1AUTER(1) User Commands AUTER(1)
2
6 auter - Automatic Update Transaction Execution by Rackspace
7
9 auter [--enable|--disable|--status] [--prep] [--apply] [--reboot]
10 [--postreboot] [--config=<configfile>] [OPTIONS]
11
13 Automatic Update Transaction Execution by Rackspace. A wrapper around
14 cron and yum/dnf/apt to manage system updates with the ability to con‐
15 figure automatic reboots and custom scripts.
16 Actions:
18 --enable
19 Enable auter
20 --disable
22 Disable auter. Also deletes unused pidfile if it exists
23 --status
25 Show whether enabled or disabled
26 --prep Pre-download updates before applying
28 --apply
30 Apply updates, and reboot if AUTOREBOOT=yes
31 --reboot
33 Reboot system including pre/post reboot scripts
34 --postreboot
36 Run post reboot script
37
39 --config=FILE Specify the full path to an auter config file. Defaults
40 to /etc/auter/auter.conf
41 --stdout
43 Always log to STDOUT, regardless of not having a tty
44 --maxdelay
46 Override MAXDELAY from the command line
47 --skip-all-scripts
49 Skip the executions of all custom scripts (Default in
51 /etc/auter/*.d/)
52 --skip-scripts-by-phase=PHASE
54 Skip the execution of the custom scripts for the specified
56 phase. You can specify myltiple phases.
57 Valid Phases: pre-prep, post-prep, pre-apply, post-apply,
59 pre-reboot, post-reboot.
60 Example: --skip-scripts-by-phase="pre-prep,post-apply,pre-re‐
62 boot"
63 --skip-scripts-by-name=SCRIPTNAME
65 Skip specific scripts by name. You can specify myltiple phases.
67 Example: --skip-scripts-by-name="10-configsnap-pre, 20-star‐
69 tApp.sh"
70 --no-wall
72 If possible, suppress shutdown wall messages in the reboot phase
73 -h, --help
75 Show this help text
76 -v, --version Show the version
78
80 Default Directory locations are listed below; custom paths can be spec‐
81 ified in the config file. The use of additional, non-default, config
82 files is required when running more than one auter profile.
83 Pre/Post Hooks
86 If any scripts in the pre/post hook directories are not executable,
87 they will be skipped by auter and a warning containing the filename
88 will be logged. If any scripts in the pre/post hook directories exit
89 with a non-zero exit code an error will be logged with the filename and
90 exit code, and auter will abort.
91 /etc/auter/pre-prep.d
94 Directory containing scripts to be executed before downloading
95 updates
96 /etc/auter/post-prep.d
99 Directory containing scripts to be executed after downloading
100 updates
101 /etc/auter/pre-apply.d
104 Directory containing scripts to be executed before applying up‐
105 dates
106 /etc/auter/post-apply.d
109 Directory containing scripts to be executed after applying up‐
110 dates
111 /etc/auter/pre-reboot.d
114 Directory containing scripts to be executed before rebooting
115 /etc/auter/post-reboot.d
118 Directory containing scripts to be executed after rebooting
119 There is a hard coded delay of 5 minutes post-reboot to allow
121 the system to become fully ready before the post-reboot scripts
122 are executed.
123 Hook Execution Order
126 Files in the pre/post script directories are parsed in sorted lexical
127 order. That is, /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/01_first will be parsed before
128 /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/10_second. Be aware that because the sorting is
129 lexical, not numeric, /etc/auter/pre-apply.d/1_whoops would be loaded
130 after /etc/pre-apply.d/10_second. Using a consistent number of leading
131 zeroes in the file names can be used to avoid such problems. For exam‐
132 ple the following execution order would occur for pre-apply scripts:
133 pre-apply.d/00-first.sh
135 pre-apply.d/99-second.sh
136 pre-apply.d/AA-fourth.sh
137 pre-apply.d/aa-third.sh
138 pre-apply.d/zz-fifth.sh
139 pre-apply.d/ZZ-sixth.sh
140 Note that the ordering is case-insensitive so AA-fourth.sh will be run before aa-third.sh.
142
144 To provide an easy way to switch on/off all auter jobs, use auter --en‐
145 able or auter --disable to set the lockfile /var/lib/auter/enabled.
146 Auter will check for the presence of this file before running.
147 This is also the correct method for cleaning up an unused pidfile.
149
151 Rebooting is an essential part of applying updates, in order to ensure
152 the updated packages are in use. An update to the kernel will always
153 need a reboot. Some application updates, for example Apache, will
154 restart the service. However often libraries are updated, such as
155 openssl, which don't force a reboot of services that use them. Reboot‐
156 ing guarantees that every update is in use by running services. You can
157 either enable AUTOREBOOT=yes in the config file (the default is AUTORE‐
158 BOOT=no), to reboot after --apply, or you can schedule a separate
159 schedule for --reboot via a second cronjob. A 2 minute warning is emit‐
160 ted before the server is rebooted, and this can be cancelled by a supe‐
161 ruser with shutdown -c.
162
164 0 = updates successful / no updates available
165 3 = issue related to yum / dnf / apt-get command
166 4 = auter disabled via lockfile
167 5 = script not run as root / DATADIR does not exist / config file does
168 not exist
169 6 = auter is already running / PIDFILE exists
170 7 = yum, dnf or apt-get was not found
171 8 = a pre/post hook exited with a non-zero error code
172
174 This documentation was primarily written by:
175 Paolo Gigante
176 Piers Cornwell
177 Cameron Beere
178
180 /etc/auter/auter.conf
181 Default config file location. Use the --config option to pass an
182 alternative config file to use within /etc/auter.
183 /etc/cron.d/auter
186 The default cron file with examples
187 /usr/bin/auter
190 The main auter script which contains linux generic code
191 /usr/lib/auter/auter.module
194 The auter module for the relevant package manager
195 /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/LICENSE
198 The Apache License
199 /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/MAINTAINERS.md
202 A list of maintainers and mailing list
203 /usr/share/doc/auter-0.11/NEWS
206 The NEWS file and changelog for auter
207
209 Please report any bugs by raising an issue against the github page or
210 email us at:
211 https://github.com/rackerlabs/auter/issues
212 auter-devel@rackspace.com
213
215 auter.conf(5), cron(8), crontab(5)
216auter 1.0.0 January 2023 AUTER(1)