My last response seems to have been left behind by the moderators. So let me
try again.
On Thursday 06 March 2003 09:28, Josep L. Guallar-Esteve wrote:
>
> On Tuesday 04 March 2003 10:28 pm, Eric Greenberg wrote:
> > From an architectural standpoint, we have at least one major concern as
> > it relates to automatic (autonomous updates).
>
> Although, in my knowledge of it, you can disable the automation, as it is
> a simple daemon ("service"). By default is turned on, which is an
> excellent approach to pro-active security. If the sysadmin knows her/his
> job, will know about regular system updates, so the daemon can be
> disabled. If the sysadmin doesn't know his/her job, it's a good thing
> that an automated update system is put in place.
Out-of-the-box it doesn't update automagically. It doesn't even pull the
updates automatically for later install. When it polls (default interval of
120m) it checks your RHN settings and any queued packages you have.
> > From a reconfiguration standpoint, I advise clients to disable the rhn
> > agent (rhnsd) and instead suggest applying those updates in a
> > controlled fashion while logged-into the system, either downloaded
> > manually after an md5sum/checksum validation or through the up2date -l
> > followed by an up2date -u if you are comfortable with it.
>
> Exactly. Although see my previous parragraph, about sysadmin knowledge.
They can leave the daemon running and check what they want off of their RHN
account online. Then choose the systems to update, etc. For important
systems schedule it differently and perhaps have a human around to check
for things like .rpmnew files.
> > The problem with rhnsd is that it is a process always running, and its
> > power to update every aspect of the software is quite extreme. While
> > components it uses (e.g. OpenSSL) have received considerable review,
> > not all of its components have received the level of peer-review I
> > think it warrants.
>
> Aside from OpenSSL and Python, what other components are used that you
> believe ned to be more reviewed?
Keep in mind that 'always running' is not always listening. It's not bound
to an external port constantly, it polls on intervals. You didn't say it's
listening but I don't want others to come away w/ that impression.
Cheers, -Ali
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