HP-UX / TRU64 Automatic Software upgrade

[Christian.Dickerson]

I am trying to check if there is anything similar to Aix's suma update manager for HP-UX and TRU64. This will help keep our servers patched and up-to-date with latest fixes?
Thanks

[Vladimir Fabecic]

As far as I know there is no such tool for TRU64.
Even if there was such a tool, I would never use it.
Patching production servers is dangerous.
If you want to patch, download patches, plan downtime, do backup and patch manually.
First I test patches on some test server, then I install them on production servers.
It is the same procedure with Oracle patches.
Unix servers are not windows workstations.

[Christian.Dickerson]

Thank you Vladimir. Appreciate the reply, am concerned about the levels of our servers,3x V5.1B (rev 2650)& 3x V5.1A (rev 1885)
Would like o make sure that ALL are patched properly and up-to-date. Can you let me know how you would go about sorting / ensuring servers are patched properly? Have moved from an AIX enviro and now working with Tru64.

[Vladimir Fabecic]

To see what patch kit is installed, do:
# dupatch -track -type kit
and send output of this.

[Christian.Dickerson]

Server1
- T64KIT0023187-V51BB25-E-20040804 OSF540
- T64V51BB25AS0004-20040616 OSF540
- T64V51BB25AS0004-20040616 TCR540
- T64V51BB26AS0005-20050502 OSF540
- T64V51BB26AS0005-20050502 TCR540

Server2
- T64KIT0023187-V51BB25-E-20040804 OSF540
- T64V51BB25AS0004-20040616 OSF540
- T64V51BB25AS0004-20040616 TCR540
- T64V51BB26AS0005-20050502 OSF540
- T64V51BB26AS0005-20050502 TCR540
- T64V51BB27AS0006-20061208 IOS540
- T64V51BB27AS0006-20061208 OSF540
how do I read this?
- T64V51BB27AS0006-20061208 TCR540

[Vladimir Fabecic]

Server1 has patch kit 5 installed and server 2 has patch kit 6 installed.
T64V51BB26AS0005-20050502 TCR540
"AS0005" is patch kit number, TCR540 means TRU cluster, OSF540 is for operating system.
B26 is "release number".
If you install patch kit, you install both OS and TRU cluster patches (depending on installed software).
Link for patch kits:
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/patch_bundles/tru64/5.1X/
Link for additional patches:
ftp://ftp.itrc.hp.com/tru64_patches/tru64/5.1X
So if you have PK6 installed, additional patches for that release would begin with T64V51BB27.
This is simplified way how to read.

[Venkatesh BL]

Server 1 is a Cluster and was upgraded from Baselevel BL25 to BL26.

Server 2 is also a Cluster and is the most recent (BL27) of the two. It was upgraded from BL25->26->27.

Note: OSF - Base OS patch.
TCR - TruCluster patch.

There doesn't seem to be any latest ERPs on the clusters.

[Christian.Dickerson]

Thanks a mill for the help, both of you. Will check the links and look at upgrading were required. I'll check all servers in each of the 2 clusters and make surre that they are 100% right.

Any suggetions, hints, tips tricks :-)
Thanks a mill!!!

[Vladimir Fabecic]

When talking about cluster, all members are patched with same patches.
There is a special procedure how to patch cluster.
TRU cluster is something special.

[Brendan Murphy_5]

There is no such tool for either HP-UX or Tru64. I agree with Vladimir, the patching process should be under full change control management.

I'm a little confused by some of the information you provided about the Tru64 Servers. You say you have three V5.1B systems and three V5.1A systems ... and you presented the dupatch info for two of the V5.1B systems. Clearly each of these two servers belong to independent clusters ... otherwise the patch info would be the same. This means that you should have at least 4 V5.1B systems.... two 2 node clusters, unless one system is running as a single node cluster.

With regard to the V5.1A systems, HP now only support V5.1B PK5 and V5.1B PK6. The policy is now support for V5.1B plus the latest patchkit or the latest patchkit-1. I would highly recommend that you upgrade all your V5.1A systems to V5.1B PK6. I realise this might take time to organise & may be dependent on installed apps, however you should still plan for this activity.

When patching production systems, I tend to be more conservative & only apply the HPUX patch bundles or Tru64 patchkits. I don't tend to install single release patches. These are frequently NOT tested against all other installed OS software or other patches. Patch bundles and full patchkits are fully tested before release.

One final point. HP have a very good patch website that can be accessed as an ITRC member. When you select a patch bundle for HPUX or a patchkit for Tru64, you should also be presented with a list of single patches that have been released since the release of the aggregate patch kit. The list also usually provides fairly good detail on what each patch relates to. You can then either select one or more of them to download with the bundle/patchkit. Again my preference has largely been not to bother until the next full aggregate patch release. This facility can therefore be used to monitor all early release patches subsequent to your aggregate patchkit/bundle.

Kind regards,

Brendan