[ec2] Upgrading Intrepid AMIs

[Eric Hammond]

Simon:

Assuming you're not running EBS boot instances, you cannot upgrade the
kernel in place.  Even if you are running EBS boot instances, upgrading
in place can be a bit messy and probably should not be tested first on
your live systems.

If possible, I recommend you start with the latest 9.10 AMIs and build
your systems on new instances.

If you have built extensively customized private AMIs, and you did not
automate or document the software installation and customization, and
you really want to try upgrading without starting from scratch, here is
an approach which could let you test this without risking your currently
running instances, but it gets complicated:

- download the custom AMI bundle from S3
- unbundle the image
- create an EBS volume
- copy image file system to the EBS volume
- snapshot the EBS volume
- register the snapshot as a new EBS boot AMI with the old aki+ari
- run a new instance of the EBS boot AMI
- upgrade the system in place
- snapshot that instance's EBS volume
- register that EBS snapshot as a new new AMI with the newer aki+ari
- run a new instanced of the new new AMI and test
- clean up the temporary instances, EBS volumes, and EBS snapshot

You could also save the image as an S3 based AMI if that's what you want
to run.

I'm not sure if solicitation is allowed on this list, but if needed, I
could help with this kind of small task.

My standard recommendation, however, is to always start with fresh
public AMIs and document/automate the installation of your
customizations so that you can switch to new public AMIs whenever they
come out.  Whether you run the installation scripts at boot time or run
them to create private AMIs depends on how long they take and how
quickly you need new instances to start.

--
Eric Hammond



Simon Detheridge wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I've been running some fairly well used AMIs based on the original 8.10 that first appeared. I couldn't use 8.04 at the time, because I needed some newer kernel features. I'm aware that support for 8.10 ends in a couple of months (I'm assuming this means no more security updates?) so I'll need to upgrade.
> 
> Any issues surrounding upgrading? Is it safe to upgrade in-place, the same as I would my physical server?
> 
> Thanks,
> Simon
>