HP UX Patch Management manual Establishing a software change management strategy

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HP service contracts

If you would like assistance with your patch management work, you can purchase a Mission Critical level HP service contract. This entitles you to a proactive service called patch analysis. In patch analysis, an HP support engineer furnishes you with a custom list of recommended patches. At the Mission Critical (highest) contract level, your assigned HP engineer even helps you define a patch management strategy based on the software change management principles defined in this chapter. For more information, visit the HP Software Support Services website at http://www.hp.com/hps/software.

Patch management and software change management strategies

Patch management is a complex topic. Because of the complexity, there is not one right way to perform patch management. If you ask 10 patching experts to describe their approach to patch management, you will likely get 10 different answers. You must determine which approach to patch management works best in your situation based on your particular environment and your constraints.

This section discusses software change management and recommendations, as well as the three basic patch management strategies among others:

Proactive patch management strategy

Reactive patch management strategy

Security patch management strategy (Advanced Topic)

You might find that one of these strategies is a good fit for your organization. In most cases, a customized combination works well. For example, you could select a reactive patching strategy for most patching, but proactively patch your most update-sensitive areas. Security patch strategies often do not fit within the proactive or reactive strategies. In these cases, you need to follow a different strategy. Again, there is more than one path to creating an acceptable patch management strategy.

For your convenience, HP has created six Patch Usage Model flow charts that illustrate the high level steps you would follow for six basic patch management strategies. These Patch Usage Models can be found in Appendix A (page 94).

Establishing a software change management strategy

This section outlines a set of patch management strategies based on use and tolerance for down time. There is always a risk that software patches that have been successfully tested in a controlled environment will cause problems when applied to a new configuration. For this reason, it is important to limit the number of changes made to a target system.

The first step in defining your strategy is to determine what level of software change management you want to implement. HP has developed three strategies for dealing with software change management in mission critical environments. These strategies are based on operational requirements. The same concepts apply just as well to non-mission critical environments.

The following are three strategies for software change management. These strategies are described in Table 4-1: “Operational factor and patch management strategy matrix” (page 46):

Restrictive

Conservative

Innovative

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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 107 104Patch management strategies HP-UX patches and patch managementWhere to start How to get patchesOverview Quick start guide for patching HP-UX systemsBefore 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 As root, run the createdepothp-ux11script Installing the bundlesSwlist Advanced topic using Dynamic Root Disk DRDAcquiring the patches Acquiring and installing individual patchesQuick start guide for patching HP-UX systems Swverify -d \* @ /tmp/somepatchdirectory/depot Installing the patchesAdvanced topic using Dynamic Root Disk DRD Patch-related concepts HP-UX patch overviewPatch identification HP-UX software structureSoftware depots and patch depots Patch bundlesPatch state Patch statusState Category tagsSwlist -l fileset -a state grep patchid Swlist -l product -a categorytag patchid Which patches are on a system?For example Examples of the swlist command$ swlist -l product *,c=patch $ swlist -l bundle @ somesystem $ swlist -l product *,c=manualdependenciesAncestors and supersession Ancestors$ swlist -l fileset -a ancestor PHSS29183 Supersession Swlist -a appliedpatches filesetname$ swlist -a appliedpatches Xserver.AGRM Showpatches -s Swlist -l patch -x showsupersededpatches=trueSwlist -a patchstate -x showsupersededpatches=true patchid $ swlist -l fileset -a supersedes PHSS28681HP-UX Patch Supersession Chain Patch-related attributesSee 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 Rating details HP patch ratingFinding information for a specific patch Critical and noncritical patchesPatch documentation $ swlist -l product -a categorytag PHSS30011Subset of fields in patch text file and patch details Patch warnings Obtaining information using the ItrcAdvanced 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 Considerations Backup and recoveryPatch management life cycle Patch management overviewPatch management life cycle Patch management overview Restrictive Conservative Innovative Establishing a software change management strategyOperational factor and patch management strategy matrix Recommendations for software change managementPatch management and software depots Consideration of HP patch ratingAcquiring patches for proactive patching Proactive patching strategyAdvanced topic HP-UX Software Assistant Reactive patching strategyAcquiring patches for reactive patching Advanced topic security patching strategyAdvanced topic scanning for security patches Testing the patches to be installedKey features What are standard HP-UX patch bundles?Standard HP-UX patch bundles Standard HP-UX patch bundle use and release dates Obtaining standard HP-UX patch bundlesQuick start guide for patching HP-UX systems Obtaining an Itrc user account Using the IT Resource CenterUseful pages on the Itrc Find individual patchesAccessing the patch database and finding an individual patch Key featuresClick the add to selected patch list button Using the IT Resource Center Check for patches with dependencies Advanced topic checking for all patch dependenciesUsing the IT Resource Center Click the add to selected patch list button Custom patch bundles run a patch assessment Standard patch bundlesSupport information digests Ask your peers in the forumsSearch knowledge base Common software distributor commands for patching Using software depots for patch managementDirectory depots Depot typesTape depots Using 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 Depot/patches/11.11 Copying patches to depotsRegistering and unregistering directory depots Advanced topic HP-UX Software AssistantCopying products with patch dependencies to depots Examples of registering and unregistering depots Advanced topic access control lists$ 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 Removing software from a directory depot Verification had errorsVerification 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 Removing a directory depot Installing patches from a depot$ swlist -l product @ /mydepots/patchdepot $ swreg -u -l depot /mydepots/PHCO27780depotReboots the system when required Analysis succeeded Examples of installing patches from a depotInstalling products with patch dependencies from a depot Custom patch bundlesAnalysis and Execution succeeded Examples of listing patches and bundles Rev Patch descriptionRev Bundle Description $ swlist -d @ /mydepots/temporarydepot Creating a custom bundleAnalysis succeeded Finally, remove the temporary depot For more information Using HP-UX Software Assistant for patch managementUsing 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 Components in test Image Then production Patch usage model 1 hardware/application software changeDRD 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 Create clone Patch usage model 5 proactive patchPassed? System Patch usage model 6 reactive patchAncestor GlossaryIPD SWA Index Index See also HWE Index