7 years and I want to continue that on my server. And using their images means I can't partition my HD the way I want. And for me this is key regarding security.
3) yes, I can do what I want with the server
4) nope, the only thing they do is a reset or boot the system in rescue mode (i.e. with the live cd)
5) well didn't call since my german is rather limited as is their english as well but I did ask it via mail, and answer is same as 4.

I found a tutorial (in german) for doing the same thing with debian: first they install an old version (debian woody) from the rescue cd. then they chroot and upgrade to debian sarge, reboot and you're done. However as far as I know ugrading suse from one version to another is not possible.

Thx for you answer/questions however.
But I'm busy now to setup the server with debian sarge, as this seems to be for me the only realistic option left
too bad, i love susefirewall

This is an intresting idea. I do have some machines at home I'm used to F*up
But how about hardware settings? Cause I have no similar machine available I can make the image on.
Bandwith is fine, bot at home and on server end.
I'll give it a try and let u know
Thx a lot

No idea about hardware settings...

If you give me more detailed specs on the system, I'll see if I have something that can approximate it.

As long as you're using the same hard drive subsystem - i.e. SCSI, IDE, etc. there's one less fault point.

Just remember that once you change LILO there's no way to go back without console access. If it doesn't work, you're screwed.

--
Alternate theory... you mentioned booting to a LiveCD for recovery? How about booting to the LiveCD and using that to repartition, etc. or maybe even setup for a network install?

The current version of SuSE has an upgrade feature in YaST. I'm not totally sure how it works, as I've never used it. I checked 9.3, and there doesn't seem to be anything to actually upgrade to a new version... but you CAN do it... you just need to do an online update of EVERY package. Then, you'll have the current version... almost.

On a side note - I still run 9.3 on almost ALL of my servers. You can always use yast or rpm to install more packages. I find 9.3 to be agreeable, stable, and work very well with my hardware which is essentially 9.3-era.

Good luck.

Hello,

Managed to install opensuse 10.2 via SSH.
First installed the base 9.3 image.
Downloaded the 10.2 image, copied that to boot
Changed bootmanager to grub, but this time without taking the lilo settings over (thats an option in a screen that yast pops up); but instead made a new one.
In grub conf file I made my dns, ip, etc entries, enabled ssh, ...
Rebooted
First half hour i was unable to connect with SSH, but next try i was in the installation kernel and was able to setup my fresh opensuse 10.2 server.

When i have more time after the weekend, I'll write a short 'howto' about it, since I've noticed many people have issues with this one.

Thx for your help and suggestions.