Unix Patch Deployment Details

When you install UpdateEXPERT, two directories appear under %SYSTEMROOT%\UEAgent on the Master-Agent machine. They are UnixApp and UnixShell.

UnixShell contains 3 executables; telnet/ftp and ssh, for connectivity with the target. The ability for these executables to successfully connect is controlled by these items:

• The Alternate Credentials you've set.

• Various configuration files on the Unix target which may be preventing remote connectivity as a security precaution.

• Locating and invoking the bash shell successfully.

Most connectivity problems are credential or config-file related. Once in a while, the bash shell isn't in its default location of /bin/bash, or a special character terminates the prompt of the connection account shell, which can cause bash invocation to fail.  For specifics, see:

Why does my Solaris Query Fail?

or

Why does my RedHat Linux Query Fail?

When connectivity is established (as in doing a successful query), scripts and executables from UnixApp are pushed to the target, to the "Machine Settings" path you specified for the target ... /usr/local/pm is the typical recommendation. A bin & tmp subdirectory are setup under "Machine Settings" during your 1st query, and target-side executables and scripts are written to bin. Hence, you would find /usr/local/pm/bin on your target for example.

when you push your 1st patch, data sub-directory is created, and sub-directories are created under data for each and every patch you push. The naming is NNNNNN-NN (Patch-Id) for Solaris or "package-name" for RedHat. Also at this time, a task queue (taskfile.tf) is updated on the target for each patch being installed. Each item has a status of PENDING to start with, and this status is sent back to the Deployment-Status window in UpdateEXPERT.

In each patch sub-directory, a cmd.sh script is created, which will call PatchInstall at the appropriate time depending on scheduling. PatchInstall will unzip the patch, then call patchadd (Solaris) or rpm (RedHat), which execute the patch on the target machine.

• If the patching completes the patch sub-directory is deleted.

• If there is a problem, the patch sub-directory will remain and have a logfile that you can examine.

UpdateEXPERT logfiles for Solaris patches often point to /var/sadm/patch where the patchadd logfiles can be found for further information. RPM doesn't produce log files by default.

Note: A sysInstall script on the target is invoked during your 1st patch install that adds an inittab entry for running pmapp (which runs new patch tasks) as well as creating a crontab entry for the root user.

The crontab entry runs pmapp every 30 minutes in case the pmapp background process gets terminated, and the inittab entry runs pmapp at single-user mode for those patches that require it.

For more details see:

Solaris/RedHat Directories & Executables