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Re: [Xen-users] Patch management using Xen--A Hypothetical Scenario!

To: Jan Muhammad <janmuhd@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Patch management using Xen--A Hypothetical Scenario!
From: "Fajar A. Nugraha" <fajar@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:17:27 +0700
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On Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 7:58 PM, Jan Muhammad <janmuhd@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> 1.  'patch notification' from Microsoft/Debian or Sun/Xen or Globus for any
> patch update [depends upon who should get these update notifications]
>
> 2. Get a list of All existing images (domU's) on the system
>
> 3. Verify the integrity of the patch(such as checking digital signatures
> etc)
>
> 4. Identify which of the domU is effected and need to be patched
>

those depends on the OS on domU. Xen has little to do with it.


> 8. Once patch is applied and things haven't gone wrong (no side effects), 
> then restart the domU

this would require human verification

> Off course all of the above steps would be in some automated
> fashion.....

... which makes automated processing not possible.

an easier approach would be to use snapshot/clone-capable storage,
like zfs (in opensolaris dom0, or solaris/opensolaris NAS) or NetApp.
Snapshot the domU storage before applying the patch. At least that way
you can easily rollback if something goes wrong.

You might also be interested in this:
http://kerneltrap.org/Linux/LVM_Snapshot_Merging

-- 
Fajar

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