Patch level

[panks]

How I can check, which patch level I am on the OS.

Also, I download the bundle patch level from itrc site for 11.23, the latest was for dec 2007. There was 3 bundles and also three individual patches. Now I am scared to install all, will it affect my system. What is suggestion, shall I install all or not?? I am going to install Oracle+RAC in this server.
Also, I want to keep the system to uptodate patch level.
Those patches are
FEATURE11i_B.11.23.0712.070.depot
HWEnable11i_B.11.23.0712.070.depot
QPK1123_B.11.23.0712.070a.depot
PHKL_37755
PHSS_36519
PHSS_37947

Thanks

[Jaime Bolanos Rojas.]

Panks,

To check your current patch level you could use this command(s):

# swlist -l bundle | grep -i feature
# swlist -l bundle | grep -i HWEnable
# swlist -l bundle | grep -i QPK

Also it´s always best to have the latest bundles in the system, specially when putting a server in production, if it´s in production already I would still be more careful but still having the latest bundles is by far the best approach since they contain most of the fixes available.

Regards,

jaime.

[Tingli]

A more careful way is put them to development systems first.

[panks]

Its a new system, are you suggesting to install all of above mentioned

[Pete Randall]

With a new system, I always install all of the latest available bundles.


Pete

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi:

You should install all three bundles mentioned.

You should also evaulate this thread of yours on the same, general topic:

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1237936

You have yet to provide feedback there.

Regards!

...JRF...

[panks]

But when I tried to install the bundle through sam, it is not giving the success for 100% in analysis. It is showing that 33 of 68 will be installed kind of for every package. Means its is not showing that 100% patches of bundle will be installed. Why is that, is there any process I need to follow to install the 100% patches of bundle

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi (again):

> It is showing that 33 of 68 will be installed ...

You need to examine the '/var/adm/sw/swinstall.log' for details. This is so common as to be expected. Patches that do not apply to your particular server (because optional base products aren't there or because the particular patch has already been applied) are SKIPPED during analysis. If the 'swinstall' analysis was successful, the installation should proceed without significant issues.

Regards!

...JRF...

[panks]

Ok, thanks james !! For bundle patches it is ok, but what about the below patches which got download with them as a required patches. Do I need to install them also.
One of them is kernel rebuilt patch, so bit scared. Pls suggest

Patch Name: PHKL_37755

Patch Description: s700_800 11.23 memory leak in swap fix; copyout() path

Patch Name: PHSS_37947

Patch Description: s700_800 11.23 linker + fdp cumulative patch

Patch Name: PHSS_36519

Patch Description: s700_800 11.23 Aries cumulative patch

[Jaime Bolanos Rojas.]

Panks,

The three patches listed above are needed too, most likely will be included in the next bundle, but they are there becuase the fix important issues. A lot of patches rebuild the kernel, SAM will take care of all the details for you, so you should not worry, and in any instance you can always roll back the patch.

Regards,

jaime.

[Bob E Campbell]

Everyone has offered good examples of a patch level you might choose. For a generic check you can either build a depot and try a preview installation, or run SWA.

Software Assistant provides many analyzers for selecting patches, and two for testing "level" Assuming you have a list of patches to check (swlist -l product *,c=patch @ /depot) the form:

# swa report -r issue \
-a CHAIN=PHCO_36356,PHCO_36479,PHCO_36505 \
-a CHAIN=PHKL_36261,PHKL_36326,PHKL_36421

can be used to see which ones are missing (use multiple -a options to avoid LINE_MAX issues).

Get SWA from https://www.hp.com/go/swa.

[Bill Hassell]

Installing any patch (or hundreds of patches) can be scary. There are many, many kernel patches in the QPK bundle so the PHKL_37755 is nothing to worry about. You do want to look for any patches with warnings, then read the description. For instance, the ARPA (networking) bundle has had several warning on different patches and some of the warnings will affect most systems. Deselect those patches before installing.

As mentioned, you will seldom see 100% of the patches selected on a large bundle such as QPK. HWE is smaller and for a new server, most of the patches won't be needed as they are specific to certain hardware. swinstall figures all this out.

The biggest issue will be disk space. A big chunk for the download (several hundred megs) and another even bigger chunk for the depot. This is temporary and when patching is successfully completed, you can get rid of the download and depot files.

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again):

Do yourself one favor. Although it is very unlikely that you will need it, take a current Ignite recovery image before you patch.

Regards!

...JRF...