Upgrading a Xen host from debian lenny to squeeze

Question

I am in the process of upgrading the Xen host from Lenny to Squeeze. What is the recommended route for this upgrade?

Upgrade the host first then the guests? Will the guests be able to boot if I do this?

If I upgrade the guests using these instructions I wont be able to load the guest after the first restart recommendation right after installing udev and the new linux-image, since the new kernel can't run on a Lenny host (correct this if am wrong).

Some recommendation from someone who has done this would be great

Answer 1

I just upgraded a few of my Xen guests to squeeze this weekend.

No, you can't install a linux-image package on a guest, just linux-modules. But upgrading linux-modules on a guest will require upgrading linux-image on the host. When I do the host's squeeze upgrade, I'll install the new modules on all the squeeze guests. Installing udev during section 4.4.5 is fine, though.

Short form, I just installed udev in section 4.4.5, and left the kernel alone. The rest of the upgrade guide is accurate.

Answer 2

Ok I never got an answer but I bit the bullet and went with my instincts. Here is what I did in case anyone might find this useful.

First of all remember the host(dom0) boots the guests(domU) using the kernels stored in the host. So the process:

1. apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
2. apt-get install udev
3. shutdown the guest (yes not reboot)

Then moving on to the host - I followed these instructions which are just a concise version of the longer xen upgrade page here.

With the host fully upgraded, it's time to fully upgrade the guests.

Edit the kernel and ramdisk parameters in /etx/xen/yourguest.cfg so that it matches whatever your host is running. In my case changed for example

kernel='/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-xen-amd64' to

kernel='/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-xen-amd64' (change ramdisk to the appropriate value)

I then used xm create to boot the guests, which loaded without a hitch. Then proceeded to apt-get dist-upgrade each guest in turn and voila! It's an all squeeze affair now.