HP UX Patch Management Critical and noncritical patches, Finding information for a specific patch

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Critical and noncritical patches

HP-UX patches are considered to be either critical or noncritical. You can determine whether a patch is labeled as critical by looking at the Critical field on the patch details page or in the patch text file for the patch. This field identifies newly delivered critical content.

HP considers a patch to be critical if the patch provides a fix for a critical problem. Examples include patches that provide fixes for the following problems:

•System panic or hang

•Process abort, hang, or failure

•Data corruption

•Severe performance degradation

•Application-specific critical issues

HP considers a patch to be noncritical if the patch provides fixes for only noncritical problems. Examples of noncritical problems include the following:

•Extraneous debug, warning, or error messages

•Failure to address all documented issues

•Minor regressions in behavior

A patch is considered critical if it contains any critical fixes, even if they were introduced in earlier (superseded) patches. The Critical field for such a patch contains the following text:

"No (superseded patches were critical)"

In addition, the field gives the ID of the patch that introduced the critical fix. The Critical field for patch PHSS_30011 is shown in the following screen. It shows that superseded patch PHSS_29735 actually introduced the critical fix.

Critical:No (superseded patches were critical)

PHSS_29735: CORRUPTION

Critical patches have a critical category tag. The category tags (and swlist command used to acquire the category tags) for patch PHSS_30011 are shown in the following screen. See “Category tags” (page 20) for more information.

$ swlist -l product -a category_tag PHSS_30011

#Initializing...

#Contacting target "some_system"...

#Target: some_system:/

#PHSS_30011 patch defect_repair general_release critical enhancement corruption manual_dependencies

Finding information for a specific patch

The best place to obtain information about a specific patch is the patch's patch details page on the ITRC.

Patch documentation

All patches have a patch details page, a patch text file, and readme information. The patch details page should be your first choice for obtaining information because it contains the most up-to-date information available. This is not always true for the patch text file or the patch readme.

You can find the documentation at the following resources:

•See Chapter 6: “Using the IT Resource Center” (page 55). For the patch details page, go to the ITRC website at http://itrc.hp.com.

•The patch text file will be in the downloaded file after you download a patch from the ITRC. See Chapter 6: “Using the IT Resource Center” (page 55).

•The patch readme will be on the system after you install the patch.

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Contents Patch Management User Guide for HP-UX 11.x Systems Revision history Table of Contents What are standard HP-UX patch bundles? Using Dynamic Root Disk for patch management 104 107HP-UX patches and patch management Patch management strategiesHow to get patches Where to startQuick start guide for patching HP-UX systems OverviewBefore you begin Should you use standard HP-UX patch bundles?Acquiring and installing standard HP-UX patch bundles Standard HP-UX patch bundlesAcquiring the bundles Installing the bundles As root, run the createdepothp-ux11scriptAdvanced topic using Dynamic Root Disk DRD SwlistAcquiring and installing individual patches Acquiring the patchesQuick start guide for patching HP-UX systems Installing the patches Swverify -d \* @ /tmp/somepatchdirectory/depotAdvanced topic using Dynamic Root Disk DRD HP-UX patch overview Patch-related conceptsPatch identification HP-UX software structurePatch bundles Software depots and patch depotsPatch status Patch stateState Category tagsSwlist -l fileset -a state grep patchid Which patches are on a system? Swlist -l product -a categorytag patchidExamples of the swlist command For example$ swlist -l product *,c=patch $ swlist -l product *,c=manualdependencies $ swlist -l bundle @ somesystemAncestors and supersession Ancestors$ swlist -l fileset -a ancestor PHSS29183 Supersession Swlist -a appliedpatches filesetname$ swlist -a appliedpatches Xserver.AGRM Swlist -l patch -x showsupersededpatches=true Showpatches -s$ swlist -l fileset -a supersedes PHSS28681 Swlist -a patchstate -x showsupersededpatches=true patchidPatch-related attributes HP-UX Patch Supersession ChainSee Category tags Patch dependencies Types of dependenciesCorequisites and prerequisites Enforced and unenforced manual dependencies Impact of dependencies on acquiring patchesSwlist -vl fileset -a dependencytype fileset Patch rollback and commitment Patch rollbackPatch commitment Advanced topic patch cleanup utility Cleanup -p -c numberHP-UX patch ratings HP patch rating Rating detailsCritical and noncritical patches Finding information for a specific patchPatch documentation $ swlist -l product -a categorytag PHSS30011Subset of fields in patch text file and patch details Obtaining information using the Itrc Patch warningsAdvanced topic the readme attribute Swlist -l product -a readme patchid moreCritical and noncritical warnings How to handle patch warnings Questions to askAdvanced topic finding patches with warnings Backup and recovery ConsiderationsPatch management overview Patch management life cyclePatch management life cycle Patch management overview Establishing a software change management strategy Restrictive Conservative InnovativeRecommendations for software change management Operational factor and patch management strategy matrixConsideration of HP patch rating Patch management and software depotsProactive patching strategy Acquiring patches for proactive patchingReactive patching strategy Advanced topic HP-UX Software AssistantAdvanced topic security patching strategy Acquiring patches for reactive patchingTesting the patches to be installed Advanced topic scanning for security patchesKey features What are standard HP-UX patch bundles?Standard HP-UX patch bundles Obtaining standard HP-UX patch bundles Standard HP-UX patch bundle use and release datesQuick start guide for patching HP-UX systems Using the IT Resource Center Obtaining an Itrc user accountUseful pages on the Itrc Find individual patchesKey features Accessing the patch database and finding an individual patchClick the add to selected patch list button Using the IT Resource Center Advanced topic checking for all patch dependencies Check for patches with dependenciesUsing the IT Resource Center Click the add to selected patch list button Standard patch bundles Custom patch bundles run a patch assessmentSupport information digests Ask your peers in the forumsSearch knowledge base Using software depots for patch management Common software distributor commands for patchingDepot types Directory depotsUsing depots Tape depotsViewing depots Choosing depot type and depot locationSwlist -l depot $ swlist -l depot Swlist -l depot @ remotesystem$ swlist -l depot @ swdepot.xyz.com Creating and adding to a directory depot Copying patches to depots Depot/patches/11.11Registering and unregistering directory depots Advanced topic HP-UX Software AssistantCopying products with patch dependencies to depots Advanced topic access control lists Examples of registering and unregistering depots$ swreg -l depot /depot/patches/2003-07periodicdepot $ swreg -u -l depot /depot/patches/2003-07periodicdepotVerifying directory depots Examples of verifying directory depots$ swverify -d \* @ /mydepots/newdirectorydepot Verification had errors Removing software from a directory depotVerification succeeded $ swverify -d \* @ /mydepots/PHSS30278depotExecution succeeded $ /usr/sbin/cleanup -d /mydepots/patchdepot Advanced topic removing superseded patches from a depot$ swlist -l product -d @ /mydepots/patchdepot Installing patches from a depot Removing a directory depot$ swlist -l product @ /mydepots/patchdepot $ swreg -u -l depot /mydepots/PHCO27780depotReboots the system when required Examples of installing patches from a depot Analysis succeededInstalling products with patch dependencies from a depot Custom patch bundlesAnalysis and Execution succeeded Examples of listing patches and bundles Rev Patch descriptionRev Bundle Description Creating a custom bundle $ swlist -d @ /mydepots/temporarydepotAnalysis succeeded Finally, remove the temporary depot Using HP-UX Software Assistant for patch management For more informationUsing Dynamic Root Disk for patch management Drd1m Using the Patch Assessment Tool Patch Assessment ToolBenefits of the Patch Assessment Tool Example of running the Patch Assessment Tool Select upload new system information Support and other resources Contacting HPRelated information Typographic conventions HP websitesNon-HP websites Times Patch usage models Patch usage model 1 hardware/application software change Components in test Image Then productionDRD Begi n Product needs to be certified on HP-UX 11i v2/v3 Patch usage model 3 operating environment cold install Patch usage model 3 operating environment cold install Patch usage model 4 operating environment update Patch usage model 4 operating environment update Patch usage model 5 proactive patch Create clonePatch usage model 6 reactive patch Passed? SystemGlossary AncestorIPD SWA Index Index See also HWE Index
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