Software Assistant uses a few protocols in its normal operation:
HTTPS when retrieving the catalog file, HTTP when validating the catalog
source, and FTP when downloading patches.
Acquiring the Catalog File |
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During the swa report and swa step
catalog commands, a catalog file is downloaded from the
HP IT Resource Center (ITRC) website. This operation uses HTTPS to
transfer the file from the ITRC to your local system. The default
catalog source is
The catalog source may be changed with the extended option catalog_source.
The HTTPS protocol ensures the integrity of the catalog file
itself, but the integrity of the source system must be verified. This
is vital for security, because a valid catalog is required for system
analysis and the downloading of patches. A Certificate Authority's
(CA) Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is used to validate the integrity
of the source system from which the catalog is downloaded. SWA uses
HTTP to communicate with the CA. The default behavior when using the
commands swa report and swa step catalog is for SWA to check the CRL. This source system validation may be
disabled with the extended option crl_check.
The catalog contains the location of the patches for download
and MD5 cryptographic hash information that will be used to verify
patches downloaded from the ITRC website.
For more information, see swa-report(1M).
Downloading Patches |
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Software Assistant uses the FTP protocol when patches are downloaded
from the ITRC website using swa get or swa step download. The location of the patches and MD5
cryptographic hash information to authenticate the patches are included
in the catalog.
The process SWA follows when downloading patches is:
The location of the patches and the MD5 data are acquired
from the catalog file.
The patches are downloaded using the default FTP location
in the catalog file.
The MD5 check is done when the patches are downloaded
into the swcache.
Note that if you use media or other
means to relocate the swcache files to a new system (the swa get and swa step download commands
are not used), the MD5 cryptographic hash validation of the patches
is not repeated. Also, there is no way to explicitly perform the MD5
cryptographic hash validation using SWA.
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