Patch Management User Guide for HP-UX 11.x Systems

HP patch rating of 1 ........................................................................................................................35
Rating details .............................................................................................................................35
HP patch rating of 2 ........................................................................................................................35
Rating details .............................................................................................................................35
HP patch rating of 3 ........................................................................................................................35
Rating details .............................................................................................................................35
Critical and noncritical patches............................................................................................................36
Finding information for a specific patch...............................................................................................36
Patch documentation ......................................................................................................................36
Advanced topic: the readme attribute............................................................................................38
Obtaining information using the ITRC...........................................................................................38
Accessing information on the ITRC...........................................................................................38
Patch warnings......................................................................................................................................38
The warning field............................................................................................................................39
Critical and noncritical warnings....................................................................................................39
How to handle patch warnings.......................................................................................................40
Questions to ask...............................................................................................................................40
Advanced topic: finding patches with warnings............................................................................40
Backup and recovery............................................................................................................................41
Considerations.................................................................................................................................41
4 Patch management overview......................................................................................42
Patch management life cycle.................................................................................................................42
HP service contracts..............................................................................................................................45
Patch management and software change management strategies.......................................................45
Establishing a software change management strategy ..................................................................45
Recommendations for software change management ...................................................................46
Consideration of HP patch rating....................................................................................................47
Patch management and software depots.........................................................................................47
Proactive patching strategy.............................................................................................................48
Acquiring patches for proactive patching..................................................................................48
Advanced topic: HP-UX Software Assistant..............................................................................49
Reactive patching strategy...............................................................................................................49
Acquiring patches for reactive patching ...................................................................................50
Advanced topic: security patching strategy ...................................................................................50
Advanced topic: scanning for security patches ..............................................................................51
Testing the patches to be installed .......................................................................................................51
5 What are standard HP-UX patch bundles?...............................................................52
Key features..........................................................................................................................................52
Standard HP-UX patch bundles...........................................................................................................52
Obtaining standard HP-UX patch bundles..........................................................................................53
6 Using the IT Resource Center......................................................................................55
Obtaining an ITRC user account...........................................................................................................55
Useful pages on the ITRC.....................................................................................................................55
Find individual patches........................................................................................................................55
Key features.....................................................................................................................................56
Accessing the patch database and finding an individual patch.....................................................56
Advanced topic: checking for special installation instructions............................................................58
Advanced topic: checking for all patch dependencies.........................................................................59
Check for patches with dependencies.............................................................................................59
Standard patch bundles........................................................................................................................62
Custom patch bundles - run a patch assessment..................................................................................62
Support information digests.................................................................................................................62
Key features.....................................................................................................................................62
4 Table of Contents