System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

Tools for Managing Solaris Patches

The following table summarizes Solaris patch management features.

Feature	`patchadd`/`patchrm` Commands	Solaris 2.6, 7, and 8 Patch Management Tools	Solaris 9 Patch Management Tools	PatchPro Interactive or PatchPro Expert
How do I get this tool?	Bundled in Solaris release (`SUNWswmt`)	Must download tool from http://www.sun.com/PatchPro	Must download tool from http://www.sun.com/PatchPro	Run tool from http://www.sun.com/PatchPro
Solaris release availability	Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and 9 releases	Solaris 2.6, 7, and 8	Solaris 9	Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and 9
Adds signed patches?	Yes, and automatically verifies the signed patch when it is downloaded	Yes, and automatically verifies the signed patch when it is downloaded	Yes, and automatically verifies the signed patch when it is downloaded	No
Adds unsigned patches?	Yes	No	Yes, but the patches must be unzipped first	Yes, but the patches must be unzipped first
GUI available?	No	No	Yes	No
Analyzes system for required patches and downloads signed or unsigned patches	No	Yes, both signed and unsigned patches	Yes, both signed and unsigned patches	Yes, unsigned patches only
Local and remote system patch support	Local	Local	Local and Remote	No
RBAC support?	Yes	No	Yes	No

Detailed information about how to install and back out a patch is provided in the patchadd(1M) and patchrm(1M) man pages. Each patch also contains a README file that contains information about the patch.

Selecting the Best Method for Adding Signed Patches

After you have installed a patch management tool, you can use several different methods of downloading or adding a signed patch or patches to your system. Use the following table to determine which method is best for your needs.

Command or Tool	Description	For More Information
`patchadd`	Starting in the Solaris 9 12/03 release – Use this command to add signed patches to your system after your have set up your package keystore.	patchadd(1M)
`smpatch update`	Solaris 2.6, Solaris 7, Solaris 8, and at least Solaris 9 4/03 – Use this command to identify the recommended patches and automatically download and apply the patches to your system. Notice that this command will not apply a patch that has the interactive property set.	smpatch(1M)
`smpatch analyze`	Use this command to identify required patches and display a list of required patch IDs for your system. Then, you could use the `smpatch` `download` and `smpatch` `add` commands to download and add the patches to your system.	`smpatch(1M)`
`smpatch download` and `smpatch add`	Use these commands to download and apply one or more patches to your system. These commands also download and apply any prerequisite patches.	“Downloading and Applying Signed Patches to a Solaris System (Task Map)” in Signed Patches Administration Guide for PatchPro 2.2
`ftp` and `smpatch add`	Use the `ftp` command to transfer a patch or patches to your system. Then, use the `smpatch add` command to add the patch or patches to your system.	“Downloading and Applying Signed Patches to a Solaris System (Task Map)” in Signed Patches Administration Guide for PatchPro 2.2
Solaris Management Console Patches Tool	For Solaris 9 systems only – Use this tool when you want the convenience of a GUI tool to manage signed patches.	Solaris Management Console online help