Comparison of Sun Patch Manager User Interfaces

The following table summarizes the Sun Patch Manager 2.0 features and tasks that are supported by the command-line interface (smpatch) and the browser interface.

While you can use the browser interface to perform the basic patch management tasks, you can use the smpatch command to perform those tasks and many others.

Note –

The browser interface that was originally released with the Sun Patch Manager 2.0 product for Solaris 9 systems has been withdrawn.

The Patch Manager product will be replaced by the new Sun Update Manager product.

Feature/Task	Command-Line Interface	Browser Interface
Can perform patch management operations on a remote system?	Yes, in remote mode `smpatch` only. Local mode `smpatch` can only be run on the local system.	No
Supports RBAC?	Yes	Yes
Can analyze a system for patches?	Yes	Yes
Can perform scheduled patch analyses?	Yes, use `cron` to run the `smpatch analyze` command.	Yes
Can download individual patches?	Yes	No, individual patches are downloaded only when they are applied.
Can resolve patch dependencies?	Sometimes. If you run `smpatch add`, patch dependencies are not resolved. However, if you run `smpatch update` or `smpatch analyze -i` `patch-id`, patch dependencies are resolved.	Yes
Can remove more than one patch at a time?	No, `smpatch remove` can remove just one patch at a time.	Yes
Can update a system with patches?	Yes	Yes
Can be run while the system is in single-user mode?	Yes, limited operations of local mode `smpatch` only.	No
Can access patches from a local patch server?	Yes	Yes
Can operate on patch lists?	Yes	No
Can configure the patch management environment for your system?	Yes	Yes