After our ASA units were updated to the latest version of ASDM my Java client would no longer connect to ASDM. An upgrade to the latest version of Java was in order. Since fedora yum repository does not yet offer the latest version of Java I downloaded the latest rpm variant of JDK from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

The install steps are:

Grand executable permission to installer file

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chmod +x jdk-6u12-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Run installer file

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./jdk-6u12-linux-i586-rpm.bin

Rename symbolic links pointing to old java programs

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cd /etc/alternatives
mv java java_old
mv javaws java_old
mv keytool keytool_old

Create new symbolic links

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cd /etc/alternatives
ln -s /usr/java/latest/bin/java java
ln -s /usr/java/latest/bin/javaws javaws
ln -s /usr/java/latest/bin/keytool keytool

Verify that new java version is installed

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javaws
Java(TM) Web Start 1.6.0_12 
Usage: javaws [run-options]   
  javaws [control-options]