MCGUIRE@GRIN2.BITNET (06/16/87)
> Date: Thu, 11 Jun 87 09:45 CDT > From: Dan Stewart <STEWART_SYS%UTA.EDU@RELAY.CS.NET> > Subject: Security patch. > > Well, I for one received my Mandatory Update from DEC with the much talked > about security patch. It is accompanied with a single sheet explaining > briefly how to install it. > > For those that have not yet received it or installed it, be warned that > once it finishes its patches, it reboots your system RIGHT NOW. There is > no prompt for 'minutes to shutdown' or anything. This sort of took me by > surprise. > > The other item of concern is installing this and rebooting a production > machine. You don't have to reboot the machine for it to take effect. DEc > does this to insure that the secureshr image is properly re-installed, but > a competent system manager should know (or be able to read up on) how to > re-install the image - no reboot necessary. The single sheet may have been brief, but it does say in Paragraph 6, `After installing the mandatory update, VMSINSTAL prompts you to insert the console volume (if one exists) and shuts down the system.' The _Guide to Software Installation_ emphasizes that users should be kept off the system during any installation. It is appropriate for VMSINSTAL shutdowns to take place immediately, because it can assume that there isn't anyone out there to warn. Only very experienced software installers have knowledge sufficient to permit them to break the rules of software installation without getting burned. Even so, these people typically follow the rules most carefully. In fact, your submission demonstrates that even experienced personnel sometimes are surprised when they don't go by the rules. Many MicroVAX users are not trained to be system managers. It's in the best interests of the user and of Digital to make the mandatory update foolproof. The installation procedure for the update is consistent with that goal, in that there are few steps and they are simple. Ed <MCGUIRE@GRIN2.BITNET>