Unattended Upgrade to SLES11 Reinstalls Server

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 1 (SLES)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 2 (SLES)

Situation

After performing an unattended upgrade from SLES10 SP4 to SLES11 SP1 or SP2, the filesystem was reformatted and SLES11 was installed new instead of upgrading the server.

Even though the server was upgraded using the autoyast autoupg.xml control file, the server was still reinstalled instead of being upgraded.

Resolution

Use the autoupgrade=1 kernel parameter in the Boot Options line or the kernel parameter in the /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

For example,
1. Insert the SLES11 SP2 DVD into your SLES10 SP4 server.
2. Boot from the DVD and select "Installation"
3. The cursor is already in the "Boot Options" window.
4. Make sure you include the autoupgrade=1 parameter in the Boot Options window to start the unattended upgrade process.

Cause

Per documentation, the SLES11 installation process needs to be told to do an upgrade instead of a normal install. This is done by adding the autoupgrade=1 kernel parameter.

Additional Information

Is there any way to roll back the automatic install of the server after performing the unattended upgrade without the autoupgrade=1 switch? No. You will need to reinstall the server. Just make to use the autoupgrade=1 switch for future server upgrades.

Disclaimer

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