Red Hat NETWORK BASIC - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 3.2 User Reference Manual

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Red Hat Network Basic
User Reference Guide 3.2
Red Hat, Inc.

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Summary of Contents for Red Hat NETWORK BASIC - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 3.2

  • Page 1 Red Hat Network Basic User Reference Guide 3.2 Red Hat, Inc.
  • Page 3 Red Hat Network Basic: User Reference Guide 3.2 Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat, Inc. 2600 Meridian Parkway Durham NC 27713 USA Phone: +1 919 547 0012 Phone: 888 733 4281 Fax: +1 919 547 0024 PO Box 13588 Research Triangle Park NC 27709 USA RHNbasic(EN)-3.2-Print-RHI (2002-01-18T17:410400)
  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents Introduction ............................ vii 1. Document Conventions ....................vii 2. More to Come ........................x 2.1. Send in Your Feedback ..................x 1. What is Red Hat Network?......................11 1.1. Basic ..........................12 1.2. Workgroup ........................12 1.3. Automatic Notifications and Package Installation........... 13 1.4.
  • Page 6 5.5. Channels and Packages....................56 5.5.1. System List ...................... 56 5.5.2. Channel List ....................56 5.5.3. Channel Details ....................56 5.5.4. Channel Subscribe and Unsubscribe............57 5.5.5. Package Details....................57 5.5.6. Package Install ....................58 5.5.7. Package Download ..................59 5.6.
  • Page 7: Introduction

    1.5.0 of the Red Hat Network Registration Client. For a more detailed, technical overview of Red Hat Network, please refer to the Red Hat Network Technical Paper available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/wp/. 1. Document Conventions When you read this manual, you will see that certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces, sizes, and weights.
  • Page 8 viii Introduction [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 will display the list of files in the directory that start with that letter. [key]-[combination] A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way.
  • Page 9 Introduction The output returned in response to the command (in this case, the contents of the direc- tory) is shown in this style. prompt A prompt, which is a computer’s way of signifying that it is ready for you to input something, will be shown in this style.
  • Page 10: More To Come

    Network features and service plans are launched. 2.1. Send in Your Feedback If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network Basic User Reference Guide, please mention this guide’s identifier: RHNbasic(EN)-3.2-Print-RHI (2002-01-18T17:410400) You can send mail to: < > rhn-feedback@redhat.com...
  • Page 11: What Is Red Hat Network

    Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide, refer to the Glossary as necessary for explanation of common terms. Refer to https://rhn.redhat.com/help/faq.pxt for a list of Frequently Asked Questions.
  • Page 12: Basic

    To create a corporate account that can be used to entitle systems to the RHN Workgroup, go to http://rhn.redhat.com/ and click on the Create Account link under the Your RHN category. On the Sign Up for Red Hat Network page, click Create a Corporate Account. After creating a corporate account, users within your organization need to click the Join a Cor- porate Account link to create an RHN user account.
  • Page 13: Automatic Notifications And Package Installation

    Red Hat Network incorporates the following security measures: 1. Your System Profile available at http://rhn.redhat.com is only accessible with an RHN verified user name and password. 2. A Digital Certificate is written to the client system after registration and is used to au- thenticate the system during each transaction between the client and Red Hat Network.
  • Page 14: Before You Begin

    Red Hat RedHat/RPMS FTP site available at ftp://ftp.redhat.com (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 retreive the latest versions using Red Hat Network.
  • Page 15: Red Hat Network Registration Client

    Do not attempt to use this option unless you must. To start the configuration tool, use the command: rhn_register --configure You will be presented with a list of options and their current values: enableProxyAuth noSSLServerURL http://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC enableProxy httpProxy proxyUser serverURL https://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC...
  • Page 16 Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client 2. On the KDE desktop, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Red Hat => System => Red Hat Network 3. Type the command at a shell prompt (for example an xterm or gnome- rhn_register terminal) 4.
  • Page 17 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 18: Registering A User Account

    Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 2-3. Red Hat Privacy Statement 2.3. 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 user name, password, and a valid email address. In the screen shown in Figure 2-6, you must choose a user name and password.
  • Page 19 Chapter 2. 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 20: Registering A System Profile

    Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 2-6. Create a Unique User Name and Password Most users can leave the Org Info section blank. If you have an existing organization ac- count, enter your organization’s ID and password in the provided text fields. If the values are valid, the system will be added to the organization’s Red Hat Network account.
  • Page 21: Software System Profile

    Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client PCI devices • Disk sizes • Mount points • The next step is choosing a profile name for your system as shown in Figure 2-7. 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 22 Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client progress bar you will see while the Red Hat Network Registration Client gathers a list of the RPM packages installed on your system. This operation may take some time depending on your system. Figure 2-8.
  • Page 23: Finishing Registration

    Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 2-10. Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Profile 2.5. Finishing Registration As seen in Figure 2-11, the last step of registration is to confirm that you want to send your System Profile to the Red Hat Network.
  • Page 24 You will know your System Profile has been successfully sent when you see the Registration Finished screen (Figure 2-13). Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Network Registration Client. After completing the registration, visit http://rhn.redhat.com to verify your System Profile and make any changes.
  • Page 25: Entitling Your System

    Basic subscription 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 login using the same username and password you just used in the Red Hat Network Registration Client. On the left navigation bar, click Entitlements under the Your RHN category.
  • Page 26 Chapter 2. Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 2-14. Text Mode Welcome Screen...
  • Page 27: Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool

    Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool Before using the Red Hat Update Agent, you should configure the settings. This can be done with the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool. If you are not running the X Window System or prefer the command line version, skip to Section 3.5.
  • Page 28: Retrieval/Installation Settings

    Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool Figure 3-1. General Settings 3.3. Retrieval/Installation Settings The Retrieval/Installation tab allows you to customize your software package retrieval and package installation preferences. Warning You must use Red Hat Update Agent Version 2.5.4 or higher to upgrade your kernel automatically. Red Hat Update Agent will install the updated kernel and configure LILO or GRUB to boot the new kernel the next time the system is rebooted.
  • Page 29: Package Exceptions Settings

    Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool Figure 3-2. Retrieval/Installation Settings The following package retrieval options can be selected (see Figure 3-2): Do not install packages after retrieval — download selected RPM packages to desired • directory and ignore the installation preferences Do not display packages when local configuration file has been modified —...
  • Page 30: Command Line Version Of Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool

    Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool 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.
  • Page 31 Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool removeSkipList [’kernel*’] retrieveOnly enableProxy keepAfterInstall 10. proxyPassword 11. proxyUser 12. headerFetchCount 13. versionOverride 14. enableProxyAuth 15. noSSLServerURL http://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC 16. noReplaceConfig 17. noBootLoader 18. systemIdPath /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid 19. serverURL https://beta.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC 20. pkgSkipList [’kernel*’] 21. adminAddress [’root@localhost’] 22. forceInstall 23.
  • Page 32 Chapter 3. Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool...
  • Page 33: Red Hat Update Agent

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent After configuring the settings for the Red Hat Update Agent using the instructions in Chap- ter 3, you can use the Red Hat Update Agent to retrieve the latest software packages from Red Hat. Using this tool will allow you to always have the most up-to-date Red Hat Linux system with all security patches, bug fixes, and software package enhancements.
  • Page 34 Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Argument Description --nosig Do not use GPG to check package signatures. This option will override the saved configuration option. --tmpdir=directory Override the configured package directory. The default location is . This option is useful if /var/spool/up2date you do not have enough space in the configured location.
  • Page 35: Choosing A Channel

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-2. Welcome Screen 4.2. Choosing a Channel The first step is to select the channel(s) from which you want the updated packages to be re- treived. Select one or more channels and click Next. Refer to Section 5.5 for more information on channels and how channels are used to determine which packages to install.
  • Page 36: Choosing Packages To Update

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-3. Channels 4.3. Choosing Packages to Update After clicking Next on the Welcome Screen, the dialog box in Figure 4-4 will appear. This means that a connection to Red Hat Network is being established and that your customized list of updates is being retreived.
  • Page 37 Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-5. No new packages needed If your system is not up-to-date, your customized list of available updated packages is dis- played as shown in Figure 4-6. Figure 4-6. List of Available Updates By default, no packages are selected for download. If you highlight each package, a brief package description is displayed in the Package Information section at the bottom of the screen.
  • Page 38 Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-7. View Advisory After choosing which packages to update, the Red Hat Update Agent tests for RPM depen- dencies and prompts you if you have chosen to omit packages that are required for software updates that you did choose.
  • Page 39: Installing Updated Packages

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-9. Retrieval Finished 4.4. 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 automatically, skip to Section 4.7 for further instructions.
  • Page 40: Update Agent Finished

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-10. Installation Finished 4.5. Update Agent Finished When the Red Hat Update Agent has finished downloading the desired packages (and in- stalling them if you chose the install option), you will see the screen in Figure 4-11. Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Update Agent.
  • Page 41: Command Line Version Of Red Hat Update Agent

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Figure 4-11. Update Agent Finished 4.6. Command Line Version of Red Hat Update Agent 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...
  • Page 42 Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent Argument Description -d, --download Download packages only, do not install them. This argument will override the configuraton option Do not install packages after retrieval. Use this option if you prefer to install the packages manually. -f, --force Force package installation.
  • Page 43: Installing The Red Hat Gpg Key

    1. Cut and paste the following into a file and save it as or download it from redhat2.asc http://www.redhat.com/about/contact/. 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 mQGiBDfqVDgRBADBKr3Bl6PO8BQ0H8sJoD6p9U7Yyl7pjtZqioviPwXP+DCWd4u8 HQzcxAZ57m8ssA1LK1Fx93coJhDzM130+p5BG9mYSWShLabR3N1KXdXQYYcowTOM...
  • Page 44: Manual Package Installation

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent 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 45: Log File

    Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent After running this command, your RHN System Profile will reflect the latest software ver- sions installed on your system. 4.9. Log File The Red Hat Update Agent keeps a log of all the actions that it peforms on your system in the file .
  • Page 46 Chapter 4. Red Hat Update Agent...
  • Page 47: Red Hat Network Basic

    In a Web browser, go to http://rhn.redhat.com. The page shown in Figure 5-1 will be dis- played. If you have not registered a system yet or do not have a redhat.com account, create a new account by clicking Create Account under the Your RHN category on the left navigation bar.
  • Page 48: Introduction To The Web Interface

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Figure 5-1. Logging into Red Hat Network 5.2. Introduction to the Web Interface The left navigation bar is divided into categories and pages within the categories. A user with entitled systems has permission to use the following categories and pages. Each will be explained in more detail throughout this manual.
  • Page 49: Errata Alerts

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Systems — Manage your systems here. • System List — View a list of your systems along with how many Errata Alerts each sys- • tem has, which channels the systems are subscribed to, and which systems are entitled. System Search —...
  • Page 50: Your Rhn

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 5.3. Your RHN After logging into the Web interface of Red Hat Network, the first page you will see is Your Red Hat Network page. This page displays important information about your systems in- cluding Recent Errata Alerts for your systems under the title Recent Errata.
  • Page 51: Your Account

    If you want to change your Red Hat Network password (the one used to log into RHN and redhat.com) click the Details tab on the Your Account page and replace the asterisks in the Password and Password Confirmation text fields with your new password. You will not see your password as you type it for security reasons.
  • Page 52: Organization Information

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Need help deciding which service level you need? Ask our automated sales advisor by selecting Your RHN => Buy Now from the left navigation bar and clicking on the Sales Advisor tab. 5.3.2.1. Service Entitlements The Service Entitlements tab allows you to view and change the entitlements for your reg- istered systems.
  • Page 53: System List

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 5.4.1. System List As shown in Figure 5-3, the System List page displays a list of all your registered systems. The System List contains several columns for each registered system: Select — Only Workgroup entitled systems can be selected. •...
  • Page 54: System Search

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Figure 5-3. Systems List If you click on the Detailed View link in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, you can view more details about the systems as shown in Figure 5-4. Click the UPDATE NOW link to apply all Errata Updates.
  • Page 55: System Details

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic the previous result set. The System Search page allows you to search through your systems according to specific criteria. Select the criteria to search by and click Submit Query. The results appear at the bottom of the page.
  • Page 56: Channels And Packages

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Hardware Profile Update for your system. The next time the RHN Daemon connects to RHN, it will update your System Profile with the latest list of hardware. Notes — Create notes about the system. Click Add a new note, type a subject and the •...
  • Page 57: Channel Subscribe And Unsubscribe

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic in the list for the substring at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the package name. The filter is case-insensitive. For example, typing ks in the filter might return all , and ksconfig krb5-workstation...
  • Page 58: Package Details

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 5.5.5. Package Details If you click on the name of any RPM package in the interface, the Package Details page will appear. This page contains the following tabbed pages: Details — Details about the package including the package description, package size, and •...
  • Page 59: Package Download

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 3. Click on the Package List tab. 4. Click on the name of the package that you want to install. 5. Click on the Target Systems tab. 6. Select the entitled systems that you want to install the package on. 7.
  • Page 60: Errata

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Figure 5-5. Package Download Even if you selected to download more than one package, you will only download one file. This one TAR file contains the RPM package(s) you selected. To extract the packages from the TAR file, open a shell prompt (such as an XTerm or GNOME terminal), change to the directory, and issue the command: rhn-packages...
  • Page 61: Applicable Errata

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 5.6.2. Applicable Errata The Applicable Errata page displays a customized list of Errata Alerts that apply to your registered systems. If you click on the synopsis of an Errata Alert, the Errata Details page for the Errata Alert will appear.
  • Page 62: Errata Details

    Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic 2. If a newer version of the package is already on the system, the package will not be installed on that system. 3. If an older version of the package is installed, the package will be upgraded. The packages will be updated by the RHN Daemon.
  • Page 63 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic Figure 5-6. Scheduled Actions Red Hat Network keeps track of the following action types: 1. Package Installations — For more information on how to perform package installa- tions, refer to Section 5.5.6. 2. Errata Updates — For more information on how to apply Errata Updates, refer to Sec- tion 5.6.4.
  • Page 64 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Basic...
  • Page 65: Red Hat Network Daemon

    Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Daemon The Red Hat Network Daemon periodically connects to the Red Hat Network to check for updates and notifications. The default interval time is two hours (120 minutes). This can be configured in the file by specifying the time interval in min- /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhnsd utes.
  • Page 66 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Daemon...
  • Page 67: Using Red Hat Network With Red Hat Linux 6.2

    5. After they are installed, run the Red Hat Network Registration Client ( rhn_register to register your system. See Chapter 2 for details. 6. Login to your account at http://rhn.redhat.com to configure your preferences and to configure which systems you want to entitle.
  • Page 68 Chapter 7. Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2...
  • Page 69: 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 communicate directly with the developers. From Bugzilla, users can submit bug re- ports and feature requests for Red Hat Linux and related open source packages.
  • Page 70 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 verification. Errata are also available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/. Each RHN Errata Alert is based on the Red Hat Linux Errata List.
  • Page 71 Glossary Security issues and bug fixes are submitted by Red Hat engineers as well as the Linux community through Bugzilla which generates a bug report for each issue. Red Hat engi- neering evaluates the reports, resolves the bug, and generates new RPM packages. After the Red Hat quality assurance 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.
  • Page 72 Glossary A software package manager that was developed by Red Hat. It can be used to build, in- stall, query, verify, update, and uninstall software packages. All software updates from RHN are delivered in RPM format. RPM Database Each Red Hat Linux system has an RPM database that stores information about all the RPM packages installed on the system.
  • Page 73 Glossary installed on the client system. The System Profile is used to determine every Errata Alert relevant to each client system. Workgroup One of the RHN service level offering. It has more features than the Basic service level, including user management, system groups, and enhanced system details.
  • Page 74 Glossary...
  • Page 75: Index

    Index email address change, 51 Entitlement Manager, 51 Entitlements base channel, 56 Basic, 12 purchase, 52 All Errata, 60 Sales Advisor, 52 Applicable Errata, 61 Errata, 60 Buy Now, 52 All Errata, 60 Channel Details, 56 Applicable Errata, 61 Channel List, 56 apply applicable, 55 Channels and Packages, 56 Errata Search, 61...
  • Page 76 User name, 18 with a proxy server, 15 package installation rhnsd, 65 automatic, 13 rhn_register, 15 package list Updating on server, 44, 55 packages details, 58 download, 57 Scheduled Actions, 62 downloading, 59 Archived Actions, 62 filter, 56 Completed Actions, 62 installing, 58 Pending Actions, 62 password...

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