Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Safe way to test a new kernel?

[Pandu Poluan]

On Feb 25, 2012 7:22 PM, "Mick" <michaelkintzios@×××××.com> wrote:
>
> On Saturday 25 Feb 2012 02:32:49 Pandu Poluan wrote:
> > On Feb 25, 2012 9:14 AM, "Grant" <emailgrant@×××××.com> wrote:
> > > >> I need to test a kernel config change on a remote system.  Is
there a
> > > >> safe way to do this?  The fallback thing in grub has never worked
for
> > > >> me.  When does that ever work?
> > > >
> > > > You can press ESC in the Grub screen and it will take you to
text-only
> >
> > mode.
> >
> > > >  There, you select an entry, press "e" and edit it.  Press ENTER
when
> >
> > you're
> >
> > > > finished, and then press "b" to boot your modified entry.
> > > >
> > > > That way, you can boot whatever kernel you want if the current one
> >
> > doesn't
> >
> > > > work.
> > >
> > > I can't do that remotely though.  I'm probably asking for something
> > > that doesn't exist.
> > >
> > > - Grant
> >
> > Situations like these that made me decide with great conviction to
always
> > deploy my servers virtualized, even if the box in question will only
host a
> > single VM.
> >
> > Now, if I lost my intelligence for a couple of seconds and somehow
ended up
> > with a VM that's no longer accessible remotely, I just connect to the
> > virtual console.
> >
> > The flip side? Now I'm getting too daring/careless, and the uptime now
> > drops below my (self-imposed) target of 99.99% :-P
>
> What do you do when you need to upgrade the host, rather than the guest?
>

Since I'm using XenServer, upgrading the host is a well-defined procedure:
Either I push the update using XenCenter, or I visit the servers. Usually,
I just push minor updates using XenCenter.

Rgds,