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Debian Update – ManageEngine Patch Manager Plus

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Managing Debian patches on the multitude of endpoints in your network is undoubtedly a necessary evil. With over 600 active Linux and Debian distributions representing ~16% of the Linux market, it is crucial to understand how to upgrade Debian to prevent vulnerabilities from exploiting your network endpoints.

This article talks in detail about the following:

What is a Debian update?

  • When are Debian updates released

    • ? How to update Debian

  • automatically using Patch Manager Plus

    • ?

  • Frequently Asked Questions Related

    • to Debian Updates

  • What

    • is a Debian update?

Debian

,

also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution that consists of free and open source software. It was developed to help advanced users in the Linux community that gained popularity among users for its high scalability and technical excellence.

It is known to be the first distribution to include a package management system. Due to its pioneering work on Linux distributions, Debian has a large user base. Therefore, it is important to stay informed about the various Debian updates and patches.

When are Debian updates released?

Debian updates do not follow a fixed schedule. The latest Debian update, Debian 11 codenamed bullseye, was released on August 14, 2021. The release included fixes for security updates as well as new software (11,294 new packages). Stable versions of Debian are updated approximately once a two month.

How to install a Debian update manually?

To install Debian security updates, connect to your Debian system via SSH. Once you are in the terminal, enter the following commands

: grep security /etc/apt/sources.list | tee /etc/apt/security.sources.list apt-get

  1. update apt-get
  2. upgrade -o Dir::Etc::SourceList=/etc/apt/security.sources.list
  4. Type Y and press Enter. Security updates will be installed and your system will be up to date.

To check and apply updates at a later stage, do the following

: apt-get

  1. update apt-get

    2. upgrade

  2. -o Dir::Etc::SourceList=/etc/apt/security.sources.list

How to upgrade Debian automatically using Patch Manager Plus? With ManageEngine

Patch Manager Plus, you can update Debian

automatically, as well as fully automate the deployment of security updates to endpoints. The entire Debian patch management process, from scanning machines for missing updates, downloading these updates, testing them in your working environment for anomalies and deploying them to the respective client machines is fully automated. To manage

Debian security updates:

  • Synchronize the patch database for information on newly released Debian updates. You can schedule synchronization between the patch database and the Patch Manager Plus server, or you can manually initiate synchronization by navigating to Deployment -> Update Vulnerability DB.
  • Scan client computers for missing updates by navigating to Systems -> Scan Systems.
  • Go to Missing Patches and click the update you want to install. Install these updates at any time. <img src

    • =”https://www.manageengine.com/patch-management/images/debian-11-missing-patches.png” alt=”Debian updates” />

  • You can also create an automated patch deployment task (APD) specifically for Debian updates that will run iteratively whenever a missing Debian update is detected on client machines running the Debian

    • operating system.

  • You can test these updates on a pilot group of systems running the Debian OS before deploying them in bulk. Go to Deployment -> Test and Approve -> Create Test Group. There are also options to automatically approve tested updates.
  • In addition, there are also options to generate extensive reports on the entire patching process.

Thus, with Patch Manager Plus, we can fully automate the process of deploying Debian updates to your endpoints.

Frequently Asked Questions

1) What is the latest version of Debian?

The latest version of Debian is Debian 11, codenamed bullseye. The latest update of It’s 11.5 has been released on September 10, 2022.

2) How can I get the latest version of Debian?

To upgrade to the latest version of Debian, follow the steps below

:

  1. Make sure that the system has been backed

    2. up.

  2. Update existing Debian packages by running the command: apt-get update && apt-get upgrade Once done, restart the

    3. system.

  3. Using a text editor, edit the following file:/etc/apt/sources.list -> Replace each instance of the old Debian OS (e.g. buster or stretch) with bullseye.

Note: If you are upgrading from Debian 10 to Debian 11, replace buster/updates with target security.

Update the package index by running the command: sudo apt update Once done, prepare the system for the upgrade by typing the command: sudo apt upgrade –without-new-pkgs Finally, run the following command to upgrade to Debian 11: sudo apt full-upgrade Restart the system Make sure that the system has been updated correctly.

3) What command is used to update a Debian system to the latest software?

sudo apt-get

update and sudo apt-get upgrade are the two commands to get the latest version from the distribution’s software/third-party repositories package list, and download/install updates for each outdated package and system dependency respectively.

4) How can I view patches on Linux?

To find the list of patches/updates available on Linux, run the following commands:

Flavors of Linux CentOS/RHEL/Oracle Linux commands sudo yum check-update sudo

  1. yum updateinfo

Debian/Ubuntu/Linux mint sudo apt update sudo apt list -upgradeable OpenSUSE/SUSE Enterprise

  1. sudo zypper refresh zypper
  2. list-updates

5) How do I enable patch management?

To enable Debian patch management through Patch Manager Plus, follow the steps below: Ensure

that agents are installed on systems. Once managed systems

  2. have been successfully scanned for missing patches, go to Patches > Missing Patches

    3. .

  3. You can get a list of missing patches along with the count of systems that are missing patches.
  4. Select the Debian patches/security updates that need to be deployed to the missing systems and click Install/Release Patches.
  5. Specify the deployment policy and add or filter the required targets.
  6. Once the configuration has been specified, click Deploy or Deploy immediately according to your requirements.
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