Bare Metal Server: How do you guys "Test" to see if a new update will work on your box?

[jastsai]

I hope this is not a stupid question.  I'm wondering how do you guys check to see if a specific update will mess up your box.  Each time I update, I look at someone who might have done those updates to see if it messes up and cross my finger each time I do an update.  I really want something a bit more definite because I feel like one day my luck will run out.  

 

Do you guys use a VM on the box itself?  Would that even work?  Thanks!

[jensmander]

On bare metal you can do the following:

 

- prepare another boot stick with the same loader

- power off your NAS, unplug all existing HDDs/SSDs including your current boot stick and install a single HDD/SSD (can be of small size)

- attach the new boot stick and turn on the system

- install DSM as known up to your current update or patch level

- after that you can install the desired new update and test if everything works

- power off the system, replug your drives and boot stick and update your "production" DSM

 

It's about 15 minutes of work. The single "test" HDD/SSD can be installed "on the fly" (you don't have to mount it in your case, attaching power supply and s-ata cable is enough).

[jastsai]

1 hour ago, jensmander said:

On bare metal you can do the following:

 

- prepare another boot stick with the same loader

- power off your NAS, unplug all existing HDDs/SSDs including your current boot stick and install a single HDD/SSD (can be of small size)

- attach the new boot stick and turn on the system

- install DSM as known up to your current update or patch level

- after that you can install the desired new update and test if everything works

- power off the system, replug your drives and boot stick and update your "production" DSM

 

It's about 15 minutes of work. The single "test" HDD/SSD can be installed "on the fly" (you don't have to mount it in your case, attaching power supply and s-ata cable is enough).

Thanks. My box has a raid card mixed with using the motherboard raids. Creating a new raid each time is going to be super time consuming. I guess I'll only do it once in awhile when there is a majority security update. Thanks for the help. 

[jensmander]

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