#!/bin/sh

# From /media/cryptofs/apps/usr/palm/applications/org.webosinternals.ubuntu-natty-chroot/bin

CHROOT=/media/ext3fs/ubuntu-natty-chroot

cp /etc/resolv.conf ${CHROOT}/etc/resolv.conf

mount --bind /dev ${CHROOT}/dev
mount --bind /dev/pts ${CHROOT}/dev/pts
mount --bind /proc ${CHROOT}/proc
mount --bind /sys ${CHROOT}/sys
mount --bind /tmp ${CHROOT}/tmp

chroot ${CHROOT} /bin/bash

umount ${CHROOT}/tmp
umount ${CHROOT}/sys
umount ${CHROOT}/proc
umount ${CHROOT}/dev/pts
umount ${CHROOT}/dev

Before the Storm: Finnix

I had no experience with Finnix before this upgrade, but it was exactly what I needed throughout the process. It’s built into the Linode dashboard so you can use it as a recovery console if things go wrong. I also used it as my boot disk while cloning the Linode hard disk to my VM.

The Backup

rsync is my weapon of choice, since it allows for transport over SSH and incremental backups. I used this article to get started with some suggested rsync flags. I ran this several times throughout the process:

rsync -avzPH --numeric-ids --delete --delete-excluded --exclude-from=backup.lst root@server.example.com:/ /mnt/sda1/

Here’s my backup.lst exclusion file:

+ /dev/console
+ /dev/initctl
+ /dev/null
+ /dev/zero
- /dev/*
- /proc/*
- /sys/*
- /tmp/*
- *lost+found

After rsync, chroot to the cloned filesystem:

mount -R /proc /mnt/sda1/proc
mount -R /dev /mnt/sda1/dev
chroot /mnt/sda1 /bin/bash
vi /etc/fstab # update mountpoints. change xvda to sda1, xvdb to sda2

Install a bootloader. The Linode VPS is in Xen and doesn’t normally boot its own kernel. (I know next to nothing about Xen, but this is what I’ve gleaned.)

apt-get install grub
mkdir -p /boot/grub
cp -r /usr/lib/grub/i386-pc/{stage1,stage2,e2fs_stage1_5} /boot/grub
apt-get install linux
echo defoptions=vga=791 >>/boot/grub/menu.lst
update-grub

Reboot. Make sure you kill your cron jobs while the VM is on, as many are probably inappropriate for a backup server.

sudo service cron stop

I recommend taking a snapshot of your backup, here. It may actually be faster to just rsync again, but it’s nice to have a complete backup at the ready.

I used a couple commands to update IP addresses on my backup so I could more accurately test services post-upgrade:

sudo ~/bin/ack --follow -al '207\.192\.74\.235' /etc | sudo xargs sed -i.bak 's/207\.192\.74\.235/172.16.226.130/g'
sudo ~/bin/ack --follow -al '69\.164\.216\.5' /etc | sudo xargs sed -i.bak 's/69\.164\.216\.5/172.16.226.131/g'

The Upgrade

The following notes were taking during my test upgrade, and referenced during the real upgrade. I referenced the Ubuntu Community Documentation project’s “Upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS” page. There is also a Linode article on upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04.

On the first pass, python-setuptools killed my install. This was fixed by manually reinstalling before upgrade:

sudo dpkg -r python-setuptools && apt-get install python-setuptools

Ensure the update manager is installed, and issue the upgrade command:

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

I encountered conflicts in the following packages, where I had modified local files. Also included is my resolution, which may or may not be helpful to anyone else.

• /etc/securetty — keep currently installed version; package adds some unneeded ones, and removes tty0 (but does include the Xen ones added by Linode)
• /etc/sysctl.conf — use new; uncomment “kernel.prink = 4 4 1 7” and add “fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 524288“
• /etc/mysql/my.cnf — kept my version
• /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf — kept Linode version: “request subnet-mask, broadcast-address, time-offset, routers, domain-name, domain-name-servers, host-name, ntp-servers;“
• /etc/dbconfig-common/config — nothing meaningful in the diff; use new
• /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf — kept mine
• /etc/default/openvpn — was missing; installed package version
• /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf — kept mine
• /etc/apache2/apache2.conf — kept mine, as well as other apache2 files (but I did use the new mime.types file)
• /etc/stunnel/stunnel.conf — kept mine
• /etc/default/stunnel4 — kept mine
• /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules — kept installed, looked like the GOTO="persistent_net_generator_end" at the start was intentional

Got a warning about vulnerable SSL keys generated by older versions of Ubuntu; solution is to regenerate your keys. The dialog recommended using openssl-vulnkey and openvpn-vulnkey to test.

Other than having to resolve the file conflicts, the upgrade was very smooth. I found some notes about fixing the Xen serial console, and syslog breaking in 10.04. I also upgraded to a newer paravirt kernel in the Linode dashboard.

python-setuptools error

More about that error with python-setuptools: this thread was helpful. From /var/log/apt/term.log:

Log started: 2010-10-06  08:35:15
Setting up python-setuptools (0.6c9-0ubuntu1) ...
pycentral: pycentral pkginstall: not overwriting local files
pycentral pkginstall: not overwriting local files
dpkg: error processing python-setuptools (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 python-setuptools
Log ended: 2010-10-06  08:35:15

Per the article, ran “apt-get remove python-setuptools” and “apt-get install python-setuptools”

Post-upgrade Recompiling

Something required apt-get install libltdl-dev. Useful info for this post, no?

I recompiled all my custom stuff, including nginx, memcached, mod_php and php-fpm, and mysqld.

Installation

During the machine setup, I was prompted to do a “Linux Easy Install.” The software auto-populated my full name and username, and asked me for a new password. I let it do its thing, having already pointed it to the Ubuntu installation ISO. A short while later, with no additional interaction, I was at the Gnome login screen. The username and password I had chosen during installation worked great.

Interface

The feature that finally pushed me over the 2.0 edge was Unity support in Linux. In the past I have only run server applications on my VM, but I had to see Linux Unity in action, layering my Linux applications with Mac OS X applications. It doesn’t disappoint.

At the other end of the spectrum is “Headless” mode. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. When I’m using the server capabilities of my VM, I don’t want an extra application cluttering up my alt-tab. Now: “Enter Headless,” quit VMWare Fusion. Simple. I assume the VM will suspend if I shut down the computer, but I haven’t tested it yet.

The new library window is a bit more attractive, and the machine settings list is more compact. The list also shows a live thumbnail of your VM’s display, be it console or graphical. Along the same lines, the console display can now be resized to zoom the terminal text in or out.

The Gnome application menu is also accessible from the Mac OS X Dock. Apps can be launched in Unity mode without restoring the Gnome desktop.

Seamless cursor movement between the Linux and Mac desktop, along with VM resolution adjusting to the size of the machine window, are also great features, though I suspect they were present in Fusion 1.0.

Some Other Section

Looks like the VMware Fusion team has been up to good things since the first release. I haven’t yet tried Parallels, but I can’t see a reason to try anything new from where I’m sitting.