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Re: Patch installation order.

 
PatchAdmin
Occasional Contributor

Patch installation order.

Hi there

I would like to know, when one compile a patch list to be install on a system, do you use the release date of the kit or the kit's dependencies to get the correct installation order.

Cheers
Hilton
9 REPLIES 9
├Еge R├╕nning
Trusted Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Kit dependencies would ensure correct installation order. If no dendencies order doesn't really matter.
VMS Forever
PatchAdmin
Occasional Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Hi there

Thank you for your respons, it's much appreciated.
Willem Grooters
Honored Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

The current patch-site has one advantage: if there are dependices, they will show up when you select a patch (and can be downloaded in accordance).
If no dependencies exist, you can install in any order you wish. But take care, this does not meann you can dismiss the release-notes, there might be some hint in there...
Willem Grooters
OpenVMS Developer & System Manager
Mike Naime
Honored Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

One of our other VMS guys showed my this little trick.

In the past, if there where no dependancies, you could do the following.

{Set default to the directory that has all of your patches in it.}
DEF/SYS NO_ASK$BACKUP TRUE
DEF/SYS NO_ASK$REBOOT TRUE
PROD INSTALL *
{Select the ALL OF THE ABOVE option}
2 or 3 returns, and you are done.

This saved me TONS of time when you had 20-30 individual patches to apply on dozens of systems. I used to do them individually.

Today, after a VMS upgrade, we do the following.

-PCSI
-Update
{rename the above out of the directory}
-Everything else!
VMS SAN mechanic
Martin P.J. Zinser
Honored Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Which brings me back on my ITRC soapbox...
Currently there is no way short of downloading and reading the release notes to find out which patches are current for a given OS version and which have been incorporated e.g. in one of the UPD patches. This is certainly the feature I miss most compared to the old Australian site.

George_145
Valued Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

When installing PCSI patches, with two exceptions, order does not matter. The PCSI utility will take care of preventing any image regressions.

The two exceptions are the PCSI kits themselves, e.g. VMS731_PCSI-V0100 and the UPDATE kits. Those are considered "hard" dependencies. The PCSI kit always has to be installed first. If there is an UPDATE dependency that is next. Order for any other kits does not matter. If a kit has a dependency on, say, a SYS kit, that is a "soft" dependency and will not cause the installation to fail.

As far telling what kits are contained in an UPDATE kit and what kits are not, no, there is no good way to do that. Based on the boot camp responses the ITRC is lookng at implementing that. In the meantime,I am looking at creating a text file for each current version that lists the current UPDATE kit, what it's contents are and what other kits are needed to be up to date. The file would be posted on the site as a selectable readme. Each time a kit is released the file would be updated and reposted.
Martin P.J. Zinser
Honored Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Hello George,

that text file would be most usefull as a interim workaround.
Thanks for looking into this!

Greetings, Martin
Mike Naime
Honored Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Goerge: The only problem with that, and like the System Healthchecks and ESMG site is that it is not tailored to your specific systems. You still wind up going through the list and seeing if this applies to your configuration.

I.E. If there is an update for layered product XYZ, and I am not running XYZ, the system healthcheck will tell me that I do not have the XYZ patch installed. It is not smart enough to go check and see if I'm even using XYZ by checking to see if I have a license installed.

It seems to me that if I am paying for a support level, and I get ESMG, or System health checks (30), you should be able to tailor that to my configuration. At least look for a license pack and ignore the layered products that someone doesn't need.

Oh yea. We found several bugs in the system health check software when they ran it against our systems. :-)
VMS SAN mechanic
George_145
Valued Contributor

Re: Patch installation order.

Mike,
I have to confess I'm ignorant about Health Check. Assuming it is a Services offering, can you give me a pointer to the page that offers this and I'll pass along your comments.

George