"We are working on a network management system for our intranet using an HP-UX 735/ 125 running HP-UX 10.02, and we need some help getting a baseline for patches installed. On Solaris, we would download the latest patches. But we can't find a similar service for Hewlett-Packard patches. Can you help?"
You can get a list of installed HP-UX software, including individual patches, by executing the command "swlist -l product" as root. The command "swlist" by itself will show patches at the bundle level. HP-UX 10.20 is probably where you want to be. HP-UX 10.20 and 11.0 are fully supported and Y2K-friendly.
Operating system patch bundles are at HP's Support Plus Web site at http://www.software.hp.com/SUPPORT_ PLUS. Individual patches and HP Self-Solve tools are available at the HP IT Resource Center; go to us-support.external.hp.com, and click on Maintenance/Support. Also search HP's online Technical Knowledge Base for support information by product. Other sources of system administration information include mirrors of the HP-UX Porting and Archive Centre at hpux.csc. liv.ac.uk/hppd, where you can find the FAQ from the comp. sys.hp.hpux newsgroup, and interex.org, home of the International Association of Hewlett-Packard Computing Professionals. You may want to look at patch management software at http://www.interex.org/tech/9000/ patchtools.html if your intranet has multiple HP-UX servers.
(Blass is a network architect at Sprint Paranet in Houston. He can be reached at dr.intranet@paranet.com.)