Chapter 15. Software and Patch Management | HP Certified: HP-UX System Administration

Chapter Syllabus

15.1 Software Packaging Structure

15.2 Listing Installed Software

15.3 Installing New Software

15.4 Removing Software

15.5 Verifying Installed Software

15.6 Managing Software Depots

15.7 HP-UX Patches

15.8 Installing and Removing Patches

15.9 SD-UX Commands

Software on HP-UX systems is managed using Hewlett-Packard's Software Distributor, commonly known as SD-UX. This is not only a set of commands and utilities, but a system that defines how software should be packaged, bundled, copied , installed, and removed. SD-UX is based on the IEEE software distribution standard. It provides many commands that are used to install, remove, list, and verify software. SD-UX is used for managing and distributing operating systems, applications, and HP-UX patches. In a network environment, SD-UX can be used to set up a central software server from which any system on the network can install software as needed.

The main functions of SD-UX are to:

install software
remove software
list installed software
verify installed software
copy and package software
configure software

SD-UX can be used in either graphical user interface (GUI) or in a text user interface (TUI). The commands can also be used without any interface by using command line arguments.

SD-UX is used to manipulate all types of software, including HP-UX patches. The patches are additional software components that are released by Hewlett-Packard from time to time. These are used to add new functionality to existing system and application software, fixing bugs , or adding support of new hardware.

In this chapter, you will learn how the software is packaged and what the components of a software package are. You will use commands to list installed software, install new software, and remove installed software. Sometimes you need to verify the integrity of the installed software. SD-UX provides commands to verify installed software. Software depots are placeholders for software. You will see how to manage software depots with the help of SD-UX. An introduction to patches will be presented. You will learn how you can obtain patches for your software or hardware and how to install these. At the end of the chapter, a summary of commands used with SD-UX will be presented.

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