Creating Update Policies

An Update policy defines the level of interaction required during an OS update job for Oracle Solaris and Linux operating systems. Policies define how to answer any questions that are raised during installation, uninstallation, or upgrade of Oracle Solaris and Linux updates.

The following system-defined policies are available in the software:

  • Ask for All: The software stops the update job for each action and consults you on all action to take.

  • No to All: The software denies all actions.

  • Yes to All: The software confirms all actions.

Note:

By default, all operating system update plans use the yes to all policy.

You can create customized policies that answer differently depending on the specific OS update component. For example, when you want to review the questions and manually supply answers for patch 121288, which is part of the Oracle Solaris 10 Recommended updates from February 23, 2012, you can choose to set a specific policy for that patch, as shown in Figure 8-4.

Figure 8-4 OS Update Policies and User Defined Policy Details

Description of Figure 8-4 follows
Description of "Figure 8-4 OS Update Policies and User Defined Policy Details"

Policy settings are hierarchical. When there is not a policy setting for a component, the policy for that component's parent applies. For example, it is possible to create a policy that allows the system to install a given component but prohibits installation of certain specific versions of that component.

Note:

The policy only applies to actions that are implicitly generated by the dependency resolver. If a conflict occurs between a profile and policy, the profile overrides the policy.

The update policy is not applicable when updating Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Creating a User-defined Policy

Procedure to create a user-defined policy.

  1. Expand Plan Management, then click Update Policies in the Navigation pane.
  2. Click Create Policy in the Actions pane.
  3. Identify the policy by providing a name and description.
  4. Click the Available Packages / Patches tab to view all available packages and updates. Use the search criteria to refine the list:

    • Distribution: The operating system distribution, such as Oracle Solaris 9 for SPARC, Oracle Solaris 10 for SPARC, or Oracle Solaris 10 for x86

    • Category: Package category, such as Cluster, Recommended Software Configuration, or Hardware

    • View: View all, available, withdrawn, modified packages/updates, or reboot

    • Version: View All Versions or filter for the Latest Versions

    Figure 8-5 Create OS Update Policy

    Description of Figure 8-5 follows
    Description of "Figure 8-5 Create OS Update Policy"
  5. Select the component, then click an icon for the type of policy you want for the component, either Answer Questions Yes, Answer Questions No, or Answer Questions Ask User.
  6. (Optional) To view details of the component, click the View icon.
  7. Click Create OS Update Policy.