RHEL 7 fresh install - which updates should I install?
RHEL 7 offers me to install 150+ updates, and it seems many of these updates are not applicable to my server. For example it offers to install some "WiFi" Firmware, but my server doesn't have any wifi card. Also regarding many updates i just don't know what are they for and if I need them. For example I don't know what is "A TLS protocol implementation" also I don't know if I need it. What would be the most correct scenario?
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Just install all updates. So "A TLS protocol implementation" should be installed.
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Install all updates except those I'm absolutely sure I don't need. In my case I should install eveyrthing except WiFi, Samba. So "A TLS protocol implementation" should be installed.
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Only install updates I'm absolutely sure - for example Linux kernel, OpenJava, do not install anything else. So "A TLS protocol implementation" should not be installed.
Thanks
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Always install all the updates.
If you have packages on your system that you don't need, you can remove them, but make sure you don't remove something that's needed. One good approach when you know exactly what you need is to start from the minimal server, and then just add the packages you need.
That package (firmware for Intel wifi adapters), as well as a number of other firmware packages, are installed by default whenever you install a RHEL7 system because they're a part of the "Core" installation group (what is called "Minimal Install" in the Anaconda installer). This is to ensure that the majority of wifi and ethernet network adapters work out of the box immediately after a fresh installation.
You can safely remove these packages, provided that your machine doesn't have the hardware to use them. To uninstall the packages, open the "Software" tool (Applications -> System Tools -> Software), type an appropriate keyword in the search field (for example, "wireless" in this case), and press Enter. A list of all packages that satisfy the filter criteria will be shown. Then you can untick all the packages you want to uninstall. When you're done, click the "Apply Changes" button. Be sure to only uninstall packages you really don't need.
You don't want to uninstall "A TLS protocol implementation". That package, as the name suggests, contains an implementation of TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is a cryptographic protocol used for secure communications. Very much useful and needed. Many other packages depend on this package (called gnutls) and uninstalling it would most likely render your system unusable as all the dependent packages would be removed as well.
As a rule of thumb, if unsure, install all updates and do not remove packages from the default installation. It is true that you may be updating packages that you don't really need, but that shouldn't have a dramatically negative effect on your system. The overhead is small, and it is better that to end up with a broken installation because some important packages were not updated or were removed. As has been said above, if you wish to have the system as lean as possible, begin with the "Minimal Install" and only add packages/software groups when you need them.
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