Acquiring and Installing Standard HP-UX Patch Bundles

The standard HP-UX patch bundles provide recommended sets of HP-UX system patches, which you should use for proactive patching. This section details how to acquire and install the Quality Pack (QPK) patch bundle and the Hardware Enablement (HWE) patch bundle. You can, however, use the steps to install any of the standard HP-UX patch bundles.

If you have a new system and need to establish a patch baseline or want to update the existing patch base, then you would install the QPK patch bundle. If you are adding new hardware to a system, then you would install the HWE patch bundle. If you are unsure of which patch bundles or patches to install on a system, installing both the QPK and HWE patch bundles represents an excellent starting point for your patch management program.

Acquiring the Bundles

To obtain the QPK and HWE patch bundles from the Web, perform the following steps:

Log in to the target system.
Determine the operating system release by entering this command: uname -r
Record the information. You will use this information in step 8.
Be sure that you are logged in as a user with write permissions to the download directory that you plan to use.
These instructions assume you are using the /tmp directory.
Log in to the ITRC at http://itrc.hp.com.
Be sure to log in to the appropriate site (Americas/Asia Pacific or European).
Select maintenance and support (hp products).
Select standard patch bundles - find patch bundles.
Select HP-UX patch bundles.
Select the most recent release name for the operating system (by release date).
Select the bundle link.
HP highly recommends that you download the following bundles. They are cumulative; select the latest:
- Hardware Enablement patch bundle
  For new hardware, install this bundle.
- Quality Pack patch bundle
  For defect fixes, install this bundle.
The bundle's main page is displayed. It shows the following information and links:
- Each patch contained in the bundle.
  If the bundle contains patches with warnings, which are notifications of known problems, they are listed near the top of the page.
- All patch identifications (IDs) are linked to the patch database on the ITRC, and provide detailed patch information.
- In the right-hand navigation menu under documentation, you can access the readme file for the bundle by selecting the bundle readme link. Review the readme for critical installation information.
Ensure all items are checked. Click add to selected patch list.
If you see additional patches, the ITRC selected them to replace patches with warnings. See “Patch Warnings”.
Review your choices to ensure all items are checked. Click download selected.
The download patches page is displayed.
Under the heading download items in one operation, select a download server and a format option (HP recommends the gzip package). Select a zip package only if you are certain that the HP-UX system can unpack a .zip file.
You can use the program locating commands whereis(1) and which(1) to make sure you have the appropriate software. For example, use whereis gzip to determine if the program is installed and use which gzip to determine if the program is in your path.
Click download. Make the appropriate selections (based on the browser you are using) to save the selected bundle to the /tmp/temporary_depot directory on the target system.
Record the name of the file being downloaded.
The following section refers to the file as patches.xxx.

Installing the Bundles

To install the downloaded bundle, repeat the following steps for each bundle.

Log in to the target system.
Unpack the downloaded file patches.xxx by using one of these commands:
- If the downloaded file is patches.tgz:
  gunzip -c patches.tgz | tar xvf -
- If the downloaded file is patches.tar: tar -xfv patches.tar
- If the downloaded file is patches.zip: unzip patches.zip
  You must have an installed application that can unpack a .zip file. Not all HP-UX systems have such an application. If you do not have a system that can unpack a .zip file, then you would need to use a system that does, then transfer the unpacked files to the target system.
  You can use the program locating commands whereis(1) and which(1) to make sure you have the appropriate software. For example, use whereis gzip to determine if the program is installed and use which gzip to determine if the program is in your path.
As root, run the create_depot_hp-ux_11 script.
Verify the download by entering this command:
swverify -d \* @ /tmp/temporary_depot/depot
You will see the message "* Verification succeeded."
Find the bundle names by entering this command: swlist -d @ /tmp/temporary_depot/depot
Record all bundle names.
The bundle name is the first word of each line under the Bundle(s) heading.
This step is critical. When you install a QPK or HWE patch bundle, the system reboots automatically. Before you install a bundle (step 9), you need to follow your company's policy regarding a system reboot.
This step is critical. Before you install the bundle, back up the system.
Install the bundles by entering this command:
swinstall -s /tmp/temporary_depot/depot -x autoreboot=true \ -x patch_match_target=true
During the installation, the system prints progress details to the screen.
Monitor the screen for error messages.
The system reboots automatically as part of the installation process.
Verify that the installation was successful:
- Repeat the swlist command for each bundle name you recorded in step 6:
  swlist -l bundle bundle_name
  Ensure that the bundle is shown in the output.
- Repeat the swverify command for each bundle name you recorded in step 6:
  swverify bundle_name
  This command may not always complete in a short amount of time.
  If the verification is successful, the last few lines of output contain the line "* Verification succeeded."
  If the verification was not successful, view the /var/adm/sw/swagent.log file for additional information related to the swverify command failure. If this is not sufficient to resolve the problem, consult more advanced resources in Appendix A: “Other Resources”.
- View the swagent log file, located at /var/adm/sw/swagent.log. This log includes information related to the installation.
  Find the section pertaining to the installation just performed (located near the end of the file if you check it immediately after the install). Review this section and make sure that there were no errors ("ERROR").
  If you find errors, consult more advanced resources in Appendix A: “Other Resources” to resolve the problem.

Acquiring and Installing Standard HP-UX Patch Bundles

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