Lifecycle Management

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System lifecycle refers to the managed acquisition, deployment, use, and decommissioning of assets.

• inventory documentation identifies:
  • assets that are no longer supported by the vendor
  • assets that no longer meet performance or security requirements

End of life (EOL) is a phase when a manufacturer discontinues sales of a product and support and availability of spares and updates become limited.

• sometimes referred to as End of Sale (EOS)

End of support (EOS) system is one that is no longer supported by its developer or vendor.

• no longer receive security updates
• represent a critical vulnerability
• sometimes referred to as End of Service Life (EOSL)

Patch management refers to the procedures put in place to manage the installation of updates for hardware (firmware) and software.

• a patch is a publicly-released collection of updates
  • can include fixes and feature changes/improvements
• a hotfix is a code change that addresses a specific issue that can be applied without incurring downtime
  • a coldfix is one that requires the software or host to be restarted
  • bugfix is usually reserved for issues that are caught during product development and testing
• updating firmware is known as flashing the chip
  • done via vendor-supplied setup program
  • important to make a backup copy of the system config before performing a firmware update or upgrade
• a host OS can apply patches individually
• an appliance OS (e.g., Cisco IOS) must be patched to a particular version number by applying a new software image
  • can use IOS Software Checker to address a particular vulnerability
• basic upgrade process:
  • first do environment and compatibility checks
  • backup configuration
  • copy the new system image to the appliances flash memory
    • can be done:
      • over network using TFTP or remote file copy
      • using a removable flash memory
  • run a command sequence to replace the old image and load the new one at startup
• most software and firmware version changes are upward, toward newer versions
  • downgrading, or rollbacks, refers to reverting to a previous version of the software or firmware
    • may be necessary to fix a problem caused by a recently upgraded device or software
    • sometimes might not be possible
      • may need to be reinstalled completely