Oracle Enterprsie Linux v4 Patch Question
 

Hi,

Although I can navigate round Unix/Linux systems which I need for VMware ESX based work, I have an Oracle Enterprise Linux VM that I need to patch the kernel for.

Currently it is at:
Linux version 2.6.9-78.0.0.0.1.ELsmp (mockbuild@ca-build15.us.oracle.com) (gcc version 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-10)) #1 SMP Fri Jul 25 14:41:56 EDT 2008

Enterprise Linux Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (October Update 7)


I need to get it to the equivalent Oracle Enterprise Linux version of:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 u7 (2.6.9-78.0.13.elsmp)

I understand the -78 is the Update version, in this case update 7, and the 0.13 is the errata version, but I have no idea how to patch the damn thing. I have been asked to use yum by the developers, but doing a yum list I cant see any packages with that revision.

My questions are these:

1) How does a kernel version relate to what packages to install, i.e. the .0.13, how the hell do I find out what to install to get it there, is there any correlation in the numbering scheme to the package id?
2) How do I actually execute the upgrade using yum? I dont have access to redhat network, so I cant download the individual rpm, even if I knew which one it was!(See 1 above)

Thanks, really appreciate it.

1. The kernel is independent of the packages. You could be running an ancient version of OpenOffice, on a brand-new kernel. But if you're talking about the kernel, it will sometimes depend on the vendor, and their release cycle.
2. "yum update <whatever package name>". If you don't have access to the RHN, though, you should either subscribe to it (and pay for access), or load a community-supported version of the OS, like CentOS. But if you're running Oracle Enterprise Linux, your best bet would be to contact Oracle support, and get them to walk you through the update/upgrade procedure. They probably even have a TID for it.

I'd contact Oracle, assuming you have paid for this ie it's not just a copy of another system.