Chapter 20. Applying Patches
Abstract
Red Hat JBoss Fuse supports incremental patching. FuseSource will supply you with easy to install patches that only make targeted changes to a deployed container.
Incremental patching allows you apply targets fixes to a container without needing to reinstall an updated version of Red Hat JBoss Fuse. It also allows you to easily back the patch out if it causes problems with your deployed applications.
Patches are ZIP files that contain the artifacts needed to update a targeted set of bundles in a container. The patch file includes a
.patch
file that lists the contained artifacts. The artifacts are typically one or more bundles. They can, however, include configuration files and feature descriptors.
You get a patch file in one of the following ways:
- Customer Support sends you a patch.
- Customer Support sends you a link to download a patch.
- Download a patch directly from the Red Hat customer portal.
The process of applying a patch to a container depends on how the container is deployed:
- standalone—the container's command console's patch shell has commands for managing the patching process
- fabric—patching a fabric requires applying the patch to a profile and then applying the profile to a container. The management console is the recommended way to patch containers in a fabric. See Using the Management Consolefor more information.
20.1. Finding the Right Patches to Apply
Abstract
This section explains how to find the patches for a specific version of JBoss Fuse on the Red Hat Customer Portal and how to figure out which patches to apply, and in which order.
Locate the patches on the customer portal
If you have a subscription for JBoss Fuse, you can download the latest patches directly from the Red Hat Customer Portal. Locate the patches as follows:
- Login to the Red Hat Customer Portal using your customer account. This account must be associated with an appropriate Red Hat software subscription, otherwise you will not be able to see the patch downloads for JBoss Fuse.
- Navigate to the customer portal Software Downloads page.
- In the Product dropdown menu, select the appropriate product (for example, A-MQ or Fuse), and then select the version, 6.1.0, from the Version dropdown menu. A table of downloads now appears, which has three tabs: Releases, Patches, and Security Advisories.NoteMake sure you select the right GA version for your product. A micro version release (for example, 6.1.1) is not the same thing as a patched release.
- Click the Patches tab to view the regular patches (with no security-related fixes).
- Click the Security Advisories tab to view the patches with security-related fixes.
Tip
To see the complete set of patches, you must look under both the Patches tab and the Security Avisories tab.
Types of patch
The following types of patch can be made available for download:
- Patches with GA baseline (for example, Patch 1, Patch 2, Patch 3, and so on)
- Rollup patches (for example, Rollup 1, Rollup 2, and so on)
- Patches with rollup baseline (for example, Rollup 1 Patch1, Rollup1 Patch2, and so on)
Patches with GA baseline
Patches with GA baseline (Patch1, Patch2, and so on) are released shortly after the GA date to provide quick fixes for issues identified after GA. These patches can be applied directly to the GA product. These patches are cumulative: that is, Patch 2 would contain all of the fixes from Patch 1; and Patch 3 would contain all of the fixes from Patch 1 and Patch 2; and so on.
Rollup patches
A rollup patch (Rollup 1, Rollup 2, and so on) is a cumulative patch that incorporates all of the fixes from the preceding patches. Moreover, each rollup patch is regression tested and establishes a new baseline for the application of future patches.
Patches with rollup baseline
Patches with rollup baseline (Rollup 1 Patch 1, Rollup 1 Patch2, and so on) are patches released after a rollup patch, and they are intended to be applied on top of the corresponding rollup patch. For example, Rollup 1 Patch 2 would be applied on top of the Rollup 1 patch; and Rollup 2 Patch 1 would be applied on top of the Rollup 2 patch.
Which patches are needed to update the GA product to the latest patch level?
To figure out which patches are needed to update the GA product to the latest patch level, you need to pay attention to the type of patches that have been released so far:
- If the only patches released so far are patches with GA baseline (Patch 1, Patch 2, and so on), apply the latest of these patches directly to the GA product.
- If a rollup patch has been released and no patches have been released after the latest rollup patch, simply apply the latest rollup patch to the GA product.
- If the latest patch is a patch with a rollup baseline, you must apply two patches to the GA product, as follows:
- Apply the latest rollup patch, and then
- Apply the latest patch with a rollup baseline.
Which patches to apply, if you only want to install regression-tested patches?
If you prefer to install only patches that have been regression tested, install the latest rollup patch.
Example of identifying patches to apply
To give a concrete example of how to identify which patches to apply, we take a snapshot of the patches that were available in December 2014 and we discuss which patches you need to apply to get to the latest patch level.
Patches available under the Patches tab
The patches available under the Patches tab are shown in Figure 20.1, “Patches Tab”.
Figure 20.1. Patches Tab
Patches available under the Security Advisories tab
The patches available under the Security Advisories tab are shown in Figure 20.2, “Security Advisories Tab”.
Figure 20.2. Security Advisories Tab
Complete list of available patches
Taking all of the patches from the Patches tab and the Security Advisories tab together, we come up with the following list of downloadable patches, in the order they were released:
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.1.0 Patch 1
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.1.0 Patch 2
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse/A-MQ 6.1 Rollup 1
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse/A-MQ 6.1 Rollup 1 Patch 1
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse/A-MQ 6.1 Rollup 1 Patch 2
Patches you would apply to update to the latest patch level
In this case, to update the GA product to the very latest patch level, you would apply the following sequence of patches:
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse/A-MQ 6.1 Rollup 1
- Red Hat JBoss Fuse/A-MQ 6.1 Rollup 1 Patch 2