How To Correctly Patch an Open Enterprise Server Linux

  • 3045794
  • 17-Mar-2008
  • 27-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell Open Enterprise Server 1 Support Pack 2 Linux
Patch-11461

Situation

Open Enterprise Server 1 (Linux based) includes multiple patch mechanisms, but needs to be patched in a specific way in order to continue functioning properly.



Resolution

Prerequisites

The Open Enterprise Server 1 installation needs to be at Service Pack 2 level. Refer to the additional notes section below for information on how to bring a pre-SP2 installation to SP2 level.

Supported patch mechanism


The only supported patch mechanism for Open Enterprise Server 1 (Linux based) is patch-based Red Carpet (GUI) / rug (command line).

Patching an Open Enterprise Server 1 (Linux based) installation using any other patch mechanism, specifically including manual RPM installation, rug update, orYaST Online Update may result in unrecoverable damage to the OES services.

Updating the patch mechanism itself

The implementation of the patch mechanism for Open Enterprise Server 1 (Linux based) has itself been updated several times since the release of Service Pack 2 to address various severe issues. It is therefore mandatory to first update the patch mechanism itself before applying any other patches or updates.

The steps to update the patch mechanism itself are described below.

The pound prompt (#) should be ignored when entering commands. Likewise, information listed in parentheses informational and should not be entered.

# rug sl (Service List)
# | Service URI | Name
--+--------------------------------+---------------------
1 | https://update.novell.com/data | Novell_Update_Server

If the OES update service does not display, add it with the following command:
# rug sa https://update.novell.com/data
# rug act (Activate the subscription so the update channels become available)

# rug ch (Channel List)
subd? | Alias | Name
------+------------+-----------
| oes | oes
| oes-edir88 | oes-edir88

# rug sub oes (Subscribe to OES Channel)
Subscribed to channel'oes'

# rug ch (Verify Subscription)
subd? | Alias | Name
------+------------+-----------
Yes | oes | oes
| oes-edir88 | oes-edir88

# rug pin patch-11461 (Patch Install)
This patch will update the supported patch mechanism (Red Carpet) itself.
Note: If rug cannot find this patch, run a 'rug refresh' without quotes.

# rcrcd restart (Restart the Red Carpet daemon)

# rug refresh (Refreshes the index of the update channels)

# rug pl (Patch List)
List patches and gives an "i" in the first column if it is already installed.

# rug pin --entire-channel oes (note the dash dash before "entire-channel" -- not just a single dash)
This will download and install all OES patches.

# reboot
Reboot after updates

Status

Top Issue

Additional Information

Bringing a pre-SP2 installation to SP2 level

An OES1 installation which is not at SP2 level needs to be updated to SP2 level before any other updates are installed. Attempts to apply updates to a pre-SP2 installation before it has been brought to SP2 level can be fatal and may require a complete reinstallation of the server.


To bring a pre-SP2 installation to SP2 level, run the OES1SP2 Prepatch script (OES2PREPATCH.SH) as per the instructions found at the following link:
Preparing the Server for Patching:
https://www.novell.com/documentation/oes/install_linux/data/bxlu3xh.html

Patch history

Patch-11461 has superseded patch-11371 which was the previous update for Red Carpet.

The following issues have been fixed in various updates to Red Carpet since the release of OES1 SP2:

  1. No longer requires downloading all patches in the channel (1.4 GB). Identifies which patches are already installed.

  2. Displays the short description of a patch.

  3. Displays the patch type such as security, optional, etc.

  4. Improves the filtering of the current patches in the channel and displays only patches that are not installed.

  5. Displays the license agreement files for patches.

  6. Removes the "Invalid patch kind YaST2" error message from appearing in the rcd-log after patching the server.

  7. Displays the Patches tab as the default tab when opening the Red Carpet GUI.

  8. Displays the correct percent complete status.

  9. Displays the summary of what the patch is in either interface.

  10. Redcarpet reconnects to the same system every time it starts rather than prompting for a system.

  11. Displays the channel name in the channel column on the Patches page.

  12. Improves the patch sorting.

  13. Remove occasional traceback.