gpg: Signature made Fri Jan 7 05:32:06 2022 UTC
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gpg: Good signature from "Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Andrew James Smith <andy@strugglers.net>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Andy Smith (UKUUG) <andy.smith@ukuug.org>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Andy Smith (BitFolk Ltd.) <andy@bitfolk.com>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Andy Smith (Linux User Groups UK) <andy@lug.org.uk>" [unknown]
gpg: aka "Andy Smith (Cernio Technology Cooperative) <andy.smith@cernio.com>" [unknown]
Hi Paul,
On Thu, Jan 06, 2022 at 10:42:20PM +0000, Paul Tansom wrote:
> Thanks Anna, that's encouraging. I'm already on a 5.4.x HWE Kernel so I
> may just run a complete backup and go for it.
I think what I would do is first try pvshim, achieved by setting
either your architecture or virtmode to the same as what it
currently is:
xen shell> arch i686
xen shell> shutdown
xen shell> boot
The reason for that is that
a) it's most likely to Just Work, and
b) it's a change that will be forced on you in 11 days anyway if you
stay as is, also if you go to PVH mode and then switch BACK, it
will actually be pvshim as well.
If you are at all worried that it might not work, ask BitFolk to do
the switch. That doesn't make it any more/less likely to work but if
it doesn't we can quickly roll the change back and try to see why.
Once you've got that done, you can just leave it there, or you could
try switch to PVH:
xen shell> virtmode pvh
xen shell> shutdown
xen shell> boot
If *that* doesn't work then you can just switch back to where you
were before:
xen shell> virtmode pv
xen shell> boot
This virtualisation mode is just a different way of booting, it will
either work or not; there is not any danger to your data so I don't
think there is any need to take a special backup (always have normal
backups!). And you can just switch it back yourself if it doesn't
work.
Switching to PVH is a simple procedure that doesn't require any
changes to your VM (assuming new enough kernel and grub2), so I
would just do it if you can stand a reboot for pvshim and then a
reboot for PVH.
> I could always just wipe, install a 64-bit Ubuntu and restore my
> backup if all goes wrong - I mean what else could go wrong after
> that ;-)
Having a new account to install into is the same work, but your
stuff keeps working on the other one while you do it, so there is
that.
Cheers,
Andy
--
https://bitfolk.com/ -- No-nonsense VPS hosting
