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Adding and Updating Packages

You use the Advanced Packaging Tool (apt) to manage additional applications (in the form of packages) and to install the latest updates.

Updating, upgrading, and installing packages with apt causes disruptions to network services:

  • Upgrading a package might result in services being restarted or stopped as part of the upgrade process.
  • Installing a package might disrupt core services by changing core service dependency packages. In some cases, installing new packages might also upgrade additional existing packages due to dependencies.

If services are stopped, you might need to reboot the switch for those services to restart.

Update the Package Cache

To work properly, apt relies on a local cache listing of the available packages. You must populate the cache initially, then periodically update it with sudo -E apt-get update:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
Get:1 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest InRelease [7,624 B]
Get:2 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest InRelease [7,555 B]
Get:3 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest-updates InRelease [7,660 B]
Get:4 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/cumulus Sources [20 B]
Get:5 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/upstream Sources [20 B]
Get:6 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/cumulus amd64 Packages [38.4 kB]
Get:7 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4--latest/upstream amd64 Packages [445 kB]
Get:8 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/cumulus Sources [20 B]
Get:9 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/upstream Sources [11.8 kB]
Get:10 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/cumulus amd64 Packages [20 B]
Get:11 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/upstream amd64 Packages [8,941 B]
Get:12 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/cumulus Sources [20 B]
Get:13 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/upstream Sources [776 B]
Get:14 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/cumulus amd64 Packages [38.4 kB]
Get:15 http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/upstream amd64 Packages [444 kB]
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/cumulus Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/cumulus Translation-en
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/upstream Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-latest/upstream Translation-en
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/cumulus Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/cumulus Translation-en
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/upstream Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-security-updates-latest/upstream Translation-en
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/cumulus Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/cumulus Translation-en
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/upstream Translation-en_US
Ign http://apt.cumulusnetworks.com CumulusLinux-4-updates-latest/upstream Translation-en
Fetched 1,011 kB in 1s (797 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done

Use the -E option with sudo whenever you run any apt-get command. This option preserves your environment variables (such as HTTP proxies) before you install new packages or upgrade your distribution.

List Available Packages

After the cache is populated, use the apt-cache command to search the cache and find the packages in which you are interested or to get information about an available package.

Here are examples of the search and show sub-commands:

cumulus@switch:~$ apt-cache search tcp
collectd-core - statistics collection and monitoring daemon (core system)
fakeroot - tool for simulating superuser privileges
iperf - Internet Protocol bandwidth measuring tool
iptraf-ng - Next Generation Interactive Colorful IP LAN Monitor
libfakeroot - tool for simulating superuser privileges - shared libraries
libfstrm0 - Frame Streams (fstrm) library
libibverbs1 - Library for direct userspace use of RDMA (InfiniBand/iWARP)
libnginx-mod-stream - Stream module for Nginx
libqt4-network - Qt 4 network module
librtr-dev - Small extensible RPKI-RTR-Client C library - development files
librtr0 - Small extensible RPKI-RTR-Client C library
libwiretap8 - network packet capture library -- shared library
libwrap0 - Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers library
libwrap0-dev - Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers library, development files
netbase - Basic TCP/IP networking system
nmap-common - Architecture independent files for nmap
nuttcp - network performance measurement tool
openssh-client - secure shell (SSH) client, for secure access to remote machines
openssh-server - secure shell (SSH) server, for secure access from remote machines
openssh-sftp-server - secure shell (SSH) sftp server module, for SFTP access from remote machines
python-dpkt - Python 2 packet creation / parsing module for basic TCP/IP protocols
rsyslog - reliable system and kernel logging daemon
socat - multipurpose relay for bidirectional data transfer
tcpdump - command-line network traffic analyzer
cumulus@switch:~$ apt-cache show tcpdump
Package: tcpdump
Version: 4.9.3-1~deb10u1
Installed-Size: 1109
Maintainer: Romain Francoise <rfrancoise@debian.org>
Architecture: amd64
Replaces: apparmor-profiles-extra (<< 1.12~)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14), libpcap0.8 (>= 1.5.1), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0)
Suggests: apparmor (>= 2.3)
Breaks: apparmor-profiles-extra (<< 1.12~)
Size: 400060
SHA256: 3a63be16f96004bdf8848056f2621fbd863fadc0baf44bdcbc5d75dd98331fd3
SHA1: 2ab9f0d2673f49da466f5164ecec8836350aed42
MD5sum: 603baaf914de63f62a9f8055709257f3
Description: command-line network traffic analyzer
 This program allows you to dump the traffic on a network. tcpdump
 is able to examine IPv4, ICMPv4, IPv6, ICMPv6, UDP, TCP, SNMP, AFS
 BGP, RIP, PIM, DVMRP, IGMP, SMB, OSPF, NFS and many other packet
 types.
 .
 It can be used to print out the headers of packets on a network
 interface, filter packets that match a certain expression. You can
 use this tool to track down network problems, to detect attacks
 or to monitor network activities.
Description-md5: f01841bfda357d116d7ff7b7a47e8782
Homepage: http://www.tcpdump.org/
Multi-Arch: foreign
Section: net
Priority: optional
Filename: pool/upstream/t/tcpdump/tcpdump_4.9.3-1~deb10u1_amd64.deb

The search commands look for the search terms not only in the package name but in other parts of the package information; the search matches on more packages than you might expect.

List Packages Installed on the System

apt-cache command shows information about all the packages available in the repository. To see which packages are actually installed on your system with their versions, run the following commands.

Run the net show package version command:

cumulus@switch:~$ net show package version
Package                            Installed Version(s)
---------------------------------  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
acpi                               1.7-1.1
acpi-support-base                  0.142-8
acpid                              1:2.0.31-1
adduser                            3.118
apt                                1.8.2
arping                             2.19-6
arptables                          0.0.4+snapshot20181021-4
...

Run the dpkg -l command:

cumulus@switch:~$ dpkg -l
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                Version                   Architecture Description
+++-===================-=========================-============-=================================
ii  acpi                1.7-1.1                   amd64        displays information on ACPI devices
ii  acpi-support-base   0.142-8                   all          scripts for handling base ACPI events such as th
ii  acpid               1:2.0.31-1                amd64        Advanced Configuration and Power Interface event
ii  adduser             3.118                     all          add and remove users and groups
ii  apt                 1.8.2                     amd64        commandline package manager
ii  arping              2.19-6                    amd64        sends IP and/or ARP pings (to the MAC address)
ii  arptables           0.0.4+snapshot20181021-4  amd64        ARP table administration
...

The apps repository was removed in Cumulus Linux 4.0.0.

Show the Version of a Package

To show the version of a specific package installed on the system:

Run the net show package version <package> command. For example, the following command shows which version of the vrf package is installed on the system:

cumulus@switch:~$ net show package version vrf
1.0-cl4u2

Run the Linux dpkg -l <package_name> command. For example, the following command shows which version of the vrf package is installed on the system:

cumulus@switch:~$ dpkg -l vrf
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name       Version      Architecture Description
+++-==========-============-============-=================================
ii  vrf        1.0-cl4u2    amd64        Linux tools for VRF

Upgrade Packages

To upgrade all the packages installed on the system to their latest versions, run the following commands:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get upgrade

A list of packages that will be upgraded is displayed and you are prompted to continue.

The above commands upgrade all installed versions with their latest versions but do not install any new packages.

Add New Packages

To add a new package, first ensure the package is not already installed on the system:

cumulus@switch:~$ dpkg -l | grep <name of package>
  • If the package is installed already, you can update the package from the Cumulus Linux repository as part of the package upgrade process, which upgrades all packages on the system. See Upgrade Packages above.
  • If the package is not already installed, add it by running sudo -E apt-get install <name of package>. This retrieves the package from the Cumulus Linux repository and installs it on your system together with any other packages on which this package might depend. The following example adds the tcpreplay package to the system:
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get install tcpreplay
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
tcpreplay
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 436 kB of archives.
After this operation, 1008 kB of additional disk space will be used
...

You can install several packages at the same time:

cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get install <package 1> <package 2> <package 3>

In some cases, installing a new package might also upgrade additional existing packages due to dependencies. To view these additional packages before you install, run the apt-get install --dry-run command.

Add Packages from Another Repository

As shipped, Cumulus Linux searches the Cumulus Linux repository for available packages. You can add additional repositories to search by adding them to the list of sources that apt-get consults. See man sources.list for more information.

NVIDIA has added features or made bug fixes to certain packages; do not replace these packages with versions from other repositories. Cumulus Linux is configured to ensure that the packages from the Cumulus Linux repository are always preferred over packages from other repositories.

If you want to install packages that are not in the Cumulus Linux repository, the procedure is the same as above, but with one additional step.

Packages that are not part of the Cumulus Linux Repository are not typically tested and might not be supported by Cumulus Linux Technical Support.

Installing packages outside of the Cumulus Linux repository requires the use of sudo -E apt-get; however, depending on the package, you can use easy-install and other commands.

To install a new package, complete the following steps:

  1. Run the dpkg command to ensure that the package is not already installed on the system:

    cumulus@switch:~$ dpkg -l | grep <name of package>
    
  2. If the package is installed already, ensure it is the version you need. If it is an older version, update the package from the Cumulus Linux repository:

    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get install <name of package>
    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get upgrade
    
  3. If the package is not on the system, the package source location is most likely not in the /etc/apt/sources.list file. If the source for the new package is not in sources.list, edit and add the appropriate source to the file. For example, add the following if you want a package from the Debian repository that is not in the Cumulus Linux repository:

    deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian buster main
    deb http://security.debian.org/ buster/updates main
    

    Otherwise, the repository might be listed in /etc/apt/sources.list but is commented out. To uncomment the repository, remove the # at the start of the line, then save the file.

  4. Run sudo -E apt-get update, then install the package and upgrade:

    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get install <name of package>
    cumulus@switch:~$ sudo -E apt-get upgrade
    

Add Packages from the Cumulus Linux Local Archive

Cumulus Linux contains a local archive embedded in the Cumulus Linux image. This archive contains the packages needed to install ifplugd, LDAP, RADIUS or TACACS+ without needing a network connection.

The archive is called cumulus-local-apt-archive and is referenced in the /etc/apt/cumulus-local-apt-archive-sources.list file. It contains the following packages:

  • audisp-tacplus
  • ifplugd
  • libdaemon0
  • libnss-ldapd
  • libnss-mapuser
  • libnss-tacplus
  • libpam-ldapd
  • libpam-radius-auth
  • libpam-tacplus
  • libtac2
  • libtacplus-map1
  • nslcd

You add these packages normally with apt-get update && apt-get install, as described above.

Considerations

At this time, you cannot directly browse the contents of the apt.cumulusnetworks.com repository using HTTP.