What is the best way to upgrade on Linux with multiple versions running on the same box?

[johmut]

I have two instances running on a non-production linux box, one is v6.6.3 (TST) and the other one is v7.0.1 (DEV) as I can test new features first in DEV and only later plan an upgrade of TST. Having them run both on one box is not ideal, but quick and cheap.

Installing them side by side was not too complicated using rpm -i --prefix=... to specify the installation path. Splunk detects ports are already used when starting the 2nd instance and prompts you to specify other, free ports. Both instances then run fine in parallel.

Upgrading to 7.0.2 with rpm -U is not a wise thing todo, since it will replace all installed older versions with the new one. This will thus remove the v6.6.3 instance along with upgrading the v7.0.1 instance ! Is it in my case better to 1/ rpm -e uninstall the v7.0.1 package and 2/ rpm -i install the v7.0.2 package ? Will it keep/migrate my configuration files ? my add-ons ? my data ?

[nickhills]

Wouldn't rpm -U --prefix=/your701/path work?

[johmut]

Thanks bu no, that's what I did and rpm still replaced both my v7.0.1 instance in the path provide through --prefix AND my v6.6.3 instance installed in the default /opt/splunk folder 😞 Basically the reason I started this thread was to find out if there is a way to upgrade just one of the installed instances. Other ideas anyone ?