[gpfsug-discuss] kernel updates and GPFS modules: manual, DKMS, cron, other?

[Skylar Thompson]

Yep, this is our strategy too. We version-lock GPFS and the kernel in yum
and define the target versions in our configuration management (Puppet),
with the version-specific gplbin packages stored in our local yum repo.
When we want to upgrade, we schedule an outage, build a new package, put in
the repo, then bump the target versions in Puppet and reboot.

On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 04:28:25PM +0000, Ryan Novosielski wrote:
> On Mar 3, 2023, at 15:05, Jonathan Buzzard <jonathan.buzzard at strath.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> I would suggest that you disable any automatic upgrading of the kernel. Kernel upgrades should *only* be done *after* you have verified that it will work.
> 
> If you don't it is only a matter of time before a security update breaks GPFS. There was at least one instance of that happing in the last five years.
> 
> Definitely more than once, and technically you should not upgrade at all unless the kernel is specifically listed as supported on this page, otherwise you may get to be the one that finds the non-obvious compatibility bug:
> 
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/spectrum-scale?topic=STXKQY*gpfsclustersfaq.html__;Lw!!K-Hz7m0Vt54!m8GZ2APARwPJKv-TGg_fh2W4XPf_2ZHMVCXR97Wdf-lcpQ9X7zGpaUeKCI0KsEX_Vrt8__J-OROZ9CEPjiGG$ 
> 
> As a result, we typically don???t bother with any automatic updating of GPFS, because if we???re going to upgrade either GPFS or the kernel, we already know about it and do it on purpose. We also build the RPMs on one system, since the vast majority of our equipment does not have the full compiler set installed.
> 
> --
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-- 
-- Skylar Thompson (skylar2 at u.washington.edu)
-- Genome Sciences Department (UW Medicine), System Administrator
-- Foege Building S046, (206)-685-7354
-- Pronouns: He/Him/His