7.1 Overview of Updating (Patching)

7.1.1 The Patch Process Briefly Explained

The OES 11 SP3 patch process consists of the following processes:

  1. The patch tool (zypper, Package Kit, or YaST Online Update [YOU]) checks for available patches on its configured patch update repositories and displays them for selection.

  2. The patch administrator selects which patches to apply.

  3. The patch tool checks cross-dependencies and displays any messages regarding situations or conflicts that require administrator input.

  4. The patches are downloaded.

    If any downloaded patches contain information or instructions, these are displayed for administrator acknowledgement. For example, administrators might be instructed to restart a service or run a configuration script file to complete the process after the patch process completes.

  5. After all of the messages have been acknowledged, the downloaded patches are installed.

  6. The administrator is prompted to restart the server.

7.1.2 Update Options

OES 11 SP3 administrators have three options for updating servers with patches from Novell.

  • Novell Online Update Servers: For those who don’t require an internal update source, OES 11 SP3 servers can be easily configured to directly access the online patch repository. Instructions for doing this are included in the sections that follow.

  • Subscription Management Tool (SMT) for SUSE Linux Enterprise: This product doesn’t require a separate license. It lets you host patches from the Novell online update repository on a server, which provides more security and greatly reduces Web traffic related to server updates. SMT is available for download on the Novell Download Site.

  • ZENworks Linux Management: An enterprise-level product that requires a separate license. It provides updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise, OES, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) products. In addition to hosting updates for download, ZENworks Linux Management is also capable of pushing the updates to targeted devices through a single Web interface. For more information about ZENworks Linux Management, see its product page on Novell.com.

IMPORTANT:OES patches are not cumulative. A patch update to a specific component does not necessarily contain all related RPMs for that component. When you patch a server that has any version of OES, either by directly using the update catalogs from nu.novell.com or by mirroring the update catalogs from nu.novell.com to a local SMT or ZCM server, you must apply all available patches as they are offered through the official update repositories. Do not apply partial patches, or apply patches intermittently or out of sequence.

Each patch release assumes that you will apply the new patches to a fully patched system, and that you will apply all of the patches in the release. We do not support applying only selected patches from a specific scheduled maintenance patch, skipping a scheduled maintenance patch, or applying patches out of their intended order.