I feel the urge to post my 2-cents worth here...
As a *NIX (Linux, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, even oldies like Ultrix & SunOS)
Systems Administrator for more than 20 years now, and the author of at
least 6 Instructor-Lead week-long courses (I don't count customizations
of existing course-ware), I have always felt and taught that "updates"
were akin to "asking for trouble". In fact, every one of my courses has
a slide (or screen in the video-based courses) that says specifically:
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" (and it is attributed, tongue in
cheek, to my great-great-grandma, Irene).
As the earlier poster implied, there certainly are exceptions -- notably
security patches... but except for security patches, there is no need to
constantly "update" Linux (or other *NIX versions)! There are very few
true "security flaws" in the *NIX world, and you certainly need to keep
a look out for them & patch/update when they are discovered -- but this
incessant need to be running the "latest & greatest" software WILL get
you into trouble! (Not if, WHEN!)
Personally, I "update" systems only when I HAVE TO....
- To apply a security patch
- To add new functionality
As a result, I often install "old" versions so that new systems are
running the same OS as the old ones).
A case-in-point was the Linux 2.6 kernel -- which was fully 2-years old
before I installed on ANY of my systems... because I didn't need it! It
wasn't until I changed hardware vendors for my RAID cards and I was
"forced" into the 2.6 kernels that I went back to the old systems and
upgraded -- and that was for MY maintenance benefit! (They haven't been
updated since -- still running 2.6.18 kernels in nearly ALL of them!)
Bill Gates has convinced an entire generation of System Admins that "to
update is divine" -- and it is bull... if your system is stable, LEAVE
IT ALONE!
I think I might have broken something getting down off my high horse, so
I'll be going inside now....
Dan McAllister, President
IT4SOHO, LLC
A SUPERFAN of the QmailToaster Project!
---
IT4SOHO, LLC
224 13th Ave N
St. Petersburg, FL 33701-1122
877-IT4SOHO: Toll Free
727-647-7646 In Pinellas
813-464-2093 In Hillsborough
727-507-9435 Fax Only
"We make IT work for small business!"
Eric Shubert wrote:
Cory Swanson wrote:
I've got a QmailToaster box that I set up on SuSE 10.1 back in
January of 2007. I want to upgrade it to the current version and
establish a more regular schedule to keep it up-to-date. My questions
are this:
1. Is there any problem performing such an upgrade since the original
version installed is so far behind the current available?
Not that I'm aware of. There haven't been all that many changes to the
stock packages really. Mostly just support for newer distros.
2. What is the best method to go about doing this to minimize problems?
qtp-newmodel. It's part of the qmailtoaster-plus package, which is
found at http://qtp.qmailtoaster.com.
3. Do you have any other suggestions in doing this?
You might want to do a backup first. qtp-newmodel is very safe though,
so it's not really necessary. You should be backing up your data
anyhow. qtp-backup works very well for this.
Thanks in advance, guys!
Cory
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