Installing Patches/Service Packs

[tteknos]

I've read through my book, and through any documentation I can find, but still am not sure how to go about installing all the patches/service packs I've downloaded for my newly installed Netware 6 system. The readme's with the patches don't help.

From the info that I've read, it seems I have to unload the current nlm, copy the patch to the system dir on sys, and in c:\nwserver, then re-load it. That seems like too much to do for the service pack and 15 patches since. I have to be able to do this while the system is down for a few minutes. What am I missing? Can anyone give me a step by step on how to install patches, and maybe suggestions on how to do it quickly? Thanks.

 

[Provogeek]

NWCONFIG
1. Load NWCONFIG | Product Options | Install a product no listed |
2. Choose F3 to specify a different path and point path to the location you copied the patch to (server voluem or CD)
in the patch root directory.
3. Follow the on screen prompts.
4. When patch is complete, you will need to down and restart your server for
changes to take effect. Do not use the 'restart server' command. You will
need to use DOWN or RESET SERVER.
Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple

http://www.kiscc.com

 

[Sethos]

Which is completely right for the "usual" and/or consolidated service packs - but not globally for all available patches and fixes. ;-)

 

[tteknos]

So what is right for the globally available patches and fixes? I already knew about using nwconfig if it had a .ips file for the install. What do you suggest?

-Ted

 

[Lou0686]

Hi,

What patch are you trying to apply? The smaller patches (single fixes) do not install automatically and files do actually need to be copied. If it's a major service pack, you should be able to install it from nwconfig.

Lou

 

[tteknos]

Every patch released since SP2. The problem is I can only take down the server for like 15-20 min every so often, downtime kills us here. So basically I need the fastest way possible =)

 

[Provogeek]

is there any need for the patches? is there a problem you are having that the patches fix?

If your not having any problems, you shouldn't worry about the patch just yet. From checking on the minimum patch list, the only patch you really would need is the rconag6 update. But you should try using AdRem's FreeCon, it uses less resources than Novell's remote console utilties.

It is also not a very good idea to install patches onto a production server with out first testing them to ensure they won't hurt another service running on your server. It really sucks when you install a new NSS module that breaks your backup software. It sucks even more when it's on your production file server.

But if you must apply these patches, remember, NetWare loads the modules into memory and does not always lock the files on the server. Create a backup sub-directory in the directory that the module you want to replace is in. Copy the old module to this new directory or rename it if you don't want to use a backup directory, or just copy the new file over if you don't care about your backup. Once you have copied the new file over, either unload the old nlme and reload the new one, or bounce the server. Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +
Senior Network Engineer
Keep IT Simple

http://www.kiscc.com