Upgrading Xen machine from etch to lenny

This is hairy, so be prepared. Upgrading the domU's to lenny is not a problem and should be done first. When you are ready to upgrade the dom0:

On each domU

• make sure udev is installed and install the most recent linux xen modules (you should only need the xen modules if you are doing something like decrypting a volume in your domU)

  aptitude install udev linux-modules-2.6.26-2-xen-686
  

• make sure /etc/securetty has xvc0 and hvc0

  egrep "xvc0|hvc0" /etc/securetty
  

• change tty1 to hvc0 in /etc/inittab

  sed -i 's#1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1#1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 hvc0#' /etc/inittab
  

On the dom0

• For each domU config file in /etc/xen/ update kernel and ramdisk lines and add extra line:

  kernel      = '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.26-2-xen-686'
  initrd      = '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-xen-686'
  ramdisk     = '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.26-2-xen-686'
  extra       = 'console=hvc0'
  

• edit /boot/grub/menu.lst

  # xenhopt=dom0_mem=268440 com1=115200,8n1 console=com1
  # xenkopt=console=hvc0
  # kopt=root=/dev/mapper/vg_XXXXXX0-dom0 ro console=ttyS0,115200n8
  

• edit /etc/inittab

  sed -i "s#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100#T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L hvc0 115200 vt100#"
  

• perform etch -> lenny upgrade on dom0 - allow debconf to install new versions of /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf and /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp.
• update two xen files with needed customizations:
  • /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf

    lvm  = vg_gramsci0
    dist = lenny
    

  • /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp

    # (network-script network-dummy)
    (network-script network-bridge)
    

• ensure recent plain kernel is installed:

  aptitude install linux-image-686
  

• ensure xen tools are properly upgraded:

  aptitude install aptitude install xen-utils-3.2-1 aptitude install xen-linux-system-2.6.26-2-xen-686
  

• reboot
• if all goes smoothly, purge all old linux/xen packages