Question: New update testing - boot into it once.

[Yaguznal]

Is there a way to boot into a new update once and fall back to your previous environment after a reboot?

I am currently away from my server and the person living in my apartment atm is afraid of even the power button on my server. She went into a wide eyed stare when I mentioned the word "server". I really can not ask her to change boot environments for me if an update goes wrong. I taught her the reboot button which she can (reluctantly) push if I ask her.

So I was wondering if there is a way to boot into a new update once without activating it (and thus deactivating previous environment) via ssh.

 

[JaimieV]

There isn't.

I'd suggest not updating your server while you're away from it. What, after all, is the benefit?

 

[Yaguznal]

Eh .. bugfixes, new features I can actually use, security fixes? There's plenty of benefits of updating. I can work on my server locally once a year. A lot changes in one year.
I do not update while away atm but man that's one full year of salivating over new features and fretting over bugs that prevent me from using a "new feature" and seeing that bug fixed a month after my yearly visit.

But thanks for clarifying there is no such mechanism.

 

[JaimieV]

Fair. Sorry, I was assuming you were away on a two week trip or something, but desperately wanted to put U5 on for no particular benefit.

 

[Yaguznal]

Oh no. I have grown more careful with updating over the years and it is now the backbone of my non-profit so I can't risk it going in a bootloop, crashing or whatever disables ssh access.
I need to be able to boot the new environment once, test it and fall back to previous environment on next boot-up in case something goes wrong.

The bug I currently face on 11.2-U4.1 is that my cages are still on 11.1-RELEASE-p8 and although I fetched 11.2 release, I can not change the cages release to that. The drop-down menu is grayed out.

 

[JaimieV]

Ouch! That's a sticky situation. Perhaps the best long-term plan would be to build a fresh NAS from a server with a BMC that gives remote console access? Supermicro, Dell, HP etc. I run Dell R-series with this and the servers cost under $200. There would be networking issues to resolve for access, but they would be easier than dealing with the current situation.

The jails issue isn't one I've met. It would be worth asking over in the jails forum to see if this is something fixable directly, or if you'd need to create new instances and migrate your jail data into it. Or worse, tear down the current set and rebuild them.

 

[Yaguznal]

Yeah I have been thinking about that for years now but I lack the budget to revamp my server. It would mean replacing mobo, ram and processor. I am looking for a cheaper solution like vga input to a raspberry pi (I already own several) and usb to usb to emulate a keyboard but havn't found anything yet.
Which dell r-series server are you talking about? I'm having trouble seeing the tree through the forrest (Idk if this dutch saying translates to english well :P )

 

[JaimieV]

It does - we use the same phrase. Check my builds in the sig :) They're dirt cheap, use RDIMMS and old Xeons which cost almost nothing, and if it's important with a little poking around in the firmware settings they can be quiet as a normal PC. The 2U r5x0 series are better for this as the fans are bigger and less whiny. I got most of my kit from bargainhardware.co.uk (play around with the configurators) but I'm sure postage would be horrendous. There must be somewhere similar in ND.

 

[Yaguznal]

Looks awesome! One security issue I have with BMC is that it can't be updated (or used to?). A lot of them have vulnerabilities discovered decades ago and were never patched.
I do have some ancient dual xeon servers laying around from a cleanout from a foreclosure. They have way too little ram (I doubt I can still get it) and have sas connections for the hard drives. I could search for a sata pci raid card and some extra ram and use that. I am fairly confident they have bmc.

I did remake a few cages with the new releases but 1. I am not sure I am remaking them exactly as I did initially 2. I am not enjoying this suspense and 3. I am currently locked out of ssh and the webui for idk what reason. Luckily the most important cage is still available via http while I wait for my tenant to return from holiday.
This happened a few times already on this version. That's why I would love to patch regularly.