Page 1 Red Hat Network 3.2 Provisioning Reference Guide...
Page 2 All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners. The GPG ﬁngerprint of the security@redhat.com key is: CA 20 86 86 2B D6 9D FC 65 F6 EC C4 21 91 80 CD DB 42 A6 0E...
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents Introduction............................i 1. Document Conventions......................i 2. More to Come ........................iv 2.1. Send in Your Feedback ..................iv 1. What is Red Hat Network? ......................1 1.1. Demo..........................2 1.2. Update ..........................2 1.3. Management........................2 1.4.
Page 4 4.4.6. Advanced Search....................60 4.4.7. Activation Keys....................60 4.4.8. Stored Proﬁles....................61 4.4.9. Custom System Info..................61 4.4.10. Kickstart......................62 4.5. Errata..........................66 4.5.1. Relevant Errata....................67 4.5.2. All Errata......................67 4.5.3. Advanced Search....................68 4.6. Channels........................... 69 4.6.1. Software Channels .................... 69 4.6.2.
Page 5 A.2.8. Listing All Conﬁg Channels ................101 A.2.9. Removing a File from a Channel ..............102 A.2.10. Deleting a Conﬁg Channel................102 A.2.11. Determining the Number of File Revisions ..........102 A.2.12. Updating a File in a Channel................ 102 A.2.13. Uploading Multiple Files at Once..............103 B.
Page 7: Introduction
Refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for instructions. For an overview of Red Hat Network offerings, please review the descriptions available at http://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/ . 1. Document Conventions When you read this manual, certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces, sizes, and weights.
Page 8 Introduction application This style indicates that the program is an end-user application (as opposed to system software). For example: Use Mozilla to browse the Web. [key] A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example: To use [Tab] completion, type in a character and then press the [Tab] key. Your terminal displays the list of ﬁles in the directory that start with that letter.
Page 9 Introduction [stephen@maturin stephen]$ leopard login: user input Text that the user has to type, either on the command line, or into a text box on a GUI screen, is displayed in this style. In the following example, text is displayed in this style: To boot your system into the text based installation program, you must type in the text com- mand at the prompt.
Page 10: More To Come
2.1. Send in Your Feedback If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network Provisioning Reference Guide, please mention this guide’s identiﬁer: RHNpro(EN)-3.2-Print-RHI (2004-03-16T17:59) You can send mail to: < > rhn-feedback@redhat.com...
Page 11: What Is Red Hat Network
Linux 8.0 systems will even use the Red Hat Update Agent to be registered to RHN. See Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for further information. You can use either of the two Red Hat Network user interfaces: https://rhn.redhat.com • The Red Hat Update Agent •...
Page 12: Demo
Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the Red Hat Network Provisioning Reference Guide, refer to the Glossary as necessary for an explanation of common terms. For a comparison chart of RHN service levels, refer to https://rhn.redhat.com/preview/. 1.1. Demo The RHN Demo service level is the complimentary service level.
Page 13: Management
To create an account that can be used to entitle systems to RHN Management, go to https://rhn.redhat.com/ and click on the Create Account link under the Sign In ﬁelds. On the Sign Up for Red Hat Network page, click Create a new corporate account. After creating a corporate account, you may add users within your organization to it.
Page 14: Errata Notiﬁcations And Scheduled Package Installations
Red Hat’s GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) signature to ensure authenticity. Red Hat Network incorporates the following security measures: 1. Your System Proﬁle available at http://rhn.redhat.com is accessible only with an RHN-veriﬁed username and password. 2. A Digital Certiﬁcate is written to the client system after registration and is used to authenticate the system during each transaction between the client and Red Hat Network.
Page 15 (or from a Red Hat FTP mirror available at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors.html). Always check the Red Hat Errata page, available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/, for package updates. If you install an older version of these packages, you can retrieve the latest versions using Red Hat Network. The ﬁrst...
Page 16 Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network?
Page 17: Red Hat Update Agent
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent The Red Hat Update Agent is your connection to the Red Hat Network. It enables you to register your systems, create System Proﬁles, and alter the settings by which your organization and RHN interact. Once registered, your systems can use the Red Hat Update Agent to retrieve the latest software packages from Red Hat.
Page 18 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent If you choose the last option and start the application from a shell prompt, you can specify the options in Table 2-1 to the Red Hat Update Agent. To view these options, type the command up2date --help For example, use the following command to specify the directory in which to download the updated...
Page 19: Registration
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-1. Conﬁgure Proxy Server The second dialog box to appear will prompt you to install the Red Hat GPG key, as shown in Figure 2-2. This key is used to verify the packages you download for security purposes. Click Yes to install the key, and you will not see this message again.
Page 20 Network registration process is used to create a System Proﬁle, which is essential to receiving update notiﬁcations about your system. If after reading the statement you have any questions about how your information is being used, please contact us at < >. When satisﬁed, click feedback@redhat.com Forward.
Page 21: Registering A User Account
Red Hat software packages. Note If you are already a member of redhat.com, you can use the same username and password. However, you will still need to continue with the registration process to create your System Proﬁle. Your username and password have the following restrictions: Must be at least four characters long •...
Page 22 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Cannot contain any line feeds • Cannot contain the characters &, +, %, or ’ • Figure 2-5. Create a User Account You must choose a unique username. If you enter one already in use, you will see an error message (see Figure 2-6).
Page 23 Unlike other details, your company name can be changed only through redhat.com. To make this change, go to http://www.redhat.com/ and click the Account link near the top-right corner. Sign in if you are not already logged in, and then click the Account Details link. In the Edit Account Details page, replace your company name in the appropriate ﬁeld and click the Finish button at the bottom.
Page 24: Registering A System Proﬁle
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-7. Register a User Account Once satsﬁed with the information supplied, click Forward to continue. 2.2.2. Registering a System Proﬁle Now that you have a user account, you can create a System Proﬁle that consists of hardware and software information about your Red Hat Linux system.
Page 25 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Disk sizes • Mount points • The next step is choosing a proﬁle name for your system as shown in Figure 2-8. The default value is the hostname for the system. You may modify this to be a more descriptive string, such as Email Server for Support Team, if you ﬁnd it more helpful.
Page 26 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent you use an older version of a package and deselect it from the list, it will not be replaced with a newer version. This RPM list can be modiﬁed through the Red Hat Network Web interface or by using the Red Hat Update Agent.
Page 27 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 2.2.2.2.2. Choosing RPM Packages to Exclude from the System Proﬁle By default, all RPM packages in your RPM database are included in your System Proﬁle to be updated by Red Hat Network. To exclude a package, uncheck the package from the list by clicking the check- box beside the package name.
Page 28: Setup And Use
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-12. Finished Collecting Information for System Proﬁle Figure 2-13 shows the progress bar you will see while your proﬁle is being sent. This process may take some time depending on your connection speed. Figure 2-13.
Page 29: Choosing A Channel
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 2.3.1. Choosing a Channel The ﬁrst step is to select the channel from which you want the updated packages to be retrieved. After you send your System Proﬁle, the Channels screen (Figure 2-14) appears. Select the appropriate base channel and click Forward to continue.
Page 30 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent While you see this dialog box, the Red Hat Update Agent uses your unique Digital Certiﬁcate ) to determine if there are any updated packages available for /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid your system. If there are no updated packages available for your system, the dialog box in Figure 2-16 appears.
Page 31 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-18. View Advisory The Available Package Updates screen is the next to appear. If your system is not up-to-date, your customized list of available updated packages is displayed as shown in Figure 2-19.
Page 32 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-19. List of Available Updates By default, no packages are selected for download. To select a package for download (and installation, if you chose that option), click its checkbox. To select all the packages listed, click the checkbox next to Select all packages.
Page 33: Installing Updated Packages
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-21. Retrieval Finished 2.3.3. Installing Updated Packages After downloading the packages through the Red Hat Update Agent, they must be installed. If you chose not to have the packages installed via the Red Hat Update Agent, skip to Section 2.3.5.2 Manual Package Installation for further instructions.
Page 34: Update Agent Finished
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-22. Installation Finished 2.3.4. Update Agent Finished When the Red Hat Update Agent has ﬁnished downloading the desired packages (and installing them if you chose the install option), you will see the screen in Figure 2-23. Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Update Agent.
Page 35: Command Line Version
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-23. Update Agent Finished 2.3.5. Command Line Version If you are not running X, you can still run the Red Hat Update Agent from a virtual console or remote terminal. If you are running X but want to use the command line version, you can force it not to display the graphical interface with the following command: up2date --nox The command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent allows you to perform advanced functions...
Page 36 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Argument Description Download packages only; do not install them. This argument --download temporarily overrides the conﬁguration option Do not install packages after retrieval. Use this option if you prefer to install the packages manually. Specify an alternate RPM database to use temporarily.
Page 37 1. Cut and paste the following into a ﬁle and save it as or download it from redhat2.asc https://www.redhat.com/solutions/security/news/publickey/#key. Type bits/keyID Date User ID 1024D/DB42A60E 1999-09-23 Red Hat Software, Inc. (security@redhat.com) 2048g/961630A2 1999-09-23 -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.0 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org...
Page 38 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent mQGiBDfqVDgRBADBKr3Bl6PO8BQ0H8sJoD6p9U7Yyl7pjtZqioviPwXP+DCWd4u8 HQzcxAZ57m8ssA1LK1Fx93coJhDzM130+p5BG9mYSWShLabR3N1KXdXQYYcowTOM GxdwYRGr1Spw8QydLhjVfU1VSl4xt6bupPbWJbyjkg5Z3P7BlUOUJmrx3wCgobNV EDGaWYJcch5z5B1of/41G8kEAKii6q7Gu/vhXXnLS6m15oNnPVybyngiw/23dKjS ZVG7rKANEK2mxg1VB+vc/uUc4k49UxJJfCZg1gu1sPFV3GSa+Y/7jsiLktQvCiLP lncQt1dV+ENmHR5BdIDPWDzKBVbgWnSDnqQ6KrZ7T6AlZ74VMpjGxxkWU6vV2xsW XCLPA/9P/vtImA8CZN3jxGgtK5GGtDNJ/cMhhuv5tnfwFg4b/VGo2Jr8mhLUqoIb E6zeGAmZbUpdckDco8D5fiFmqTf5+++pCEpJLJkkzel/32N2w4qzPrcRMCiBURES PjCLd4Y5rPoU8E4kOHc/4BuHN903tiCsCPloCrWsQZ7UdxfQ5LQiUmVkIEhhdCwg SW5jIDxzZWN1cml0eUByZWRoYXQuY29tPohVBBMRAgAVBQI36lQ4AwsKAwMVAwID FgIBAheAAAoJECGRgM3bQqYOsBQAnRVtg7B25Hm11PHcpa8FpeddKiq2AJ9aO8sB XmLDmPOEFI75mpTrKYHF6rkCDQQ36lRyEAgAokgI2xJ+3bZsk8jRA8ORIX8DH05U lMH27qFYzLbT6npXwXYIOtVn0K2/iMDj+oEB1Aa2au4OnddYaLWp06v3d+XyS0t+ 5ab2ZfIQzdh7wCwxqRkzR+/H5TLYbMG+hvtTdylfqIX0WEfoOXMtWEGSVwyUsnM3 Jy3LOi48rQQSCKtCAUdV20FoIGWhwnb/gHU1BnmES6UdQujFBE6EANqPhp0coYoI hHJ2oIO8ujQItvvNaU88j/s/izQv5e7MXOgVSjKe/WX3s2JtB/tW7utpy12wh1J+ JsFdbLV/t8CozUTpJgx5mVA3RKlxjTA+On+1IEUWioB+iVfT7Ov/0kcAzwADBQf9 E4SKCWRand8K0XloMYgmipxMhJNnWDMLkokvbMNTUoNpSfRoQJ9EheXDxwMpTPwK ti/PYrrL2J11P2ed0x7zm8v3gLrY0cue1iSba+8glY+p31ZPOr5ogaJw7ZARgoS8 BwjyRymXQp+8Dete0TELKOL2/itDOPGHW07SsVWOR6cmX4VlRRcWB5KejaNvdrE5 4XFtOd04NMgWI63uqZc4zkRa+kwEZtmbz3tHSdRCCE+Y7YVP6IUf/w6YPQFQriWY FiA6fD10eB+BlIUqIw80VgjsBKmCwvKkn4jg8kibXgj4/TzQSx77uYokw1EqQ2wk OZoaEtcubsNMquuLCMWijYhGBBgRAgAGBQI36lRyAAoJECGRgM3bQqYOhyYAnj7h VDY/FJAGqmtZpwVp9IlitW5tAJ4xQApr/jNFZCTksnI+4O1765F7tA== =3AHZ -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- 2. At the shell prompt, import the key with the following command: gpg --import redhat2.asc The resulting message tells you that the key was processed.
Page 39: Conﬁguration
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent After running this command, your RHN System Proﬁle will reﬂect the latest software versions in- stalled on your system. 2.3.5.4. Log File The Red Hat Update Agent keeps a log of all the actions that it performs on your system in the ﬁle .
Page 40 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-24. General Settings In addition, RHN Proxy and Satellite customers have the option of selecting Red Hat Network Servers here. These customers should refer to the RHN Client Conﬁguration Guide for detailed instructions. 2.4.1.2.
Page 41 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 2-25. Retrieval/Installation Settings The following package retrieval options can be selected (see Figure 2-25): Do not install packages after retrieval — download selected RPM packages to desired directory • and ignore the installation preferences Do not upgrade packages when local conﬁguration ﬁle has been modiﬁed —...
Page 42: Command Line Version
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent To deﬁne a set of packages to be excluded according to the package name, enter a character string including wild cards (*) in the Add new text ﬁeld under in the Package Names to Skip section. A wild card at the end of the character string means all packages beginning with the character string will be excluded from the list.
Page 43: Registering With Activation Keys
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent pkgSkipList [’kernel*’] storageDir /var/spool/up2date adminAddress [’root@localhost’] noBootLoader 10. serverURL https://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC 11. fileSkipList 12. sslCACert /usr/share/rhn/RHNS-CA-CERT 13. noReplaceConfig 14. useNoSSLForPackage No 15. systemIdPath /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid 16. enableProxyAuth 17. retrieveSource 18. versionOverride 19. headerFetchCount 20. networkRetries 21. enableProxy 22.
Page 44 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent Note Systems running versions of Red Hat Linux older than 8.0 need version 2.7.20 or higher of the package. It is highly recommended you obtain the latest version before using activa- rhn_register tion keys. Before using an activation key, you must ﬁrst generate one through the RHN website.
Page 45: Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool
Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool The Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool is a notiﬁer that appears on the panel and alerts users when software package updates are available for their systems. The list of updates is retrieved from the RHN Servers.
Page 46: Notiﬁcation Icons
Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool Figure 3-2. HTTP Proxy Conﬁguration If your network connection requires you to use an HTTP Proxy Server to make HTTP connec- tions, on the Proxy Conﬁguration screen, type your proxy server in the text ﬁeld with the for- mat HOST:PORT.
Page 47: Viewing Updates
Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool If you see the icon, it is highly recommended that you apply the updates. Refer to Section 3.4 Applying Updates for information on applying updates. If you have scheduled updates to be installed, you can watch the applet icon to determine when updates are applied.
Page 48 Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool...
Page 49: Red Hat Network Website
In a Web browser, go to http://rhn.redhat.com. The page shown in Figure 4-1 will be displayed. Figure 4-1. RHN Website If you have not registered a system yet or do not have a redhat.com account, create a new account by clicking Create Account. After creating a new user account, you must register your system before using RHN.
Page 50 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Your RHN — Obtain a quick overview of your account. It notiﬁes you if your systems need • attention, provides a quick link to go directly to them, and displays the most recent Errata Alerts for your account.
Page 51: Errata Alert Icons
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Schedule — Keep track of your scheduled actions. • Pending Actions — List scheduled actions that have not been completed. • Failed Actions — List scheduled actions that have failed. • Completed Actions — List scheduled actions that have been completed. Completed actions can •...
Page 52: Your Rhn
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.3. Your RHN After logging into the website of Red Hat Network, the ﬁrst category to appear is Your RHN dis- playing as its ﬁrst page Your RHN. This page contains important information about your systems, including summaries of system status, actions, and Errata Alerts.
Page 53: Your Account
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Ungrouped Systems — Each registered system must be a member of at least one system group. • The number of ungrouped systems refers to systems that are not yet members of any system group. Inactive Systems —...
Page 54: Your Preferences
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.3.2. Your Preferences The Your Preferences page allows you to conﬁgure Red Hat Network options, including: Email Notiﬁcations — Determine whether you want to receive email every time an Errata Alert is • applicable to one or more systems in your RHN account. Important This setting also enables Management and Provisioning customers to receive a daily summary of system events.
Page 55 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.3.5.2. Quick Start Guide The Quick Start Guide page contains a brief overview of Red Hat Network and its many features. If you are unfamiliar with RHN, it is recommended you read this guide in its entirety. Topics covered include registering your systems, applying Errata Updates, using one-click updates, and troubleshoot- ing.
Page 56: Systems
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.3.5.9. Get RHN Software The RHN Software page provides direct links to the Red Hat Update Agent and Red Hat Network Registration Client for every supported distribution. In addition, it describes how to resolve expired SSL certiﬁcates.
Page 57 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website — Updates have been scheduled • — System not checking in properly (for 24 hours or more) • — System not entitled to any update service • Errata — Total number of Errata Alerts applicable to the system. •...
Page 58 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Figure 4-3. System List Links in the left navigation bar below Systems enable you to select and view predeﬁned sets of your systems. All of the options described above can be applied within these pages. 4.4.2.1.
Page 59 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.4.2.5. Inactive The Inactive page displays the registered systems that have not checked into RHN for 24 hours or more. When the Red Hat Update Agent connects to RHN to see if there are any updates available or if any actions have been scheduled, this is considered a checkin.
Page 60 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Include system in daily summary report calculations — This setting includes the system • in a daily summary of system events. (By default, all Management and Provisioning systems are included in the summary.) These are actions affecting packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, and system reboots or failures to check in.
Page 61 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website page, then click the Conﬁrm button. After conﬁrming, the action is added to the Pending Actions list under Schedule. Errata that have been scheduled cannot be selected for update. In the place of a checkbox, you will ﬁnd a clock icon that, when clicked, takes you to the Action Details page. To help users determine whether an update has been scheduled, a Status column exists within the Errata table.
Page 62 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website from the proﬁle. To install speciﬁc packages, select the checkboxes of packages from the pro- ﬁle. To remove speciﬁc packages already installed on the system itself, select the checkboxes of packages showing a difference of "This system only." To synchronize the system’s packages with the compared proﬁle entirely, select the master checkbox at the top of the column.
Page 63 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website To set individual modes, issue this command (repeatedly, as root), appending the mode name to the end: touch /etc/sysconfig/rhn/allowed-actions/configfiles/mode To grant full conﬁguration management access, issue this command: touch /etc/sysconfig/rhn/allowed-actions/configfiles/all Your system should now be ready for conﬁg management through RHN. The central conﬁgura- tion repository is covered more extensively in Section 4.6.6 Manage Conﬁg Channels.
Page 64: System Groups
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Kickstart — Enables the re-installation of the system based upon selectable parameters, includ- • ing speciﬁc Red Hat distribution. These kickstarts are based upon proﬁles developed within the Kickstart interface. Refer to Section 4.4.10 Kickstart for details. Session Status —...
Page 65 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 2. Add systems to system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.3.2 Adding and Removing Systems in Groups.) 3. Remove systems from system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details.) 4. Assign system group permissions to users. (Refer to Section 4.8 Users.) As shown in Figure 4-4, the System Groups list displays all of your system groups.
Page 66 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Group Name — The name of the group as conﬁgured during its creation. The name should be • explicit enough to easily differentiate between it and other groups. Clicking on the name of a group takes you to Details tab of its System Group Details page.
Page 67: System Set Manager
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website information.) Clicking the Affected Systems number lists all of the systems addressed by the Errata. To apply the Errata Updates in this list, select the systems and click the Apply Errata button. Admins — List of all organization users that potentially have permission to manage the system •...
Page 68 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Remove existing packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of all the packages installed • on the selected systems. Select the packages to be deleted, then click the Remove Packages button. Groups —...
Page 69: System Entitlements
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website button. Clicking Remove a custom value then the name of a key allows you to remove values for all selected systems. Click the Remove Values button to ﬁnalize the deletion. Reboot Systems — Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Reboot Systems •...
Page 70: Advanced Search
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website tools for kickstarting machines, managing their conﬁguration ﬁles, conducting snapshot rollbacks, and inputting searchable custom system information, as well as all of the functionality included in the Management service level. The System Entitlements page allows you to view and promote the entitlements for your registered systems.
Page 71: Stored Proﬁles
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website To generate an activation key: 1. Select Systems => Activation Keys from the top and left navigation bars. 2. Click the create new key link at the top-left corner. 3. Provide the following information: Description —...
Page 72: Kickstart
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.4.10. Kickstart To satisfy the provisioning needs of customers, RHN provides this interface for developing kickstart proﬁles by which new systems may be built. This enables systems to be installed to particular speci- ﬁcations automatically. Warning Since RHN Proxy Servers direct ﬁles from the central RHN Servers, and those servers do not dis- tribute the ﬁles necessary for kickstart, systems connected to a Proxy not being served by an RHN...
Page 73 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website kernel vmlinuz append ks=http://myrhnsatellite/ initrd=initrd.img network apic 5. The machine accepts and uncompresses the init image and kernel, boots the kernel, and initiates a kickstart installation with the options supplied in the bootloader conﬁguration ﬁle, including the server containing the kickstart conﬁguration ﬁle.
Page 74 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Post — Enables you to include the %post script for the kickstart proﬁle. • Details — Allows editing of the %post script. In addition to changing individual commands, you • may include the activation key to be used for registration and identify the package proﬁle to be used during synchronization.
Page 75 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website creating a new key here and then make the proﬁle association in the GPG and SSL keys subtab of the Kickstart Details page. To develop a new key/certiﬁcate, click create new cryptokey in the upper-right corner of the page. Enter a description, select the type, upload the ﬁle, and click the Update Key button.
Page 76: Errata
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Then make the ISO, as described in the Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Installation Guide. Or by issuing the command: mkisofs -o file.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-tab Note that is the relative path to the directory containing the isolinux ﬁles you got from isolinux/...
Page 77: Relevant Errata
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website — Bug Fix Updates available and recommended • — Enhancement Updates available • 4.5.1. Relevant Errata As shown in Figure 4-5, the Relevant Errata page displays a customized list of Errata Alerts that applies to your registered systems. The list provides a summary of each Errata Alert, including its type, advisory, synopsis, systems affected, and date updated.
Page 78 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website click the Apply Errata button. Double-check the systems to be updated on the conﬁrmation page, then click the Conﬁrm button. To apply more than one Errata Update to one or more systems, select the systems from a Systems •...
Page 79: Advanced Search
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.5.3. Advanced Search The Advanced Search page allows you to search through Errata according to speciﬁc criteria, such as summary, advisory, and package name. Type your keyword, select the criterion to search by, and click the Search button.
Page 80 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Figure 4-6. Software - Relevant Channels 4.6.1.2. All Channels The All Channels page can be retrieved by clicking All below Software Channels in the left nav- igation bar. It works identically to the Relevant button with one exception; It displays all software channels offered by Red Hat Network, regardless of whether you have systems associated with them.
Page 81: Channel Entitlements
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website The customer has its own base channel and, having assigned a system to this base channel, it • subsequently reverts the system to its original distribution-based base channel. Subscribers — List of users who have subscription permissions to the channel. This tab appears •...
Page 82: Easy Isos
URL from the location bar, and paste it into the curl or wget command. Once downloaded, either burn the images to CD-Rs or CD-RWs or copy them to the machine for direct installation. Refer to http://www.redhat.com/download/howto_download.html for additional download instructions and steps to burn images to discs. Refer to the operating system’s respective installation guide for instructions on installing from CD-ROM or hard drive, available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.
Page 83 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.6.5.1. Software Package Install Only software packages included in a system’s subscribed channels can be installed or updated on that system. Important If you use scheduled package installation, the packages will be installed via the RHN Daemon. You must have the RHN Daemon enabled on your systems.
Page 84: Manage Conﬁg Channels
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.6.5.3. Package Details If you click on the name of any package in the website, the Package Details page will appear. This page contains the following tabs: Details — Details about the package, including subtabs for overview, dependencies, change log, •...
Page 85 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.6.6.2. System Conﬁg Channels The System Conﬁg Channels page can be retrieved by clicking its link below Manage Conﬁg Chan- nels in the left navigation bar. It displays system-speciﬁc conﬁguration channels and works similarly to the Global Conﬁg Channels page in that clicking the name of a system takes you to the List subtab of the Conﬁguration Channel Details page.
Page 86: Schedule
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 4.6.6.6. Conﬁguration File Details If you click on the name or number of a ﬁle in a list, the Conﬁguration File Details page will appear. You may remove the ﬁle at anytime by clicking delete ﬁle in the upper-right corner of the page. This page contains the following tabs: Details —...
Page 87: Failed Actions
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Figure 4-7. Schedule - Pending Actions 4.7.2. Failed Actions The Failed Actions page displays actions that have failed to succeed. If the action returns an error, it will be displayed. 4.7.3. Completed Actions The Completed Actions page displays actions that have succeeded. 4.7.4.
Page 88: Users
Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website Earliest — The earliest day and time the action will be performed. • Succeeded — Number of systems on which this action was successful. • Failed — Number of systems on which this action has been tried and failed. •...
Page 89 Be careful when creating users, because no interface exists for their deletion. Unless you are an RHN Satellite Server customer, you must contact rhn-support@redhat.com to have users removed. RHN Satellite Server customers may use the button on the User Details page.
Page 90 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website In addition, you may establish default system groups for the user to capture all systems registered by that user. To do this, select the default group or groups from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page.
Page 91: Red Hat Network Daemon
Red Hat Network. Make certain: your client is conﬁgured correctly. • your system can communicate with RHN via SSL (port 443). You may test this by running the • following command from a shell prompt: telnet xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com 443...
Page 92 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Daemon the Red Hat Network Daemon is activated and running. You may ensure this by running the follow- • ing commands: chkconfig --level 345 rhnsd on service rhnsd start If these are correct and your systems still indicate they are not checking in, please contact our technical support team.
Page 93: Red Hat Network Registration Client
Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Before you begin using Red Hat Network, you need to create a username, password, and System Proﬁle. The Red Hat Network Registration Client walks you through this process. Warning Only systems running Red Hat Linux 6.2 through 7.3 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 need to use this separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent.
Page 94 To start the command line version, use the command: rhn_register --nox --configure It has more conﬁguration options than the graphical version. You will be presented with a list of options and their current values: enableProxyAuth noSSLServerURL http://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC oemInfoFile /etc/sysconfig/rhn/oeminfo enableProxy networkSetup httpProxy...
Page 95: Starting The Red Hat Network Registration Client
System Proﬁle — be sure this is what you want to do before you choose Yes. If you overwrite an existing system registration, you can delete the unused proﬁle via the website at https://rhn.redhat.com.
Page 96 Red Hat Network registration process is used to create a System Proﬁle. The System Proﬁle is essential if you wish to receive update notiﬁcations about your system. If you have any questions about how your information is being used, please contact us at < >. feedback@redhat.com...
Page 97: Registering A User Account
Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 6-5. Red Hat Privacy Statement 6.3. Registering a User Account Before you can create a System Proﬁle, you must create a user account. The only required information in this section is a unique username, password, and a valid email address. In the screen shown in Figure 6-7, you must choose a username and password.
Page 98 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Note If you are already a member of redhat.com, you can use the same user name and password. How- ever, you will still need to continue with the registration process to create your System Proﬁle.
Page 99: Registering A System Proﬁle
Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client the system will be added to the organization’s Red Hat Network account. Your Organization Admin- istrator can then create your user account through the Users category of the RHN website. Refer to Section 4.8.1.1 Create User for instructions. Click Next to continue.
Page 100: Software System Proﬁle
Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 6-8. System Proﬁle - Hardware 6.4.2. Software System Proﬁle The software System Proﬁle consists of a list of RPM packages for which you wish to receive notiﬁ- cations. The Red Hat Network Registration Client shows you a list of all RPM packages listed in the RPM database on your system and then allows you to customize the list by deselecting packages.
Page 101 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 6-10. RPM Package Information 6.4.2.2. Choosing RPM Packages to Exclude from the System Proﬁle By default, all RPM packages in your RPM database are included in your System Proﬁle to be up- dated by Red Hat Network.
Page 102: Finishing Registration
Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 6-11. Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Proﬁle 6.5. Finishing Registration As seen in Figure 6-12, the last step of registration is to conﬁrm that you want to send your System Proﬁle to the Red Hat Network.
Page 103 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 6-12. Finished Collecting Information for System Proﬁle Figure 6-13 shows the progress bar you will see while your proﬁle is being sent. This process may take some time depending on your connection speed. Figure 6-13.
Page 104: Entitling Your System
Demo entitlement after creating an account by registering a system for RHN or creating a redhat.com account. To entitle a system, go to http://rhn.redhat.com and log in using the same username and password you just used in the Red Hat Network Registration Client. Click Systems on the top navigation bar and then Systems Entitlements in the left navigation bar.
Page 105 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client 6.7. Text Mode RHN Registration Client If you are not running the X Window System, the Red Hat Network Registration Client starts in text mode. You can force the Red Hat Network Registration Client to run in text mode with the command: rhn_register --nox The screens for the text mode Red Hat Network Registration Client are almost identical to the screens for the graphical Red Hat Network Registration Client.
Page 106 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Registration Client...
Page 107: Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools In addition to the options provided in the RHN website, Red Hat Network offers two command line tools for managing conﬁguration ﬁles: the Red Hat Network Conﬁguration Client and the Red Hat Network Conﬁguration Manager. If you don’t yet have these these tools installed, they can be found within the RHN Provisioning child channel for your operating system.
Page 108: Differentiating Between Conﬁg Files
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools Config channels: Label Name ----- ---- config-channel-17 config chan 2 config-channel-14 config chan 1 A.1.4. Differentiating between Conﬁg Files To obtain a difference between the conﬁg ﬁles deployed on the system and those for it stored by RHN, issue the command: rhncfg-client diff You should see output resembling:...
Page 109: Creating A Conﬁg Channel
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools When the Red Hat Network Conﬁguration Manager is run as root, it attempts to pull in needed conﬁguration values from the Red Hat Update Agent. When run as something other than root, you may have to make conﬁguration changes within the ﬁle.
Page 110: Differentiating Between Latest Conﬁg Files
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools A.2.2.1. Add Options The following options are applicable to the add mode: Option Description Display this list of options and exits. --help Required - Use this conﬁg channel. --channel=CHANNEL_LABEL Conﬂicts with --topdir - Identify the destination path --dest-file=DEST_FILE and ﬁlename of a single ﬁle.
Page 111: Downloading All Files In A Channel
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools You should see output resembling: --- /tmp/dest_path/foo.txt 2004-01-13 14:36:41 config channel: blah2 revision: 1 --- /tmp/dest_path/foo.txt 2004-01-13 14:42:42 config channel: blah3 revision: 1 @@ -1 +1,20 @@ -foo +blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah +-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- +Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) +Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org +iD8DBQA9ZY6vse4XmfJPGwgRAsHcAJ9ud9dabUcdscdcqB8AZP7e0Fua0NmKsdhQCeOWHX +VsDTfen2NWdwwPaTM+S+Cow=...
Page 112: Removing A File From A Channel
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools A.2.8. Listing All Conﬁg Channels To list all of your organization’s conﬁguration channels, issue the command: rhncfg-manager list-channels You should see output resembling: Available config channels: blah blah2 blah3 config-channel-14 config-channel-17 Note that this does not list local_override or server_import channels. A.2.9.
Page 113: Updating A File In A Channel
Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools A.2.12. Updating a File in a Channel To create a new revision of a ﬁle in a channel (or add the ﬁrst revision to that channel if none existed before for the given path), issue the command: rhncfg-manager update --channel=channel-label --dest-file=/path/to/file.txt...
Page 114 Appendix A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools...
Page 115: Rhn Api Access
(API) available. This interface can be found by clicking Help at the top-right corner of the RHN website, then clicking API in the left navigation bar. Or you may go directly to: https://rhn.redhat.com/rpc/api/. You should use this URL for your XMLRPC server, as well as your browser.
Page 116: Viewing The Cid
Appendix B. RHN API Access B.4. Viewing the cid Like servers, channels have their own IDs. This value, the cid, is a required parameter for some meth- ods, including set_base_channel and set_child_channels. Also like the sid, the cid can be obtained through the RHN website.
Page 117 Appendix B. RHN API Access ############################################################################ System calls. ############################################################################ # This next call returns a list of systems available to the user. # syntax of this call is described at: http://$HOST/rpc/api/system/list_user_systems/ # In the code snippet below, we dump data about our systems, and we # capture the ID of the first system we find for future operations.
Page 118 Appendix B. RHN API Access...
Page 119: Glossary
An Errata Alert that pertains to a bug ﬁx. Bugzilla Bugzilla is an online application (http://www.redhat.com/bugzilla) that allows users to commu- nicate directly with the developers. From Bugzilla, users can submit bug reports and feature requests for Red Hat Linux and related open source packages.
Page 120 Red Hat Linux. The information includes the topics of the Errata, Bugzilla bug IDs, relevant releases/architectures, solutions including required RPMs, and MD5 checksums for ver- iﬁcation. Errata are also available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/. Each RHN Errata Alert is based on the Red Hat Linux Errata List.
Page 121 Glossary team tests new packages they are placed on the Red Hat Public File Server and on the Red Hat Network Server and an Errata is generated. Errata Alert RHN Errata Alert that updated packages based on Red Hat Errata are available for one or more systems within an organization.
Page 122 Glossary Registered System A system that is registered with Red Hat Network. Also known as a client system. Red Hat Network Daemon The RHN client daemon ( ) that periodically polls Red Hat Network for updates and noti- rhnsd ﬁcations. Red Hat Network Registration Client The RHN client application ( ) that collects information about the client system,...
Page 123 Glossary Security Alert An Errata Alert that pertains to system security. Service Level A Red Hat Network subscription service. Different service levels offer different features of RHN. There are three paid service levels currently available: RHN Update, RHN Management, and RHN Provisioning.
Page 124 Glossary...
Page 125: Index
Index Conﬁguration Channel List Channel Details, 75 File Details, 76 conﬁguration ﬁles account manage, 75 deactivate, 43 quota, 75 action Conﬁguration Management completed systems, 78 command line tools, 97 details, 78 conventions failed systems, 78 document, i in progress systems, 78 custom information activation key, 60 about systems, 50...
Page 126 change, 43 preferences hardware proﬁle change, 44 Updating on server, 50 proxy server Help Desk, 44 with Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool, 36 with Red Hat Network Registration Client, 84 with Red Hat Update Agent, 29 introduction, i, 1 ISO images all, 72 Quality Assurance, 4...
Page 127 RHN website, 37 searching, 60 rhnreg_ks, 60 System Details, 49 System List, 46 rhnsd, 81 Systems Overview, 46 rhn_register viewing a list of, 46 (See Registration) viewing details for, 49 systems list status, 46 Systems Selected Schedule, 76 explanation of, 41 Scheduled Actions Action Details, 78 Actions List, 77...
Page 128 Software Search, 72 stored proﬁles, 61 System Details, 49 System Entitlements, 59 System Group List, 54 System Groups, 54 System List, 46 System Search, 60 Systems, 46 Systems Overview, 46 Users, 78 Your Account, 43 Your RHN, 42 Your RHN, 42 Account Deactivation, 43 Addresses, 43 Buy Now, 44...

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