Linux best practices using HP Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) and Software Delivery Repository (SDR)

• The SDR http://downloads.linux.hp.com/SDR

SPP Hot Fixes

Hot fixes are firmware or software component updates that we review, discuss, and deemed important enough to merit

a special release outside the normal SPP component release cycle. Because they address critical issues, we release SPP

hot fixes broadly without waiting for final integration testing. We test SPP hot fixes against the current SPP and the SPPs

released within the past 12 months. We document details about the SPP hot fix in a Customer Advisories (CA). The CA

documents the problem that the SPP hot fix addresses and the changes we made to address it.

You are not required to install SPP hot fixes. You can choose to install only the SPP hot fixes that are appropriate for

your environment. SPP hot fixes are exceptions to the SPP. They do not occur frequently and you only need to adopt

them if it addresses an issue that your are encountering. We support SPP hot fixes as part of the SPP.

You can find the SPP hot fixes and the corresponding CAs by selecting the Hot Fixes & Advisories button on the SPP

download page, www.hp.com/go/spp/download. To determine if an SPP hot fix applies to your environment, review the

CA before downloading the SPP hot fix.

The SPP hot fix deploys only to any servers running components associated with the specific SPP hot fix.

HP Software Delivery Repository (SDR)

The SDR is a network repository that you can access for driver and software updates. It contains the same components

as the SPP. Upon release of a new SPP, we update the SDR to include the drivers, utilities, management agents, and

firmware (currently as scexes, but soon to be RPMs) from the SPP release. This ensures that the SPP and SDR contents

are identical.

You can access the SDR components using a dependency-resolving installation tool. Table 2 lists the installation tool

each Linux distribution provides.

Table 2. Installation tools for installing SDR components.

OS Tool

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Yellowdog Updater, Modified (YUM)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server ZYpp system management (Zypper)

You can access HP components for your Linux environment through the SDR at

http://downloads.linux.hp.com/SDR.

For more information about the SDR and best practice for integrating with other Linux system management processes,

see the following:

• Deployment Framework Best Practices Red Hat Enterprise Linux on HP ProLiant white paper

• Integrating HP Software Delivery Repository Packages with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Installations, Deploying the

HP Software Delivery Repository as an Add-On during Installations of the Linux Operating System

• Integrating HP tools for Linux deployment (HP SIM, STK, SSSTK, Linux COE, and PSP) HOWTO

• Integrating HP Software Delivery Repository with Red Hat Network Satellite™ HOWTO

Installing components from the SDR

You choose how to install components from the SDR:

• You can use a dependency-resolving installation tool to install components directly from the SDR.

• You can integrate components from the SDR into your Linux build and configuration management processes and

tools.

• You can integrate the component installation directly into your bare metal installation process and into normal

update processes.