Conference turris::digital_unix

10042.0. "Patches X Firewall ???" by VAXRIO::16.179.32.123::Manoel () Wed Jun 04 1997 15:53

	Hi, everyone I need to know if some patches can be apllied in a 
DIGITAL Unix machine with Firewall installed.
	The machine is using D.U. V3.2d-1 and Firewall 3.0
	The patch is OSF360-067 and all it's pre-requesits.
	As is stated in Firewall release notes shown below:
***************************************************************************

  10. Applying Patches to Digital UNIX

  From time to time, Digital[TM] releases patches to Digital UNIX OS. These
  patches are often released to fix known bugs, or to improve performance
  of machines running Digital UNIX.  Never apply a patch to a Digital UNIX
  machine running the AltaVista Firewall, unless Digital support can
  confirm that the patch does does not adversely affect how the
  AltaVista[TM] Firewall works. The installation procedure for the
  AltaVista Firewall applies patches  to the Digital UNIX kernel to support
  the functions of the firewall.  If further patches are applied to the
  kernel, the patches supporting  the AltaVista Firewall could be
  overwritten, and some functions of the firewall could be disabled.
****************************************************************************

	So a sent a mail to [email protected],
asking about this and they answered that I should ask DIGITAl Unix people.
	I'll post the answer below, the comment about Firewall 6.0 was due to 
a typo when I wrote Firewall 6.0 instead of Firewall 3.0.
*****************************************************************************
Subject: 
        FW: Help needed.
  Date: 
        Tue, 3 Jun 1997 11:47:05 -0400
  From: 
        AltaVista ReadingRoom <[email protected]>
    To: 
        "'[email protected]'" <[email protected]>


Hi Manoel,
I was informed that we don't support the Firewall 6.0 and the patch is for 
Digital Unix, you will have to contact the digital unix support center.
Best Regards,
AV Tech Support.
******************************************************************************

	Can someone shed some light here ?
	Thanks in advance for any help.\

MFAN(MCS/DEC@Rio)

Ps: This has to do with a heavy fragmented file system with awfull behaviour.

Conflicting information from AltaVista? Judging from the notes below, I'd write 
back to the AltaVista people and point out their own advice to them.

PJDM

From the SEAL conference, note 1476.2:

Originally we used to give the same advice - that is apply all DU patches.
This was because we were assured that the AFW was included in the list of
layered products that have dependencies on the o/s, and that we would
be notified when an o/s patch was scheduled for release that replaced an
o/s component we also replace. That way we could have text included with
the patch that advised the customer of the appropriate action to take if
they are running the AFW.

Unfortunately this dependency monitoring activity does not appear to
function as we expected, and as a result we were not notified, for
instance, of the o/s patch that improves Web Server performance which
replaced some kernel objects the AFW patches as well. The result was 
that someone applied the patch and then could'nt rebuild the kernel.

So unfortunately we have had to change the advice we give out. We now
monitor patch information from DU and will publish a list that will

a) list all the patches we have reviewed
b) identify whether a patch can be applied or not
c) provide advice in the case of so called "problem" patches 

We will make this list available on the ftp site at morse.ilo.dec.com
and also via the AltaVista Partner site. A separate note will announce
this list soon.

From 1476.6:

This list is now available on the ftp site at morse.ilo.dec.com
in /pub/documentation/digital_unix_patch.readme

    We have integrated AV Firewall kernel changes into the next minor release
    (V4.0D) so that in the future this won't be a problem.
    
    Until then, you have to be careful installing patches which might 
    obliterate the AV firewall kit.