How to update server using YUM

[arctic_ged]

Hi,

I'd like to find out is it safe to update everything on the server using YUM.

I have a CentOS 5 server running Plesk Panel 9.3.0 and I want to keep it secure by updating components.

I have run yum check-update command and its output is below but i have a few questions.

1. Is it safe to update everything on that list?
2. I have spamdyke installed will updating server using yum stop it from working?
3. Can someone explain how to interpret the output screen, what does base/updates mean in the third column?

Output from yum check-update:

Code: Select all

[root@xxxxxx /]# yum check-update
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* atomic: www6.atomicorp.com
addons | 951 B 00:00
atomic | 1.9 kB 00:00
base | 2.1 kB 00:00
extras | 2.1 kB 00:00
updates | 1.9 kB 00:00

apr.x86_64_______1.2.7-11.el5_5.3______updates
apr-util.x86_64______1.2.7-11.el5_5.1_______updates
audit-libs.x86_64____________1.7.17-3.el5______base
audit-libs-python.x86_64________1.7.17-3.el5_______base
binutils.x86_64________________2.17.50.0.6-14.el5______base
bzip2.x86_64_______________1.0.3-6.el5_5______updates
bzip2-libs.x86_64______________1.0.3-6.el5_5______updates
centos-release.x86_64_____________10:5-5.el5.centos______base
centos-release-notes.x86_64_______5.5-0_______base
checkpolicy.x86_64_______________1.33.1-6.el5_______base
chkconfig.x86_64_____________1.3.30.2-2.el5_______base
coreutils.x86_64_______5.97-23.el5_4.2______base
cpio.x86_64_____________2.6-23.el5_4.1_______base
cpuspeed.x86_64_____1:1.2.1-9.el5________base
curl.x86_64_________________7.15.5-9.el5________base
cyrus-sasl-lib.x86_64_______2.1.22-5.el5_4.3_______base
db4.x86_64_______________4.3.29-10.el5_5.2______updates
db4-utils.x86_64_________4.3.29-10.el5_5.2_______updates
dbus.x86_64_______________1.1.2-14.el5______base
dbus-glib.x86_64________0.73-10.el5_5_______updates
dbus-libs.x86_64________1.1.2-14.el5______base
device-mapper.i386___________1.02.39-1.el5_5.2______updates
device-mapper.x86_64_______________1.02.39-1.el5_5.2______updates
device-mapper-event.x86_64__________1.02.39-1.el5_5.2______updates
device-mapper-multipath.x86_64______0.4.7-34.el5_5.6______updates
dhclient.x86_64____________________________12:3.0. 5-23.el5_5.2______updates
dhcpv6-client.x86_64________________1.0.10-18.el5_______base
dmidecode.x86_64_________________1:2.10-3.el5______base
dmraid.x86_64________________1.0.0.rc13-63.el5______base
dmraid-events.x86_64_______1.0.0.rc13-63.el5______base
e2fsprogs.x86_64_________1.39-23.el5_5.1______updates
e2fsprogs-libs.i386_____1.39-23.el5_5.1_______________updates
e2fsprogs-libs.x86_64______1.39-23.el5_5.1_______________updates
ethtool.x86_64_____________6-4.el5_______________________base
expat.i386___________1.95.8-8.3.el5_5.3____________updates
expat.x86_64________1.95.8-8.3.el5_5.3____________updates
filesystem.x86_64_______2.4.0-3.el5___________________base
freetype.i386_________2.2.1-28.el5_5.1______________updates
freetype.x86_64_______2.2.1-28.el5_5.1______________updates
glibc.i686___________2.5-49.el5_5.7________________updates
glibc.x86_64______________2.5-49.el5_5.7________________updates
glibc-common.x86_64_________2.5-49.el5_5.7________________updates
glibc-devel.x86_64________2.5-49.el5_5.7________________updates
glibc-headers.x86_64________2.5-49.el5_5.7________________updates
gnupg.x86_64_____________1.4.5-14.el5_5.1______________updates
hal.x86_64____________0.5.8.1-59.el5________________base
hmaccalc.x86_64________0.9.6-3.el5___________________base
httpd.x86_64______________2.2.3-43.el5.centos.3_________updates
hwdata.noarch____________0.213.18-1.el5.1______________base
initscripts.x86_64_________8.45.30-3.el5.centos__________updates
iproute.x86_64_____________2.6.18-11.el5_________________base
kernel.x86_64_______________2.6.18-194.26.1.el5___________updates
kernel-headers.x86_64__________2.6.18-194.26.1.el5___________updates
kpartx.x86_64_____________0.4.7-34.el5_5.6______________updates
krb5-libs.i386_____________________________1.6.1-36.el5_5.6______________updates
krb5-libs.x86_64___________________________1.6.1-36.el5_5.6______________updates
kudzu.x86_64_______________________________1.2.57. 1.24-1.el5.centos______base
less.x86_64________________________________436-2.el5_____________________base
libacl.x86_64______________________________2.2.39-6.el5__________________base
libhugetlbfs.i386__________________________1.3-7.el5_____________________base
libhugetlbfs.x86_64________________________1.3-7.el5_____________________base
libpng.i386________________________________2:1.2.1 0-7.1.el5_5.3__________updates
libpng.x86_64______________________________2:1.2.1 0-7.1.el5_5.3__________updates
libsepol.i386______________________________1.15.2-3.el5__________________base
libsepol.x86_64____________________________1.15.2-3.el5__________________base
libstdc++.i386_____________________________4.1.2-48.el5__________________base
libstdc++.x86_64___________________________4.1.2-48.el5__________________base
libvolume_id.x86_64________________________095-14.21.el5_5.1_____________updates
libxml2.x86_64_____________________________2.6.26-2.1.2.8.el5_5.1________updates
libxml2-python.x86_64______________________2.6.26-2.1.2.8.el5_5.1________updates
logrotate.x86_64___________________________3.7.4-9.el5_5.2_______________updates
lvm2.x86_64________________________________2.02.56-8.el5_5.6_____________updates
mdadm.x86_64_______________________________2.6.9-3.el5___________________base
mkinitrd.i386______________________________5.1.19. 6-61.el5_5.2___________updates
mkinitrd.x86_64____________________________5.1.19. 6-61.el5_5.2___________updates
mod_ssl.x86_64_____________________________1:2.2.3-43.el5.centos.3_______updates
module-init-tools.x86_64___________________3.3-0.pre3.1.60.el5_5.1_______updates
mysql.x86_64_______________________________5.1.53-1.el5.art______________atomic
mysql-libs.x86_64__________________________5.1.53-1.el5.art______________atomic
mysql-server.x86_64________________________5.1.53-1.el5.art______________atomic
nash.x86_64________________________________5.1.19. 6-61.el5_5.2___________updates
net-tools.x86_64___________________________1.60-81.el5___________________base
newt.x86_64________________________________0.52.2-15.el5_________________base
nspr.x86_64________________________________4.8.6-1.el5_5_________________updates
nss.x86_64_________________________________3.12.8-1.el5.centos___________updates
openldap.x86_64____________________________2.3.43-12.el5_5.3_____________updates
openssh.x86_64_____________________________4.3p2-41.el5_5.1______________updates
openssh-clients.x86_64_____________________4.3p2-41.el5_5.1______________updates
openssh-server.x86_64______________________4.3p2-41.el5_5.1______________updates
openssl.x86_64_____________________________0.9.8e-12.el5_4.6_____________base
pam.x86_64_________________________________0.99.6. 2-6.el5_5.2____________updates
parted.x86_64______________________________1.8.1-27.el5__________________base
pciutils.x86_64____________________________2.2.3-8.el5_4_________________base
perl.x86_64________________________________4:5.8.8-32.el5_5.2____________updates
perl-Archive-Tar.noarch____________________1:1.39.1-2.el5.art____________atomic
policycoreutils.x86_64_____________________1.33.12-14.8.el5______________base
popt.x86_64________________________________1.10.2. 3-20.el5_5.1___________updates
postgresql.x86_64________________8.1.22-1.el5_5.1______________updates
postgresql-libs.x86_64__________8.1.22-1.el5_5.1______________updates
postgresql-server.x86_64_______________8.1.22-1.el5_5.1______________updates
procps.x86_64_______________________3.2.7-16.el5__________________base
psa-atmail.noarch___________________1:1.04-3.el5.art______________atomic
psa-kronolith.noarch_____________2.1.8-2.el5.art_______________atomic
psa-proftpd.x86_64__________________1.3.3c-3.el5.art______________atomic
psa-proftpd-xinetd.x86_64__________1.3.3c-3.el5.art______________atomic
psa-spamdyke.x86_64_____________2.4-1.el5.art_________________atomic
python.x86_64_______________2.4.3-27.el5_5.3______________updates
rpm.x86_64_________________4.4.2.3-20.el5_5.1____________updates
rpm-libs.x86_64______________4.4.2.3-20.el5_5.1____________updates
rpm-python.x86_64____________4.4.2.3-20.el5_5.1____________updates
shadow-utils.x86_64______________2:4.0.17-15.el5_______________base
spamassassin.x86_64_________________1:3.2.5-1.el5.art_____________atomic
spamdyke.x86_64______________________4.1.0-1.el5.art_______________atomic
sysklogd.x86_64__________________________________1 .4.1-46.el5__________________base
system-config-securitylevel-tui.x86_64_____1.6.29.1-5.el5________________base
tar.x86_64________________________________________ _2:1.15.1-30.el5_______________base
tcpdump.x86_64_____________________________14:3.9. 4-15.el5_______________base
tzdata.noarch___________________________2010e-1.el5___________________base
tzdata.x86_64______________________2010l-1.el5___________________updates
udev.x86_64___________________095-14.21.el5_5.1_____________updates
yum.noarch_________________3.2.22-26.el5.centos__________base
[root@xxxxxx /]#

[Highland]

I've never had any issues upgrading through yum. Yum is probably the easiest and cleanest way to do it as well.

1. Yes
2. spamdyke is just a package. I don't think it even interacts with yum. It shouldn't break yum
3. The output is displayed as
Package name
Package version
Repo the package is coming from (atomic, updates, rpmforge, etc)

base and updates are the repos maintained by the CentOS project. You can find all your repos in /etc/yum.repos.d

[arctic_ged]

Hi, thanks for the info!

One more question - would you update everything at once or break it up into several chunks?

[Highland]

When it comes to full version updates (i.e. CentOS 5.5 to 5.6) I break it up because there's almost always a sneak package somewhere that won't play nice initially. Blocks let you more readily see what's happening and fix it (yum is not a cure-all for packages, after all).

Your list is small enough I'd try it in one fell swoop.

[BruceLee]

Watch out with mysql since you upgrade from 5.0 to 5.1.
If you want to upgrade follow the instructions in the wiki from atomicorp.