How to make sure the latest supportutils are installed.

  • 7010476
  • 18-Jul-2012
  • 11-Dec-2017

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11
Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 (OES 2) Linux
Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) Linux
Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server 2015 (OES 2015) Linux
Novell Open Workgroup Suite (NOWS)
Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition (NOWS SBE) 2.5

Situation

A Micro Focus Technical Services representative requests a supportconfig, generated with the latest version available for troubleshooting or diagnostic purposes.

For auditing or health check purposes or just to maintain a server history, a supportconfig from all SUSE Linux based machines is required.

Resolution

There are several methods available to update the supportutils package to the latest version :

Repositories

The rpms required for  updating and installing the latest supportutils and it's plugins are also available via  openSUSE repositories.

For SLE10 based desktops and servers (including OES2) :
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Novell:/NTS/SLE_10/
For SLE11SP1 based desktops and servers (including OES11):
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Novell:/NTS/SLE_11_SP1/
For SLE11SP2 and up based desktops and servers (including OES11SP1 -and up- and OES2015 -and up-):
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Novell:/NTS/SLE_11_SP2/
  • For machines that have direct access to the internet, the above mentioned can be added as a local repository.
  • For servers that are managed centrally, these repositories can be used by the central update server.

After the repositories have been added, the latest supportutils and it's plugins are available as available packages or updates (not patches) and can be installed or upgraded in a normal manner.
However, to make sure they are up to date, preceed generating a supportconfig for Micro Focus Custromer Care with a updateSupportutils.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 both ship with the supportutils as part of their distribution, therfor they do not require an additional repository. Updating the system will update the supportutils when an update is made available ofer the update channels.

Manual

To install or update the latest supportutils outside any of the configured update mechanisms for the server, there are 2 options :
Option A (automated)
(This requires the server to have internet access).
  1. Download the supportutils-plugin-updater from the noarch folder of the repository as required for the distribution.
  2. Login as 'root'
  3. Install the supportutils-plugin-updater package:
    # rpm -Uvh supportutils-plugin-updater-*.noarch.rpm
  4. Run updateSupportutils as 'root'
    # updateSupportutils
Option B (Manual)
(This can be performed without the server having internet access).
  1. Manually download the supportutils and any applicable supportutils plugin packages from the repository as required for the distribution.
  2. Copy the set of rpms to the server.
  3. Login as 'root
  4. Install the supportutils-*.noarch.rpm
    # rpm -Uvh supportutils-*.noarch.rpm
  5. Install the supportutils-plugin-*.norarch.rpm packages that apply.
    # rpm -Uvh supportutils-plugin-*.norarch.rpm

Once the latest version is installed, please run the supportconfig and provide it as requested by the Technical Services representative.

Cause

The supportconfig is maintained to gather more accurate and useful information that provides a point in time snapshot and status of the system, which will help to narrow down any problems.

Once new features are introduced to the Novell Open Enterprise Server and Micro Focus Open Enterprise Server products over time, so will the diagnostic information gathering for the supportutils be updated to accommodate gathering troubleshooting details for these new features.

Because the supportutils are required to change or be updated when required, this is kept outside of the regular update channels.

Additional Information

Via the Novell support website (Novell Patch Finder) there are also supportconfig and supportutils modules available for download. Similar as with the regular update channels, these may also not provide the latest and gratest supportconfig scripts as reason why Technical support may ask to upgrade to a later version using one of the methods discussed above.