by It’s Friday afternoon, about 2pm. I have a console/management server that is having some difficulties with Splunk 4. Whether or not the RHEL version (4.8) is the cause– I have finally decided it’s time to upgrade to RHEL current (5.4). That way I can at least eliminate the OS as the cause of the issues I’m seeing, and so on. And, being Friday afternoon, it’s quiet.
What could possibly go wrong?
I checked my ISO directories for the particular RHEL image I need (ver 5.4, x86). Yep! I’ve used it a lot on several VM’s, but haven’t needed to upgrade anything that’s actual hardware yet. No problem, a few minutes later I had a hot & crispy DVD in my hand with 5.4 freshly burned on it. Off to the data center.
….where, as I popped open the server’s disc drive tray, I noticed the all-too-familiar “Compact Disc” logo on it. Um, rats. Yes, this server is _just_ old enough where it has a simple vanilla CD-ROm drive only. “No soup for you!”, I heard in the back of my head. No problem, I’ll grab an external dvd reader! Up 2 floors, down the hall, grabbed a nice usb-powered DVD reader. And, back down to the data center.
….where, as I looked on the front AND the back of the server, I realized it wouldn’t work. See, this is a funky DELL external DVD drive, and the USB connector, instead of being a “split usb” (two usb connectors, daisy-chained) – it was a “double usb” connector– requiring two top/bottom usb ports together. This server? 3 USB ports. One. One more on the other side. And one on the back. “No soup for you!”, I heard yet again. *sigh*. But, no problem, as I know we have an older external DVD drive, just gotta grab it, and a power extension cord for the wall plug. A pain, but it’ll work. Up 2 floors, down the hall, swapped the DVD drive for the bigger heavier older one (and extension cord). And, back to the data center.
….where, after I booted off of the external DVD (yay!), answered the preliminary RHEL-type questions (keyboard, etc)- I was finally prompted with– “Where is the media for the packages to be installed?”. I picked the CDROM choice – and, no dice. Um, OK… checked the ‘hard drives’ choices– nope, not listed there either.
It seems that for some reason, RHEL didn’t detect the DVD drive in this case. Without media access, I can’t do the upgrade. By now it’s about 2:45, and there’s just not enough time left in the day to burn the CD’s (or set up 5.4 x86 on a boot server, or…). Monday it is. *SIGH*.
Some days, you just get the feeling that God is sending you a message. OK God, I get it, I get it. No upgrades on Fridays……..