Each RHEL major version is a distinct distro, years apart. Yes, they are similar, but what isn't?
What does one have in a system?
An existing system can become inaccessible for many reasons, and then you have to install&restore.
If one can install&restore, particularly in easy way, then install of a new distro should be trivial.
Granted, the list of packages and config related to them has to be adjusted.
There is however a new kid in the block that Red Hat is promoting (with documentation): RHEL System Roles for Ansible. (Upstream has Linux System Roles.)
There is "network" system role too, with which you can decide config (including bridges on VLANs via bond) for every machine in one text (YAML) file (that does not have to be in any of them). The role knows how to talk to both NetworkManager and initscripts (or whatever EL6-EL9 or Fedora 16- do have), so you don't have to. (Alas, latest Ansible no longer accepts Python that EL6 had, but dead are better left dead?)
Granted, the system role does not support every feature of NetworkManager and NetworkManager does not support every feature of Linux kernel, but adding tasks to Ansible play to tie those loose ends is "simple" too.
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As I see it, one can try to tamper with the CentOS 6 install for quite some time and in best case scenario be able to run chimera of el7 for couple months, or one could focus on getting backups and description of the desired config and then install a fresh system, be it el7, el8, el9, or something else. (The el9 requires that the CPU supports x86_64-v2 features.)
What does one have in a system?
- List of installed packages
- Configuration for those programs (including uid's, gid's, and co.)
- User data, (in /home/*, /var/www, and so forth)
An existing system can become inaccessible for many reasons, and then you have to install&restore.
If one can install&restore, particularly in easy way, then install of a new distro should be trivial.
Granted, the list of packages and config related to them has to be adjusted.
If you know how to edit files or how to use NetworkManager's tools, then yes, things are "simple". (If one don't know, then nothing is.)My personal opinion is that anything beyond a very simple network setup is much simpler using the scripts and ifcfg-* files than NetworkManager. For example, setting up a bridge on a bonded pair of interfaces.
There is however a new kid in the block that Red Hat is promoting (with documentation): RHEL System Roles for Ansible. (Upstream has Linux System Roles.)
There is "network" system role too, with which you can decide config (including bridges on VLANs via bond) for every machine in one text (YAML) file (that does not have to be in any of them). The role knows how to talk to both NetworkManager and initscripts (or whatever EL6-EL9 or Fedora 16- do have), so you don't have to. (Alas, latest Ansible no longer accepts Python that EL6 had, but dead are better left dead?)
Granted, the system role does not support every feature of NetworkManager and NetworkManager does not support every feature of Linux kernel, but adding tasks to Ansible play to tie those loose ends is "simple" too.
---
As I see it, one can try to tamper with the CentOS 6 install for quite some time and in best case scenario be able to run chimera of el7 for couple months, or one could focus on getting backups and description of the desired config and then install a fresh system, be it el7, el8, el9, or something else. (The el9 requires that the CPU supports x86_64-v2 features.)
Statistics: Posted by jlehtone — 2023/08/18 07:10:35
Distro