Best way to update Plesk 8 on FC4 and kernel source stuff?

[Dirky@]

Hi,
I have just signed up for a second root server with 1and1. My first being FC2 with Plesk 7.5 which I upgraded to plesk 8.0

Anyway with this second box I will need to have kernel source on for compiling some stuff against.
However I want to make sure its up to date in the cleanest way possible i.e. so I can get it back to this state should I ever need to have it re-imaged!

So how do I best make sure everything is up to date?
and how do I get the kernel sources installed?

According to the package I need to ultimately install I need to:-


The following packages need to be additionally installed with yum:
[root@dhcp1 ~]# yum install gcc libxml2-devel libtiff-devel mysql-server php-gd php-mysql kernel-devel bison ncurses-devel audiofile-devel subversion libogg-devel openssl-devel


Is there any danger in this? Some of this stuff will already be there I am sure like gcc, mysql-server, php-mysql maybe, but the others?

Many thanks

Mike

 

[breun]

It should be safe to use yum to install extra software and keep your system up to date (yum update). Usually you don't need complete kernel source to compile stuff against, usually installing kernel-devel (or kernel-smp-devel if you're running an SMP kernel) is enough.

 

[Who-m3]

1and1 servers are known for having issues with custom compiled kernels. Not trying to scare you away, but I've seen numerious times that users have had to reboot to their 'rescue mode' to try to fix a slight issue they created. This creates downtime for live sites, though a new (unused) server would be different.

First, I'd recommend looking into what exactly you need. If it's a module or two, such as ipv6 and so on, most of the later RPM based kernels (rpmfind.net) support such. They typically are easy to utilize, and everything goes right from my tests. However, at the same time, 1and1 uses a kernel their staff compile with certain features enabled/disabled. This adds another level of **** to work through if your kernel is newer than the latest RPM. It's still possible, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit more to do.

Another thing you may want to keep in mind. When updating the kernel, you want to make sure to get the right kernel set to boot automatically. This would, of course, come into play with having the old kernel as a backup (highly recommended until you KNOW your kernel will work). Changing your boot config to utilize the new rpm, or compiled from source, kernel would be a good idea. Just remember that 1And1 has their 'rescue mode' that you can access through their secure serial connection.

Other things I'd wait on would be the other updates. I'd wait till the kernel is the way you want it before you install any additional software. This ensures that you're not wasting your time, as a misscompiled kernel can put you into a pretty big loop as to re-installing, etc., if you decide against trying the rescue mode. Of course, these are just suggestions from the mind of another 1and1-er.

Best of luck reaching your goal, and if you have any quesitons, just ask..

-John

 

[Dirky@]

Originally posted by Who-m3
1and1 servers are known for having issues with custom compiled kernels. Not trying to scare you away, but I've seen numerious times that users have had to reboot to their 'rescue mode' to try to fix a slight issue they created. This creates downtime for live sites, though a new (unused) server would be different.

First, I'd recommend looking into what exactly you need. If it's a module or two, such as ipv6 and so on, most of the later RPM based kernels (rpmfind.net) support such. They typically are easy to utilize, and everything goes right from my tests. However, at the same time, 1and1 uses a kernel their staff compile with certain features enabled/disabled. This adds another level of **** to work through if your kernel is newer than the latest RPM. It's still possible, don't get me wrong, but it's a bit more to do.

Another thing you may want to keep in mind. When updating the kernel, you want to make sure to get the right kernel set to boot automatically. This would, of course, come into play with having the old kernel as a backup (highly recommended until you KNOW your kernel will work). Changing your boot config to utilize the new rpm, or compiled from source, kernel would be a good idea. Just remember that 1And1 has their 'rescue mode' that you can access through their secure serial connection.

Other things I'd wait on would be the other updates. I'd wait till the kernel is the way you want it before you install any additional software. This ensures that you're not wasting your time, as a misscompiled kernel can put you into a pretty big loop as to re-installing, etc., if you decide against trying the rescue mode. Of course, these are just suggestions from the mind of another 1and1-er.

Best of luck reaching your goal, and if you have any quesitons, just ask..

-John

Hi John,
thanks for you informative reply.
Lets assume the kernel it has been built with is fine but I only need the kernel-devel package stuff?
Is that straight forward to 'find' ?
I'm assuming if I use
yum install kernel-devel
I could end up getting a totally different version to the kernel I am booting to? Which will cause problems.

I am ultimately trying to install Asterisk and FreePBX on this server, thats the goal anyway

Thanks again,

Mike

 

[Dirky@]

Aghhhhhh

Well I found some binary rpm packages for FC4 and though I had cracked it! However a couple of these are kernel modules and when they try to load them they complain:-

modprobe zaptel
FATAL: Error inserting zaptel (/lib/modules/2.6.17-1.2142_FC4/extra/zaptel.ko): Invalid module format

My kernel is:-
2.6.16-rc6-060427a #1 SMP

I've done a yum update on the system so far but the kernel remained the same.

Am I waisting my time attempting to get a matching kernel and kernel headers/source working on this box?

thanks
Mike

 

[breun]

It looks like you're not running a stock Fedora Core 4 kernel. Apparently 1and1 uses a custom kernel. You'll need matching source/headers for this kernel, so I think you'll have to check with 1and1.