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All the mainstream Sun documentation on the Sun Connection or Update Manager expects the server to have a GUI, which I completely don’t understand. As a matter of fact, their whole installation process is just as backwards and assumes the same thing. They have a server package installation, and it installs GNOME, duh! Anyway, you do a custom install and check and uncheck all the little boxes and deal with all the dependency issues to install a normal server installation without a GUI. But then, you want to be able to update your server to the latest patch levels, but you don’t have a GUI to register your system. Well, I finally found the tech note that shows how to register from the command line. Here’s how you do it:

cp /usr/lib/breg/data/RegistrationProfile.properties /tmp
vi /tmp/ RegistrationProfile.properties

Fill in the appropriate settings, then run the following command:

# /usr/sbin/sconadm register -a -r /tmp/RegistrationProfile.properties
sconadm is running
Authenticating user …
finish registration!

Note: If you can’t find /usr/lib/breg/data/RegistrationProfile.properties, just create a file in /tmp with the following values (since it has your Sun Online password in it, make sure you set the file permissions to 400) :

userName=
password=
hostName=
subscriptionKey= (if you don’t include this you only get security updates)
portalEnabled=false
proxyHostName=
proxyPort=
proxyUserName=
proxyPassword=

Now you can update your system using the smpatch command which will download and install the updates for you:

# smpatch analyze
119253-24 SunOS 5.10_x86: System Administration Applications Patch
124631-15 SunOS 5.10_x86: System Administration Applications, Network, and Core Libraries Patch
121431-22 SunOS 5.8_x86 5.9_x86 5.10_x86: Live Upgrade Patch
119535-13 SunOS 5.10_x86: Flash Archive Patch
119255-52 SunOS 5.10_x86: Install and Patch Utilities Patch
125387-04 SunOS 5.10_x86: aac driver patch
119813-07 X11 6.6.2_x86: Freetype patch
127887-05 SunOS 5.10_x86: ipf patch
126267-01 SunOS 5.10_x86: ibd patch
126648-02 SunOS 5.10_x86: InfiniBand patch
128029-04 SunOS 5.10_x86: e1000g patch
…

# smpatch update
119253-24 has been validated.
124631-15 has been validated.
121431-22 has been validated.
119535-13 has been validated.
119255-52 has been validated.
125387-04 has been validated.
119813-07 has been validated.
127887-05 has been validated.
126267-01 has been validated.
126648-02 has been validated.
128029-04 has been validated.
…
Installing patches from /var/sadm/spool…
119253-24 has been applied.
124631-15 has been applied.
NOTICE: Patch 121431-22 cannot be installed because it is typed as “interactive” which is prohibited by policy.
119535-13 has been applied.
119255-52 has been applied.
NOTICE: Update 125387-04 cannot be applied at this time since it is typed as “single user” which is disallowed by installation policy.
NOTICE: Patch 125387-04 cannot be installed until the next system shutdown.
119813-07 has been applied.
NOTICE: Update 127887-05 cannot be applied at this time since it is typed as “reboot immediate” which is disallowed by installation policy.
NOTICE: Patch 127887-05 cannot be installed until the next system shutdown.
126267-01 has been applied.
126648-02 has been applied.
128029-04 has been applied.
…
ID’s of the updates that are disallowed by installation policy have been
written to file
/var/sadm/spool/disallowed_patch_list

One or more updates that you installed requires a system shutdown to activate it. To initiate the system shutdown, you must use one of the following commands:
o Drop to the firmware prompt - init 0 or shutdown -i 0
o Power down the system - init 5 or shutdown -i 5
o Restart the system - init 6 or shutdown -i 6

Reboot to install additional patches (obviously during a maintenance window):

# init 6

Here’s what you will see on the console during the reboot:

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 @ 4:11 pm on the category Technical.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.