SMG upgrade fails due to insufficient / boot partition size

Products

• Messaging Gateway

Issue/Introduction

When upgrading Symantec Messaging Gateway (SMG) to the latest release, the upgrade process may fail if the existing /boot partition is too small. This can lead to a kernel panic and cause the system to become unbootable.

Older SMG versions may have a smaller /boot partition (e.g., ~95MB), while newer versions require significantly more space (e.g., ~990MB).

To prevent upgrade failure, it is critical to verify the current size of the /boot partition before proceeding with the update.

Environment

SMG 10.8 10.9

Cause

The current SMG version may have been installed with a smaller /boot partition that is no longer sufficient for the requirements of the latest version. If the system is upgraded without checking and adjusting this, the system may encounter a kernel panic during boot, rendering it unbootable.

Resolution

Before upgrading SMG, verify the size of the /boot partition using one of the two methods below:

Method 1: Using the CLI

1. Log in to the appliance via SSH or direct console as the admin user.

2. Enter the command: set-support

3. Set a temporary password for the support user.

4. Log in again using the support user and the password you just set.

5. Run the following command to check the /boot partition size: df -h

6. Look for the /boot line and confirm that the total size is approximately 990MB.

Method 2: Using the Diagnostic Package

1. Go to Administration > Utilities > Diagnostics in the SMG Control Center.

2. Select the host from the drop-down list.

3. Choose All log data, then click the Generate button.

4. Once the diagnostics package is generated, download and extract the file.

5. Open the df.txt file inside the extracted content and locate the /boot partition details.

Additional Information

Example of an old boot partition:

/dev/sda1          95054   62291     25595  71% /boot

Required size for new version:

/dev/sda1         991512   63764    860164   7% /boot