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RHN Proxy Server 4.1.0
Installation Guide

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Summary of Contents for Red Hat NETWORK PROXY SERVER 4.1.0

  • Page 1 RHN Proxy Server 4.1.0 Installation Guide...
  • Page 2 All other trademarks referenced herein 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 1. Introduction ........................1 1.1. Red Hat Network ....................1 1.2. RHN Proxy Server ....................1 1.3. Terms to Understand ..................2 1.4. How it Works ....................3 2. Requirements........................7 2.1. Software Requirements ..................7 2.2. Hardware Requirements..................8 2.3. Disk Space Requirements .................8 2.4.
  • Page 5: Introduction

    Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1. Red Hat Network Red Hat Network (RHN) is the environment for system-level support and management of Red Hat systems and networks of systems. Red Hat Network brings together the tools, services, and information repositories needed to maximize the reliability, security, and per- formance of their systems.
  • Page 6 RHN Servers , which also serve the RHN website (rhn.redhat.com). The Proxy acts as a go-between for client systems and Red Hat Net- work (or an RHN Satellite Server). Only the package files are stored on the RHN Proxy Server.
  • Page 7: Terms To Understand

    Server’s configuration file. For more detailed explanations of these terms and others, refer to the Red Hat Network Reference Guide available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/ and http://rhn.redhat.com/help. 1.4. How it Works The Red Hat Update Agent on the client systems does not directly contact a Red Hat Network Server.
  • Page 8 Chapter 1. Introduction systems do not need direct access to the Internet. They need access only to the RHN Proxy Server. Important Red Hat strongly recommends that clients connected to an RHN Proxy Server be running the latest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure proper connectivity. Clients that access RHN directly are authenticated by the RHN servers.
  • Page 9 Chapter 1. Introduction Optionally, the RHN Package Manager can be installed and configured to serve custom packages. Any package that is not an official Red Hat package, including custom packages written specifically for an organization, can only be served from a private software channel (also referred to as a custom software channel).
  • Page 10 Chapter 1. Introduction...
  • Page 11: Requirements

    Chapter 2. Requirements These requirements must be met before installation. To install RHN Proxy Server version 3.6 or later from RHN Satellite Server, the Satellite itself must be version 3.6 or later. 2.1. Software Requirements To perform an installation, the following software-related components must be available: Base operating system —...
  • Page 12: Hardware Requirements

    Chapter 2. Requirements To do this for kickstart installation, include the command • selinux --disabled After the installation is complete, edit the file to read • /etc/selinux/config and reboot the system. SELINUX=disabled Finally, you can use the command and reboot •...
  • Page 13: Additional Requirements

    Chapter 2. Requirements If the RHN Proxy Server is configured to distribute custom, or local packages, make sure that the mount point on the system storing local packages has sufficient disk space /var to hold all of the custom packages, which are stored in .
  • Page 14 Chapter 2. Requirements Distribution Locations Since the Proxy forwards virtually all local HTTP requests to the central RHN Servers, you must take care to put files destined for distribution (such as in a kickstart installation tree) in the non-forwarding location on the Proxy: .
  • Page 15: Example Topologies

    Chapter 3. Example Topologies The RHN Proxy Server can be configured in multiple ways. Select one method depending on the following factors: 1. The total number of client systems to be served by the RHN Proxy Server 2. The maximum number of clients expected to connect concurrently to the RHN Proxy Server.
  • Page 16: Multiple Proxy Horizontally Tiered Topology

    Chapter 3. Example Topologies 3.2. Multiple Proxy Horizontally Tiered Topology For larger networks, a more distributed method may be needed, such as having multiple RHN Proxy Servers all connecting to Red Hat Network individually. This horizontally tiered configuration balances the load of client requests while enabling each Proxy to si- multaneously synchronize with RHN.
  • Page 17: Proxies With Rhn Satellite Server

    Chapter 3. Example Topologies need to establish synchronization between the RHN Proxy Servers as they use the up2date functionality inherent with the product. Like the horizontally tiered configuration, this vertical method allows any client of any RHN Proxy Servers to have all custom packages delivered to them. The Proxy merely looks in its repository to see if it can find the package on its file system.
  • Page 18 Chapter 3. Example Topologies described in the RHN Client Configuration Guide. To find out how channels and packages are shared between them, refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide.
  • Page 19: Installation

    Chapter 4. Installation This chapter describes the initial installation of the RHN Proxy Server. It presumes the pre- requisites listed in Chapter 2 Requirements have been met. However, if you are upgrading to a newer version of RHN Proxy Server, contact your Red Hat representative for assis- tance.
  • Page 20: Rhn Proxy Server Installation Process

    Chapter 4. Installation 4.2. RHN Proxy Server Installation Process The following instructions describe the RHN Proxy Server installation process: 1. Register the newly-installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS system with Red Hat Net- work (either the central RHN Servers or your RHN Satellite Server) using the orga- nizational account containing the RHN Proxy Server entitlement with the command: up2date --register...
  • Page 21 Chapter 4. Installation Warning Please note that the RHN Proxy Server installation may replace the squid.conf configuration files on the system to ease upgrades later. If you httpd.conf have edited these files and want to preserve them, they are rotated in place and can be retrieved after installation.
  • Page 22 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-2. Welcome 10. In the Welcome page, you will find notification of any requirements not met by the system. When the system is ready, a continue link appears. Click it to go to the Terms & Conditions page.
  • Page 23 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-3. Terms & Conditions 11. In the Terms & Conditions page, click the terms and conditions link to view the licensing agreement of the RHN Proxy Server. When satisfied, click the I agree link. You must agree in order to continue with the installation. For Proxies that register to a Satellite, the Enable Monitoring page appears next.
  • Page 24 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-4. Enable Monitoring 12. In the Enable Monitoring page, you must decide whether the Proxy will be used to monitor systems served by it. For this to take place, the RHN Proxy Server must meet the requirements identified in Chapter 2 Requirements and must be connected to an RHN Satellite Server (or another Proxy connected to a Satellite).
  • Page 25 Proxy — either the central RHN servers, another RHN Proxy Server or an RHN Satellite Server. To connect to the central RHN servers, include the value xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com. To connect to a Satellite or another Proxy, enter the parent system’s FQDN.
  • Page 26 Chapter 4. Installation Insert only the hostname and port in the form hostname:port, such as your-gateway.example.com:3128. installation process affects only Proxy configuration file: . The Red Hat Update Agent ( ) configuration file, /etc/rhn/rhn.conf up2date , must be updated manually to receive its updates /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date from another server, such as an RHN Satellite Server.
  • Page 27 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-6. Configure SSL 14. In the Configure SSL page applicable only to a Proxy connecting to an RHN Satel- lite Server with SSL enabled, provide the information needed to generate the server certificate. The most important item is the CA certificate password, which must match the password used while enabling SSL on the parent server.
  • Page 28 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-7. Configure Monitoring 15. In the Configure Monitoring page, provide or confirm the hostname and IP address of the parent server connected to by the RHN Proxy Server. This must be either an RHN Satellite Server or another Proxy which is in turn connected to a Satellite. You cannot achieve Monitoring through the central RHN Servers.
  • Page 29 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-8. Install Progress 16. In the Install Progress page, you may monitor the steps of the installation as they take place. Click the link to any step to go to its Action Details page. When an action begins, its status goes from and then finally to Queued...
  • Page 30 Chapter 4. Installation Figure 4-9. Install Complete...
  • Page 31: Rhn Package Manager

    Before local packages can be provided through the RHN Proxy Server, a private channel is needed to store them. Perform the following steps to create a private channel: 1. Log in to the RHN Web interface at https://rhn.redhat.com. 2. Click Channels on the top navigation bar. If the Manage Channels option is not present in the left navigation bar, ensure that this user has channel editing permissions set.
  • Page 32: Uploading Packages

    Chapter 5. RHN Package Manager 5.2. Uploading Packages Note You must be an Organization Administrator to upload packages to private RHN channels. The script will prompt you for your RHN username and password. After creating the private channel, upload the package headers for your binary and source RPMs to the RHN Server and copy the packages to the RHN Proxy Broker Server.
  • Page 33: Command Line Options

    Chapter 5. RHN Package Manager This option will list all the missing packages (packages uploaded to the RHN Server not present in the local directory). You must be an Organization Administrator to use this command. The script will prompt you for your RHN username and password. Refer to Table 5-1 for additional command line options.
  • Page 34 Chapter 5. RHN Package Manager Option Description Specify your RHN password. If you do not provide PASSWORD --password= one with this option, you will be prompted for it. Upload source package headers. --source In the post-upload step, do not copy the packages to --dontcopy their final location in the package tree.
  • Page 35: Troubleshooting

    This chapter provides tips for determining the cause of and resolving the most common errors associated with RHN Proxy Server. If you need additional help, contact Red Hat Network support at https://rhn.redhat.com/help/contact.pxt. Log in using your Satellite- entitled account to see your full list of options.
  • Page 36: Questions And Answers

    Server. The latest version can be obtained through the Red Hat Network by issuing the com- mand as root or from http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/. Also, up2date up2date be advised that since the RHN Proxy Server acts as a caching mechanism for RHN, the...
  • Page 37: General Problems

    Chapter 6. Troubleshooting 6.4. General Problems To begin troubleshooting general problems, examine the log file or files related to the com- ponent exhibiting failures. A useful exercise is to all log files and then run tail up2date . You should then examine all new log entries for potential clues. --list A common issue is full disk space.
  • Page 38: Connection Errors

    Chapter 6. Troubleshooting First, in a text editor, remove the offending machine information, like so: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain.com localhost Then, save the file and attempt to re-run the RHN client applications or the Apache HTTP Server. If they still fail, explicitly identify the IP address of the Proxy in the file, such as: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain.com localhost 123.45.67.8 this_machine.example.com this_machine...
  • Page 39: Caching Issues

    Chapter 6. Troubleshooting 6.7. Caching Issues If package delivery fails or an object appears to be corrupt, and it is not related to con- nection errors, you should consider clearing the caches. The RHN Proxy Server has two caches you should be concerned with: one for Squid and the other for authentication. The Squid cache is located in .
  • Page 40 Chapter 6. Troubleshooting 6.8. Proxy Debugging by Red Hat If you’ve exhausted these troubleshooting steps or want to defer them to Red Hat Network professionals, Red Hat recommends that you take advantage of the strong support that comes with RHN Proxy Server. The most efficient way to do this is to aggregate your Proxy’s configuration parameters, log files, and database information and send this package directly to Red Hat.
  • Page 41: Sample Rhn Proxy Server Configuration File

    # Username for that corporate HTTP proxy proxy.http_proxy_username = # Location of locally built, custom packages proxy.pkg_dir = /var/spool/rhn-proxy # Hostname of RHN Server or RHN Satellite proxy.rhn_parent = rhn.redhat.com # Destination of all tracebacks, etc. traceback_mail = user0@domain.com, user1@domain.com...
  • Page 42 Appendix A. Sample RHN Proxy Server Configuration File...
  • Page 43: Index

    Index inbound ports, satellite 5222, 9 installation base, 15 additional requirements, 9 of RHN Proxy Server, 16 advantages, 2 authentication, 4 authentication caching clearing, 35 log files, 31 caching issues, 35 Organization Administrator, 3 outbound ports channel, 3 80, 443, 9 creating a private channel, 27 Channel Administrator, 3 client configuration...
  • Page 44 RHN Package Manager, 4, 27 channels, specifying, 28 command line options, 29 configuration file, 27 configuring, 27 create private channel, 27 installing, 27 upload package headers, 28 verify local package list, 28 rhn-proxy service, 31 rhn.conf sample file, 37 rhn_package_manager, 28 (see RHN Package Manager) satellite-debug, 36 software requirements, 7...

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Rhn proxy server 4.1.0

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