[pca] Setting up PCA patch server

Tue Oct 18 20:46:17 CEST 2011

Charles:

Thanks for your response!

O.K., so you're creating a list of missing patches on each system and then combining them into one master list, right?  And then you're downloading the patches in the master list to the patch server?

I'm having a hard time getting my head around the fact that pca is very system-dependent.
For example, if I run "pca -y -d /patches" on my patch server, pca will analyze which patches are missing on the patch server and download only those to the /patches directory.
However, that /patches directory may not contain patches that are missing on other systems.

Is there any way to tell pca to download ALL of the patches in the recommended patch cluster, whether the system needs it or not?
Could I use the "allrs" option to download all Recommended and Security patches?  Is this equivalent to downloading the recommended security patch cluster?

Admittedly, this isn't a very time and space efficient way of initializing the patch server - your approach would be cleaner.
Lisa

From: pca-bounces at lists.univie.ac.at [mailto:pca-bounces at lists.univie.ac.at] On Behalf Of Charles.Witt.CTR at dcpds.cpms.osd.mil
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 1:17 PM
To: PCA (Patch Check Advanced) Discussion
Subject: Re: [pca] Setting up PCA patch server

Lisa,
This is one method that fits my case.

One method is to run "pca --noheader | cut -d ' ' -f 1 > $generatedlist" on each patch client which will generate a list of required patches.

Merge the contents of the required patch list into one file with something like "sort -ui Missing.pca.txt/ConsolidatedMissing.pca.txt | uniq > SortedUniqueConsolidatedMissing.pca.txt".

You would execute something like: "pca -d RequiredPatchList" on your patch server to download required patches from Oracle.  The "d" will keep the patches.

Then you have to figure out how to get the patches to each patch client.  I have BASH scripts that use public/private SSH keys, Expect, SSH, and SCP.  Man pca has one or more other methods.

Then execute "pca -i" on each patch client.  That is the summary of one method.  I left details out.

Man pca will give some ideas.  You need to experiment with a couple of servers to determine what works best in your case.

Thanks,
Charles W. Witt
Contractor
STG Inc.
DCPDS Arcsight Logger/Quality Center/Solaris/Web Support
1777 N.E. Loop 410, Suite 300
San Antonio, TX 78217-5216
Phone: (210)581-6227
Cell: (210)787-2734
Charles.Witt.ctr at dcpds.cpms.osd.mil
Quality Center: QCSupport at dcpds.cpms.osd.mil
Solaris: SolarisSupport at dcpds.cpms.osd.mil
Web: web.support at dcpds.cpms.osd.mil

From: pca-bounces at lists.univie.ac.at [mailto:pca-bounces at lists.univie.ac.at] On Behalf Of Becktold, Lisa M. (LARC-B7)[Chugach Federal Solutions, Inc.]
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 11:30 AM
To: pca at lists.univie.ac.at
Subject: [pca] Setting up PCA patch server

Hi,

We have started using pca to patch our servers.    It's been working very well, and we'd like to refine our setup.

Instead of each server accessing support.oracle.com, we'd like to set up an internal pca patch server.  The patch clients should access this internal patch server, and NOT go outside our internal network to download patches.

I'm a bit confused about what should reside on that internal patch server.  Should I download the latest recommended patch cluster and associated patchdiag.xref file, and place it on the internal patch server?

If the full recommended patch cluster is located on the patch server, then there the patch client doesn't need to go outside our internal network and access support.oracle.com, right?

The patch server must either share the patch directory via NFS, or offer it via http or ftp, correct?

Lisa

Lisa Becktold
System Administrator
Chugach Federal Solutions, Inc.
NASA Center for AeroSpace Information Contract
Phone:       443 995 5805

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