This section will review how to update an Oracle VM Server. We will begin with a brief overview of Oracle VM to help explain the options available to update an Oracle VM Server. Following the Oracle VM overview, we will walk through the process to register and update an Oracle VM Server from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) using the up2date command.

 

Oracle VM is a freely downloadable Open Source Enterprise server virtualization solution. Oracle VM is an integral piece of Oracle Grid, which provides centralized management of Oracle and none Oracle workloads from pools of physical and virtual resources. Oracle VM follows the Open Source model of free to use and distribute with or without commercial support. Oracle offers commercial support for Oracle VM via the Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program. 

 

Oracle VM consists of two components, the Oracle VM Server and the Oracle VM Manager. Oracle VM Server is Oracle’s enhanced Xen hypervisor that is responsible for running the virtual machines. Oracle VM Manager is a middleware component that provides web based centralized life cycle management for an Oracle VM environment.

 

Figure 1.0 shows a single x86 Oracle VM server with four virtual machines, two RAC nodes, one Oracle VM Manager Template and one 11g Template.

 

The Oracle Unbreakable Linux support program allows customers to open Oracle VM and Linux Service Requests (SRs) 24/7 as well as access to the ULN network. Existing Oracle support customers use the same support infrastructure i.e. phone number and web portal to log and track Oracle VM Service Requests (SR) as with Tech and App SRs. ULN is an online resource for Oracle Unbreakable Linux subscribers that offers access to Linux and Oracle VM software patches, updates and fixes. ULN can be access from registered Linux and Oracle VM hosts with the up2date program as well as with a web browser by pointing the browser to http://linux.oracle.com. 

 

Note: ULN and My Oracle Support (formally Metalink) are two separate systems, accessed by different URLs and user name and passwords. ULN is used to access Oracle VM and Linux patches, updates and fixes and My Oracle Support is used to manage SRs. 

 

Figure 1.1 shows the ULN portal.

 

There are two options to update an Oracle VM Server. The first option is to use the up2date command from the Oracle VM Server’s console. Using the up2date command requires ULN access. The second option is to upgrade the system to the latest version using bootable Oracle VM media. Oracle VM media is freely downloadable from Oracle’s eDelivery system at http://edelivery.oracle.com/linux.

 

Figure 1.2 shows the Oracle VM update options.

 

The difference between the two Oracle VM update methods is a) the ability to perform incremental updates or b) platform upgrades. Using the up2date command with ULN allows the Oracle VM server to receive incremental updates, patches, security fixes as well as new revisions. Using the bootable media requires the machine to be restarted and to select the update option from the boot prompt. Selecting the update option from the boot prompt will update the Oracle VM Server to the version of the bootable media, e.g. from 2.1.1 to 2.1.2.

 

Figure 1.3 shows the System to Upgrade boot prompt. From the System to Upgrade boot prompt administrators can select to reinstall the system or to upgrade.

 

When the up2date command is executed from the Oracle VM Server’s console, up2date connects to the ULN repository and downloads the requested packages in RPM format. Up2date then installs the packages on the registered Oracle VM server. Please consult up2date’s man page by executing “man up2date” from the Oracle VM Server’s console as root for a comprehensive list of command augments.

 

This section will walk through the process or registering and updating an Oracle VM Server. The examples will all be performed from the Oracle VM Server’s console using the up2date command as the root user.

 

Before we update the Oracle VM Server, lets review how to determine the Oracle VM Server release number and Xen version. Determining the Oracle VM Server release number and Xen version will help track the life cycle of the update process.

 

To determine the Oracle VM Server release number, we will read the /etc/ovs-release file using the cat command from the Oracle VM Server console as show in the next example. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section will start with an overview of the registration process, followed with the procedure to register and update an Oracle VM server using up2date and ULN.

 

The registration process will require you to enter a user name, password and a valid Oracle VM Support Identifier (CSI) number. The user name and password that is used during the registration process will be become the default ULN user name and password. Both the user name and password can be changed after the registration process via the ULN portal. 

 

Note: ULN and My Oracle Support (formerly Metalink) are separate systems with separate user name and password.

 

The first step is to import Oracle’s GPG key using the rpm command. From the Oracle VM Server console run the following command.

#rpm --import /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

Once the Oracle’s GPG key has been imported, we can register the Oracle VM Server with ULN. From the Oracle VM Server console run the up2date command as show in the next example.

 

 

 

 

From the Review the Unbreakable Linux Privacy Statement section use the Alt key to highlight the Next tab, once the Next tab is highlighted hit the enter key to proceed.  

 

 

From the Register a User Account section enter a User name, password, password confirmation and a valid Oracle VM CSI number. Use the Alt key to highlight the Next tab, and then hit the Enter key to proceed.

 

 

From the Register a system Profile – Hardware section accept the defaults and use the Alt key to highlight the Next tab. Once the Next tab is highlighted hit the Enter key to proceed.

 

Note: The information gathered from the system profile steps are saved on the ULN network. 

 

 

 

Note: The information gathered from the system profile steps are saved on the ULN network.

 

Figure 1.7 shows the Register a system Profile – Packages section.

 

 

Figure 1.8 shows the Send Profile Information to the Unbreakable Linux Network section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After successfully registering the system with ULN lets return to the Oracle VM Server console to perform an update. From the Oracle VM console as root, type “up2date –u” to update the system as show in the following example.  

 

 

The default update configuration for Oracle VM Server is not to update the kernel. If we review the output from the up2date command in our example, note the “The following Packages were marked to be skipped by your configuration:” section. This is where the list of skipped packages is displayed. The skipped packages list can be configured by running the “up2date-config –nox” command from the Oracle VM Server console as root.

 

The primary advantage of the default skip list is to avoid a 'blind' upgrade, which could affect any software, utilities, third-party drivers that are dependent on a specific kernel version. If the skip list is modified to allow kernel updated, a kernel update will retain the previous kernel so the system can be rebooted into the previous kernel in the event that things go wrong. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To validate the Oracle VM Server release number, we will read the /etc/ovs-release file using the cat command from the Oracle VM Server console as show in the next example.