I loved the authors Nipper security audit tool for network devices. It was one of the greatest utilities I have ever come across and this is no ordinary as well.

Sun Patch Utility can make life for Admin much easier and can be included in scripts to run in a big Sun Server farm to help stay on top of the recommended patch status.

To install, you need to have GNU C Compiler installed on the server. For more information on installing GNU C Compiler on your Sun Server click here. While if you choose to run on a Linux system most if not all should by default have the GNU C compiler installed.

Once GNU C Compiler is installed.

Download the source

solaris10# wget

http://www.titania.co.uk/downloads/sunpatchcheck-1.6.tgz

Unzip & untar the downloaded file

solaris10# gzip sunpatchcheck-1.6.tgz

solaris10# tar -xvf sunpatchcheck-1.6.tar

Change Directory to sunpatchcheck-1.6

solaris10# cd sunpatchcheck-1.6

Run the compiler

solaris10 ~/sunpatchcheck-1.6# gcc -o sunpatchcheck sunpatchcheck.c

That should install the utility.

Update Database

Sun Patch Check maintains individual database for the latest recommended patches for each of the Sun Solaris versions (SPARC/Intel)

solaris10 ~/sunpatchcheck-1.6# ./sunpatchcheck –update

Run showrev

Run a showrev -p on your Sun Server and pipe it to a text file

solaris10 ~/sunpatchcheck-1.6# showrev -p > showrev_intel10.txt

Now compare the results

solaris10 ~/sunpatchcheck-1.6# ./sunpatchcheck –check=showrev_intel10.txt –solaris=10i

where

–check instructs to check the file mentioned

–solaris denotes the version of Sun Solaris against which this showrev is run. This can 10,9,8,7,2.6,2.5.1 (where applicable if the platform is intel, use an “i” like 10i)

This should compare and give you the results.

For more options,

solaris10 ~/sunpatchcheck-1.6# ./sunpatchcheck –help

In my previous write up here, I wrote a brief description of the Sun VTS (Validation and Test Suite) which can help one to run tests on any Sun Supported hardware and hardware components and report the health status and identify faulty devices. Now, lets get installing and run Sun VTS in Solaris 10.

Download the most recent stable version of SUNWvts (SUNWvts6.4ps2 at the time of writing this article) for SPARC/x86 platforms from here

NOTE: Requires Sunsolve login to download.

Sun VTS requires the following packages installed to run properly.

Core SunVTS Framework

SUNWvts_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvts_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z (x86)

Sun VTS Tests

SUNWvtsts_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvtsts_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z (x86)

SunVTS Framework Configuration Files in Root partition (Optional/Recommended)

SUNWvtsr_VTS6.4ps2_sparc.tar.Z

SUNWvtsr_VTS6.4ps2_x86.tar.Z
 
Sun VTS Man Pages (Optional)
SUNWvtsmn_VTS6.4ps1_sparc.tar.Z (SPARC)

SUNWvtsmn_VTS6.4ps1_x86.tar.Z (x86)

Prior to installation, it is important that any previous version of the above mentioned Sun VTS packages are removed.

To check if previous versions are installed

solaris10# pkginfo -l | grep -i vts

If found uninstall them before proceeding with the procedure

solaris10# pkgrm SUNWvts SUNWvtsr SUNWvtsts SUNWvtsmn

Download and install the latest revision of Microtasking libraries (libmtsk) patch for Solaris 10 from the following Sun Solve website:

http://sunsolve.sun.com/show.do?target=patchpage

Solaris 10 SPARC – 120753 (120753-05)

Solaris 10 x86 – 120754 (120754-05)

Download unzip and install the patch:

SPARC

solaris10# unzip 120753-05.zip

solaris10# patchadd 120753-05

x86

solaris10# unzip 120754-05.zip

solaris10# patchadd 120754-05

Now, lets get installing the Sun VTS packages.

Install SunVTS Core Framework (SPARC & x86)

solaris10#pkgadd -d . SUNWvts

That installs the required Sun VTS Core Framework package.

Install the rest of the SunVTS packages
(SunVTS Tests,config files in root & Man pages)

solaris10# pkgadd -d . SUNWvtsts SUNWvtsr SUNWvtsmn

That completes the Sun VTS package installation.

Enable the rstatd daemon

rstatd daemon is disabled by default in Solaris 10.

solaris10# svcadm enable rstatd

Export Display to your PC (GUI only)

solaris10# export DISPLAY 192.168.0.2:0

Start Sun VTS

solaris10# /opt/SUNWvts/bin/sunvts &

This should start the Sun VTS software and export GUI to your PC (if display not exported then runs tty user interface on the terminal). Sun VTS will discover devices and list available tests for your server with dezcriptive information on the server.