Answers: <p>You could use Major Public Cloud Providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) or any other Location (Hetzner Cloud, Linode, digitalOcean etc) [<a href="https://www.packer.io/docs/builders" rel="nofollow noreferrer">list</a>]that is  supported by <a href="https://www.packer.io/guides/hcl" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Packer</a>.</p>
  <p>With <strong>Packer</strong> you can build and maintain your system image and customize it.</p>
  <p>Each time you want to upgrade you can build a new image. By building the new image  you can choose the base image version you will build on run your modifications on.
  Image is saved on the provider.</p>
  <p>Finally you deploy your new server with the image you created and finally you dispose the old infrastructure, with the help of <a href="https://www.terraform.io/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Terraform</a>. <br />
  Since packer read code you treat it like any other code.</p>
  
Answers: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers: 2021-09-15T01:17:46.727Z
Answers: Thanks, my problem with AWS, Azure, GCP is that the price is not fixed and I don't know what to expect, furthermore, I don't want to work with images but just with upgrades and backups...
Answers: Semo
Answers: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers: 2021-09-14T14:30:09.013Z
Answers: 2021-09-14T14:30:09.013Z
Answers: igiannak
Body: <p>I want to hire a VPS but my problem is that most if not all of the VPS companies out there expect me to work with it as is and if I want to majorly upgrade it, I must, backup everything I have added on top of it, delete the OS and then install a new version of the OS from the VPS hosting company's own interface (the one I used for installing the old version) and then bring all additional information from the backups. In other words, there is no &quot;continuous integration&quot; of an operating system.</p>
  <p>A plausible solution to this problem is shared hosting where the staff takes care for everything OS related but if one still wants a VPS and to have a continuously integrated OS both minorly and majorly, what could be done with todays available software, if at all?</p>
  
Tags: <continuous-integration><automation><upgrade><software-recommendation>
Title: Continuous integration of an operating system
UserDisplayName: Semo
ThreadText: # Continuous integration of an operating system
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-09-14)
  
  I want to hire a VPS but my problem is that most if not all of the VPS companies out there expect me to work with it as is and if I want to majorly upgrade it, I must, backup everything I have added on top of it, delete the OS and then install a new version of the OS from the VPS hosting company's own interface (the one I used for installing the old version) and then bring all additional information from the backups. In other words, there is no "continuous integration" of an operating system.
  
  A plausible solution to this problem is shared hosting where the staff takes care for everything OS related but if one still wants a VPS and to have a continuously integrated OS both minorly and majorly, what could be done with todays available software, if at all?
  
  **Tags:** continuous-integration, automation, upgrade, software-recommendation
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2021-09-14. Score: 1
  
  You could use Major Public Cloud Providers (AWS, Azure, GCP) or any other Location (Hetzner Cloud, Linode, digitalOcean etc) [[list](https://www.packer.io/docs/builders)]that is supported by [Packer](https://www.packer.io/guides/hcl).
  
  With **Packer** you can build and maintain your system image and customize it.
  
  Each time you want to upgrade you can build a new image. By building the new image you can choose the base image version you will build on run your modifications on.
  Image is saved on the provider.
  
  Finally you deploy your new server with the image you created and finally you dispose the old infrastructure, with the help of [Terraform](https://www.terraform.io/).   
  Since packer read code you treat it like any other code.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks, my problem with AWS, Azure, GCP is that the price is not fixed and I don't know what to expect, furthermore, I don't want to work with images but just with upgrades and backups...  
  
  ---
  
  