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Appendix B.
RHN API Access
In an effort to provide customers with added flexibility, RHN makes an application pro-
gramming interface (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/. Use this URL for your XMLRPC server
and your browser.
The RHN API is based upon XML-RPC, which allows distinct pieces of software on dis-
parate systems to make remote procedure calls using XML over HTTP. For this reason,
any calls you make are expected to meet the constraints of XML-RPC. You can find out
more at http://www.xmlrpc.com/.
This section bypasses a list of available methods and classes in favor of tips for using the
API efficiently. These include steps for determining required values and a sample script
that makes some of the calls.
B.1. Using the auth Class and Getting the Session
It is worth noting that you will almost invariably use the auth class first. This class offers
a single method, login. Use this to establish an RHN session. It requires values for three
parameters: username, password, and duration. The first two come directly from your RHN
account, while the third is the length of time the session should last in seconds, typically
1200. It returns a session string than can be used in all other methods.
B.2. Obtaining the system_id
Many of the methods require a value for the
parameter. This is the unique
system_id
alphanumeric value assigned to each system when registered to RHN. It can be found
within the
file on each machine. In addition, you may
/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
use the
method within the system class to obtain the value.
download_system_id
B.3. Determining the sid
Several methods require a value for the
, or server ID, parameter. Note that this is
sid
different from the
. You may determine the
of a machine in two different
system_id
sid
ways. First, you can log into the RHN website, click the name of a system, and view
the
at the end of the URL in the location bar. It follows the "=" symbol and is part
sid
of a string that resembles the following: "index.pxt?sid=1003486534". Second, you may
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Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
