I am using unattended-upgrades across multiple servers. I would like package updates to be rolled out gradually, either randomly or to a subset of test/staging machines first. Is there a way to do that for APT on Ubuntu?
An obvious option is to set some machines to update on Monday and the others to update on Wednesday, but that only gives me only weekly updates...
The goal of course is to avoid a Crowdstrike-like situation on my Ubuntu machines.
edit: For example. An updated openssh-server comes out. One fifth of the machines updates that day, another fifth updates the next day, and the rest updates 3 days later.
To effectively manage and stagger automated upgrades across multiple groups of Ubuntu servers, scheduling upgrades on specific days for different server groups offers a structured and reliable method. This approach ensures that upgrades are rolled out in a controlled manner, reducing the risk of potential disruptions.
Here's an example Ansible playbook that illustrates how to set this up. It installs unattended-upgrades and configures systemd timers to manage upgrades on specific weekdays for three distinct groups of servers.
Playbook
---
- hosts: all
become: yes
vars:
unattended_upgrade_groups:
- name: staging_batch1
schedule: "Mon *-*-* 02:00:00" # Updates on Monday
- name: staging_batch2
schedule: "Wed *-*-* 02:00:00" # Updates on Wednesday
- name: staging_batch3
schedule: "Fri *-*-* 02:00:00" # Updates on Friday
tasks:
- name: Install unattended-upgrades
apt:
name: unattended-upgrades
state: present
- name: Disable automatic updates to control manually
copy:
dest: /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
content: |
APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "0";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";
mode: '0644'
- name: Setup systemd service and timer for each group
loop: "{{ unattended_upgrade_groups }}"
block:
- name: Create systemd service for unattended-upgrades for {{ item.name }}
copy:
dest: "/etc/systemd/system/unattended-upgrades-{{ item.name }}.service"
content: |
[Unit]
Description=Run unattended upgrades for {{ item.name }}
[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/bin/unattended-upgrade
mode: '0644'
- name: Create systemd timer for {{ item.name }}
copy:
dest: "/etc/systemd/system/unattended-upgrades-{{ item.name }}.timer"
content: |
[Unit]
Description=Timer for unattended upgrades on {{ item.schedule }} for {{ item.name }}
[Timer]
OnCalendar={{ item.schedule }}
Persistent=true
[Install]
WantedBy=timers.target
mode: '0644'
- name: Enable the timer for {{ item.name }}
systemd:
name: "unattended-upgrades-{{ item.name }}.timer"
enabled: yes
- name: Start the timer for {{ item.name }}
systemd:
name: "unattended-upgrades-{{ item.name }}.timer"
state: started
I didn't run it, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was an invalid option in it somewhere. Ansible Lightspeed would be a better tool than what I used, but it's sufficient to get the point across.
What was "the point"? From my perspective, I had to correct a fifth post about using a schedule, even though I had already mentioned it in my post as a bad option. And instead of correcting someone, turns out I was replying to a bot answer. That kind of sucks, ngl.
I feel you, but on the other hand if every single community member tries to help, even if they have no idea or don't understand the question, this is not great.
Anybody can ask Google or an LLM, I am spending more time reading and acknowledging this bot answer than it took you to copy/paste. This is the inverse of helping.
The problem is not "the loop"(?), your (LLM's) approach is not relevant, and I've explained why.
Using scheduling is not a good option IMO, it's both too slow (some machines will wait a week to upgrade) and too fast (significant part of machines will upgrade right away).
It seems that making APT mirrors at the cadence I want is the best solution, but thanks for the answer.