First, I feel I should apologize because this seems like it should be basic info and I can’t find it.
I’ve been running IPFire for years. I want to update my 2.19 appliance to 2.27. I’ve already downloaded the ISO. Do I just reboot from the ISO and it will update without wiping out my rulebase? If not, how do I export my rulebase to make it easy to import later.
Thanks
Hello Simcha! Welcome the the ipfire community!
Since it has been a little while since the last update let’s start by:
doing a backup. And make sure you copy the backup file(s) to a new drive for safe keeping.
Make a screen shot or print out a copy of the rule base items you mentioned. Make sure you print out (or screen shot) other important pages. Maybe the dhcp service WebGUI. Pick others that will help (incase of trouble)
* try going to the menu IPFire > Pakfire and see if there are updates listed on the Pakfire WebGUI (the ipfire device must be connected to the internet for this to work).
Keep in mind the 2.19 version is 6 years old so the above may not work. If this doesn’t work, then we’ll have to rebuild by using the ISO image you downloaded. And we will need to restore those backup files.
EDIT: I forgot to mention…
When you stated “rulebase” is this referring to the Firewall Rules at menu Firewall > Firewall Rules? (like this??)
Make sure you print or screenshot this page (and maybe some of the edit pages) just for safety.
@sw97 if you update using Pakfire, keep in mind that it will not go directly to the last version, rather it will update each version progressively until the most recent one. Also, the partitioning scheme has been changed over the years to accommodate the increasing size of Linux kernel. You might find yourself in the position of needing to reinstall using the ISO just because the boot partition might become too full.
Excellent point. I forgot about this. Rebuilding would be MUCH better!
Read through these and let us know your questions.
Thanks for the responses.
Pakfire indeed does not get me anywhere.
I’m using VMWare, so it’s no problem to make a new VM with the latest available ISO. I don’t have so many Firewall rules that I can’t just re-create them if the backup/restore doesn’t work
The other thing to bear in mind with updating so old and IPFire is that several things will have been changed in how parts of IPFire work, such as OpenVPN, IPS etc, and doing a restore from an old backup will likely not work with some of the new settings.
With such an old system, your best option is a fresh install and configure from scratch because restoring the backup will likely break the system or parts of it.
You should also consider updating on a regular basis. In the last 6 years there have been many security vulnerabilities that have been identified in packages such as dhcp, openvpn, openssl, openssh, curl, ipsec, iptables and the kernel.
Depending on which Core Update in 2.19 you were using you will have been between 60 and 80 Core Updates out of date.
Without updating on a regular basis you miss out on the improved security of the fixes to those package vulnerabilities.
