SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: Upgrades & Migrations TUT1146 Paul McKeith – Sales Engineer [email protected] Thorsten Kukuk – Senior Architect [email protected] 1 Agenda 1. Destination: SLES 12 or SLES 15? 2. Upgrade or Fresh Installation? 3. Upgrade Paths / Methods 4. Upgrade / Migration Process Tips 5. Appendix: SLES Support Lifecycle 2 SUSE Enterprise Linux 12 or 15? 3 Support Pack or Major Version Upgrade? What are your goals? GOAL: Maintain Support • End of Life / Lifecycle & Longevity • IHV & ISV Certification Requirements • Regulatory or Enterprise Policy Compliance • Compatible yet secure via backports GOAL: New OS Features - May require SLE 15 GOAL: New Hardware Support - May require SLE 15 GOAL: Minimize Uncertainty • If its not broke, don’t fix nor secure it! (example: TLS 1.2) 4 Server Platform Product Support Lifecycle SUSE ten year support commitment for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11, 12, and 15 https://www.suse.com/support/policy/ 6 Server Platform Product Support Lifecycle SUSE thirteen year support commitment for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11, 12, and 15 https://www.suse.com/support/policy/ 8 More time! Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) An option that provides up to 3 years of continued access to technical support, maintenance and security patches beyond general support expiration date. • For vanilla SLES 11,12, & 15 + SLES for SAP 11 SP4 • https://www.suse.com/products/long-term-service-pack-support/ Extended Support Pack Overlay Support (ESPOS) Total of 4.5 years of service pack support (1.5 yrs General + 3 yrs ESPOS). • Now included with SLES for SAP 12 & 15 • https://www.suse.com/c/suse-linux-enterprise-server-for-sap-applications- support-update/ 9 SLES 12 is not SLES 11 SP4.5 Binary incompatible (shared libraries) New features requiring major changes to base system Introduction of systemd Filesystem changes Old cruft removed Chance to resolve old mistakes 10 SLES 15 is not SLES 12 SP5.5, but… • Differences far less than between 11 & 12 • Filesystem changes • ReiserFS (no longer supported) • BTRFS sub-volumes / file locations • Next step with systemd • Hardware support (see slide: Hardware 2/3) • Processors, NVDIMM • Security, Performance • Multi-modal OS – The Foundation for the Modern Enterprise • Software Defined Infrastructure (SDI) – Containers, Kubernetes, Software Defined Storage • Cloud Native Application Delivery – DevOps & CI/CD 11 Workloads What is running on your system? “Small” services like DNS? “Big” services like SAP, Oracle, etc… How long can the services be down? Is your 3rd Party Software supported on SLES12 / SLES15? Some ISVs don't support a general major upgrade of OS and will require a fresh install Adjustment to configuration of third party packages may be needed 12 Hardware (1/3) How old is your hardware? Architecture changes i586 (32bit) to x86_64 POWER: big-endian to little-endian Support for old graphic cards removed Token ring no longer supported (SLES 12) Support of some disk controllers is may be removed by your IHV YES Certified Hardware: https://www.suse.com/partners/ihv/yes/ 13 Hardware (2/3) Upgrading to New Hardware too? • Today SLES 12 SP5 & SLES 15 have the same kernel • Similar but different hardware support • This will increasingly diverge over time • Intel Optane Non-volatile DIMM (NVDIMM) - SLES 12 SP4 & 15 • New x86 processors from Intel (e.g. Cascade Lake) and AMD (e.g. ROME) • Processor vulnerability OS (software) vs. on silicon mitigations • YES Certified Hardware: https://www.suse.com/partners/ihv/yes/ 14 Hardware (3/3) Do you have enough free disk space? RPMs and data are continuously growing Fresh Install will “reset” the baseline OS Binaries and Data separation BTRFS snapshot(s) rpm cache 15 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 or SLES 15? General Considerations Align decision with deployment lifecycle and ISV requirements • SLES 12 will reach end of all general support 31 Oct 2024 (last SP) • SLES 15 will reach end of all general support 31 Jul 2028 • SAP Note: 2255581, 2578899 • Other ISVs SLES 15 Highlights… 16 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15+ • Kernel 4.12 (GA), 4.14 (SP1), 5.x (SP2) • Unified Installer (15) • Next step for systemd (15) • init scripts have been removed • innserv-compat for 3rd party • systemd-timer is replacing cron • reiserfs NOT supported • Modules Changes (15 sp1) • # zypper search-packages <pkg> 17 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15+ • 389 Directory Server replaces OpenLDAP (15) • Firewalld replaces SUSE Firewall2 (15 sp1) • RMT (15 sp1) replaces SMT • Salt management • Python 3 (15 sp1) • Chrony replaces ntpd (15) • NGINX is fully supported (15) • OpenSSL 1.0x is legacy (15) • OpenJDK 11 (15 sp1) 18 SUSE Linux Enterprise 15+ • File Placement (LSB is dead) • Improved separation of binaries and data… • BTRFS Snapshot and Rollback • BTRFS sub-volume layout (15) • /var no longer in snapshots • RPM database: /usr/lib/sysimage • Others • Transactional Updates • SP1 Technology Preview (15 sp1) • Atomic updates + health check scripts 19 For more information (1/2)… 20 For more information (2/2)… https://www.suse.com/betaprogram/sle-beta/ 21 Upgrade or Fresh Installation? 23 Upgrade or Fresh Installation? Every workload is different with unique combinations, SUSE can only generally inform and advise. Ask yourself… Why am I upgrading? • Bug Fixes • New Features • Optimize Performance • Multiple major versions behind • Compliance & Support • Security Concerns • How good is your current setup documented? • Any things you always wanted to have setup differently? 24 Upgrade Considerations (1/2) Old “stuff” will remain rd No longer maintained / no updates/security fixes but old 3 party apps may still work Possible package conflicts (ACPI) See slide: Upgrade (2/2) to identify orphaned packages Package Configuration Changes Old and new changes will be saved in new files during upgrade process for your reference See slide: Upgrade (2/2) to identify these files. rd Adjustment to configuration of 3 party packages may be needed Obsolete packages could still be the default and/or referenced by scripts requiring manual clean-up 25 Upgrade Considerations (2/2) Database migration See slide: Upgrade (1/2) for more information reiserfs Filesystem SLES 12 = compatible; SLES 15 = unsupported Some new features will NOT be useable Full system rollback for SLE12/15 depends on grub2, btrfs subvolume layout New XFS on disk format Full root filesystem encryption including /boot IPv6 support for e.g. iSCSI (could be archived by reconfiguration) Updating RPMs takes longer than fresh installation! 26 Fresh Installation Considerations (1/2) Generally recommended when skipping major versions All new features are useable New / updated filesystems reiserfs no longer supported in SLES 15 btrfs use cases: snapshot / rollback, transactional updates Re-design Opportunities Think about new disk / partition layout Think about package & module (SLES 15) selections No “old stuff” left behind Good or bad? 27 Fresh Installation Considerations (2/2) Completely fresh installation of third party software Step by step and test along the way Simplified Abort / Roll-back via Blue-Green approach Helpful if BTRFS is NOT in use or not enough free space available for snapshot / rollback Shared storage for data – Be careful # rsync -r Manual migration of configuration files and data to new system Tuning & optimization opportunity OS binaries & application data separation opportunity Must select the desired packages, patterns, modules 28 Upgrade or Fresh Install to SLES 15 SP1? General Recommendations (see slides: Upgrade Paths & Methods) If on SLES 11 SP4 or older and your destination is SLES 15 SP1: • Recommend fresh installation – not required; from 11 SP4 • Upgrade SLES 8 to SLES 11 SP4 first then 15? – not recommended If system was installed before SLES 12 SP2: • Recommend fresh installation – not required (btrfs initial snapshot) If system was installed with SLES 12 SP2 or later: • Upgrade from 12 SP3 LTSS, SP4 LTSS or SP5 otherwise fresh installation Fresh Installation Required for: SLES 11 32-bit to SLES 12 / 15 x86-64bit POWER big-endian to little endian 29 Upgrade Paths & Methods 30 Online vs Offline Upgrade Online – server up / running • Minor version (SP) upgrades only. Executed on an “up and running” system. Example: zypper and YaST online update connected via SUSE Customer Center (SCC), Subscription Mirroring Tool (SMT), Repository Mirroring Tool (RMT), Salt Policy via SUSE Manager. Offline – server down / not running • Major and minor version upgrades. Example: Installer for target release operating system is booted with DVD installation media, PXE/network boot, or via local bootloader to perform the upgrade. 31 Supported Paths to SLES 12 SP5 LTSS? 33 Supported Paths to SLES 15 SP1 NEW SP5? LTSS? https://documentation.suse.com/sles/15-SP1/single-html/SLES-upgrade/#sec-upgrade-paths-supported 35 Supported Scenarios (1/3) Major Version Upgrades: • From current SP versions that are still within General or LTSS support lifecycle at time of each new release (including SPs) • Offline Migration: • Boot from DVD, ISO image, USB stick, Network (PXE/tftp), AutoYaST with (autoupgrade=1 boot parameter) • Online Migration: • Not supported • SUSE Manager • Mass scripted upgrades (AutoYaST) 36 Supported Scenarios (2/3) Minor Version / Service Pack (SP) Upgrades: • Skipping of 1 (SLES 15) or 2 SPs (SLES 12). • Online Migration: • YaST or zypper migration (12 or 15) via # zypper migration • zypper distribution upgrade (12 or 15) via # zypper