In praise of Linux.
I just need to gush for a minute. I am about to shutdown my server in order to move it to the basement. This off the shelf $300 desktop running Pop!_OS is my self-hosting server that has dutifully done it's job without a single complaint. It has been rebooted maybe three times since 2020 and it currently has an uptime of 840 days. That's 840 days of not ever thinking about this thing. It self updates via Cron jobs and just...works.
I am afraid to open the box up though. Those dust bunnies must be huge.
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This is the future we were promised, dumb machines doing work 24/7. I'd change it to Debian but you stick with whatever works best for you.
I have moved on to LMDE for everything other than my laptop, but I don't feel like rebuilding the thing. I just blew out the dust and in a few minutes it will be back up and running in the basement.
You can update and change repos.
But I hope you use kernel livepatching, because that uptime is scary. You missed like 50 kernel updates
I am pretty sure the kernel is up to date, but I am not 100% sure since I haven't checked that the process didn't fail at some point. This is a tertiary backup system, super low priority, hosting movies, music, and VeraCrypt drives internally behind multiple layers of network security and isolated in the DMZ where I keep stuff I want isolated from my network, like SmartTVs, IOT crap, and gaming consoles. But since I am working on it now, I will double check.
EDIT: 6.9.3, which is a little behind, but I'm ok with that.
Crazy how did it update without a reboot?
Pop_OS was updated regularly. The kernel version changed to the latest one once it booted up in the new location. It was probably live on 6.0.9 before the move since that was the last one I recorded.
Oh 6.0.9 ! I thought 6.9. 6.0.x is extremely old
But as you said the machine is only with all your shady IOT devices that makes it kinda better I guess
It was 6.9.3 once I booted after the move. I assume it had been updated but waiting for a reboot to use the new kernel. Until I rebooted, it was probably still running on the 6.0.9 image.
If uptime and having the latest kernel ever becomes something I care about for this server, I might switch to Ubuntu Pro. It is free for personal use and it includes kernel livepatching. I can't imagine why I would need it for this use case though.
Livepatching is pretty cool.
But arent your services autostarting? Why not configure apt-automatic to do a reboot on kernel updates?
I am a control freak when it comes to my systems. I don't like them doing their thing on their own schedule. The network servers (Thinkpad Thinstation and a Raspberry Pi) controlling access, DNS, etc. are updated and rebooted regularly but in a staggered order so that my network is never down. One kicks off at 05:01 and the other at 05:31. Five in the morning is normally the time when I can't function, so it is the best time for a break. Not even my insomnia can withstand 5AM.
The LTS kernel is still version 6.6, till 12/2026, so you're up to date. I wouldn't worry.
Well, you're already on a Debian based distro and not Ubuntu. Let it do it's thing in the most boring way :D