Use > Server patching > Patch management for Ubuntu > Patch installation > Preview an Ubuntu patch installation

Preview an Ubuntu patch installation

The installation preview process provides an up-to-date report about the patch state of servers. The installation preview is an optional step that lets you see the patches that will be installed on managed servers and the type of server reboots that are required. This preview process verifies whether the servers that you selected for the patch installation already have that patch installed. In some cases, a server could already have the patch installed if a system administrator had manually installed it, which means that Ubuntu Patch Management does not know about it.

The preview process also reports on dependency and supersedence information, such as patches that require certain Ubuntu products, and patches that supersede other patches or are superseded by other patches. If a dependency is not met, Patch Management will display an error message indicating this condition. If a patch is not needed, it will appear as ‘will not install’.

The following list explains user cases in which a patch will not be installed, as displayed in the Preview step of the Install Patch or Remediate Patch Window:

  • This patch has a Never Install patch policy exception, so it will not be installed.
  • This patch is superseded by another patch in the same job, so it will not be installed. This means that another patch in the current job is more up to date than the marked patch.
  • This patch is superseded by another patch, so it will not be installed. This means that the patch installed on the server is more recent than the patch in the policy, so it will not be installed.
  • This patch is not applicable because it is not recommended, so it will not be installed.

This information is also displayed in the Job results window and in an email, if email notification has been configured for the patch install job.

Note The installation preview does not report on the behavior of the server as though the patches have been applied.

To preview a patch installation:

  1. From the Install Patch window, click Next to advance to the Summary Review step.
  2. (Optional) Click Preview to see the separate actions that will be performed when the patch is installed. To view the details of a previewed action, select a row in the table.
  3. Click Start Job to launch the installation job or click Cancel to close the Install Patch window without launching the installation.

    If you selected Run Task Immediately in the Scheduling step, the job begins now. If you selected Run Task At, the job will be launched at the specified time and date.