Upgrading Debian Versions

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Upgrading the version of Debian on a server running Sympl can be tricky, as initial dependencies and packages on the server can vary.

Upgrading from Debian Buster

Upgrading from Debian Buster to Debian Bullseye is relatively straightforward, but we've only been able to test upgrades on servers with Mythic Beasts, so while this may work with other hosting providers we can't support upgrades with them, as the initial server state may conflict.

If you have a Managed Sympl Server with Mythic Beasts, just contact support and they will be able to handle the update for you.

As with any significant upgrade, ensure that any sites or software are compatible with the new versions, and that you have full, recent, verified backups.

The major changes for Sympl in between Debian Buster and Bullseye are:

Preparatory Work

First, you should apply any pending updates for the operating system, and Sympl:

apt -y update && apt -y upgrade && apt -y dist-upgrade && sympl update

Next, replace the current Sympl sources.list file with one for buster (if you didn't use the Sympl installer or installed it manually, your filenames may vary):

sed 's|buster|bullseye|g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sympl_buster.list > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sympl_bullseye.list && rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sympl_buster.list

Move the existing distribution sources.list out of the way.

mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list_buster_$( date +%s )

Then create a new distribution sources.list with the new distribution codename.

echo "deb http://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/debian/ bullseye main
deb-src http://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/debian/ bullseye main
 
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main
 
deb http://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/debian/ bullseye-updates main
deb-src http://mirror.mythic-beasts.com/debian/ bullseye-updates main" > /etc/apt/sources.list

Update the apt data.

apt update

Verify there will be enough disk space for the upgrades.

apt -o APT::Get::Trivial-Only=true full-upgrade

At this point, if apt mentions theres not going to be enough disk space, then you need to clear some space.

Upgrading

Important: Beyond this point, services will be disrupted, and you should expect around 30 minutes downtime. There's no going back without restoring backups, so be extra sure you have working backups before continuing.


Upgrade any packages which don't have new dependencies. When prompted, answer 'yes' to restart services without asking.

apt -y upgrade --without-new-pkgs

Update the rest of the packages, including installing new ones. When prompted, answer 'yes' to upgrade the Roundcube database, and 'keep' the modified roundcube configuration file.

apt -y full-upgrade

Update a missing dependency:

apt -y install guile-2.2-libs --only-upgrade

Cleaning Up

Remove any extra packages which are no longer needed:

apt -y autoremove

Fix up the MySQL and PureFTPd services:

systemctl disable mysql.service
systemctl enable mysql.service
rm /etc/pure-ftpd/auth/*
ln -s ../conf/ExtAuth /etc/pure-ftpd/auth/60Ext 

Upgrade any web stats to the new format

find /srv/*/config -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1  -name 'stats' | sed 's|/config/stats||' | while read path ; do awffull_history_regen --dir "$path/public/htdocs/stats" > "$path/config/.webalizer.hist"; done

Restart the server to apply the new kernel.

shutdown -r now

Confirming The Upgrade

Reconnect to the server, and check it's reporting it's running on Debian 11, with a 5.10 Kernel

lsb_release -a ; uname -a 

List the versions of the sympl packages, each one should start '11.'

dpkg -l 'sympl-*'

Run the watchdog, and check it reports no issues.

 sympl-monit

It should take a few seconds to run but will return immediately with no output if it's already running or load is too high. You should be okay to repeat until you get a result and everything should say 'PASSED'

Finally, manually check sites look as expected.

Upgrading from Debian Stretch

At present we don't have enough data to confirm if a server running Debian Stretch with Sympl can be safely upgraded to Debian Buster, therefore it's not something we can support at present.

For this reason, we suggest migrating your configuration to a new server running a more modern version, rather than upgrading the current one.