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Migration to SP1 with Add-on and kmps

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Introduction

If your current SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 system contains Add-On software or kernel module packages, you need to take additional steps to update your system from SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 1. This document provides the information you need for the update and guides you through the update process. It is intended mainly for system administrators.

By default, Novell offers several possibilities to perform an update. The update can be done as a system update, an online migration or via a PatchCD. Depending on which method you use, find detailed instruction for your situation below.

Contents


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Glossary

This section provides definitions for terms used throughout this document

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Update Paths

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 products support 3 basic types for updating a system.

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System Update

A system update allows you to update the installed base system to a different patch level (e.g. SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 GA to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 1). The system update is performed by booting the system from CD 1 of the Service Pack media set and select "Update".

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Patch CD Update

A Patch CD provides all available patches for the installed product on a physical media rather than through the official online update channels.

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Online Update

An online update allows you to upgrade the installed base system to a different patch level (e.g. SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 GA to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 1) from within the running system. On SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 products the online update is performed by activating a patch which will prepare your system for the migration.

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Installation source

The terms YaST installation source, YaST package repository, and ZYPP service are the same name for a source from which you can install software.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 products support a multitude of different sources you can install software from.

Installation sources can be provided through following media types:

  • HTTP / HTTPS
  • FTP
  • SMB / CIFS
  • NFS
  • CD / DVD
  • local directory


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Add-On product

An Add-On product is an installation source providing additional software. Add-On products are designed to integrate into the installation workflow. It is possible to combine an Add-On product with a Driver Update Disk on one physical media (CD/DVD).

Read more

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Driver Update Disk

A Driver Update Disk (DUD) can be used to provide kernel modules for devices which are needed during boot and installation (e.g. network and storage drivers). Additionally, a DUD contains the kernel modules for the kernel which will be used by the installed system.

Read more

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Basic Operations

This section provides instructions for operations you might have to follow, depending on your chosen update path or your infrastructure environment.

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Setting up a proxy server

If your system is behind a firewall or part of an infrastructure that does not allow immediate access to the internet you need to provide access through a proxy server. Read more


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Adding an installation catalog

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via YaST2

  1. start yast2 as user root
  2. launch the module Software -> Installation Source
  3. select "Add"
  4. select one of the offered Media Types
  5. provide the requested information

Please note that an installation catalog which is not digitally signed will not be synced with the Zenworks Management Daemon.

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via rug

  1. log in as user root
  2. first a service providing one or more catalogs has to be added 
rug service-add --type=TYPE URL unique-name

where

  • TYPE is the type of the chosen service (run rug service-types for an overview)
  • URL is the address of the service to be added
  • UNIQUE-NAME is a unique identifier for this source
  1. subscribe to the actual catalog 
rug subscribe CATALOG

where

  • CATALOG is the catalog name you want to subscribe at


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via zen-updater

  1. click on the zen-updater icon in the task bar
  2. launch the configuration window by clicking on "Configure"
  3. in the "Services" tab choose to "Add Service"
  4. enter the address of the service to be added at the "Service URI" field
  5. provide a unique identifier for this source at the "Service Name" field
  6. finish adding the service by clicking "Add"
  7. select the "Catalogs" tab
  8. activate the corresponding catalog
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Adding an Add-on product

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via YaST2

  1. start yast2 as user root
  2. launch the module Software -> Add-on Product
  3. select the appropriate Add-On Product Media type
  4. complete the URL specification (depending on the chosen media type)
  5. if you added the Add-on during installation, please proceed with the prompted workflow, the additional software will be available during the software configuration
  6. if you added the Add-on on an installed system, please proceed with the YaST2 Software management module which will give you access to the additional software

Add-on products provide additional software and the possibility to provide a specific workflow to be used during installation. SUSE Linux Enterprise Products are using YaST2 as the installation tool and provide full support for integrating Add-on products only through YaST2. The Zenworks Linux Management stack (i.e. rug and zen-updater in this context) is not intended to be used for this task. Nevertheless, it is possible to access the additional software through rug and zen-updater if the Add-on product is applied as an installation catalog Read more.

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Applying a driver update disk

Apply a driver update disk by booting from CD1 of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Service Pack 1 media set and selecting "Other Options" (hit F3) in the boot loader menu. Continue to select "Driver" by hitting F5 and follow the instructions on the screen.

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Customers using ATI/nVidia drivers

Customers using ATI/nVidia drivers are recommended to carefully check the below mentioned prerequisites when planing an update of their SUSE Linux Enterprise product. Typically, a missing updated driver will result in a conflict during the update process that requires user interaction. In case you accidentally ignore such conflicts your system might be not able to start in the graphical mode anymore.

Please notice that we can only support updating driver versions that have been installed during the initial SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 installation from the predefined software catalogs.

  • System Update

During a System Update, the required software catalogs on ati.com or nvidia.com are not known to the system but will be added later after the system was registered with NCC. Therefor no SP1 compliant driver versions for your graphics adapter is available at that stage during the update. The system will prompt you to resolve the dependency conflict manually. Later, after the corresponding catalogs have been added, the system will pull in the required driver again automatically.

  1. boot your system with a SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 1 media
  2. select "Update"
  3. after the system has finished evaluating your software selection you will be prompted with a software dependency conflict
  4. choose to remove the "ati-fglrx-kmp" or "nvidia-gfx-kmp"
  5. make sure to remove the corresponding x11 driver package as well
    1. for ati-fglrx-kmp you need to remove x11-fglrx-video
    2. for nvidia-gfx-kmp you need to remove x11-nvidia-video
  6. proceed with the update


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System Update

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3rd party Add-On Product

  1. make sure you have received a SLE-10-SP1 compliant version of the Add-On Product on either physical media or an URL to an online installation source [1] [2]
  2. start the system update by booting your system from CD1 and register the Add-On Product [3]
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manually installed kmp

We recommend to apply any required kmp by the means of a DUD.

  1. make sure you have received or build a SLE-10-SP1 compliant version of the kmp [4]
  2. create a DUD that contains the required kmps [5]
  3. start the system update by booting your system from CD1 and apply the DUD [6]
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Online Update

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3rd party Add-On Product

Conducting an online update with having 3rd party Add-On products registered on your system requires some preparation work. The software management stack of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Products does not have any further information how to handle the 3rd party Add-On product specifics in this scenario. During the process of the online update the systems needs to migrate the previously registered Add-On Product update channel and the corresponding installation source. The required steps for preparing this scenario are:

  1. prepare a dummy rpm that will migrate the previous update channel to the customer specific update channel for the Service Pack 1 installation
  2. create a patch for this dummy rpm and provide it in the current existing update channel for the Add-On Product
  3. start the regular online update as described above

Please find a full documentation for this scenario here

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manually installed kmps

We recommend to apply any required kmp by the means of an Add-On Product. In order to be able to migrate your system in that scenario, you are required to create and register an Add-On Product for those installed kmps for the currently running version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Products.

  1. make sure you have received or build a SLE-10-GA compliant version of the Add-On Product containing the installed kmps
  2. register the SLE-10-GA compliant Add-On Product in your running system
  3. make sure you have received or build a SLE-10-SP1 compliant version of the kmp [7]
  4. create an Add-On product that contains the required kmps [8]
  5. proceed as with 3rd party Add-On Products
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Patch CD Update

Updating the system via PatchCD is only possible if no further installation source (e.g. SDK) was registered previously. In case you depend on this update path the workaround is to provide the PatchCD via FTP/NFS/HTTP as installation source. [9]

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Related Information

  1. How to create an Add-on product
  2. How to create a driver update disk
  3. How to create an online installation source
  4. How to create a kernel module package
  5. How to create a patch that migrates an Add-on Product
  6. Performing an Online Update for SLE 10 SP1
  7. Novell's PLDP
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