Most system administrators are accustomed to updating the operating system and other software packages on their CentOS hosts with the yum update command. This can be done on File Fabric VMs; in fact, yum is used to install File Fabric upgrades. Admins should be aware, however, that since File Fabric version 1906 all of the packages that are needed by the File will be fetched from mirrors maintained by Storage Made Easy when yum is run on a File Fabric host, not from the affected software’s native home on the internet.

SME manages updates this way to ensure that the File Fabric works well with the packages that are installed on its host, and that we will be able to provide effective support for the File Fabric in the event that customers encounter issues. This approach also requires that SME makes updates to the packages on the File Fabric’s host machines available from time to time so that the software on the host doesn’t become badly outdated. We do this by periodically updating the contents of our mirrors. Once we have updated the contents of the mirrors, the next time a File Fabric admin uses yum to update the software on a File Fabric host, the newer packages that we have provided will be installed.

Customers’ administrators who install additional packages on their File Fabric hosts should be aware that, when those packages depend on packages that are being managed by SME, compatibility between SME’s packages and the customers’ packages cannot be guaranteed and so software installed by the customer may not work as expected.