I'm a newbie with a nice FC1 install, handling some web hosting and email filtering for a small group with SpamAssassin. This is on a really old/slow machine that was borrowed from another location for experimentation and needs to return to its usual home. I have a new server now that awaits an OS.
1. Should I go ahead and put FC1 on it? If so, when a stable FC2 comes out, how best to retain what I have going, e.g. Apache conf, mail conf, SpamAssassin conf etc, or would I just have to manually save all pertinent configuration files and then reinstall each software after the new install of FC2?
2. OR, should I install FC2 testing now? If I do that, will I be able to yum update to the stable version when it's released, or will that still require a new full install?
Do not install FC2 Test 1. It is a *test* release, inherently likely to be broken *somewhere* and is released to help people look for those bugs. It is *not* intended to be used in production systems. There is also no defined upgrade path to the stable FC2 later... you *must* reinstall.
Do install FC1 stable. In that case you *will* be able to upgrade to FC2. You will also get the most stable system possible under your current conditions.
Personally, I run as little as possible on my servers. When doing operating system upgrades, I do prefer to manually back up relevant files, do a clean install (not an upgrade), then reconfigure my packages the way I want them. IMHO, this tends to create more reliable systems.
For something as important as the mail/web server, and in order to have as close to zero downtime as possible, I might go as far as to rebuild that old/slow box and put it into service for a day. Then you can take your own sweet time getting the real server moved to FC2, configured, tested, washed and polished. Once you're sure that you're good to go, swap them back. Not a necessary move, since usually I can install a server in less than an hour, but one more option anyway...
-- Rodolfo J. Paiz rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.simpaticus.com
