Hi ,

I want to patch my redhat version 2.1,4.0,4.6 to latest version available.Can you please tell me the steps and command to patch the redhat these redhat versions to their latest available patches.

Thanks
Ravinder

2.1,4.0,4.6? Is that supposed to be a single version or is that three different versions? You can't upgrade 2.1 anymore, it's VERY obsolete. 4.x is also obsolete now, so you won't get much updated on those, although up2date would be the tool to achieve that with. With the appropriate licensing you can rebuild these boxes to 6.2 if you wish, but you will not be able to upgrade to that version, the differences are huge, and it's an awful thing to try to do.

Note that for ANY progress you must have RHN access, and by asking these questions, it sounds like you probably don't, in which case you won't be able to upgrade anything.

In general you could try upgrading to the latest version of your current version and then go up a major release. I've also went from REL 3 to REL 5 in a single step. The best way to do this is to take and restore your DR backup onto clean metal and then test the upgrading procedure.

If you read the relevant RHEL documents, you will learn that RH NEVER recommends a preservation or in-place upgrade between major levels of the operating system. (Minor ones are another matter, that IS supported.) Since the vendor does not support the path you suggest, you are very much on your own even if you HAVE current support!

If you have a "scratch" machine you can use for a "swap" box for the upgrade migrations, I suggest loading it with the latest version, then migrating your applications, configuration, accounts, and data to the new box, use it to replace the old box once it has been fully tested, then re-purpose the old box as the swap box for the next server.

This "SWAP" system is my favored method for upgrading my systems. The only vendor who has elegant native support for preservation install migrations woudl be IBM for AIX, and even they recommend that a clean install is better.

totally. If it's a server worth running RHEL on it's worth being serious about it and rebuilding the boxes.

Unfortunately in my situation the decision was taken to go from 3 to 5 by the business in conjunction with the main application vendor so I got the short straw and had to go with their wishes. While it may not be recommended as an upgrade path it was available as an option and RH were willing to continue our support having been made aware of our intentions.

Just saying.