If you are running a corporate server that makes use of the Ubuntu linux operating system, chances are pretty high that platform stability is of the essence, and therefore you would most likely be running one of Ubuntu’s Long Term Support (LTS) releases.
Of course, software updates at a much faster pace than what a five year support cycle offers, meaning that undoubtedly you find yourself having to update to the next LTS release – and these are the particular steps required if you are about to upgrade from Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS to Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS:
First, make sure that you have the latest updates:
sudo apt-get update & sudo apt-get upgrade
Next, install the update-manager-core package:
sudo apt-get install update-manager-core
Ensure that the update manager will only look for available LTS releases:
#Edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=lts sudo nano /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades
Finally, launch the upgrade tool, and follow the on-screen instructions:
sudo do-release-upgrade -d
My suggestion is not to allow prompt suppression as often you’ll get config files which need to be updated, and if you have a pretty customized environment, then it’s probably best to manage these instances by going through the diff file and making the call manually!
(A good idea before you start is of course to make backups of all your certs, config files, databases, etc.)
And that’s about all there is to it.