Channel Availability; Tools, Repositories, And Practices - Red Hat NETWORK SATELLITE 5.2 - CHANNEL MANAGEMENT Management Manual

Chapter 2. Introduction to RHN Channels

2.3. Channel Availability

There are many channels in Red Hat Network. Some are available to all users, some are available to
users in a particular organization, and some are available only if you have purchased access to them.
Channels fall into these main categories:
• Paid Service Channels — These channels are available if you who have purchased access to them
either directly or in conjunction with a particular Red Hat solution. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is an
example of a paid service channel.
• Custom Channels — You create these channels to manage custom packages. These channels, also
known as private channels, appear only to the organization who creates them; they can never be
accessed by anyone else.
This document focuses on the process of creating and maintaining custom channels with an RHN
Proxy Server or on an RHN Satellite Server.

2.4. Tools, Repositories, and Practices

Before creating and managing channels, note the differences between the various tools and
repositories at your disposal. This is especially important if you are deploying both an RHN Satellite
Server and RHN Proxy Server, as this increases the utilities and storage locations available. Further, a
Proxy-Satellite combination offers certain best practices for optimal performance.
First, become familiar with these package management tools:
• RHN Package Manager - Use this to push custom packages into custom channels on your RHN
Proxy Server.
• RHN Push - Use this to push custom packages into custom channels on your RHN Satellite Server.
• RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool - Use this to import and synchronize standard packages from
Red Hat Network to your RHN Satellite Server with Red Hat Network. This is done via the Internet
or CD-ROM.
Each of these tools has a corresponding package repository. Both RHN Package Manager and RHN
Push require the creation of a temporary staging directory for placement of custom packages that are
uploaded to the Proxy or Satellite. You need to delete these staging directories after use.
Tip
Red Hat recommends archiving your custom packages externally from Red Hat
Network.
If you are using both RHN Proxy Server and RHN Satellite Server, use only RHN Push and RHN
Satellite Synchronization Tool. The Proxy-Satellite combination requires custom packages and
channels be uploaded to the Satellite only. From there, the Proxy obtains the packages and distributes
them to client systems.
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