Knowledge Base

Pre-installation Steps

Step 1

Before doing anything, login to mPanel and take a backup (by replacing your existing weekly backup). If the upgrade process fails, you can use the restore feature to get back a working system.

Step 2

Ubuntu 10.04 requires use of a feature called "devtmpfs" that is only available in Linux kernel 2.6.32 and later. Before attempting the upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04 you must this feature:

sudo sh -c "echo dev /dev devtmpfs rw 0 0 >> /etc/fstab"

Once you have done this, do not reboot until the upgrade is complete.

Use Mammoth VPS package repository (optional)

You can download updated packages from a Mammoth VPS mirror for faster installation. To do so, run the following command:

sudo sed -i 's/au.archive.ubuntu.com/mirror.mammothvps.com.au/' /etc/apt/sources.list

Upgrade the OS

Login to mPanel, click "Manage" and then choose "Rescue Console" off the "Access" menu. Press ENTER if the screen is blank, and then login with your standard sudo user account. (It is preferable to do the upgrade through Rescue Console instead of over SSH as the SSH daemon may die during the upgrade)

Open a root prompt by typing:

sudo -i

And then upgrade all your existing 9.10 packages:

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Lastly, start the upgrade process to 10.04:

apt-get install update-manager-text
do-release-upgrade

If you switched to the Mammoth VPS mirror earlier, the upgrade tool will incorrectly claim the mirror is not valid - answer 'y' to continue.

The upgrade tool will then confirm you wish to start the upgrade, answer 'y'.

If you haven't installed too many additional packages the upgrade should take about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the Rescue Console during this period, as the upgrade will occasionally stop to ask you questions. Common ones are:

• Confirm the console locale - the default of UTF-8 is correct
• Upgrading /etc/securetty - select I to install the new version
• You can normally remove obsolete packages

When prompted to restart, select 'N' - we will do so ourselves shortly.

Post-installation

Step 1

Ubuntu 10.04 includes a new program called plymouth that tends to muck up the rescue console. The simplest solution is to just disable it:

sudo chmod -x /bin/plymouth

Step 2

Make sure you really edited /etc/fstab before by running

cat /etc/fstab

The last line should read "dev /dev devtmpfs rw 0 0" - if this is not seen, go back and execute the pre-installation now or your VPS will fail to reboot.

Step 3

Finally to make your Ubuntu 10.04 system work, you need to update your system to kernel 2.6.32 - login to mPanel and click the "Manage" button. At the bottom right of the page you can select the kernel to use - choose 2.6.32.12 , click "Save", and then click "Restart VPS" at the top right of page.

Once your VPS has restarted, SSH back in and confirm everything is working with the uname command and by examining the /etc/issue file:

$ uname -a
Linux newsubnet 2.6.32.12-mammoth1 #5 SMP Tue May 4 07:08:15 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS \n \l

You should now have a fully working Ubuntu 10.04, but be aware that mPanel will continue to display "Ubuntu 9.10" - it has no way of knowing that you have upgraded your system.