Chapter 4. Reviewing the pre-upgrade report

Procedure

1. On your RHEL 7 system, perform the pre-upgrade phase:

   # leapp preupgrade --target <target_os_version>

   Replace target_os_version with the target OS version, for example 8.6. If no target OS version is defined, Leapp uses the default target OS version specified in the table 1.1 in Supported upgrade paths.

   Note

   If you are going to use custom repositories from the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory for the upgrade, enable the selected repositories as follows:

   # leapp preupgrade --enablerepo <repository_id1> --enablerepo <repository_id2> …

   If you are going to upgrade without RHSM or using RHUI, add the --no-rhsm option.

   If you have an Extended Upgrade Support (EUS), Advanced Update Support (AUS), or Update Services for SAP Solutions (E4S) subscription, add the --channel channel option. Replace channel with the channel, for example eus, aus, or e4s. Note that SAP HANA customers should perform the in-place upgrade using the How to in-place upgrade SAP environments from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 Knowledgebase article.

2. Provide answers to each question required by Leapp by either of the following methods:

   1. Execute the leapp answer command, specifying the question you are responding to and your confirmed answer.

      # leapp answer --section <question_section>.confirm=<answer>

      For example, to confirm a True response to the question Disable pam_pkcs11 module in PAM configuration?, enter the following command:

      # leapp answer --section remove_pam_pkcs11_module_check.confirm=True

   2. Manually edit the /var/log/leapp/answerfile file, uncomment the confirm line of the file by deleting the # symbol, and confirm your answer as True or False; see Leapp answerfile.
3. Examine the report in the /var/log/leapp/leapp-report.txt file, and manually resolve all the reported problems before proceeding with the in-place upgrade.

Procedure

1. Install the cockpit-leapp plug-in:

   # yum install cockpit-leapp

2. Go to the web console in your browser and log in as root or as a user configured in the /etc/sudoers file. See Managing systems using the RHEL 7 web console for more information about the web console.

3. On your RHEL 7 system, perform the pre-upgrade phase either from the command-line interface or from the web console terminal:

   # leapp preupgrade --target <target_os_version>

   Replace <target_os_version> with the target OS version, for example 8.6. If no target OS version is defined, Leapp uses the default target OS version specified in the table 1.1 in Supported upgrade paths.

   Note

   If you are going to use custom repositories from the /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory for the upgrade, enable the selected repositories as follows:

   # leapp preupgrade --enablerepo <repository_id1> --enablerepo <repository_id2> ...

   If you are going to upgrade without RHSM or using RHUI, add the --no-rhsm option.

   If you have an Extended Upgrade Support (EUS), Advanced Update Support (AUS), or Update Services for SAP Solutions (E4S) subscription, add the --channel channel option. Replace channel with the channel, for example eus, aus, or e4s. Note that SAP HANA customers should perform the in-place upgrade using the How to in-place upgrade SAP environments from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8 Knowledgebase article.

4. In the web console, select In-place Upgrade Report from the left menu.

   Figure 4.1. In-place upgrade report in the web console

   

   The report table provides an overview of the problems found, their risk assessment, and remediations (if available).

   • Risk factor:

     • High - very likely to result in a deteriorated system state
     • Medium - can impact both the system and applications
     • Low - should not impact the system but can have an impact on applications
     • Info - informational with no expected impact to the system or applications
   • Inhibitor - will inhibit (hard stop) the upgrade process, otherwise the system could become unbootable, inaccessible, or dysfunctional

   • Remediation - an actionable solution to a reported problem:

     • Remediation command - can be executed directly using the web console
     • Remediation hint - instructions on how to resolve the problem manually

5. Examine the content of the report. You can sort the table by clicking a header. To open a detail pane, click a selected row.

   Figure 4.2. Detail pane

   

   The detail pane displays the following additional information:

   • Summary of the problem and links to Knowledgebase articles describing the problem in more detail
   • Remediations - you can run or schedule an automated remediation (if available), and see its results when applied
   • Affected system resources: packages, repositories, files (configuration, data), disks, volumes

6. Optionally filter the results. Click the Filters button in the top left corner above the report and apply a filter based on your preferences. Filter categories are applied in conjunction with one another.

   Figure 4.3. Filters

   

7. Select issues that you want to apply an automated remediation to. You have two options:

   1. Choose individual items by clicking the Add to Remediation Plan button in the detail pane. Alternatively, you can execute individual remediations directly by clicking Run Remediation in the detail pane.
   2. Select all items for which a remediation is available by clicking the Add all remediations to plan button in the top right corner above the report.

8. Review and answer questions required by Leapp in the web console. Each unanswered question appears as a Missing required answers in the answer file title in the Upgrade Report. Select a title to answer the question:

   1. To confirm the default True answer, select Add to Remediation Plan to execute the remediation later or Run Remediation to execute the remediation immediately.

   2. To select the non-default answer instead, perform either of the following:

      1. Execute the leapp answer command, specifying the question you are responding to and your confirmed answer.

         # leapp answer --section <question_section>.confirm=<answer>

         For example, to confirm a False response to the question Disable pam_pkcs11 module in PAM configuration?, execute the following command:

         # leapp answer --section remove_pam_pkcs11_module_check.confirm=False

      2. Manually edit the /var/log/leapp/answerfile file, uncomment the confirm line of the file by deleting the # symbol, and confirm your answer as True or False; see Leapp answerfile example.

         Figure 4.4. Missing unanswered Leapp question

         

9. Open the remediation plan by clicking the Remediation plan link in the top right corner above the report. The remediation plan provides a list of all executed or scheduled remediations.

   Figure 4.5. Remediation plan

   

10. Process all scheduled remediations by clicking Execute Remediation Plan. The following information is displayed for each remediation entry:

    • A unique ID of the remediation
    • Exit status of the command
    • Elapsed time of the executed remediation
    • Standard output
    • Standard error
11. After executing selected remediations, generate the pre-upgrade report again by using the leapp preupgrade command, examine the new report, and take additional remediation steps if needed.