[SUCCESS] 11.3 --> 12.3

DaveQB

DaveQB

I have an 11.3 server that slipped through the cracks. Besides not getting into this situation, any advice or anything major I need to be aware of making the upgrade from 11.3 --> 12.3? I had a look through the first 14 pages of this forum (~12 months) for anything with 11.3 in the title but nothing. I might be the first to try this.

Thank you.
 
Here's my notes about the kernel

UPDATING - src - FreeBSD source tree

cgit.freebsd.org cgit.freebsd.org
read:
20210729
20190507
20181110

If you are using UEFI check the size of your ESP if it's big enough as you will need to manually update / copy the loader.efi into it as BOOTx64.efi because some old installation which were based on efifat image was too small and you will need to reformat and create a new msdosfs for ESP.
 
DaveQB said:
I have an 11.3 server that slipped through the cracks. Besides not getting into this situation, any advice or anything major I need to be aware of making the upgrade from 11.3 --> 12.3?
Click to expand...

I briefly had 11.3 installed on a laptop, but just saved /etc and /boot settings then did a fresh 12.3 install, so no direct advice except it's a big step.

DaveQB said:
I had a look through the first 14 pages of this forum (~12 months) for anything with 11.3 in the title but nothing. I might be the first to try this.
Click to expand...

Should have worked from 24 or 36 months ago. However any day now, maybe as soon as tomorrow, 12.4-RELEASE will be available so I'd at least wait for that ...
 
VladiBG said:
Here's my notes about the kernel

UPDATING - src - FreeBSD source tree

cgit.freebsd.org cgit.freebsd.org
read:
20210729
20190507
20181110
Click to expand...
Thanks. Looks like only 20190507 will apply to me.

VladiBG said:
If you are using UEFI check the size of your ESP if it's big enough as you will need to manually update / copy the loader.efi into it as BOOTx64.efi because some old installation which were based on efifat image was too small and you will need to reformat and create a new msdosfs for ESP.
Click to expand...
Great, thanks. Not UEFI (old HP micro server).


smithi said:
I briefly had 11.3 installed on a laptop, but just saved /etc and /boot settings then did a fresh 12.3 install, so no direct advice except it's a big step.
Click to expand...

Bugger. I was going to just give it a go. I am more hesitant now 🤔
Thanks for the warning.

smithi said:
Should have worked from 24 or 36 months ago. However any day now, maybe as soon as tomorrow, 12.4-RELEASE will be available so I'd at least wait for that ...
Click to expand...
Wouldn't upgrading to 12.3 be less bumpy than upgrading to 12.4? Or do you mean the 12.4 release will draw more people to the conversation that will be trying to upgrade from 11.3?

Thanks! 👍
 
Have you got a spare machine or a VM that you can set up with 11.3 and try an upgrade to 12.3 (or 12.4)?

Might give you some idea of what's involved.

I can't remember my 11.x to 12.x upgrades, but certainly 12.x to 13.x has been fine (just servers, though, no X or desktop applications).
 
smithi said:
I briefly had 11.3 installed on a laptop, but just saved /etc and /boot settings then did a fresh 12.3 install, so no direct advice except it's a big step.
Click to expand...

DaveQB said:
Bugger. I was going to just give it a go. I am more hesitant now
🤔

Thanks for the warning.
Click to expand...

No, you're far better advised by those who have done it; I haven't so don't be put off.

As long as you have backups that make a fresh install viable, you've nothing to lose by trying the major version jump.

smithi said:
However any day now, maybe as soon as tomorrow, 12.4-RELEASE will be available so I'd at least wait for that ...
Click to expand...
DaveQB said:
Wouldn't upgrading to 12.3 be less bumpy than upgrading to 12.4?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think so, but again I haven't done a major version upgrade via freebsd-update.

DaveQB said:
Or do you mean the 12.4 release will draw more people to the conversation that will be trying to upgrade from 11.3?
Click to expand...

No, I just meant to save an extra step soon.

cheers, Ian
 
DaveQB said:
Wouldn't upgrading to 12.3 be less bumpy than upgrading to 12.4?
Click to expand...
Why would it?

DaveQB said:
Or do you mean the 12.4 release will draw more people to the conversation that will be trying to upgrade from 11.3?
Click to expand...
No, by the time you're done upgrading the system to 12.3, 12.3 will be EoL and you will have to do yet another upgrade. May as well go with 12.4 directly. You need to be aware that 12.3 will be end-of-life three months after the release of 12.4. And 12.4 will be released some time soon.

I've upgraded a ton of machines from 11.x to 12.x, never had an issue. As long as you don't have any fancy custom changes to the base OS the upgrade should be fairly painless. But as with any upgrade, make sure you have backups.
 
SirDice said:
Why would it?
Click to expand...

My thinking was a closer version would equal less changes thus less to go wrong. 11.3 --> 12.3 is less of a jump than 11.3 --> 12.4. Then upgrade 12.3 --> 12.4. In other words, more "gradually" upgrade the system.


SirDice said:
I've upgraded a ton of machines from 11.x to 12.x, never had an issue. As long as you don't have any fancy custom changes to the base OS the upgrade should be fairly painless. But as with any upgrade, make sure you have backups.
Click to expand...

This gives me confidence. I have been thinking about this upgrade. This server runs everything off of jails (ZFS). The host OS only does NFS sharing.

And there's no process to use ftp-archive.freebsd.org to install the in between versions?

Thanks for the reply SirDice
 
DaveQB said:
My thinking was a closer version would equal less changes thus less to go wrong.
Click to expand...
The "big" jump is between major versions. Minor version jumps aren't that big (can't change the ABI within a specific major version release).

DaveQB said:
This server runs everything off of jails (ZFS).
Click to expand...
Upgrade the host first. It's fine to have 11.3 jails running on 12.x but you can't run a 12.x jail on a 11.x host.
 
DaveQB said:
My thinking was a closer version would equal less changes thus less to go wrong. 11.3 --> 12.3 is less of a jump than 11.3 --> 12.4. Then upgrade 12.3 --> 12.4. In other words, more "gradually" upgrade the system.
Click to expand...

In addition to
SirDice's
premium guidance, and of course Chapter 25.2 of the Handbook:

docs.freebsd.org

Chapter 26. Updating and Upgrading FreeBSD

Information about how to keep a FreeBSD system up-to-date with freebsd-update or Git, how to rebuild and reinstall the entire base system, etc
docs.freebsd.org docs.freebsd.org

I found, linked unobtrusively from the busy 12.4-RELEASE announcement:

www.freebsd.org

FreeBSD 12.4-RELEASE Announcement

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org

This compact and apparently thorough page:

"For instructions on installing FreeBSD or updating an existing machine to 12.4-RELEASE please see:"

https://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/12.4R/installation

which indicates one fetch / install cycle first to update your current version (11.3 -> 11.4?) and then the major upgrade '-r 12.4', if I'm reading it right.

HTH, Ian
 
FYI for anyone following along at home, the upgrade proceeded without error. I did a pkg upgrade after, which ultimately worked without problems. FreeBSD impresses me again.

Thanks everyone.
Now to upgrade the system's basejail.....😬
 
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