Sun Patch Manager 2.0 Administration Guide for the Solaris 8 Operating System

Specifying the Source of Patches

When you use Patch Manager, your client systems must have access to Solaris patches and patch data. Client systems can obtain patches from these sources:

Patch server The Sun patch server, which provides access to Solaris patches and patch data.
Local collection of patches A collection of patches and patch data that is stored in a directory available to the local system. Such a directory might be a local directory, a shared network directory, or a CD mounted on your local system.

The default source of patches for client systems is the Sun patch server. As a result, any client system that obtains patches from the Sun patch server must be connected, either directly or through a web proxy, to the Internet.

Note

If you use a Solaris 9 local patch server, clients can also access patches and patch data from the following sources:

Local patch server obtains patches from the Sun patch server Your client systems obtain patches from a local patch server on your intranet. The local patch server obtains patches from the Sun patch server.

This configuration requires that only the local patch server be connected, directly or through a web proxy, to the Internet.
Local patch server obtains patches from a local collection of patches Your client systems are connected to a local patch server, which obtains patches and patch data from a collection of patches on the local patch server.

This configuration does not require that the client systems and local patch server be connected to the Internet.

For instructions on specifying the source of patches for your local patch server, see ``How to Change Configuration Settings for Your Local Patch Server (Command Line)'' in the Sun Patch Manager 2.0 Administration Guide for the Solaris 9 Operating System.

Note

The local patch server is an optional Sun Patch Manager 2.0 feature that you can obtain at no charge if you are a contract customer in the SunSpectrum program.

For information about becoming a contract customer or obtaining the local patch server distribution, go to http://sunsolve.sun.com and click Patch Portal.

For instructions on specifying the source of patches for your client system, see How to Specify the Source of Patches.