Re: [Nolug] Missing the point (Re: updating a RedHat box)

"Wimprine, Thomas" <twimprine@stei.com> writes:

This is extremely easy to do with Debian or Gentoo. Debian may not be
as easy to install as RH but keeping it up to date is much much much much
better. apt-get in cron is pretty simple.

If I had 100+ systems to update, I'd have a local deb archive and a
couple of test systems. The test systems would get upgraded and if
successful, I'd load my local archive with the latest code and then
next "apt-get dist-upgrade" cycle on my production machines would grab
the upgrade. simple.

With Gentoo I'd do much the same thing. Use one system to build the binary
packages and store them and "emerge -pu world" with the local system as
my distribution point.

With that many systems, you don't want to be grabbing the same packages
over the net repeatedly.

>>> Having a 3rd party blindly modify my system scares most SysAdmins.
>
> Yea I'm sure it would scare most SysAdmins, but I don't know Linux well
> enough to know what I'm looking at otherwise so what do I lose. I have two
> systems one is an email gateway and the other is my laptop which gets
> updated MUCH more often. I've really never had a problem. (That I haven't
> created myself)
>
>>> The way many Debianite SysAdmins do it is to apt-get updates at night
>>> via cron in *download* mode, and then manually run apt-get to eye-ball
>>> what apt-get wants to do, in case (for example) and upgrade libc6
>>> wants to upgrade everything else.
>>>
>>> Takes more time that way, but could avert disaster if there's a bug in
>>> a downloaded package.
>
> Yes that probably would be better and would advert disaster. But what am I
> looking at again?
> I still think RHN is the fastest and easiest way to update a RHN system
> especially if you can't get to it (console/SSH) to update it. If you know
> what you are doing and can do the apt-get or comparable action for your
> distro that would defiantly be better and much less like 'Active Update'
>
> But here's a question, what do you do if you have 100+ systems you need to
> update? With RHN you could update one system and test it, then schedule it
> for the rest. How would this be accomplished with deb, SuSE, etc...
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Johnson [mailto:ron.l.johnson@cox.net]
> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 12:28 PM
> To: NOLUG ML
> Subject: RE: RE: [Nolug] Missing the point (Re: updating a RedHat box)
>
>
> On Sat, 2003-05-17 at 11:54, Wimprine, Thomas wrote:
>> I was actually referring to the ability to keep them up to date
> (up2date...
>> ok bad pun). RHN makes it really easy and it can be another offered
> service,
>> but if you don't have RHN it's a total pain in the ass to reregister and
>> update it every x days. My systems are all updated every time there is a
>> published errata and I never need to log onto the systems.
>
> Having a 3rd party blindly modify my system scares most SysAdmins.
>
> The way many Debianite SysAdmins do it is to apt-get updates at night
> via cron in *download* mode, and then manually run apt-get to eye-ball
> what apt-get wants to do, in case (for example) and upgrade libc6
> wants to upgrade everything else.
>
> Takes more time that way, but could avert disaster if there's a bug in
> a downloaded package.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: jdtiede@bellsouth.net [mailto:jdtiede@bellsouth.net]
>> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 11:45 AM
>> To: nolug@joeykelly.net
>> Subject: Re: RE: [Nolug] Missing the point (Re: updating a RedHat box)
>>
>>
>> It's cheaper to buy a new RH distro for $40 every two years than to
>> subscribe to RHN. Or cheaper yet, just download a new one and burn a CD.
>> ============================================================
>> From: "Wimprine, Thomas" <twimprine@stei.com>
>> Date: 2003/05/17 Sat PM 12:06:29 EDT
>> To: "'nolug@joeykelly.net'" <nolug@joeykelly.net>
>> Subject: RE: [Nolug] Missing the point (Re: updating a RedHat box)
>>
>> If they want to continue running RH they may want to upgrade. I believe RH
>> will only actively maintain the distro up to two revs. back. (They are at
> 9
>> they won't support 6.x) So the next upgrade they will be left behind. If
>> they don't subscribe to RHN I would recommend moving them to another
> distro.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ron Johnson [mailto:ron.l.johnson@cox.net]
>> Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 10:56 AM
>> To: NOLUG ML
>> Subject: Re: [Nolug] Missing the point (Re: updating a RedHat box)
>>
>>
>> On Sat, 2003-05-17 at 04:38, Joey Kelly wrote:
>> > I didn't mean I wanted to jump from 7.x to 9.0, I meant simply making
> sure
>>
>> > that all of the packages were patched to safe levels. It's a 2.2 kernel,
> I
>>
>> > share Ron's willies concerning jumping to a 2.4.
>> >
>> > SuSE lets me point YaST at their ftp server, in the x.y directory, and
>> they
>> > maintain each point release, allowing me to stay bug-free, etc. Can RH
>> keep
>> > me at 7.x with current bug- and security-fixes?
>>
>> Get RHN, and see what happens?
>>
>> > Thou spake:
>> > >Joey,
>> > > Just get the new install CDs. When you boot, one of the options is
>> > >to upgrade.
>> > >Dave Prentice
>> > >prentice@instruction.com
>> > >http://www.originsresource.org
>> > >-----Original Message-----
>> > >From: Joey Kelly <joey@joeykelly.net>
>> > >To: nolug@joeykelly.net <nolug@joeykelly.net>
>> > >Date: Friday, May 16, 2003 9:58 PM
>> > >Subject: [Nolug] updating a RedHat box
>> > >
>> > >>Hey all,
>> > >>
>> > >>One of my clients has a RedHat box that I need to update. I haven't
>> > >
>> > >ever run
>> > >
>> > >>RH before, and don't know how to update the thing. Yeah, I know I
>> > >
>> > >could
>> > >
>> > >>update individual rpms, but that's a drag.
>> > >>
>> > >>Is there some update utility that I can run and sync to current
>> > >
>> > >levels for
>> > >
>> > >>his versiion (I think it's 7.something)? I seem to remember that such
>> > >
>> > >was
>> > >
>> > >>available from RH for a fee (which is one more in a long list of
>> > >
>> > >reasons why
>> > >
>> > >>don't want to run RH personally). Are there third-party updaters
>> > >
>> > >available?
>> > >
>> > >>Or should I make my client pay for the RH service?
>> > >>
>> > >>Thanks.
>> > >>--
>> > >>
>> > >>Joey Kelly
>> > >>< Minister of the Gospel | Computer Networking Consultant >
>> > >>http://joeykelly.net
>
> --
> +---------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Ron Johnson, Jr. mailto:ron.l.johnson@cox.net |
> | Jefferson, LA USA http://members.cox.net/ron.l.johnson |
> | |
> | The purpose of the military isn't to pay your college tuition |
> | or give you a little extra income; it's to "kill people and |
> | break things". Surprisingly, not everyone understands that. |
> +---------------------------------------------------------------+
>
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-- 
Scott Harney<scotth@scottharney.com>
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