Systems Software Updates

Windows

Software Update Services (SUS) is an extension to Microsoft's Windows Automatic Update. Since more and more security vulnerabilities and other stability issues target Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems, SUS is a great tool for managing and distributing critical Windows patches within UCAR.

In order to automatically and securely keep Windows computers on the network up-to-date with security patches and other critical updates, we are pleased to offer Software Update Service to SCD staff. Currently, this is specifically for Win2k and WinXP.

Computers where Automatic updates will run properly includes:

Windows 2000, Service Pack 3 or above.
Windows XP, Service Pack 1 or above.
Windows Server 2003.

Macintosh

To upgrade all operating system components: From the Apple menu or Dock, select "System Preferences". Open the "Software Updates" preferences panel, and select the "Update Now" button.

Red Hat Linux

A list of all updates, including security fixes, is available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/

Purchasers of boxed Red Hat software can register for automatic updates at http://www.redhat.com/network/.

To subscribe to Red Hat's security announcements list, send email to redhat-watch-list-request@redhat.com with the subject line "subscribe". To unsubscribe, send email to the same address with the subject line "unsubscribe".

Sun Solaris

Sun releases security updates as both individual patches and "patch clusters". The easiest method of keeping up to date with patches is to install the Sun "recommended" patch cluster. This is essentially a collection of all the patches that should be installed on your system to close security holes and fix general system bugs. We do not recommend installing every single patch that comes out, since some patches may introduce new problems into your system. The "recommended" patch cluster is a collection of only those patches that you really should have. The most recent Sun recommended patch cluster can be obtained directly from Sun's web site at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/patches. Download the recommended patch cluster for your version of Solaris. View the readme included with the patch cluster for instructions on how to install it. Also note that you can view the release notes for the patch by clicking the "?" button beside the patch on Sun's web site. Viewing the release notes will tell you what is new in the patch cluster and the date it was last updated.