2009/11/24 mick mbm@rlogin.net:
The debian site (at http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/i386/release-notes/ch-upgrading.html) recommends against upgrading remotely using telnet, rlogin or rsh, but suggests that ssh will be OK.
So, before I jump in with both feet, any experience anyone could share would be good. Particulary I would like to be aware of any potential gotchas. I really don't want to be stuck with a partial upgrade that I can't get back in to.
I have upgraded both debian and ubuntu over ssh in the past. It's a while since I've done it with debian but I seem to remember it was a similar experience to ubuntu (server).
I think the upgrade spawned a special ssh server on a different port so that in the case you screw up the regular one during the upgrade you can ssh to the other port. I ran the upgrade under screen so I could reconnect to it if I lost the connection. I don't know what would have happened to the install if I had disconnected half way through and wasn't running screen.
HTH,
JD