How do you manage host OS updates on NS8?

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I think it would be interesting to gather some real-world feedback from the community instead of making assumptions.

I’d like to post a poll on the forum to better understand how people actually keep the host operating system up to date.

Something like:

How do you usually update your NS8 host operating system?

  • I connect via SSH and update it manually.
  • I use Cockpit.
  • I rely on automatic updates.
  • I use a subscription that manages updates.
  • I rarely or never update the host OS.
  • Other (please explain).

The goal isn’t to argue for a particular solution, but to understand how administrators are managing their systems today and whether there’s a gap between the documented workflow and real-world usage.

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damn I am old

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added text

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  1. I connect via SSH and update it manually.
  2. I use Cockpit.
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But i love to have an update UI

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In case of servers with subscription:

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I check Patchmon to see if any updates are needed on one of my servers, and then I use SSH manually.

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I use a subscription that manages updates and SSH for Rocky Linux updates.

Edit:
Nevertheless, I regularly check to see what updates are due; with a Nextcloud update, manual intervention is sometimes required, and I want to know which applications are being updated in case any problems arise afterwards.
An automated notification about the updates that have been installed would be a great help here.

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That’s why I’m surprised that “Subscription” is also listed as a possible answer option.

That’s why I’m surprised that “Subscription” is now also an option for the answer, and that some of the answers clearly refer to the NS8 update and its apps themselves.

What is this survey actually about?

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Why are you surprised? With a subscription, assuming you’re running on Rocky Linux, host OS updates are handled as well.

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dindn’t know that because I use debian 13.

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Yes, it’s a bit of a hidden feature—or at least one that isn’t advertised much—that a subscription also buys you some peace of mind. Of course, it comes at a cost, but you’re funding the project, and as the saying goes, free software is only truly free once someone has paid for it.

It comes from my own experience. I once came back, after about a year, to a server I had installed for someone. The cluster-admin had been kept up to date, but the underlying OS had never been upgraded, and he was genuinely surprised to learn that it was a separate step. To be fair, he hadn’t read the documentation.

Maybe I should have added a final option to the survey: “I wasn’t even aware that the operating system also needed to be upgraded.”

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Have a script notifying me when updates are available, then run update via Ansible

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I use Webmin, I have a browser window open with tabs for all my servers and work through them that way.

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