Linux Patching Plan.- RHEL5

[brian_31]

Coming from the HP-UX world, our org. tend to develop patch bundles and bundle them into a depot and distribute this every quarter (for example QPK's. any other recommended patches etc). The Company wants a similar plan for linux. I am new to Redhat Linux and i would like to know some ideas. The leadership wants similar plan to HP-UX, Solaris, AIX and linux. The first 3 are already in Place and Linux needs to be done now. Please throw more ideas on this! I know redhat does not have quartely updates and may not have real patch bundles, but i would like some ideas and possibilities.

Thanks

Brian.

[Tim Nelson]

download updates into private repository on a quarterly basis

use private repository to update all servers

tips:
install yum-downloadonly rpm
createrepo
disable rhn plugin in rhnplugin.conf
enable private repo in /etc/yum.repos.d/

I can give more specifics but I find that I learn 12 new things while reading... your call.

[brian_31]

Thanks Tim!

It is a good start. Please post more ideas when you find time. Thanks again!

Brian

[Gerardo Arceri]

As an HP hardware user, i always try to upgrade the firmware/HP Tools/drivers along with the OS Updates.
Just wanted to contribute with my $.02

[Abushad]

Hi brian,

You can create a repo server to implement SD in linux.
Note:This facility is only available by defualt in rhel5 onwards
download the patches/softwares into a repo folder.then run cmd
#createrepo -v

configure the machine to use as a FTP server bcz client uses ftp service to access the repo

client configuration
Edit the config file to use as a repo client.
#cp /etc/yum.repos.d/rhel-debuginfo.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/local.repo
#vi /etc/yum.repos.d/local.repo
baseurl=ftp://ipaddress of repo server/repo folder
enabled=1

now you will be able to connect to the repo server and list the patches/softwares using cmd
#yum list all

you can always install a particular patch/sw using cmd
#yum install
for updating the entire client machine with latest patches/sw available in the repo use
#yum update -y

I suggest you to test this before implementing in live servers
i successfully did the same to upgrade servers from rhel5.1 to rhel 5.4

Regards
Abushad

[brian_31]

Abushad

Thank you for excellent finer details! So looks like the repo server is similar to the SD-UX depot from where you could push the patches. But on what basis do you add the patches to the repo server (Repository), I mean how often? do you have single patches (for example jave leak issue etc..or may be a security fix etc..). Thanks again for a detailed post. It is really helpful and and adds more value when you share the actual commands to do..Very helpful..Thanks again!

Best Regards

Brian.

[Abushad]

Hi Brian,

Redhat releases many types of patches just like HP,SUN,IBM etc.You have to first create a login account in redhat site and register your product.You will be notified in the login account or the server itself notify you with a pop up message once a new patch is released.You may download the patch and keep in the repo for the client servers.

Regards,
Abushad

[dirk dierickx]

you could look into a Satelite server (OSS version: spacewalk). it does not set policies for you, but you can easily implement policies per server groups with it.
it will also report on missing patches etc.
all in all a great tool for patch management.

[brian_31]

Thanks! Another term which is used is errata. Could someone explain that?

Thanks

Brian.

[dirk dierickx]

errata just means a problem was detected, mostly either a bug or a security hole of various impact. you should read the reports, there is always a detailed explanation included on what is wrong and the criticality of it.