DUG Session 4327 Staying on Top of the Mountain: Tracking Updates and Patches

1. Jeff Butera Hampshire College jbutera@hampshire.edu DUG Session 4327Staying on Top of the Mountain:Tracking Updates and Patches Tuesday, March 1, 2008 8:00AM Washington 1

2. Outline Update History Best Practices Examples Hampshire's Custom Portal

3. Updates: R16 and Earlier Had to manually download, extract, run Very error prone due to manual nature Easy to skip/forget a step Release, Main remote, User Remote(s)‏ Wrote perl scripts to automate Download of update list Download of udpates Extraction/parsing of SOS documents

4. Updates: R16/R17 Express Load A step forward from past Generally worked OK Installation was date-driven Installing out of order was problematic Skipping an update was problematic

5. Updates: Wish List Meeting at DUG 3-4 years ago 10-12 clients 16-20 Datatel staff What did we need/want in updates? “Need to install anything, anytime.” (But willing to accept any prereqs.)‏

6. Updates: R18 We spoke – they listened Updates single biggest win in R18. Can now install anything, anytime. (But gotta accept prereqs.)‏ Big step forward from the Red Envelope

7. Best Practices Regularly scheduled downtime Regularly scheduled Datatel updates Regularly scheduled OS Updates Regular notification of end users. “Do things right routinely.” How do you eat an elephant?

8. Best Practices Datatel would like clients to install monthly Hampshire installs bi-weekly Quarterly or less often not recommended Too many updates Too much downtime End user testing is GREAT and necessary But don't be held hostage by end users Updates are team effort, but must be done

9. Best Practices Once you have defined a cycle: Cycle 1: Download updates Read documentation Cycle 2: Install updates in test Notify end users, let them test Cycle 3: Install updates in production

10. Best Practices

11. Maintenance Forms SUGS – shows every update MSUG – shows updates not complete/installed Can select existing group or define new one. ISUG – Detail to report/install a group SUPI – Quickly find post-install steps needing completion

12. Maintenance Forms

13. Maintenance Forms

14. Maintenance Forms

15. Maintenance Forms

16. Inquiry/Research Forms RPIF – Find packages containing an item eg: DMSU22 = NAE RPIO – Detail on versions SOUI – Detail on one particular version DIFS – Detail difference between versions SUPR – Search for particular updates (date, ID) and show Custom Impact, Prereqs, Install Status

17. Inquiry/Research Forms

18. Inquiry/Research Forms

19. Inquiry/Research Forms

20. Inquiry/Research Forms

21. Inquiry/Research Forms

22. Hampshire Custom Portal Shares info with end users Documentation News Updates Knowledge Base Administration (IT staff only)‏

23. Hampshire Custom Portal Updates Can view by date or group Can view documentation and other info Users can specify their areas of interest Users can view just those of interest Email when update of interest installed Demonstration

24. Get The Data You don't need custom portal Use files in your LPR: RELEASE_PKGS ENVIRON_RELEASE_PKGS RELEASE_ITEMS

25. Summary Notify end users Do it routinely Define your schedule Note updates which take long time in test Get buy in from end users It's their system – you just support it!

26. Summary Jeff Butera Hampshire College jbutera@hampshire.edu http://jeff.hampshire.edu