SOLVED How often to update SCALE?

[Patrick_3000]

I have had SCALE installed for about a year and, before that, CORE (and before that Freenas). During this time, I have always updated to the latest production version as soon as it becomes available.

However, recently I have virtualized my firewall, OPNsense, and now run it as a VM on SCALE. I also have some other important VMs running on SCALE, and consequently, I do not like to reboot SCALE, which is necessary when updating, because rebooting takes down Internet in my house and also takes down some other important VMs, and also, rebooting takes several minutes because all the VMs need to shut down.

So, I would like to stop updating every time a new version of SCALE comes out and instead only update once or twice a year, which means I won't always have the latest version of SCALE installed. (I'm currently on 23.10.0, having just updated to Cobia, and there is already another update available).

Does anyone know best practices on this? In particular, is it OK to only update SCALE only once or twice a year, even though new versions become available more frequently, or does anyone foresee potential problems with this? (I can't think of any potential problems but want to make sure i'm not missing something.)

 

[winnielinnie]

1. Fill a cup with soda.
2. Drink enough soda to fill your mouth.
3. Hold the soda in your mouth. Do not swallow.
4. Read the release notes for the new update.
5. Check computer monitor.

Is there soda on the monitor? Update the system.
Is the soda still in your mouth? Maybe just wait until the next update.

But probably don't go longer than six months or a year without updating. Better to make multiple small steps now than one giant leap in the future.

 

[morganL]

I have had SCALE installed for about a year and, before that, CORE (and before that Freenas). During this time, I have always updated to the latest production version as soon as it becomes available.

However, recently I have virtualized my firewall, OPNsense, and now run it as a VM on SCALE. I also have some other important VMs running on SCALE, and consequently, I do not like to reboot SCALE, which is necessary when updating, because rebooting takes down Internet in my house and also takes down some other important VMs, and also, rebooting takes several minutes because all the VMs need to shut down.

So, I would like to stop updating every time a new version of SCALE comes out and instead only update once or twice a year, which means I won't always have the latest version of SCALE installed. (I'm currently on 23.10.0, having just updated to Cobia, and there is already another update available).

Does anyone know best practices on this? In particular, is it OK to only update SCALE only once or twice a year, even though new versions become available more frequently, or does anyone foresee potential problems with this? (I can't think of any potential problems but want to make sure i'm not missing something.)

We provide information on releases in the "Software Status Page"
Decide, where you are on the spectrum from developer, tester, early adopter to mission critical.

At this stage for SCALE, for general to conservative users, we'd recommend an update about once every 6 months... but do it for a later update of each major release. ..eg 22.12.3

Conservative users could do it annually... if no specific new features are needed.

Sometime there will be a reason (fetaure, bug, CVE) to update .. in that case, its your decision and there may be an extra update needed.

 

[Patrick_3000]

We provide information on releases in the "Software Status Page"
Decide, where you are on the spectrum from developer, tester, early adopter to mission critical.

At this stage for SCALE, for general to conservative users, we'd recommend an update about once every 6 months... but do it for a later update of each major release. ..eg 22.12.3

Conservative users could do it annually... if no specific new features are needed.

Sometime there will be a reason (fetaure, bug, CVE) to update .. in that case, its your decision and there may be an extra update needed.

Thanks. That's very helpful information and exactly what I was looking for.