Upgrade options for an RPM

Upgrading an RPM depends on multiple factors, including:

• The Install Parameters specified in the Package Properties window for the RPM,
• The RPM’s dependencies, and the Install Parameter settings of those dependencies, and
• The install and upgrade settings specified for the RPM within the Software Policy

Setting package properties for the RPM and its dependencies

After you upload an RPM package to SA, you can set the set the Install Mode option for the RPM package in the Package properties window.

The Install Mode setting in the RPM Package Properties window:

• If the Upgrade option is used, then during remediation, the previous version of the RPM package and its dependencies will be removed from the server first. Then, the newer version of the RPM package and its dependencies will be installed on the server.
• If you use the Install option, then during remediation SA will install the newer version of the RPM package and its dependencies on the server. The previous version of the RPM package and its dependencies will not be removed from the server.

See Edit package properties.

Setting package properties for the RPM within the software policy

The options defined in the Policy Items content pane of the Software Policy window govern how the policy maintains RPM updates within the policy as well as actual server upgrade behavior when remediating servers with that policy attached.

Install criteria setting for the RPM in the software policy:

• If the Install RPM always option is used if you want install the selected RPM on the managed server, whether or not a version is already installed on the server.
• If the Install RPM only if an earlier version is installed option is used if you want to restrict RPM installations to upgrades. This option will install the RPM on the managed server only if an existing version of that RPM is already installed on the server.

See Install and update RPM packages using a software policy.

The following table lists the action taken on the RPM package based on the options set for the RPM package in both the Software Policy window and the Package.

Setting options for an RPM package

Install Criteria setting for the RPM in the software policy	Install Mode setting in the RPM package properties	Action taken during remediation
Install RPM only if an earlier version is installed	Upgrade	SA will only install the specified RPM if a previous version of the RPM is already installed on the server. If a previous version of the RPM is installed on the server, then SA will uninstall the previous version of the RPM, and then install the newer version, as specified in the server’s policy. If a previous version of the RPM is not already installed on the server, SA will not install the RPM on the server.
Install RPM always	Upgrade	SA will install the specified RPM in either case; whether the RPM is already installed or not. If a previous version of the RPM is installed on the server, then SA will uninstall the previous version of the RPM, and then install the newer version, as specified in the server’s policy. If a previous version of the RPM is not already installed on the server, then SA will install the RPM specified in the policy on the server.
Install RPM only if an earlier version is installed	Install	SA will not install the specified RPM in either case; whether the RPM is already installed or not. If a previous version of the RPM is installed on the server, then SA will not install the newer version of the RPM specified in the policy. If a previous version of the RPM is not already installed on the server, then SA will not install the RPM version specified in the software policy.
Install RPM always	Install	SA will only install the specified RPM if there is no RPM already installed on the server. If a previous version of the RPM is already installed on the server, then SA will not install the newer version of the RPM. If a previous version of the RPM is not already installed on the server, then SA will install the RPM packages specified in the policy on the managed server.

When you upload a non- kernel RPM package, the Upgrade option is enabled by default. When you upload a kernel RPM package, the Install option is enabled by default. Therefore, when you remediate a server with a policy containing kernel RPMs (such as kernel, kernel-bigmem, kernel-enterprise, kernel-smp, kernel-modules, kernel-debug, kernel-unsupported, kernel-source, kernel-devel), then SA will always install the newer version of the kernel RPM packages and its dependencies on the server. The previous version of the kernel RPMs and its dependencies are not removed from the server.