7.2 Preparing the Server for Updating

Make sure you have installed all the services that you need on the server.

Before starting your update, make note of the root partition and available space.

If you suspect you are running short of disk space, secure your data before updating and repartition your system. There is no general rule regarding how much space each partition should have. Space requirements depend on your particular partitioning profile and the software selected.

The df -h command lists the device name of the root partition. In the following example, the root partition to write down is /dev/sda2 (mounted as /).

Example: List with df -h.

In particular, ensure that you have enough space where the update process downloads all the updates to in /var/cache/zypp/.

Depending on the number of patches that you are going to apply, you might need about 3 GB for OES 11 SP3.

Before updating the server, secure the current data on the server.

Copy all configuration files to a separate medium, such as a streamer, removable hard disk, USB stick, or ZIP drive. This primarily applies to files stored in /etc as well as some of the directories and files in /var and /opt. You might also want to write the user data in /home (the HOME directories) to a backup medium. Back up this data as root. Only root has read permission for all local files.