Here is a short tutorial to roll out software updates to the provisioned client nodes on demand.

Prepare

1. Download the Linux distro updates to the head node

   # wget -r -np --reject=html http://mirror.centos.org/centos/5/updates/x86_64/
   

   Clean up unnecessary html files.

   # rm -f $(find ./mirror.centos.org -name "index*")
   

   Move the update repo to /mnt for the sake of easy management.

   # mv ./mirror.centos.org/centos/5/updates/ /mnt/centos_updates
   

2. Create a yum repo configuration file for the update repository.

# cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/update.repo << EOF
[update]
name=CentOS update mirror
baseurl=file:///mnt/centos_updates/x86_64
gpgcheck=0
enabled=1
EOF

Updates the headnodes

1. Make sure both the distro repo and the sunhpc update repo are enabled.

   # yum repolist
   --snip--
   sunhpc-updates-local SunHPC updates Packages for RHEL (local) enabled :       7
   update               CentOS update mirror                     enabled :     580
   --snip--
   

2. Run yum update.

   # yum clean all
   # yum -y update
   

3. Reboot the head node. Verify the new kernel, e.g. 2.6.18_128.2.1.el5 and kernel modules associated with it have been installed.

   # rpm -qa|egrep '2.6.18_128.2.1.el5|2.6.18-128.2.1.el5'
   kernel-ib-1.4.1-2.6.18_128.2.1.el5
   lustre-client-tests-1.8.0.1-2.6.18_128.2.1.el5
   kernel-headers-2.6.18-128.2.1.el5
   mft-2.5.0-2.6.18_128.2.1.el5
   lustre-client-1.8.0.1-2.6.18_128.2.1.el5
   kernel-2.6.18-128.2.1.el5
   lustre-client-modules-1.8.0.1-2.6.18_128.2.1.el5
   

Roll out updates to the diskful clients

1. Add the distro update repo to cobbler

   # cobbler repo add --name=centos_updates --mirror=/mnt/centos_updates/x86_64/
   # cobbler_reposync centos_updates
   

   The centos_updates will appear in the cobbler repo list.

   # cobbler repo list
   centos_updates
   sunhpc_base_centos5.3
   sunhpc_extras_centos5.3
   sunhpc_lustre_centos5.3
   sunhpc_updates_centos5.3
   

2. Edit the repo configuration files.

   # cp /var/www/cobbler/repo_mirror/centos_updates/config.repo centos_updates.repo
   # cp /var/www/cobbler/repo_mirror/sunhpc_updates_centos5.3/config.repo sunhpc_updates_centos5.3.repo
   

   Replace "${server}" with the ip address of the headnode provision interface, e.g. 192.168.200.13, in both centos_updates.repo and sunhpc_updates_centos5.3.repo

        [centos_updates]
        name=centos_updates
   -    baseurl=http://${server}/cobbler/repo_mirror/centos_updates
   +    baseurl=http://192.168.200.13/cobbler/repo_mirror/centos_updates
        enabled=1
        priority=99
        gpgcheck=0
   
   
        [sunhpc_updates_centos5.3]
        name=sunhpc_updates_centos5.3
   -    baseurl=http://${server}/cobbler/repo_mirror/sunhpc_updates_centos5.3
   +    baseurl=http://192.168.200.13/cobbler/repo_mirror/sunhpc_updates_centos5.3
        enabled=1
        priority=99
        gpgcheck=0
   

3. Copy to the repo configuration files to the diskful clients.

   # pdcp -g profile=rhel5.3 centos_updates.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
   # pdcp -g profile=rhel5.3 sunhpc_updates_rhel5.3.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
   

4. Update the diskful clients

   # pdsh -g profile=rhel5.3 yum -y -q update
   

Roll out updates to the diskless clients

1. Check the diskless image path.

   # ls /var/lib/oneSIS/image/
   centos5.3-onesis  centos5.3-onesis-lustre
   

2. Copy the update repo configuration files.

   # cp /etc/yum.repos.d/update.repo /var/lib/oneSIS/image/centos5.3-onesis/etc/yum.repos.d
   

3. Update the diskless images.
   To bypass the yum check, enter:

   # mkdir -p /ram/var/run
   # mkdir -p /ram/var/log
   

   Update the diskless images in /var/lib/oneSIS/image/centos5.3-onesis.

   # yum -y --installroot=/var/lib/oneSIS/image/centos5.3-onesis clean all
   # yum -y --installroot=/var/lib/oneSIS/image/centos5.3-onesis update