Customer wants to upgrade redhat server 3.7 to 5.6 . Can anyone tell me how to upgrade from 3.7 to 5.6.If a fresh installation is required then how to restore the application to newer version.

[root@etopupapp2 root]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 3 (Taroon Update 7)

RHEL 5.6 was release in 2011.

They are rather far beyond that version at this time.

You should check with RedHat on this. Perhaps they support 5.6 now, perhaps they do not, but they will tell you whether or not you can upgrade versus need to do a fresh install. Odds are they will raise the point about the age of the release.

You may want to ask this customer why that particular version, and what, if anything is restraining them from upgrading to the latest RHEL.

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You can get the support lifecycle here https://access.redhat.com/support/po...pdates/errata/.

If they are going to upgrade (RHEL v3 is dead), it makes more sense to go to v7 (or at least v6).
Its definitely a fresh install job and you'd need to test the apps on a test box first or (if they are not written in-house), get the latest/correct versions form the manufacturers.

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RHEL canon has ALWAYS been that a full version upgrade should require a fresh install. RHEL is very far from a rolling release! I have performed an in-place upgrade using a community document and had it work. I have also had one fail. I decided to do it the RH way going forward, there is more work but less pain.

Going from version 3 (LONG long out of support!) to version 5 (and why not version 5.11, most recent release in the RHEL5 series?) will involve MANY changes, and great risk of collisions and reminders causing problems.

If you are opting for a clean install anyway, you need multiple verified backups of your application and data FIRST. If you have ongoing backups, test at least two. Research your application and requirements, and ensure that it can import, convert, or directly use the old data in the new version. (If not, you may have a data conversion project to fold into the mix.)

Also, the current version of RHEL is 7. I do not really like it, and if it does not support your application well you might want to use RHEL 6 instead. I do NOT understand why anyone would do a new install of RHEL 5 at this time, it is two full releases behind!

If there is more detail that you can share to explain the requirement, we may be able to provide more directed advice.

Fully get that there are old systems out there, but I have to wonder why they picked 5.6. And as stated by wpeckham, 5.11 is the most recent for that mainline.

Well, @OP you should reply and update people. Did you merely end up encountering some situation where you're learning that it's very unusual now that you have more information?