Upgrade Question

I know this is a noob question, but gonna ask it anyway

I am currently on Rockstor 4.5.8-0

I know there is a newer release available.

I do NOT have the paid updates activated (honestly can’t afford to pay for it)

I figure there is a way manually down load and install the newer version over the old version so that I can upgrade without loosing all my current settings. Thing is, I don’t kow how to do this. Can someone walk me through?

How to update Rockstor is described here:
https://rockstor.com/docs/installation/install.html#install-updates-from-the-web-ui

Independant of the Rockstor Version, the underlying OS also has also a Version (openSUSE Leap 15.4, 15.5., 15.6). How to upgrade the distribution is documented here:
https://rockstor.com/docs/howtos/15-3_to_15-4.html

Regarding the paid licence - only the stable updated do need a licence. You can activate the testing update channel without a licence:
https://rockstor.com/docs/interface/system/update_channels.html#update-channels


And finally, if you would rather install a new Version, you can also export your configuration, re-install Rockstor and then import the config again.
https://rockstor.com/docs/howtos/reinstall.html
The guide is a bit old and the screenshots don’t match the current version exactly, but the overall procedure is still the same.
Be aware though, that some of the rockstor configuration is not imported properly at the moment:

I attempted the upgrade… Following the first guide, there should have been an up arrow to show me an upgrade was available. The arrow is NOT there. So I tried the command line options and got this reply

NAS:~ # zypper update rockstor
Loading repository data…
Warning: Repository ‘Update repository of openSUSE Backports’ metadata expired since 2024-09-23 04:47:52 CDT.

Warning: Repository metadata expired: Check if 'autorefresh' is turned on (zypper lr), otherwise
manually refresh the repository (zypper ref). If this does not solve the issue, it could be that
you are using a broken mirror or the server has actually discontinued to support the repository.

Reading installed packages…
‘rockstor’ is already installed.
Package ‘rockstor’ is not available in your repositories. Cannot reinstall, upgrade, or downgrade.
Resolving package dependencies…
Nothing to do.

So, my Rockstor still shows I am running 4.5.8-0. For whatever reason the upgrade is not brining me to the current version. I prefer to NOT have to reinstall. However, if that is the only option to upgrade, then so be it. Any advice?

I did upgrade the underlying OS successfully. I went in steps. From 15.3 to 15.4. Then from 15.4 to 15.5. As I see the warning that 15.6 is not yet a stable release, I opted to stop at 15.5

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Ok, so I upgraded the underlying OS to 15.5 without an issue. However, I still can not upgrade Rockstor. I get the following

NAS:~ # zypper update rockstor
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
‘rockstor’ is already installed.
Package ‘rockstor’ is not available in your repositories. Cannot reinstall, upgrade, or downgrade.
Resolving package dependencies…
Nothing to do.
NAS:~ # zypper refresh
Repository ‘Leap_15_5’ is up to date.
Repository ‘Leap_15_5_Updates’ is up to date.
Repository ‘home_rockstor’ is up to date.
Repository ‘home_rockstor_branches_Base_System’ is up to date.
Repository ‘Update repository of openSUSE Backports’ is up to date.
Repository ‘repo-openh264’ is up to date.
Repository ‘Update repository with updates from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15’ is up to date.
All repositories have been refreshed.
NAS:~ # zypper update rockstor
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
‘rockstor’ is already installed.
Package ‘rockstor’ is not available in your repositories. Cannot reinstall, upgrade, or downgrade.
Resolving package dependencies…
Nothing to do.
NAS:~ # zypper up --no-recommends
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Nothing to do.

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I went and verified the internet is working on the Rockstor server. I was able to ping several other internet servers (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and robotech.com) all without issue. So, it’s not a network issue. I also verified that there IS an upgrade on the down load page… By the looks of it, I should be able to AT LEAST get to 4.6.1-0 with 5.0.15-0 as a candidate for stable right behind. Am I missing something? What am I doing wrong?

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Hi there, @greyson1973 !

Well done on the consecutive distribution upgrades! :+1:

I believe you are not seeing an update to the Rockstor package because you do not have any of the channels activated: either Stable or Testing. You can indeed see that there’s neither of these repositories listed in your zypper ref, so your system cannot see an updated package.

You are correct that the next Stable rpm is just around the corner and should hopefully correspond to the current testing rpm. I’m a bit fuzzy on whether 15.5 has a Stable rpm (sorry I cant verify at the moment), but 15.5 is now end of life by opensuse (but only since a month).

I’m afraid I’ll have to let @phillxnet chip in on the most wise advice here on the way to proceed as I’d rather not give you improper recommendations.

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Yes, you have to activate the testing update channel, which can be done for free without a licence as described here:

And also as @Flox said, the new rockstor Version (including support for Leap 15.6) is almost stable. Especially as openSUSE Leap 15.5 has reached end of life (by openSUSE), I would recommend to also upgrade to Leap 15.6 now.

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@simon-77 Re:

Just a small point, our licence for testing and stable is FSF Free/Libre & OSI approved:

See: Software update — Rockstor documentation

I.e. “GPL-3.0-or-later AND (MIT AND Apache-2.0 AND GPL-3.0-or-later AND LGPL-3.0-or-later AND ISC)

The Stable channel is a service associated with a Stable Updates subscription, where we distribute rpms build from the master branch of the same GitHub repos (generally). Where-as testing is build from the testing branch. Sometimes the first Stable release ends up being build from the testing branch, but only at the end of each phase. This updates service is our way to help support the projects development and to attempt to achieve sustainable open source development.

So the license is identical, we just provide a curated update channel for folks less interested in engaging in the testing phase that ultimately leads to each stable rpm release. And we also try to release, at least the first Stable rpm of each phase, into the testing channel before-hand. So the general plan is for the first Stable rpm to be the exact same rpm that was released at the end of each testing phase.

We should really present this all in far fewer words, The Downloads page does make an attempt at this :slight_smile: .

Re:

Our Downloads page has had a recent table addition which should help on this front.
From that table 4.6.1-0 is indicated as the last published Stable rpm for 15.5. But as already mentioned, we are so near next stable rpm with our current testing phase that it would be fine to use. But only if one is careful not to ‘roll-over’ to what will there-after be the beginning of the next testing phase. One can install from testing, then subscribe to Stable and once it offers a newer rpm than what is installed, that stable rpm will be installed. I.e. the following forum thread details our last, as of writing, testing release that is near, or at, the end of the current testing phase (as of writing):

I’m hoping to squeeze out one last rpm with only a very minor Rock-on cosmetic fix (by @Flox), so keep an eye out for 5.0.16-0. But that is as yet unconfirmed. I also have a little background/dev change that I’l like to make before this next 5.0.16-0 rpm. But again - this is not yet certain.

Hope that helps. The above doc entry, also quoted by @simon-77, explains this in a few more words.

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My one concern is that word “Stable.”

While there is no critical data, on my rockstor server, it is currently housing digitized copies of all the anime I have collected since 1973. While I have all that anime, in various formats, and could redigitize it all, it took me almost 2 years to convert all of it. Then it took me months to get it all organized in the Emby Rock-On. I would hate to loose any of it, or have to start over in organizing it in Emby again, if I installed a version that has stability questions.

As I said, in a previous post, I can’t afford the paid option to get the garunteed stable releases at the moment. Not to get overly personal, but I got put on Workman’s Comp back in September and so I only get 60% of my normal pay and that seriously hurt my wallet. Until that is resolved, I am kind of stuck.

I don’t want to activate the testing channel, have Rockstor auto update, have it crash, and loose my files cause it updated to some version not compatible with my hardware or has a bug.

So, between the 2 situations, I have not activated either upgrade channel as I was hoping for a 3rd option. Some way I could manually decide on the upgrade rather then the system automatically upgrading me.

What I am taking away from all of this discussion is my best option is to get a backup of all my data done (just finished getting is all on my NAS and organized so haven’t backed it up yet) and then risk the auto upgrades of the testing channel. Am I getting that right?

Is there a way I can manually control the upgrades of the testing channel?

Or is there a way I can download the latest version of Rockstor and install it over the current version to upgrade without loosing my BTRF pools and data? (I have one OS drive and 3 drives in a pool as data storage)

@greyson1973 Hello again,

Re:

There is, by default, no auto-update enabled in an instance of Rockstor created from our downloadable installers. It can be enabled manually via our instructions here:

https://rockstor.com/docs/interface/system/update_channels.html#auto-updates

So as long as you haven’t enabled this yourself, and take note of the version of testing your are about to install, your system should stay at the last version you opted into. When-ever you are about to put in a new version the Web-UI presents you with the changelog. So if you see 5.0.15-0 at the top (as of writing) that is the latest version that will be installed. You can then await the end of the next testing phase and do the same. Plus this forum is open about where we are in any given testing release. And if you are unsure you can always ask again. Or refer to the downloads page table to see what the last stable was: as it will most likely have been published first in the preceding testing phase - but only at the end of that phase.

This is always a good idea, yes.

Again there is no auto-update. Once you configure your system to use either the Testing updates, or the Stable updates, neither will auto-update. It will just offer you the option to update from the channel you have selected.

This is the default. But note that it will always offer you the latest version in current testing. So once we roll-over to the next testing phase (i.e. 5.5.- which will lead onto 5.6.. stable eventually) you do not want to install that until it reaches the end of the next testing phase. Again the forum always has this info available and we anounce mid-to-late testing phase rpms as RC or Release Candidate. But only use late RC or stable on production setups.

That would be a re-install, and import of the pool and a saved config. But that is more messy than manually taking note of the phase of testing your want to be involved in.

Nice. Our underlying filesystem is something we rely on our upstream OS to maintain: that is outside the expertise of our current contributors. So in that sense we are just users of the filesystem. That same filesystem is shared across all modern linux systems. So it would be expected that you can always mount our pools in an equally up-to-date kernel/btrfs-progs linux distribution. We just make it easier. But note that we only support a subset of arrangements in btrfs, so the opposite is not true: at least not without some manual re-arrangements so that a non rockstor native btrfs pool will not necessarily be importable into Rockstor without some rearrangements.

Indeed, that is always an aim and seemingly never achieved in the modern software arena. In part that is why we only support a sub-set of btrfs. As we gain more developer and testing interest/feedback this sub-set should expand; but we are subject to the same excessively shifting sands that bugs all current software development. However we try at least to choose our battles :slight_smile: .

Our next testing phase is to approach our own complexity in the front-end predominantly (development wise). In time this should lead to easing developer and user input into the project. But as always everything takes longer than one thinks, or would prefer.

For your own peace of mind, you could install a separate Rockstor instance in a Virtual Machine hosted by your desktop/laptop or an entirely other unused machine. You can then see for yourself the process of 1st subscribing to an update channel, and 2nd seeing what it offers, and 3rd what you are required to do to enact the offered update. Just be sure to read the Changelog that is presented within the Web-UI. And avoid CLI (Command Line Interface) updates as they will not not present a changelog by default.

Out of curiosity, what raid level have you chosen? Always use a raid level that has redundancy if your are storing data that you care about:

Hope that helps, at least with some context.

3 Likes

Hi @phillxnet ,

Simple question: It’s possible to upgrade one running Rockstor appliance using only the ISO of a newer version?

The ISO is only for “fresh” Rockstor installations, it does not contain an upgrade option. In general, you would use the update facility in the WebUI (stable or testing channel). This will perform an update of Rockstor. If the base OS needs to be upgraded, that can be done as described in various how-tos, e.g.:
https://rockstor.com/docs/howtos/15-5_to_15-6.html

However, as mentioned above, creating and offloading a configuration backup, installing the new version using the iso (including a newer OpenSUSE distribution version if applicable) and then restoring the configuration backup will give you the updated version with the system looking as before, without impacting the data portion of the appliance. Usually that can becompleted within a very short period of time.
Though when considering some of your other posts about modifying the disk layout, this might not be an option for you (unless that can be completed with little effort as well).

3 Likes

Hi @Hooverdan ,

I feel then the best way to update (manually) is:

  • Backup configuration
  • Power off
  • Remove data disks
  • Change boot disk
  • Do a new fresh intall in the new boot disk
  • Configure the fresh install (perhaps with small user tweaks, like swap)
  • But then? First restore the backup and after reconnect the data disks? Or first reconnect the data disks and after restore the backup?

And another simple question: What files/databases are in the backup? I want to know it to understand which manual changes are required.

Thank you.

You will need to connect the data disks and import the pool(s) before you run the config restore:

https://rockstor.com/docs/interface/system/config_backup.html#special-notes-on-configuration-restore

The configuration backup contains the settings as described here:
https://rockstor.com/docs/interface/system/config_backup.html#special-notes-on-configuration-restore

and also what’s not in there. The end result is a json type file containing the respective settings, no database or files within them are backed up.

If you make additional configurations to some of the services (e.g. samba) that are not reflected or done via the WebUI, those you will have to also note down/backup separately and restore them separately.

So for your list:

  • Backup configuration - download to separate system (e.g. the system used to browse to the Rockstor WebUI
  • Power off
  • Remove data disks - (that can be optional, but it will definitely make it clear which one is the device on which you want to install Rockstor again)
  • Change boot disk - I assume, you mean temporarily change the boot order to the boot device that contains the Rockstor iso image, or swap out the existing boot disk with a new blank one, so you can go back to the original install if something goes wrong with the installation?
  • Do a new fresh install on the designated boot disk (new or existing)
  • Perform initial configuration (like creating the initial admin user
  • Configure the fresh install (perhaps with small user tweaks, like swap)
  • Power off
  • connect data disks
  • import disks/pool/shares using the WebUI
  • upload and execute configuration backup
  • add any remaining service configurations, package installations that were noted down/offloaded before the new system was created
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Thank you @Hooverdan ,

This step-by-step list is very clear. I recommend to update the section:

  • “/docs/interface/system/config_backup.html#special-notes-on-configuration-restore”

to add this list.

Regards.

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