At 11:03 AM Friday, 12/21/2007, Les Mikesell wrote -=>
Alan wrote:
I have been using fedora core 6 in production since its launch, I
have
applied all the software and kernel updates till data using software
updater. As redhat/fedora announced its (core 6) end of life; I am
doubtful
about continuing its use in future??
I am satisfied with the performance so far, iptables and selinux
(enforcing/targeted) are configured properly.
My question is
1) Shall I continue using this version or shall I upgrade to Fedora 8??
2) What actually end of life means??
3) Can I apply (kernel/software) updates after end of life?
4) Is there any security threat?
If you are happy with the application versions that FC6 included, almost
exactly the same set is included in CentOS 5 which will be supported
with security and bugfix updates for many more years, and the install
and administration is nearly identical. I'd switch anything where having
new features or the latest application versions is less important than
stability and time required for maintenance.
The hard part is switching over. It is not quite a straight over upgrade.
(At least when I tried it.) Is there a way to force CentOS to upgrade an
FC6 install?
It is theoretically possible using the install disk and the
'upgradeany' boot option, but I wouldn't even try because of the
possibility of having random leftover packages or settings that will
cause unpredictable problems later. Remember that the CentOS install
is going to be good for years with no attention other than periodic
'yum update's and is worth the time to get it right in the first
place. This is a lot easier if you have an identical spare machine
to build a replacement that you can tweak and test before swapping
into production, but I'd go that route even if I had to do initial
testing under vmware and repeat the process to convert the existing
machine. You'll want a full backup of course (whether you are doing
a conversion or not...). Clonezilla-live
(http://clonezilla.sourceforge.net/clonezilla-live/) is a handy way
to make an image-level copy with a choice of ways to access storage
for them (nfs/smb/ssh).
This is the way I originally upgraded from RH6 to FC6. It's just a
little more expensive but I was planning on upgrading the hardware
anyway. That new machine has only been in operation for about a year
and is running like a top - 2 1.8 ghz cpu's, 2 gb ram, Dell raid card
and hot spare.
I think I will stick with FC6 for about 6-12 months and then build a
newer machine...
Ed Kasky
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