patch management

[himacs]

Hi Team,

I need useful information on patch management.

1) How we can assume that server needs new patches

2) If i have 3-4 patches to install, how i can combine them into a bundle..so that with one restart i can install all the patches.

3)How to install bundled patches(installing a bundle)

Please help me on this..

Regards
himacs

[Asif Sharif]

Hi himacs,

I would suggest you to study the below PDF document.

http://docs.hp.com/en/5992-6582/5992-6582.pdf

Regards,
Asif Sharif

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi Himacs:

> 1) How we can assume that server needs new patches

That would depend upon your patch management stragegy --- reactive or proactive. However, it is geneally a good idea with current operating system releases to periodically apply the standard patch bundles which appear twice per year. An excellent way to perform this plus an analysis of other patches you may want to apply, is to use the Software Assistant Tool (SWA). This is scribed briefly in the Patch Management paper cited in the previous post of this thread.

> 2) If i have 3-4 patches to install, how i can combine them into a bundle..so that with one restart i can install all the patches.

You use 'swcopy' to perform this function. SWA does this automatically for you when you download patches with it.

> 3)How to install bundled patches (installing a bundle)

You use 'swinstall' to install patches, patch bundles, products and/or both. This is discussed too in the Patch Management paper cited in the previous post of this thread.

Regards!

...JRF...

[himacs]

Hi asif,JRF

Thanx for the replies..

Yes good document..m reading it now

SWA comes as default or we need to download..


regards
himacs

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Himacs:

SWA is installed with current Operating System environments. If you don't have it, or want to upgrade to the latest version (with a reboot in either case), fetch and install SWA from the HP-UX Software Depot:

http://software.hp.com/

To see if it is installed, do:

# swlist SwAssistant

In this thread I discussed how I have used it:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1297476

Regards!

...JRF...

[himacs]

Hi JRF,

Nice thread..

I have SWA version C.02.11 installed.

and i made below changes in /etc/opt/swa/swa.conf

user_dir = /var/opt/swa/.swa
analyzers = QPK CRIT PCW SEC
catalog_max_age = 0
inventory_max_age = 0
html_report = ~/.swa/report/swa_report.html
allow_existing_depot = false

But i ended up with below error
noortrg / >swa report

======= 08/29/09 23:38:51 uae BEGIN Report on Issues and New Software (user=paradmin) (jobid=noortrg)

* Gathering Inventory
NOTE: Created a template "/var/opt/swa/.swa/ignore" file. Please read this file for more information about how to ignore
issues in the future.
* Getting Catalog of Recommended Actions and Software
ERROR: Failed to read: https://ftp.itrc.hp.com/wpsl/bin/doc.pl/screen=wpslDownloadPatch/swa_catalog.xml.gz?PatchName=/expo
rt/patches/swa_catalog.xml.gz Message: URL cannot be opened. ftp.itrc.hp.com

======= 08/29/09 23:38:56 uae END Report on Issues and New Software failed with 1 error. (user=paradmin) (jobid=noortrg)

NOTE: More information may be found in the Software Assistant logfile "/var/opt/swa/swa.log".


Whether my server should have web access to run this command...

confused

Regards
himacs

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Himacs:

> Whether my server should have web access to run this command...

Your server probably doensn't have direct Internet access. That's not a problem if it doesn't. You can use a proxy server or a gateway server that does have access. See chapter-5 of the HP-UX Software Assistant Administration Guide for options:

http://www.docs.hp.com/en/5992-6588/5992-6588.pdf

Regards!

...JRF...

[himacs]

Hi JRF,

Thanx for the doc..

Reagrds,
himacs

[Bob E Campbell]

I would also recommend getting the version from https://www.hp.com/go/swa. This will always be the most recent.

We had important fixes introduced at the end of last year.