TLP Features and Benefits

This section describes features and benefits of the TLP tool.

• Multiple patch analysis engines

  TLP uses external patch analyzers to recommend patches for a specific system, where the Sun Explorer (Explorer) dump of a system is the input, and the list of recommended patches is the output. Analyzers provide a list of recommended patches as output for further usage by TLP. You can easily exchange one analyzer for another by modifying the default configuration file.

• Automatic downloading of patches from the Internet

  If a patch cannot be located in the TLP patch repository, the TLP tool can download the patch from the SunSolve^SM web site.

• Highly configurable and able to be customized

  The TLP tool uses a default configuration file that you can customize to meet your specific needs. The command line is used to select the additional parameters and the running module. You can also provide command-line arguments that are located in this configuration files as the default values. This capability provides a very flexible framework for complex patch deployment issues that might arise in a large data center.

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  Note –

  This guide does not contain in-depth information on customizing the TLP configuration file. Within this files are instructions for configuring the various TLP parameters. The TLP configuration file is located in the /opt/SUNWtlp/conf/default/tlp.cfg directory. To access this file, you must have installed the TLP software on your system. A copy of the default tlp.cfg file is always available in the default subdirectory for later reference.

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• On-site usage

  The TLP tool is designed to automatically generate patch sets in a multisystem data center. You can choose to run the tool on a regular basis as a cron job. The tool is also able to send diagnostic results of the patch set creation process, per email notifications.

• Generalized phase concept

  The generalized concept for the on-site usage of the TLP tool is called the phase concept. The phase concept enables patch set creation, not only for the most current patches, but also for the patches from a former baseline. This capability minimizes the risk of introducing unknown bad patches to your systems. Each patch phase points to a baseline release. The phases are commonly named GREEN or AMBER, depending on the age of the baseline that was used. Phases are historical snapshots of patches. Within TLP, arbitrary phases and time intervals between phases can easily be defined by modifying the default configuration file.

• Extensible reports

  By default, TLP delivers two kinds of reports:

  • HTML reports

  • ASCII text reports

• Modular and extensible

  The TLP tool's architecture is based on a modular design. Every function of the tool is modeled as an abstract role, which in turn, is implemented by a certain module. Individual modules can be replaced by other modules. The role that is played by the new module must be identical to role of the module it replaces. Module replacement is done by modifying the default configuration file. For example, you could replace the default Analyzer module with another analyzer module that plays the same role. To do so, simply replace the existing information in the default configuration file with the new information. For more information about TLP modules, see TLP Roles and Modules.

• Quality control

  Because the TLP tool does extensive consistency checks on the patch lists that are produced by the analysis tools, it increases the quality of the patch sets that are created by doing the following:

  • Resolving patch dependencies

  • Removing nonapplicable patches

  • Applying whitelists and blacklists that can you can easily customize

  • Checking the WITHDRAWN patches list

• Stand-alone patch sets

  To save disk space, patch sets are symbolically linked directly to the locally installed Sun baselines. With TLP, it is also possible to create stand-alone patch sets that are independent from the locally installed patch repository. This way, you can burn the patch sets to a CD-ROM

• Sophisticated logging

  TLP logging is controlled by a special logging configuration. By default, TLP logs information to a simple text file. Other logging destinations, or an email notification logging method, can easily be configured by modifying the default configuration file. For more information, see TLP Logging.

• Additional commands

  Most TLP modules provide additional commands for enhanced functionality. For a detailed description of the TLP server modules and their functionality, see TLP Command-Line Functionality.