Analysis

All reports are based on the selected analyzers. SWA is capable of performing a variety of analyses.

To perform an analysis, Software Assistant requires an inventory file and a catalog file. During analysis, those two files are compared to see what issues require attention. Issues in ignore files are not included in the analysis. For more information, see “Put Appropriate Actions in the Ignore File”. By default, the resulting analysis file is written to $HOME/.swa/cache/swa_analysis.xml.

To specify the analyses SWA should run, use the -a option of the swa report or the swa step analyze command, or use the extended option analyzers.

Available analyzers follow, with a description of what SWA will look for:

PCW – Installed, active patches with critical warnings. These patches might cause or expose a critical problem. The newest recommendable patch in the chain will be reported. This is a default analyzer.
QPK – Quality Pack (QPK) updates. The quality pack bundle includes stable patches for core HP-UX and networking drivers. This is a default analyzer.
SEC – Security bulletins that might apply. These are announcements from HP regarding potential security issues and recommended actions to resolve them. This is a default analyzer.
CRIT – Patches to install that fix critical problems. Problems are categorized as critical based on the severity of the problem, not how likely the problem might occur. Critical problems include system panics or hangs, process failures, data corruption, severe performance degradation, and application-specific critical issues.
PW – Installed, active patches with warnings. These patches might cause or expose adverse behavior. This category includes patches with critical warnings. The newest recommendable patch in the chain will be reported.
PATCH – Given a specific patch, SWA indicates whether that patch is required for your system or not. HP recommends the CHAIN analyzer to report a patches' relevance to your system, since it will report the most recent, stable patch in the chain.
CHAIN – Given a specific patch, SWA indicates whether that patch is required for your system or not. If the patch is required, SWA selects the HP recommended patch at or above the specified patch.

If no analyzers are specified, the PCW, QPK, and SEC analyses are performed.

For detailed information on QPK patch bundles and types of patches, see the Patch Management User Guide for HP-UX 11.x Systems, available at http://www.docs.hp.com.

Analysis

Technical documentation

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