From Adminbuntu, Everything for the Ubuntu Server Administrator
This is an excerpt from Adminbuntu, a site for Ubuntu Server administrators:
http://www.adminbuntu.com/upgrading_ubuntu_server_to_lastest_lts_version
If possible, don’t use SSH when upgrading a server. On Linode, you can use their Lish terminal, available from the virtual server’s console page.
This was tested while upgrading a 10.04 LTS Ubuntu Server to 12.04 LTS. The test server was a production web server with a large number of packages installed and configuration changes.
Back up the Server First
If your virtual hosting provider offers image backups, this is a good option. The important thing is knowing for certain that you can restore/recreate the server in case the upgraded server is not left in a bootable, usable condition.
Install the Upgrade Manager
sudo aptitude -y install update-manager-core
Double-check Configuration File
Run this command to check whether “/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades” has the line “Prompt=lts”.
[[ `grep Prompt=lts /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades` = 'Prompt=lts' ]] && echo '"/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades" is Ok' || echo 'Edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and add line "Prompt=lts"'
If the line is not present edit “/etc/update-manager/release-upgrades” with:
sudo vi /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
…and add the line:
Prompt=lts
Run the Upgrade Manger
sudo do-release-upgrade
Follow the on-screen instructions.
When this was tested on a production server:
- The upgrade went smoothly.
- When prompted for a new MySQL root password (sever times during the upgrade) Enter was pressed without entering a new password. The existing MySQL password was retained by the server with no issues.
- When the upgrade manager encountered a configuration file with custom changes, the existing, modified configuration file was retained (not replaced with the distribution default configuration file). This worked well. The only change needed after upgrading was adding a new line to phpMyAdmin’s configuration file that was needed for the new phpMyAdmin version.
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