Multi-Stage Update with Debian Linux

[thunder04]

Hey All,

We're pretty far behind in Zimbra updates. We're currently running 6.0.5_GA_2213.DEBIAN4.0.FOSS and want to upgrade to the latest version. We have a new "fearless leader" and he wants to move to Google Apps...but before we make any decisions I want to level the playing field by upgrading to the latest version of Zimbra. It's a long story...

Since we're so far behind, our server is running Debian 4 (Etch). Ultimately, I'd like to move to Ubuntu LTS 10.04 64-bit, but we need to update before I have time to do that.

What is the best way for me to ensure that I update the server to Debian 5 (Lenny)? Our current sources.list file is the following:

deb http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/debian/ etch main

deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main

Can I simply change "etch" to "lenny" and then do an apt-get upgrade, or will I need to do an apt-get dist-upgrade? I want to ensure that I upgrade to Lenny and NOT Squeeze (6).

How will this affect my current Zimbra install, and will this massive change affect my upgrade success?

Any help is much appreciated!

[thunder04]

I've copied our Zimbra install to an external hard drive and will try this in a testing environment. I have an older server running Debian 4. My plan is to "re-install" the version of Zimbra we are working, verify that it works, then update Debian to Lenny and install the latest version of Zimbra.

I'll report back on my success and/or failure!

[thunder04]

Short answer - failure!

I received a common error when the the message database integrity was being checked. It was resolved by downgrading perl. However, I received another error after everything was installed. I didn't feel comfortable with it at this point so I ditched it.

It looks like the version we're running (6.0.5) is supported on Ubuntu 8.0.4 LTS. It looks like Ubuntu 8.0.4 LTS is supported until 2013, so I it look like I will need to move to this first.

1. Move current Zimbra install to Ubunt 8.0.4 LTS
2. upgrade to latest version of Zimbra

Until next time...