Selecting the Best Method for Applying Patches (Sun Patch Manager 2.0 Administration Guide for the Solaris 9 Operating System)

Sun Patch Manager 2.0 Administration Guide for the Solaris 9 Operating System

Selecting the Best Method for Applying Patches

You can use several different methods to download or apply one or more patches to your system. Use the following table to determine which method is best for your needs.

Command or Tool	Description	For More Information
`smpatch update`	Starting with the Solaris 8 release – Use this command to analyze your system to determine the appropriate patches, and to automatically download and apply the patches. Note that this command will not apply a patch that has the `interactive` property set. Note – For Solaris 8 systems, only the local mode `smpatch` is available.	How to Update Your System With Patches (Command Line) smpatch(1M) man page
`smpatch analyze` and `smpatch update`	Starting with the Solaris 8 release – First, use `smpatch analyze` to analyze your system to determine the appropriate patches. Then, use `smpatch update` to download and apply one or more of the patches to your system. Note – For Solaris 8 systems, only the local mode `smpatch` is available.	How to Analyze Your System to Obtain the List of Patches to Apply (Command Line) How to Update Your System With Patches (Command Line) smpatch(1M) man page
`smpatch analyze`, `smpatch download`, and `smpatch add`	Starting with the Solaris 8 release – First, use `smpatch analyze` to analyze your system to determine the appropriate patches. Then, use `smpatch download` to download them. This command also downloads any prerequisite patches. Then, use `smpatch add` to apply one or more of the patches to your system while the system is in single-user or multiuser mode. Note – For Solaris 8 systems, only the local mode `smpatch` is available.	Managing Patches by Using the Command-Line Interface (Task Map) smpatch(1M) man page
Patch Manager browser interface	Starting with the Solaris 9 release – Use this tool when you want the convenience of a web browser tool to manage patches. The browser interface enables you to do the following: Analyze your system to determine the appropriate patches Update the system with one or more patches Remove patches View the list of applied patches View the patch management tool logs Configure your patch management environment	Managing Solaris Patches by Using the Sun Patch Manager Browser Interface (Task Map)
`patchadd`	Starting with the Solaris 2.6 release – Apply unsigned patches to your system. Starting with the Solaris 9 12/03 release – Use this command to apply either signed or unsigned patches to your system. To apply signed patches, you must first set up your package keystore.	patchadd(1M) man page
Solaris Management Console Patches tool	Starting with the Solaris 9 release – Use this tool when you want the convenience of a GUI tool to manage signed patches.	Solaris Management Console online help

If you choose to use the smpatch command-line interface or the Patch manager browser interface, see Chapter 4, Getting Started With Sun Patch Manager (Overview) for additional information that might affect which method you select to apply patches.