Systems and methods for live operating system upgrades of inline cloud servers

1. An upgrade method for an operating system, comprising:

operating server with an old operating system with a partition structure for media, wherein the partition structure comprises a root partition with the old operating system and an usr partition, wherein the operating system only resides in the root partition;

copying media to the root partition and the usr partition associated with a new operating system while the old operating system is operating in the root partition;

rebooting the server with the new operating system set to load from the root partition; and

subsequent to the rebooting, making the root partition persistent using memory and the usr partition persistent using a NULL file system,

wherein the old operating system and the new operating system reside in the root partition together.

2. The upgrade method of claim 1 , further comprising:

copying the media comprising a new kernel and build associated with the new operating system to the root partition.

3. The upgrade method of claim 1 , further comprising:

copying the media comprising a new file tree for the usr partition.

4. The upgrade method of claim 1 , further comprising:

copying the media comprising a local config file that is executed at the rebooting to load the new operating system.

5. The upgrade method of claim 4 , further comprising:

modifying the local config file to load the old operating system at another reboot.

6. The upgrade method of claim 1 , wherein the partition structure further comprises a swap partition, a tmp partition, and a var partition, and the method further comprising:

mounting the swap partition, the tmp partition, and the var partition subsequent to the rebooting and operating with the new operating system.

7. The upgrade method of claim 1 , further comprising:

executing a migration script on the server to:

create a root file system for the server with device-specific information;

install a new kernel for the new operating system in parallel with a kernel for the old operating system; and

unroll a new usr partition directory tree.

8. A server, comprising:

a network interface;

a data store;

a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface and the data store;

memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

operate an old operating system with a partition structure for the data store, wherein the partition structure comprises a root partition with the old operating system and an user partition, wherein an operating system only resides in the root partition;

copy media to the root partition and the usr partition associated with a new operating system while the old operating system is operating in the root partition;

reboot with the new operating system set to load from the root partition; and

subsequent to the reboot, make the root partition persistent using the memory and the usr partition persistent using a NULL file system,

wherein the old operating system and the new operating system reside in the root partition together.

9. The server of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

copy the media comprising a new kernel and build associated with the new operating system to the root partition.

10. The server of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

copy the media comprising a new file tree for the usr partition.

11. The server of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

copy the media comprising a local config file that is executed at the rebooting to load the new operating system.

12. The server of claim 11 , wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

modify the local config file to load the old operating system at another reboot.

13. The server of claim 8 , wherein the partition structure further comprises a swap partition, a tmp partition, and a var partition, and wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

mount the swap partition, the tmp partition, and the var partition subsequent to the reboot and operate with the new operating system.

14. The server of claim 8 , wherein the memory storing the instructions that, when executed, further cause the processor to:

execute a migration script on the server to:

create a root file system for the server with device-specific information;

install a new kernel for the new operating system in parallel with a kernel for the old operating system; and

unroll a new usr partition directory tree.

15. A cloud-based system, comprising:

a plurality of nodes communicatively coupled to one or more users, wherein the plurality of nodes each perform inline monitoring for one of the one or more users for security;

wherein the plurality of nodes operate an operating system;

wherein each of the plurality of nodes comprises:

a network interface communicatively coupled to the one or more users;

a data store;

a processor communicatively coupled to the network interface and the data store;

memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

operate an old operating system with a partition structure for the data store, wherein the partition structure comprises a root partition with the old operating system and an usr partition, wherein an operating system only resides in the root partition;

copy media to the root partition and the usr partition associated with a new operating system while the old operating system is operating in the root partition;

reboot with the new operating system set to load from the root partition; and

subsequent to the reboot, make the root partition persistent using the memory and the usr partition persistent using a NULL file system,

wherein the old operating system and the new operating system reside in the root partition together.

16. The cloud-based system of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of nodes are upgraded concurrently.