Re: [cobalt-users] Raq 550 patch question/concern

["Terrell W. Fritz" <terrellf@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Brendan,

I am a newbe to the RAQ550 as well as server things (Linux) in general, so
don't take may advice over anyone else's here.  They will certainly know
far more than "me".  But maybe I can shed a little help ;-)  My 550 server
is a personal hobby thing here on my desk (yes, it is loud!, but it drowns
out the neighbors ;-))).  I have a small number of personal hobby domains
and I do some "simple" web/mail serving for friends for 'free', so they
can't whine too much :o))  In my case, the RAQ550 is easy enough so even a
dummy like me can do wonderful things!!  I have been using little computers
since the days they were programmed with toggle switches, but a lot of the
fancy programming stuff passed me by after the 8-bit processor days  0:-))
A bought like the last 1Ghz dual 40Meg 550 in the country because it was
the cheapest deal for my "hobby budget".  And it was still not cheap!!!
But I am totally pleased!!!  

In this case, I installed the Blueline patches perfectly backwards!!  Top -
down...  Most installed fine, a few required reboots...  However, there
were some that said I had to install another patch before the present
patch.  So, when it was important, the new RAQ550 seemed to "know" and
prevent me from installing the sensitive patches out of order.  So ""I"
think" you can't mess up.  Sun has fixed things to protect you from
installing patches out of order at least on the pure new "out of the box"
machine.  "I" don't go goofing with package installations or any of the
fancy stuff. I just keep within the dummy GUI stuff.  I know better than
going outside my "cage" ;-))  Maybe if one gets into the raw OS and stuff,
installations can get "messy".  But I think the basic "out of the box"
patch stuff is pretty safe no matter how you do it.

The RAQ550 has worked flawlessly, and even with installing the patches
"officially backwards", it works just fine.

In your case, "I" would install the patches bottom up.  Blueline seems
great to "me".  Unless you are at the level of some of the big gurus here
who can literally write their own patches(!), I would not go doing anything
other than what your are "supposed" to do.  I have been on this list for a
few months and much of the talk is about things super far above "my"
knowledge!!  Realize that what some of the folks here suggest are going to
be inappropriate for a newbe to go messing with!!  Unless you feel really
good about something and know exactly how to go "back", "I" would not go
doing anything that would basically require a total reload and reset of the
whole darn machine.

A user of mine wanted me to install a webmail thing.  I checked it all out
and "I" didn't feel comfortable about it.  Most folks here could do that
with both hands tied behind their backs and just type it in with their
nose.  But I am too dumb to deal with the possible problems...  So I said
no, which is an option "I" do have ;-))  I may not know everything, but I
have been beyond the bleeding edge of many things (Still got Windows NT 3.1
right here ;-)))  I know I am dumb, but I think I also know when to quit ;-)))

Cheers,

	Terry


At 11:26 PM 8/24/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I'm in the process of setting up a new Raq 550 for the first time, forgive
>me if these are common questions/concerns that have been answered in
>another thread - I haven't found a good answer yet pertaining my concerns
>below:
>
>My primary concern is the stability of the updates that I need to install
>- I turned the machine on and BlueLinQ indicates there are 30 updates for
>the system already.
>
>I'm glad I did a little research before just applying all 30 updates. I
>have read 2 postings which I found a little disturbing - the first is the
>fact that the latest kernel update (2.4.19C9_V-1) has a major RAID and
>reboot problem. The second posting indicates that BlueLinQ is not the best
>way to install updates - apparently the order of applying the updates can
>be crucial? I would hope that Sun wouldn't allow a update to be installed
>unless all dependencies were satisified so I don't know why the order of
>applying updates is crucial.
>
>My Question:
>1. Is there a list of 'stable' patches out there somewhere or at least a
>minimal list that indicates critical patches (with no known issues) that
>should be installed - or should I just install all updates all the time? I
>don't want to have to research every single patch before I apply them - it
>almost defeats the purpose of BlueLinQ.
>
>2. Should I be using something other than BlueLinQ to install updates?
>
>Perhaps there are some good (free) informational/support sites out there
>that I havne't come across yet...
>
>Any feedback would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>Brendan
>
>