Upgrading Ubuntu OS on a server with BILLmanager

Updating the operating system (OS) on a server with BILLmanager increases the security and stability of the platform. Up-to-date OS versions contain vulnerability fixes, performance improvements and new features that can increase the efficiency of your server and improve hosting management.

There are two ways to upgrade the OS:

• migrate the platform to a server with Ubuntu 24 — recommended option;
• upgrade the OS without migrating the platform — there is a possibility that the system may crash.

This article describes how to upgrade Ubuntu on a server with BILLmanager to version 24. 

OS upgrade with platform migration

To upgrade the OS with a platform migration to another server:

1. Install Ubuntu 24 on the new server. For more information, see the Ubuntu documentation: https://documentation.ubuntu.com/server/tutorial/basic-installation/
2. Install BILLmanager on the new server following the instructions in the Installation process article. 
3. Transfer the platform according to the instructions in the article Migration between servers.

OS upgrade without platform migration

Preparing for the upgrade

Before upgrading:

1. Make sure that the server meets the system requirements. For more information, see the article Server requirements.
2. Create a backup of the platform. For more information, see the article Backup configuration.

Upgrading the OS on the server

To upgrade the Ubuntu OS:

1. Connect to the server with the platform via SSH. For more information about connecting via SSH, see Workstation setup Workstation setup.
2. Delete repositories:
   
   • exosoft.list
   • ispsystem-base.list
   • ispsystem.list 
     

   cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d && rm -f exosoft.list ispsystem-base.list ispsystem.list

3. Upgrade the OS to Ubuntu 22 and reboot the server using commands:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   sudo do-release-upgrade
   sudo reboot

4. Upgrade the OS to Ubuntu 24 and reboot the server using commands:
   

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt upgrade
   sudo do-release-upgrade
   sudo reboot

   For more information on the update, see Ubuntu documentation.
   Example terminal output: system information after Ubuntu upgrade

   root@myubuntu:~# hostnamectl 
    Static hostname: example-hostname.example.com
          Icon name: computer-vm
            Chassis: vm       Machine ID: 1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
            Boot ID: abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890
     Virtualization: kvm
   Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS                   
             Kernel: Linux 6.8.0-58-generic
       Architecture: x86-64
    Hardware Vendor: Example Corp
     Hardware Model: Example Model
   Firmware Version: 1.0.0
      Firmware Date: Fri 2025-04-01
       Firmware Age: 0y 0m 0d

5. If you don't have wget installed on your server, install it: 
   

   sudo apt install wget

6. Go to the directory with the installer, uninstall the installer and re-download the latest version using the commands: 
   

   rm -f install.sh
   wget -O install.sh https://download.ispsystem.com/install.sh

7. After the OS upgrade, add ISPsystem repositories to the source list using the command:

   sh install.sh --noinstall --release <repository>

   Explanation

   Instead of <repository>, specify the update branch of the platform:

   • stable — if a stable version of the system was previously used;
   • beta — if you have previously used the version with the latest innovations.
8. Execute the command:

   apt update && apt upgrade

9. Execute the command:

   sbin/pkgupgrade.sh coremanager