Automate upgrade from SLES 11 SP1 to SLES 12

Though, it is not recommended by SLES for in-place upgrade of SLES 11 SP1 to SLES 12 (Without any patch), due to the product requirements, this has been done and found to be working successfully.
But, we want the steps within the upgrade to be automated.

The following was tried as per “Unattended Upgrade Feature in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server - Solution Guide”

We created an autoupg.xml file and copied it to the /root/ directory
We mapped the SLES 12 iso file to the DVD ROM (virtual)
Rebooted the machine and selected the upgrade option.

The upgrade was still in manual mode and did not recognize the autoupg.xml file that was supplied.

Any specific setting needs to be enabled or is there a standard way how we need to supply autoupg.xml ?

Request you to kindly recommend solution/alternative for the above problem.

Thanks in advance,
Rgds
Manohar

First, I’ve never used an autoinst.xml file for an upgrade, no matter
what, but did you point to it as part of the upgrade selection from the
boot menu? Unless using PXE, which points to it for me, I’ve always had
to add that when booting, but maybe that is just because I never knew
where to put it to be automatically found by the installer.


Good luck.

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manu29585 Wrote in message:
[color=blue]

Though, it is not recommended by SLES for in-place upgrade of SLES 11
SP1 to SLES 12 (Without any patch), due to the product requirements,
this has been done and found to be working successfully.[/color]

With or without a patch (which patch?) an in-place upgrade of
SLES11 SP1 directly to SLES12 is not supported by SUSE, let alone
recommended.

The supported upgrade path is SLES11 SP1 to SLES11 SP2 to SLES11
SP3 then finally to SLES12 (you can skip SLES11 SP3 to SLES11
SP4) though given that SLES12 SP2 is currently the latest,
supported release of SLES12 (with SLES12 SP3 currently in beta)
I’d be upgrading to SLES12 SP2.

HTH.

Simon Flood
SUSE Knowledge Partner

----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/

Thanks a lot for the response.
But, actually, we are successful in performing an inplace upgrade of SLES 11 SP1 to SLES 12 (Without any service packs).
Where we are actually struck is that automating these steps.
Is there a possibility that, without user interactions, this can be done.

Steps include for eg:

            5. Go to the tab "Console" and Press "Esc" to access the "Boot Menu" immediately.

	6. Select the option "CD-ROM Drive" and press Enter.

	7. In the menu that appears next after booting from the CD-ROM, select the option "Upgrade" and press Enter

	8. The "Language, Keyboard and License Agreement" window appears. Select the check box of caption "I Agree to the License Terms" and click on the "Next" button."

	9. The "Network Settings" window appears. Click "Next".

	10. The "Select for Update" window appears. Select "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11" and click "Next"

	11. The following warning message appears:

		"Warning
		Some partitions in the system on /dev/sda2 are mounted by kernel-device name. 
		This is not reliable for the update since kernel-device names are unfortunately not persistent. 
		It is strongly recommended to start the old system and change the mount-by method to any other method for all partitions."

		Click "OK".

	12. The following message appears next:

		"The partition /loop_fs/db_bck_add/db_bck_add_loop_fs could not be mounted.

		mount: special device /loop_fs/db_bck_add/db_bck_add_loop_fs does not exist.

		If you are sure that the partition is not necessary for the update (not a system partition), click Continue.
		To check or fix the mount options, click Specify Mount Options.
		To abort the update, click Cancel"

		Click "Continue"

		The following message appears next:
		
		"The partition /loop_fs/bulk/bulk_loop_fs could not be mounted.
		
		mount: special device /loop_fs/bulk/bulk_loop_fs does not exist.
                                            
		If you are sure that the partition is not necessary for the update (not a system partition), click Continue.
		To check or fix the mount options, click Specify Mount Options.
		To abort the update, click Cancel"

		Click "Continue"

	13. The "Previously Used Repositories" window appears.
		Click "Next"


	14. In case the following message appears
			
		Network is not configured, the registration server cannot be reached.
		Do you want to configure the network now?

		Click on No
		
	15. In case the following message appears

		Automatic registration upgrade failed.
		You can manually register the system from scratch.
		
		Click on OK.

	16. The "Registration" window appears.
		Click on button "Skip Registration"

	17. The following message appears:

		"If you do not register your system we will not be able to grant you access to the update repositories.
		You can register after the installation or visit our Customer Center for online registration.
		Really skip the registration now?"

		Click "Yes"

	18. The "Add On Product" window appears.

		Click "Next"
		
	19. The "Installation Settings" window appears.

		Click "Update"

	20. A message with title "Confirm Update" appears.

		Click "Start Update"

	21. A message titled "No Checksum Found" appears.

		Click "Yes"

	22. The same message appears once again.
		Click "Yes"
		
	23. The update continues and at the end of the update the following message appears:

		The system will reboot now...

		Click "OK" or the system reboots automatically.

[QUOTE=smflood;38821]manu29585 Wrote in message:
[color=blue]

Though, it is not recommended by SLES for in-place upgrade of SLES 11
SP1 to SLES 12 (Without any patch), due to the product requirements,
this has been done and found to be working successfully.[/color]

With or without a patch (which patch?) an in-place upgrade of
SLES11 SP1 directly to SLES12 is not supported by SUSE, let alone
recommended.

The supported upgrade path is SLES11 SP1 to SLES11 SP2 to SLES11
SP3 then finally to SLES12 (you can skip SLES11 SP3 to SLES11
SP4) though given that SLES12 SP2 is currently the latest,
supported release of SLES12 (with SLES12 SP3 currently in beta)
I’d be upgrading to SLES12 SP2.

HTH.

Simon Flood
SUSE Knowledge Partner

----Android NewsGroup Reader----
http://usenet.sinaapp.com/[/QUOTE]