Software Distributor Administration Guide for HP-UX 11i

Managing Software Depots
Depot Management Commands and Concepts
Chapter 4 135
Depot Concepts
A depot is a special type of directory formatted for use by SD-UX
commands, and used to contain software products. You can create a depot
by using swcopy to copy software directly from physical media or by
using swpackage to make a software package containing the depot.
When a depot resides on a networked system, that system can act as a
source for software: other systems on the network can install software
products from that server instead of installing them each time from
media.
Network depots offers these advantages over installing directly from
media:
• Several users can pull software down to their systems (over the
network) without having to transport media to each user.
• Installation from a network server is faster than from media.
• You can combine different software products from multiple media or
network servers into a single depot.
Types of Depots
A depot usually exists as a directory location. This software is in a
hierarchy of subdirectories and filesets organized according to a specific
media format. A host may contain several depots. For example, a
software distribution server on your network might contain a depot of
application software, a depot of patch software, and a depot of OS
software.
There are two types of depots: directory and tape.
Directory Depot
• A directory depot consists of software stored under a special
SD-UX-managed directory on your file system, usually
/var/spool/sw.
• A directory depot can be writable or read-only.
• When you use the SD-UX commands to refer to a directory depot, you
need only to refer to the depot’s top-most directory. In a CD-ROM
depot, this directory would be the CD-ROM mount point, such as
/cdrom/mydepot.