Enable Oracle Ksplice in Oracle Linux

Introduction

Oracle Ksplice provides a method of patching your Oracle Linux system that has the following advantages:

• Critical security patches for Linux kernels, hypervisors, and critical userspace libraries are applied immediately.
• Updates are non-intrusive because the process does not require reboots and system downtime.

Two modes are available for setting up an Oracle Ksplice client: the online mode and the offline mode. Moreover, you can set up either a standard client, where only the kernel is updated, or an enhanced client, which supports userspace and Xen and adds known exploit detection.

Some information sources refer to the Ksplice uptrack client. The uptrack client is a subset of the functionality of the enhanced client and only patches the kernel. In other words, this tutorial refers to the uptrack client when describing the standard client.

Note: Oracle Ksplice is automatically installed and enabled on Oracle Linux instances running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). You do not need to register these instances with ULN to use Oracle Ksplice.

Objectives

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

• Set up an enhanced client through an online connection with the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN)
• Register with Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) and install the necessary Oracle Ksplice packages.

Prerequisites

• Minimum of a single Oracle Linux system

• Each system should have Oracle Linux installed and configured with:

  • A non-root user account with sudo access
  • Access to the internet
  • Obtain a Customer Support Identifier (CSI) by creating an account with ULN

Add the CSI to ULN

1. On your browser, go to https://linux.oracle.com.
2. Do one of the following steps:
   • If you do not have an account with ULN yet, click Register and follow the instructions to create an account and obtain a CSI. Then, sign in to ULN.
   • If you already have an account, click Sign In and use your Single Sign-On (SSO) credentials to log in.
3. After logging in, click Profile.
4. If you do not see your CSI in the list on the displayed table, click Add Row and type the CSI in the appropriate field.

Register the System with ULN

1. Verify that the installation of the rhn-setup package exists on the system.

   sudo dnf info rhn-setup
   

   If the package is not listed as installed, install it.

   sudo dnf install -y rhn-setup
   

2. Register the system with ULN.

   uln_register
   

   The command opens a text user interface (TUI).

3. Use the Tab, Spacebar, and Enter keys to navigate through the different buttons and screens of the TUI to provide the information as prompted.

   Unless you have specific preferences, accepting the default values of the screen prompts is sufficient.

   Using the TUI, you create a profile that is uploaded to ULN. At the end of the process, you’re returned to the system prompt.

Subscribe the System to Oracle Ksplice Channels

1. Using your browser, return to the ULN home page and refresh the page if necessary.

   The Recently Registered Systems table should include the system that you just registered.

2. Click the newly registered system’s name to display its details in the System tab.

3. On the system’s details page, click Manage Subscriptions.

4. Double click Ksplice aware user packages for Oracle Linux <version> from the Available Channels panel on the left. Select the <version> matching that of your Oracle Linux installation.

   This package is needed to set up an enhanced Oracle Ksplice client. Double-clicking moves the item to the Subscribed Channels panel on the right.

   Note: The Ksplice for Oracle Linux <version> package should already be listed under the Subscribed Channels panel. If not, search for this item on the Available Channels on the left panel and double-click the name to move it to the Subscribed Channels panel.

5. Click Save Subscriptions.

Install the Oracle Ksplice Packages

1. Open a terminal window on your Oracle Linux system or connect to it using SSH.

2. Ensure you enable the Oracle Ksplice repositories for Oracle Linux instances running in OCI.

   sudo dnf config-manager --enable ol8_ksplice,ol8_x86_64_userspace_ksplice
   

3. Verify the Oracle Ksplice repositories are enabled.

   sudo dnf repolist
   

   You’ll see the Ksplice for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) and Ksplice aware userspace packages for Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) in the list.

4. Install the uptrack packages.

   sudo dnf install ksplice uptrack -y
   

5. Install the enhanced Oracle Ksplice client and userspace packages.

   sudo dnf update -y
   

6. Verify the Oracle Ksplice userspace packages installed.

   rpm -q glibc openssl
   

   Notice the .ksplice as part of the version string.

Perform Additional Configuration

Edit the /etc/uptrack/uptrack.conf file to further configure how Oracle Ksplice applies system updates.

1. Configure Oracle Ksplice to install all available updates at system boot by uncommenting the upgrade_on_reboot = yes line.

2. Apply updates through a scheduled cron job by changing the value of autoinstall from no to yes.

3. Save the changes and reboot the system.

   sudo systemctl reboot
   

For more information

See other related resources:

• Oracle Ksplice Documentation
• Oracle Linux Documentation
• Oracle Linux Training Station

More Learning Resources

Explore other labs on docs.oracle.com/learn or access more free learning content on the Oracle Learning YouTube channel. Additionally, visit education.oracle.com/learning-explorer to become an Oracle Learning Explorer.

For product documentation, visit Oracle Help Center.

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Title and Copyright Information

Enable Oracle Ksplice in Oracle Linux

F45999-10

July 2024

Copyright ©2021,

Oracle and/or its affiliates.