Remotely upgrading an old server

[zee]

Hello,

I would like to upgrade an old Ubuntu server running Lucid Lynx. How to go about it since the machine cannot be reinstalled (setting up everything would take too much time)?

Thanks,
zidarko

[zee]

Found a few potential solutions. Here (https://askubuntu.com/questions/34430/can-i-skip-over-releases-when-upgrading/135028#135028) and here (https://askubuntu.com/questions/79538/how-to-upgrade-a-remote-server-from-8-10-to-newer-version).

Fingers crossed.

[Tadaen_Sylvermane]

I'd say don't even bother. You are basically stuck doing a fresh installation. This happens when people don't keep up with updates and upgrades. Upgrading that many releases is pretty much guaranteeing a messed up system by the time you are done. And few if anyone will be able to help you sort it out. Ubuntu has a reputation for not upgrading properly. You say it will take to long to configure a new install. I'd say you are seriously underestimating the massive changes and headaches trying to upgrade will cause. There is no short quick path here.

Take it as a lesson learned. Don't let a machine get this far behind ever again. When it is done right, this should never happen. If it can't be down long enough for a reinstall & reconfigure then your only other real option is to buy another machine, set it up and test it, then shift the workload one process at a time.

*EDIT*

I know this is the Ubuntu forums. I use Ubuntu on almost all my systems and love it. But when it comes to version upgrades Ubuntu has a terrible reputation. Out of 3 or 4 tries myself I've only had a single successful upgrade that didn't seem to have any issues. Usually the suggestion is to reinstall fresh. If you want a system that has a more robust and higher success rate of upgrades, then I would highly recommend using a pure Debian stable > an Ubuntu release.