[CentOS] running yum update on remote servers

Mon Feb 25 15:58:54 UTC 2013
Phil Gardner <phil.gardnerjr at gmail.com>

On 02/25/2013 08:48 AM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
> I have read a couple old threads here on updates for servers, and I am 
> looking for some mechanics to getting the actual updates done.  I don't 
> want automatic updates; I want to control when and what gets updated.
> 
> First I have to determine that a particular server needs updates.  I 
> suppose a daily script that would run "yum check-updates' and emails me 
> the results could work, but then I would only want the email IF there 
> was something to update, at my limited use of this option does not show 
> anything to trigger a notify on changes.  Does anyone know of a script 
> that would do this?
> 
> Then there is the actual update.  I learned long ago NOT to run yum over 
> an SSH connection, as WHEN that connection breaks in the middle of an 
> update, you can have quite a problem to clean up.  All I have done 
> todate is to start vncserver and connect via vnc to then run yum.  I can 
> even drop the vnc connection and come back later to check results.  I 
> have considered running yum disconnected (? when you end a command with 
> &) and log the results to a file that you check later.  What are 
> practical approaches to this?  I only have a few servers here to manage.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> CentOS mailing list
> CentOS at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
> 

Pulp is a Red Hat sponsored python application that manages local repo
mirrors (basically a light version of Spacewalk). It has a client app
that you can use to communicate with the Pulp server and bind to
specific repositories. You can view the package catalog on each
consumer, and then can push updates out to consumers at will. It uses
MongoDB as the backend database where it keeps track of the package
metadata, and has a pretty useful REST API.

http://www.pulpproject.org/

-- 
_____________________
Phil Gardner
PGP Key ID 0xFECC890C
OTR Fingerprint 6707E9B8 BD6062D3 5010FE8B 36D614E3 D2F80538