[SOLVED] Custom repository

[BogdanOMC]

Hello comrades,

New to the forum. Simple question - can we make a custom repository with a specific version to update all our nodes and bring them to the same version?
We have multiple nodes with diff versions, most of which are no-subscription nodes with the free repository.

We're trying to avoid jumping to the latest version available.
I've only managed to find one similar post from 2016 and at the time, this was not possible.
I'm wondering if anything changed since then?

 

[leesteken]

New to the forum. Simple question - can we make a custom repository with a specific version to update all our nodes and bring them to the same version?
We have multiple nodes with diff versions, most of which are no-subscription nodes with the free repository.

We're trying to avoid jumping to the latest version available.
I've only managed to find one similar post from 2016 and at the time, this was not possible.
I'm wondering if anything changed since then?

Proxmox implemented off-line mirrors that might be able to do that for you (but I have no experience with it): https://pom.proxmox.com/offline-mirror.html

EDIT: Announcement thread: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-offline-mirror-released.115219/

 

[BogdanOMC]

Thanks leesteken!

However, this option requires an active product subscription key and a Proxmox Offline Mirror subscription to be configured.
I'm looking for something that would not require subscription, i.e. I have 3 nodes on diff versions, all without subscription.
I would like to update Node B and C to the same version as Node A, using a custom repository containing the same pve version as Node A.

 

[leesteken]

However, this option requires an active product subscription key and a Proxmox Offline Mirror subscription to be configured.

Not according to this post: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/proxmox-offline-mirror-released.115219/post-498198

Q: Do I need a subscription to mirror APT repositories with Proxmox Offline Mirror?
A: No, you do not need a subscription for offline mirroring of APT repositories.

EDIT: But I have no experience with it and it might not do what you want. Maybe just dist-upgrading all nodes at the same time is good enough?

 

[sw-omit]

One other route you COULD take (but is generally advised against, so proceed with caution and test repeatedly and make sure you have backups of everything) would be to "leap-frog" manually update, so take your oldest and second-oldest system, find what packages are different between them, and then from the oldest version install all the packages with the exact version of the package on the second-oldest system all at once.
That way, those two systems should now be at the same version for all packages (so all dependencies SHOULD be good too), and after that you can then proceed to the next oldest and so on (you could even first test it all out on that oldest system or on a system that is older but less-used, before doing the other ones.)
With that though, do try to avoid using this for major PVE-version upgrades (6 to 7 or 7 to 8) and read/use the upgrade-instructions for those instead.

(General info, might not fully match Proxmox) https://itsfoss.com/apt-install-specific-version/#installing-specific-version-of-a-package
6->7 https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_6.x_to_7.0
7->8 https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Upgrade_from_7_to_8

 

[LnxBil]

You can also install a specific version of a package with just using apt:

root@proxmox-beta.exirius.local ~ > apt install proxmox-ve=8.1.0
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  proxmox-ve
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 42 not upgraded.
Need to get 5,032 B of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n

You need to list each package including version with this.

I'm looking for something that would not require subscription, i.e. I have 3 nodes on diff versions, all without subscription.

build your own mirror with debmirror and use it as an install source.

 

[esi_y]

We're trying to avoid jumping to the latest version available.

How would you pick a "better" version to jump to, though? If you just keep e.g. 2 behind you might be getting some bug that meanwhile got hotfixed. Note latest does not mean more stable.

 

[sw-omit]

You can also install a specific version of a package with just using apt:

Which is what I linked to in my reply, including it showing one command to install multiple specific-version packages at once
But nice to know about that debmirror btw

 

[LnxBil]

Which is what I linked to in my reply, including it showing one command to install multiple specific-version packages at once

Sorry, I must have missed it.

 

[BogdanOMC]

You can also install a specific version of a package with just using apt:

root@proxmox-beta.exirius.local ~ > apt install proxmox-ve=8.1.0
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  proxmox-ve
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 downgraded, 0 to remove and 42 not upgraded.
Need to get 5,032 B of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n

You need to list each package including version with this.


build your own mirror with debmirror and use it as an install source.

Thank you! I will definitely give this a try.
debmirror sounds like a better choice, we have hundreds of nodes and upgrading them package by package would be tedious.

 

[esi_y]

debmirror sounds like a better choice, we have hundreds of nodes and upgrading them package by package would be tedious.

What's wrong with apt-cacher-ng [1ab]?

EDIT: Never mind, just saw your explaining top post.

[1a] https://wiki.debian.org/AptCacherNg
[1b] https://www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~bloch/acng/