Red Hat

Hi All,

we have about 50 RedHat Linux servers (v4.x, 5.x), now we planing to configure those servers to get updates(service packs, security patches...etc) automatically. whats is the best practises to do this.

we also have SLES servers and we use Novell's SMT tool to get updates, we configured one server as central repositary to connect to novell site to get updates. then client servers connet to central repositary to get updates. That way all servers get updated.

we are looking that kind of method to update redhat servers. Any one please advice. Thanks.

The way to do this is through RHN, using either a RHN satellite or RHN proxy server.

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I would say, it's not a good way to update you Linux servers automatically !!!
The best approach is to plan it based on required updates and fixes.
otherwise there are hundreds of ways to schedule such update...

Regards,

what about YUM, Up2date. Any pros and cons with these. Thanks

Have you considered, as you have SLES, using Novell's update system, Zenworks Linux Management? It is cheaper than RHN Satellite and works for both

since we already use Novell's SMT tool for updating SLES servers and we dont have expanded support to use SMT for updating RHEL, we have to go with RHN or up2date. As per my intial understanding from docs, RHN is for V5.x and YUM or up2date is for 1.x,2.x,3.x adn 4.x. is right. if so we have mixed of 4.x and 5.x RHEL servers. since I'm much experienced with RHEL, I'm kinda confusing. any help would be appriciated.

what are the steps we need to take if we want to go with RHN or Up2date or YUM. Thanks

RHN uses up2date for 4.x and lower. It uses yum for 5.x and higher. It is not an "easy" tool to use, and I wonder why you would not want to consider ZLM as an option, as RHN will cost you significantly more money. RHN Satellite is NOT free.

Also, SMT is not an update tool. It is a portal. The issue is that Novell Zenworks Linux Management is a true tool to manage your updates. If you just want a portal to go to and do it relatively manually, then SMT or RHN would work.

If you want to go to a central place and manage the updates for all your machines, ZLM or RHN SATELLITE would be the option, however ZLM will work for both, at a nominal cost, and RHN Satellite is expensive.