Applying Updates to Your Oracle Linux System

Post date 11 February, 2013

Note All command examples that are shown below assume that you have root access to the system.

Registering an Oracle Linux System with ULN

If you want to update your system from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) instead of the public yum server, you must have registered your system with ULN.

Registering an Oracle Linux 6 System with ULN

To register an Oracle Linux 6 system with ULN:

  1. Run the uln_register command.

    # uln_register

    Alternatively, if you use the GNOME graphical user desktop, select System > Administration > ULN Registration.

  2. When prompted, enter your ULN user name, password, and customer support identifier (CSI).
  3. Enter a name for the system that will allow you to identify it on ULN, and choose whether to upload hardware and software profile data that allows ULN to select the appropriate packages for the system.

Registering an Oracle Linux 4 or Oracle Linux 5 System with ULN

To register an Oracle Linux 4 or Oracle Linux 5 system with ULN:

  1. Import the RPM GPG key.

    # rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY

  2. Run the text-mode version of the up2date command.

    # up2date-nox --register
  3. When prompted, enter your ULN user name, password, and CSI.
  4. Enter a name for the system that will allow you to identify it on ULN, and choose whether to upload hardware and software profile data that allows ULN to select the appropriate packages for the system.

Subscribing Your System to Channels on ULN

When you have registered your system with ULN, you can subscribe the system to the available channels.

To subscribe a system to channels on ULN:

  1. Using a web browser, go to http://linux.oracle.com.
  2. Log in with the ULN user name and password that you used to register the machine.
  3. On the Systems tab, click the link named for your system in the list of registered machines.
  4. On the System Details page, click Manage Subscriptions.
  5. On the System Summary page, select channels from the list of available or subscribed channels and click the arrows to move the channels between the lists.
  6. When you have finished selecting channels, click Save Subscriptions.

Configuring an Oracle Linux 5 System to Use yum with ULN

Note If your Oracle Linux 5 system is registered with ULN, you can use yum instead of up2date to download and install packages. If you have installed a full update since Oracle Linux 5.6 was released on January 20, 2010, your system should already be able to use yum with ULN.

To enable yum support, install yum-rhn-plugin.

# up2date --install yum-rhn-plugin

With the plugin installed, you can immediately start to use yum instead of up2date.

The following are examples of simple yum commands:

yum repolist
List all enabled repositories.
yum list installed
List all packages that have been installed on the system.
yum list available
List the packages that are available for installation from all enabled repositories.
yum info package
Display information about a specified package.
yum install package
Install the specified package, including all the packages on which it depends.
yum list updates
List the available package updates.
yum remove package
Remove the specified package.

Using yum to Apply an Update

Use the following command to update all installed packages:

# yum update

Use the following command to update a specific package:

# yum update package

For more information, see the yum(8) manual page.

Using up2date to Apply an Update

Use the following command to update all installed packages:

# up2date -u

Use the following command to update a specific package:

# up2date -u package

For more information, see the up2date(8) manual page.

Applying Updates from the Oracle Public Yum Server

The Oracle public yum server is a convenient way to install Oracle Linux and Oracle VM packages, including bug fixes, security fixes and enhancements, rather than installing them from installation media. You can access the server and find out more information at http://public-yum.oracle.com/.

You can also subscribe to the Oracle Linux and Oracle VM errata mailing lists to be notified when new packages are released. You can access the mailing lists at https://oss.oracle.com/mailman/listinfo/el-errata and https://oss.oracle.com/mailman/listinfo/oraclevm-errata.