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IS&T strongly recommends that you set up periodic Operating System updates to keep up with security and other fixes. IS&T supports two ways to do this for Linux:

• The Red Hat Network
• Athena

This document compares the two so that you can decide which one is best for you.

Athena is primarily focused on maximizing the amount of available software, and minimizing the amount of administration, whether that administration is of user accounts or of software and system updates. By default Athena installs a large suite of MIT-specific application and system software. That software is kept up to date automatically. Any user in the Athena account registration database can log in from the console. Nobody has remote access. These defaults are changeable to provide control over when updates occur, what additional software is added, who can log in, and what remote access is allowed.

Red Hat Network is primarily focused on allowing the system administrator to take the most detailed control possible, and to fully understand and manage each subtle aspect of configuration and update. No user account or update default is set. You are responsible for adding additional third party, or MIT-recommended software.

Most customer requirements fall somewhere in between the two extremes of needing to do no local administration, and needing to take total control. The following table clarifies important aspects of how each system behaves by default, and how to adjust the configuration:

Feature	RHN	Athena
Setup	Register then you receive eMailed instructions to install Red Hat entitlement keys. Then configure the service.	Everything is pre-configured.
Manual Update	RHEL 4 and earlier: Use the up2date command. RHEL 5 and later: use the yum command.	Use the update_ws command.
Auto Update	RHEL 4 and earlier: Set it up with a daily cron job as documented in a Stock Answer. RHEL 5 and later: enabled by default.	Enabled by default unless you set AUTOUPDATE to "false" in /etc/athena/rc.conf.
kernel updates	Update manually, "just in case".	Pre-tested. Installed during auto update.
auto update schedule	Configure a cron job.	Pre-configured: When nobody is logged on, a cron job runs every few hours.
MIT-specific add-ons	Whatever you choose to install from the Linux Software Downloads page.	A large suite of software is pre-integrated, including Kerberos authentication, Zephyr instant messaging, AFS filesystem, etc.
Third Party Software	Whatever you care to research, and configure or build may work. Many of the packages named in Athena's What Runs Where can be installed, or accessed via OpenAFS.	Everything in Athena's What Runs Where is either pre-installed or available via AFS lockers. You have the option to research and configure or build third party software as well.
update of add-ons	Under Development.	Done automatically as part of Athena update.
inhibit update of an RPM	Specify using the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool.	Add RPM name to /etc/athena/rpmupdate.exceptions.

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