FYI: We offer FreeBSD 5.3 by default on all servers now, with SMP kernel activated by request though custom orders

Has anyone upgraded to BSD 6.0 yet? Here's an interesting option that this release supports - CARP (It's the ability of multiple hosts to share a single IP ...)

http://www.freebsd.org/releases/6.0R/relno...notes-i386.html



http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=c...BSD+6.0-RELEASE

I use FreeBSD 6.0 on a server at home. I like it, but then again i always favored FBSD. Runs nice and smooth... im also a huge fan of ipfw.

6 would be nice at home but I'd stick with 5.3 or even the highest 4.x out there for my sever simply becuse they are rock solid. I'd only go with 6 at this time if there is a feature you absolutly need that 5.x or 4.x can't give you

I've upgraded my ev1 box from 5.3 --> 5.4 --> 6 with no problems using the handbooks brief guide.

Only one server though so I don't get to play with carp :/

I've used 5 alot at home, work and with EV1 and it was a world of issues. I'm glad to see the back of it to 6.

Sticking with 4 would be preferable over 5 but they're phasing out support soon (or already?) and I don't want to get caught in an emergency upgrade situation. Better to get it out the way at my own pace before the next serious security hole needs patching.

Kev

I have upgraded several boxes to 6.0, and all I can say is I am impressed with it.

I use FreeBSD 6 on server with out control panel, it works fine. My cpanel servers still use FreeBSD 5.4.

I am trying to upgrade to 6 now from a fresh EV1 image. I've successfully synced my source.. but how does one drop down to single user mode from EV1's remote console? Do I have to do this upgrade through KVM over IP?

Thanks in advance.

I never bother dropping to single user mode. If you have a busy machine it might be best to stop all services and deny user logins during the procedure to try and 'emulate' single user mode as much as possible, but I rarely do.

This is against 'good practice' as advised by the freebsd docs / community but I've never had a problem with it. I've skipped this stage on every FreeBSD upgrade I've done which includes my EV1 box from 5.3->5.4->5.4p[x]->6

So take under advisement.

Of course the KVM is a possibility. I'd suggest doing a test upgrade on a local machine skipping the single user step to get a feel for how it will work and proceed from there.

Kev

Here's the link to configuring FBSD to bootup through the remote console:

Read More

Thanks for the link. I had actually ran across that page and also recieved some help from tech support before posting. As far as I can tell, things are set up for working on the machine over the console but programs like 'ee' don't seem to draw to the screen correctly.

I'm using putty on windows xp with terminal type string set to "vt100". I'm not sure what else i have to configure in my ssh client.

Just another comment regarding the remote console and single user mode that may help other users of FreeBSD at EV1.

If you login to your FreeBSD server using the remote console, the "shutdown now" command doesn't seem to be a viable way to drop down to single user mode as the FreeBSD handbook suggests.

The alternative does seem to work however. Simply issue a "reboot" command from the remote console. When the machine shuts down and it appears as if you've lost the connection to the server, don't fret, keep the console window open. After about half a minute you should see boot messages start scrolling in your SSH client's window. This way you can interact with the boot menu/prompt that comes up.

On my FreeBSD server, option 4 on the boot menu will drop you down to single user mode. Alternatively you can escape to the boot prompt and use "-s" to achieve the same thing.

In case you find single user mode a bit limiting, don't forget to run the following commands if you want to be able to do anything useful:

# fsck -p
# mount -u /
# mount -a -t ufs
# swapon -a

Alright, thats about it, now I have a lot of software to compile and configure... wish me luck!

Cpanel users should stick to FreeBSD 5.4.

Oh shoot, I just updated to 6.0 and was hoping to run cPanel eventually. Any other advice regarding that ordeal? Maybe I should start a new thread...

You can use 6.0 but you need to install the 5.4 libs. There is a howto on the Cpanel forum posted by Roman that tells you how to do it. Search for "Installing Freebsd" and you should find it. Otherwise, if you have not installed 6.0 you should probably stay at 5.4 until its supported by cPanel, if ever.

Try contacting cPanel manufacturers for freeBSD 6.0+ support.

I'm running FreeBSD 6.0 with 64bit SMP kernel, Lighttpd, FastCGI-PHP, and APC, with MySQL on Quad Opterons and it's blazing.

Me three, im not running Quads but duals and the box is so fast my stats says that my CPU0/CPU1 has been idle for 99.8% of the time with 245 sites on the box. Im not doing the 64bit thing, not with cPanel anyway. 32bit is fine until Cpanel decides to do something about it but its Freebsd 5.4 and its a blazer.

Also, im running dual 147GB SCSI drives. So i moved all my user mysql dbs to the second drive. What a joy. It was a bit of a hassle to move it under Freebsd but its done and im happy. So are my users!!!

Dual Opteron 250's W/L2 Cache 8GB Ram, 2 x 147GB SCSI drives + Cpanel + FreeBSD 5.4. And guess what, i cancelled 2 servers at EV1 and moved all those websites on to one server. Saves me some money in the long run. Consolidation is nice. Headsurfer, your loosing business because your not offering Opterons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!