Tracking OS Package Updates¶
All the OS packages added to the OS Profile section of the appliance templates are tracked for any updates by UForge AppCenter. Based on a timestamp stored in the appliance template, UForge AppCenter can detect any OS package updates that are available. Updates are displayed in the user interface for each appliance template.
If you are in grid view:
If you are in table view, it is listed in the Updates
column:
You can then easily update the packages using the UForge GUI. Using this tool, you can also roll-back to previous versions of OS packages.
Note
This feature is only available for appliance templates using Linux operating systems.
To update the OS packages:
Select your appliance from your appliance library under the
VM Builder
tab.Go to the
Updates
page.You can see from the graphic when updates were made and how many are available.
You can select current updates (if any) or select to return to a previous version of the OS by moving the cursor on the graph.
Click
simulate
to see the changes that will be applied. The changes will be listed at the bottom of the screen. Scroll to view the results.If you want to apply the changes listed, then click
update
.
Note
The triangle indicates a Milestone. For Centos, this is the versions (6.1, 6.2 etc). Milestones are customized by the UForge administrator.
Modifying a Windows-based Appliance¶
For Windows-based appliances UForge will indicate the number of updates available, however you cannot use this procedure to update the packages for an existing Windows appliance.
In order to benefit from a newer version of Windows, you will have to:
- Create or retrieve a new Golden Image. See your administrator.
- Create a new appliance.
- You can re-use the MySoftware components contained in the current appliance.
- You can download from the current template the boot scripts and save them on your local hard drive. You can then upload them to the new appliance.
- You must re-produce the configuration (Install Profile, Configuration).
Making Packages “Sticky”¶
UForge allows you to select certain packages as “sticky”. This means that during image generation, this package version is chosen regardless of the current appliance template timestamp for calculating package versions. All the package dependencies of this package are also calculated.
To make a specific package “sticky”:
Select the appliance you want to modify.
Go to the
Stack
page.From the
OS profile
, click onsticky
in the right hand side of the package info. Thesticky
button will only be visible when you scroll over this part the page. In the following image, the first package hassticky
in blue because it has been applied. The second one in light blue has not yet been applied.A pop-up window will list all of the versions of the package available, allowing you to select the version you want.
Choose the version of the package you would like, then click
save
.