Arbi 7 Cm Patches
- 1. Communication Manager Patches (on linux platforms) Arbi Arzouman (aa1@avaya.com) GSS Backbone engineer (Tier III) – EMEA December 2008
- 2. Purpose of training Talk about Communication Manager patches Introduce you to the world of CM patches Commands for patches
- 4. Overview of patches Quick Software Fixes for customer escalations Patches are code (software) updates and / or fixes that we provide to customers after CM is installed It means the fixes in the patches installed on top of the CM are NOT included in the current installed CM. Does it make sense? Avaya also provides period fixes to customers. These period fixes include defects and security problems detected after the release of CM was accepted as GA (General Availability)
- 5. More about patches Patches are built for each platform and release It means a patch for CM 3.1.2 can’t be installed on CM 3.1.3 or CM 5.x. It can only be installed on CM 3.1.2 There can be only ONE active patch for a system at a time Exceptions of course exist (e.g., DST patches)
- 6. Why not just upgrade the customer? The fix may not be delivered to a GA load (generally-available) several weeks or even months, while a patch can be built and applied as soon as the fix is known Patching doesn’t require a technician to be dispatched and spend several hours in transit and on site Upgrading exposes the customer to new features or feature differences Customers have gotten nervous about upgrading because upgrading sometimes introduces new problems!!!
- 7. So what does a patch look like? Ugly ;-) It’s a compressed (gzip) file It contains the fixes that will be installed on top of the currently installed CM Patches are identified by 4 or 5 digit number 00.0.825.4- 16249 16249 is the patch number Let’s see an example!
- 8. So how do I see the installed patches? Use the command “ swversion ” on the linux CLI You can also use the web interface You can also use the CLI command “ update_show ”
- 9. So what does an installed patch look like? On different versions of CM, the result looks a bit different. But don’t worry, it’s easy to understand them Next slide shows an example!
- 10. So what does an installed patch look like? init@budcm> swversion Operating system: Linux 2.6.11-AV28 i686 i686 Built: Apr 18 14:13 2008 Contains: 01.0.414.3 CM Reports as: R015x.01.0.414.3 CM Release String: S8300-015-01.0.414.3 UPDATES: Update ID Status Type Update description ------------------------------- ------------ ------- --------------------------- 01.0.414.3-16492 unpacked cold Combo 16136 & 16491 01.0.414.3-16662 activated cold combo of 15962 and 16625 SES Update ID Status Type Update description ------------------------------- ------------ ------- --------------------------- Platform/Security ID Status Type Update description ------------------------------- ------------ ------- --------------------------- CM Translation Saved: 2008-12-02 22:00:16 CM License Installed: 2008-09-30 14:58:30
- 11. Type of the patches We have two types of patches: HOT and COLD Hot patches are used in HOT countries and COLD patches are used in COLD countries or maybe not! Hot and Cold patches don’t look different on the file system (from the filename perspective)
- 12. Hot patches Hot patches when installed, by DESIGN are not service effecting This means that when we install a hot patch, we don’t need to: Interchange the servers (in case of duplex servers) Stop and start the communication manager Interrupt customer’s call control services Hot patches replace individual functions Since existing instructions don’t move in a hot patch, it can be surprisingly small
- 13. Cold patches Brrrrrr…. They are COLD Installing a COLD patch is NOT service preserving!!!! What this means: In case of duplicated servers, an interchange will be needed on live systems In case of a single server, this will restart the CM The Communication Manager will be stopped and started completely while patching the server There will be short service interruption to customers call controller and services
- 14. So why we have two types? We always want to minimize the impact we will have on customer’s call center and call controller when we want to deliver a patch Cold patches don’t give us that option. However Hot patches do to some extend Sometimes the fix is not possible to provide in the form of a hot patch, hence we need to provide the fix in the form of a cold patch!!!
- 15. How are fixes includes in the patches? Fixes are included in the patch as a single or collection of MRs. MRs are referred to as: “ Modification Requests ”. They contain additional files that are used by the patch. Let’s call them the x-files
- 16. Ok smartass, what’s an MR? When a software / hardware defect is detected and identified, the Tier4 / developers write an MR (modification request) This MR documents the fault and additional details (depending on the author and the defect itself) Developers then work on the MR and decide how to fix / if to fix and when to fix The MR also includes additional info such as what is the fix, which files are effected and etc… Let’s see an example of an MR !!
- 17. More patch types COLD and HOT patches are just one category of patch types. Let’s say they are the top of the pyramid. We then have other types that derive from the COLD and HOT patches! They are: Service pack patch Incremental built patch Combo patch Seed patch
- 18. Seed patch Seed patches contain a single fix (Single MR) When a fix is “developed”, a seed patch is created for that fix (MR)
- 19. Combo patches We rarely install seed patches on customer system So what we do is we combine several seed patches and create a combo patch Combo patches can be: Incremental built patches Custom patches Service packs
- 20. Service packs Occasionally, we take our favorite fixes and bundle them into a giant patch known as a service pack Any server that is upgraded should immediately have the latest service pack applied Service packs are available on the Avaya support web page (http://support.avaya.com) Often, a service pack is made available to coincide with the release of a new GA load to fix problems that have been discovered since the load was built Subsequently, new service packs will be built as the number of known fixes warrants building a new one
- 21. So what’s the schedule for service packs How do I know the schedule? Visit the site: http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/patch_policy/Service_Pack_Schedule.pdf
- 22. What to Include in a Service Pack? Since service packs are intended for distribution to large numbers of customers, we need to carefully choose what fixes are included Fixes to problems that would affect many customers are candidates for inclusion in a service pack Fixes that have undesirable side effects should not be included in a service pack For example, a fix that stops restarts by breaking ISDN should not be included in a service packs Each service pack includes all the fixes in the previous service pack ...unless any of those fixes turned out to have undesirable side-effects!
- 23. Where to find service packs! Open a browser and go to: https://support.avaya.com/ Click on “download” Click on “Latest TN Circuit Pack, Server, and Media Gateway Firmware and Software Updates” Scroll down to “Software Update table for Servers running Communication Manager” section Let’s see a demo!
- 24. Incremental patches These are special combo patches They are not service packs But they are similar to service packs: They include several fixes They are built periodically Are public patches (can be installed on customer systems) Incremental built patches spent less time in TEST phase and hence are not always the best solution. BPs and customers can’t download these patches themselves. Avaya backbone has to provide them Not all the fixes in the incremental built patch make it to the next service pack
- 25. Where to find incremental patches Here: http://info.dr.avaya.com/~g3fs/patches/incremental.html This website is periodically updated Find the correct patch number for your CM load Then download the patch from: http://info.dr.avaya.com/~g3fs/patches/search.html
- 26. Custom patches These are combo patches The secrete about these is that they are built for a specific reason or a specific customer or specific issue Custom patches cannot and should not be provided to customers and BPs without the approval of Tier4 (CPE) Customer patches are usually assigned as “ private ”
- 27. Public vs. Private patches Public Public patches can be provided to customers and BPs usually without the approval of Tier4 Public patches are built for a large and general audience Examples of public patches are the “service packs” Private Private patches are usually the “custom” patches They are built for a specific reason, or a specific customer or to solve a specific issue
- 28. What do patches look like on CM? UPDATES: Update ID Status Type Update description ------------------------------- ------------ ------- --------------------------- 00.0.825.4-15759 unpacked cold patch 15759 for 00.0.825.4 00.0.825.4-16249 activated cold Combo of 16015 and 16215 Platform/Security ID Status Type Update description ------------------------------- ------------ ------- --------------------------- PLAT-rhel4-1000 activated hot SSP 1-pcre security update
- 29. What are the Platform / Security patches Platform and/or security patches are not CM fixes But rather the Linux OS fixes Also include fixes for the applications that run under linux (such as http / ftp / etc…) They also include security fixes
- 30. Where to find security patches Open a browser and go to: https:// support.avaya.com / Click on “download” Click on “Latest TN Circuit Pack, Server, and Media Gateway Firmware and Software Updates” Scroll down to “Software Update table for Servers running Communication Manager” section Let’s see a demo!
- 31. What is the Security advisor Security advisor lists the discovered security problems There are many discovered security problems for several products The security patches contain fixes that are listed in the security advisory Where to find them? Here http:// support.avaya.com/japple/css/japple?PAGE = avaya.css.OpenPage&temp.template.name = SecurityAdvisory
- 32. WARNING! There is a product called “Multivantage express or MVE” or recently it has been renamed to “Communication Manager Express or CME” These servers although they run CM, but the run them in a virtual environment (such as VMWare) and hence they need special patches that can be installed on their CM. Installing a normal CM patch will SCREW them up!!!
- 33. How do I install patches? Installing the patches differ on CM loads. CM lower than CM 2.x use different command than CM higher or equal to 2.x Let’s see the difference!
- 34. Install patches on CM 2.x and above You first need to have the patch downloaded to the server The patch needs to be placed in /var/home/ftp/pub Then issue the command: “update_unpack” This will unpack the patch You then need to un-install (deactivate) a patch if there is one already one installed (activated) Use the command: “update_deactivate <patchid>” Then install the patch using the command: “update_activate <patch id>”
- 35. Install patches on CM 2.x and above update_activate To activate a patch. The patch has to have already been unpacked update_info Shows information about a patch on the system update_show Lists the patches that are either activated / unpacked / packed update_deactivate To deactivate / uninstall the patch. This changes the status of the patch to “unpacked” Does not completely remove the patch from the system update_remove Removes the patch and the files from the system update_unpack Unpacks the patch and copies the files to a proper directory. Before activating a patch, we need to unpack it first
- 36. Install patches on CM lower than 2.x patch_show patch_remove patch_install patch_apply
- 37. Additional info http://opensourcerer.usaw.avaya.com/wiki_base/images/8/87/OverallPatchProcedure.pdf http://opensourcerer.usaw.avaya.com/wiki_base/images/3/3a/CM2.0_ServerPatchProcedures.pdf
- 38. Thank you for listening to my crap Thank you
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