I want to thank all that responded to my plea for help on
upgrading from DU2.0 to DU 4.0. There were a variety of useful tips
especially those that reminded one to save enough root space for the
larger 4.0 system. Also many suggested that we make the stepwise
upgrades 3 to 3.2 to .... but I am afraid that this is not an option.
Most of all I found out that if properly stored (whether it be on
another disk or on tape) my user files and /etc/passwd files will be
ok. Finally, I was reminded that there are of course other files
that could/should be backed up a restored. Also there were
several out there that reminded me to back up everything just in
case!! Being one of those rare individuals that actually backup their
PC on occasion, I will take this advice to heart.
Thanks again
Jeff Smith
East Carolina University
(where they think unix is a 4 letter word)
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The following are typical of the information that was sent to me:
I have never used the Digital upgrade methods since 1988 starting
with Ultrix 2.0. I've always done full installs on a new disk
and then converted over.
If you have been diligent about keeping the new stuff out of
/usr, then there is minimal stuff to restore. If you have
another disk, it is best to install the new version on the
other disk and try out everything. You can copy the needed
stuff from the other disk. Given the cost of a 1 or 2 Gig
scsi disk, this is a great method. Once done, you use the
other disk as a hot backup of your system stuff. Cheap insurance.
The old passwd file will work fine. /users should not be affected.
If you have been diligent about keeping the new stuff out of
/usr, then there is minimal stuff to restore. If you have
another disk, it is best to install the new version on the
other disk and try out everything. You can copy the needed
stuff from the other disk. Given the cost of a 1 or 2 Gig
scsi disk, this is a great method. Once done, you use the
other disk as a hot backup of your system stuff. Cheap insurance.
The old passwd file will work fine. /users should not be affected.
*********************************
actually you could try the following upgrade path
DU2.0 -> 3.0 ->3.2 ->3.2c -> 4.0 -> 4.0a and beyound
I have done this succesfully.
**********************************
you can rebuild and backup your current system
to a second disk that has had the disklabel remodified to allow for
the expanded room.
**********************************
When I upgraded to v4.0, CDE added a new account "wnn" with id# 12.
The previous user with id# 12 could no longer access his files.
Found it necessary to add another account for this user and then
chown for all his files using the root account. If you do not have
a user with id# 12 in /etc/passwd then you will not be "bit".
**********************************
There will be no problems if you remember to backup all customized
files
*************************
When you install, use the custom intall (I think that what they call
it) and make sure you make your root partition at least 100 megabytes.
I've had huge difficulties doing upgrades at the 4.0 level due to DEC
cramming more stuff into root, but in earlier releases having made
root only as large as it needed to be. I really need to do a full
install and fix it, but it's safer to upgrade and not worry about
making sure everything gets put back the way it was.
**************************
If the users files are on a separate disk (or partition),
you can just save the /usr/users entry from /etc/fstab
and then re-edit /etc/fstab and remount the disk.
However, you'd still be wise to backup /usr/users.
Restoring /etc/passwd should work fine. There's a possibility
that the new install may create some new "system" logins and
they may be lost. Anyway, here are the system entries in
my Digital Unix 4.0A /etc/passwd you can see if there is
anything in there you don't have:
There are other /etc files you'll need/want, e.g., /etc/printcap,
/etc/hosts, etc. You'll notice the need as some as something
doesn't work, so you certainly need a complete backup of the
root file system. I'd also recommend having a copy of /var about.
When we upgraded to Digital Unix 4.0A we increased the size of the
root file system to 128 Mbytes and the size of the swap space
to 256 Mbytes. You might consider similar increases. (However,
if you are, as you say, "new at Unix administration", you may
want to skip that skip.
*************************************
The best thing to do would be to upgrade to 3.0 then 3.2c and then
4.0. It is going to be fun if you have to do a new install if you
have much install on the boot disc as the boot disk will be wiped in
the new install.
*************************************
You could consider upgrading to 3.2C and from there to 4.0. But
to answer your question... It looks like 4.0 has a couple of
extra entries in etc/passwd as compared to earlier versions. So
what I did was to use vipw to cut and paste our user entries
into the 4.0 etc/passwd file. Worked fine for our small files.
If you *do* want to try using your original etc/passwd, be sure
to restore *all* the etc/passwd* files.
I heartily recommend backing up *everything* before you do
anything.
Received on Tue Feb 11 1997 - 05:06:15 NZDT