Red Hat Network 3.7 User Manual

Red Hat Network 3.7

Reference Guide

Red Hat Network 3.7: Reference Guide

Red Hat, Inc.

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RHNref(EN)-3.7-RHI (2005-03-16T12:14) Copyright © 2005 by Red Hat, Inc. This material may be distributedonly subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.0 or later (the latest version is presentlyavailableat http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/). Distribution of substantively modiﬁed versions of this document is prohibitedwithout the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Distribution of the work or derivative of the work in any standard (paper)book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder. Red Hat and the Red Hat "Shadow Man" logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other

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Table of Contents

Introduction to the Guide.................................................................................................................... i

1. Document Conventions..........................................................................................................i

2. More to Come ...................................................................................................................... iv

2.1. Send in Your Feedback ......................................................................................... iv

1. Red Hat Network Overview........................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Demo.................................................................................................................................. 2

1.2. Update................................................................................................................................ 2

1.3. Management....................................................................................................................... 2

1.4. Provisioning ....................................................................................................................... 3

1.5. Monitoring ......................................................................................................................... 4

1.6. Errata Notiﬁcations and Scheduled Package Installations ................................................. 4

1.7. Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network..........................................................4

1.8. Before You Begin............................................................................................................... 5

2. Red Hat Update Agent.................................................................................................................... 7

2.1. Starting the Red Hat Update Agent ................................................................................. 7

2.2. Registration........................................................................................................................ 9

2.2.1. Registering a User Account ..............................................................................11

2.2.2. Registering a System Proﬁle ............................................................................. 14

2.3. Setup and Use ..................................................................................................................18

2.3.1. Choosing a Software Channel...........................................................................19

2.3.2. Choosing Packages to Update...........................................................................19

2.3.3. Installing Updated Packages ............................................................................. 24

2.3.4. Update Agent Finished ..................................................................................... 25

2.3.5. Command Line Version .................................................................................... 26

2.4. Conﬁguration ...................................................................................................................30

2.4.1. Using the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool..................................30

2.4.2. Command Line Version .................................................................................... 33

2.5. Registering with Activation Keys ....................................................................................34

3. Red Hat Network Daemon ...........................................................................................................37

3.1. Conﬁguring ...................................................................................................................... 37

3.2. Viewing Status ................................................................................................................. 37

3.3. Disabling..........................................................................................................................37

3.4. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................... 37

4. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool................................................................................... 39

4.1. Conﬁguring the Applet ....................................................................................................39

4.2. Notiﬁcation Icons............................................................................................................. 40

4.3. Viewing Updates ..............................................................................................................41

4.4. Applying Updates ............................................................................................................ 41

4.5. Launching the RHN Website ........................................................................................... 41

5. Red Hat Network Registration Client ......................................................................................... 43

5.1. Conﬁguring the Red Hat Network Registration Client................................................ 43

5.2. Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client ...................................................... 44

5.3. Registering a User Account .............................................................................................47

5.4. Registering a System Proﬁle ............................................................................................ 49

5.4.1. Hardware System Proﬁle .................................................................................. 49

5.4.2. Software System Proﬁle....................................................................................50

5.5. Finishing Registration......................................................................................................52

5.6. Entitling Your System......................................................................................................54

5.7. Text Mode RHN Registration Client ...............................................................................54

6. Red Hat Network Website............................................................................................................ 57

6.1. Navigation........................................................................................................................ 57

6.1.1. Entitlement Views............................................................................................. 57

6.1.2. Categories and Pages ........................................................................................ 57

6.1.3. Errata Alert Icons .............................................................................................. 59

6.1.4. Quick Search.....................................................................................................59

6.1.5. Systems Selected............................................................................................... 59

6.1.6. Lists................................................................................................................... 59

6.2. Logging into the RHN Website........................................................................................ 60

6.3. Your RHN ........................................................................................................................ 60

6.3.1. Your Account .................................................................................................... 62

6.3.2. Your Preferences ............................................................................................... 63

6.3.3. Purchase History ............................................................................................... 63

6.3.4. Help................................................................................................................... 63

6.4. Systems ............................................................................................................................64

6.4.1. Overview —

6.4.2. Systems ............................................................................................................. 66

6.4.3. System Groups —

6.4.4. System Set Manager — ..............................................................................79

6.4.5. System Entitlements ......................................................................................... 84

6.4.6. Advanced Search —

6.4.7. Activation Keys — ..................................................................................... 85

6.4.8. Stored Proﬁles — ....................................................................................... 87

6.4.9. Custom System Info — ..............................................................................87

6.4.10. Kickstart — ..............................................................................................87

6.5. Errata................................................................................................................................94

6.5.1. Relevant Errata.................................................................................................. 95

6.5.2. All Errata...........................................................................................................95

6.5.3. Advanced Search............................................................................................... 97

6.6. Channels...........................................................................................................................97

6.6.1. Software Channels ............................................................................................97

6.6.2. Channel Entitlements ......................................................................................101

6.6.3. Easy ISOs........................................................................................................101

6.6.4. Package Search ...............................................................................................101

6.6.5. Software Packages ..........................................................................................101

6.6.6. Manage Conﬁg Channels — .................................................................... 103

6.7. Schedule......................................................................................................................... 109

6.7.1. Pending Actions .............................................................................................. 109

6.7.2. Failed Actions ................................................................................................. 110

6.7.3. Completed Actions.......................................................................................... 110

6.7.4. Archived Actions ............................................................................................110

6.7.5. Actions List..................................................................................................... 110

6.8. Users — ................................................................................................................... 111

6.8.1. User Roles....................................................................................................... 112

6.8.2. User List —

6.9. Monitoring — ..........................................................................................................115

6.9.1. Probe Status — .........................................................................................115

6.9.2. Notiﬁcation — .......................................................................................... 118

6.9.3. Scout Conﬁg Push — ............................................................................... 118

6.9.4. General Conﬁg — ....................................................................................118

...............................................................................................65

...................................................................................... 76

................................................................................... 85

..............................................................................................112

7. Monitoring................................................................................................................................... 119

7.1. Prerequisites. ..................................................................................................................119

7.2. Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon (rhnmd) ...........................................................119

7.2.1. Probes requiring the daemon .......................................................................... 120

7.2.2. Installing the Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon..................................... 120

7.2.3. Conﬁguring SSH.............................................................................................121

7.2.4. Installing the SSH key ....................................................................................121

7.3. Notiﬁcations. ..................................................................................................................122

7.3.1. Creating Notiﬁcation Methods........................................................................ 122

7.3.2. Receiving Notiﬁcations................................................................................... 123

7.3.3. Redirecting Notiﬁcations ................................................................................123

7.3.4. Filtering Notiﬁcations ..................................................................................... 124

7.3.5. Deleting Notiﬁcation Methods........................................................................ 124

7.4. Probes.............................................................................................................................124

7.4.1. Managing Probes ............................................................................................ 125

7.4.2. Establishing Thresholds ..................................................................................125

7.4.3. Monitoring the RHN Server............................................................................ 126

7.5. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................. 126

7.5.1. Examining Probes with rhn-catalog .......................................................... 126

7.5.2. Viewing the output of rhn-runprobe...........................................................127

A. Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools.............................................................................129

A.1. Red Hat Network Conﬁguration Client .................................................................... 129

A.1.1. Listing Conﬁg Files........................................................................................129

A.1.2. Getting a Conﬁg File...................................................................................... 129

A.1.3. Viewing Conﬁg Channels .............................................................................. 129

A.1.4. Differentiating between Conﬁg Files............................................................. 130

A.1.5. Verifying Conﬁg Files ....................................................................................130

A.2. Red Hat Network Conﬁguration Manager ............................................................... 130

A.2.1. Creating a Conﬁg Channel ............................................................................. 131

A.2.2. Adding Files to a Conﬁg Channel .................................................................. 131

A.2.3. Differentiating between Latest Conﬁg Files .................................................. 132

A.2.4. Differentiating between Various Versions...................................................... 132

A.2.5. Downloading All Files in a Channel ..............................................................133

A.2.6. Getting the Contents of a File ........................................................................ 133

A.2.7. Listing All Files in a Channel ........................................................................133

A.2.8. Listing All Conﬁg Channels .......................................................................... 134

A.2.9. Removing a File from a Channel ...................................................................134

A.2.10. Deleting a Conﬁg Channel ........................................................................... 134

A.2.11. Determining the Number of File Revisions ................................................. 134

A.2.12. Updating a File in a Channel........................................................................135

A.2.13. Uploading Multiple Files at Once................................................................ 135

B. RHN API Access......................................................................................................................... 137

B.1. Using the auth Class and Getting the Session ...............................................................137

B.2. Obtaining the system_id................................................................................................137

B.3. Determining the sid ....................................................................................................... 137

B.4. Viewing the cid.............................................................................................................. 137

B.5. Getting the sgid ............................................................................................................. 138

B.6. Sample API Script......................................................................................................... 138

C. Probes.......................................................................................................................................... 141

C.1. Probe guidelines ............................................................................................................141

C.2. Apache 1.3.x and 2.0.x ..................................................................................................141

C.2.1. Apache::Processes.......................................................................................... 142

C.2.2. Apache::Trafﬁc............................................................................................... 142

C.2.3. Apache::Uptime ............................................................................................. 143

C.3. BEA WebLogic 6.x and higher .....................................................................................143

C.3.1. BEA WebLogic::Execute Queue ....................................................................144

C.3.2. BEA WebLogic::Heap Free ........................................................................... 144

C.3.3. BEA WebLogic::JDBC Connection Pool ......................................................145

C.3.4. BEA WebLogic::Server State ......................................................................... 146

C.3.5. BEA WebLogic::Servlet.................................................................................146

C.4. General .......................................................................................................................... 147

C.4.1. General::Remote Program ..............................................................................147

C.4.2. General::Remote Program with Data .............................................................147

C.4.3. General::SNMP Check ...................................................................................148

C.4.4. General::TCP Check ...................................................................................... 149

C.4.5. General::UDP Check...................................................................................... 149

C.4.6. General::Uptime (SNMP) ..............................................................................150

C.5. Linux .............................................................................................................................150

C.5.1. Linux::CPU Usage .........................................................................................150

C.5.2. Linux::Disk IO Throughput ...........................................................................151

C.5.3. Linux::Disk Usage.......................................................................................... 151

C.5.4. Linux::Inodes .................................................................................................152

C.5.5. Linux::Interface Trafﬁc ..................................................................................152

C.5.6. Linux::Load.................................................................................................... 153

C.5.7. Linux::Memory Usage ................................................................................... 153

C.5.8. Linux::Process Counts by State ..................................................................... 154

C.5.9. Linux::Process Count Total............................................................................154

C.5.10. Linux::Process Health .................................................................................. 155

C.5.11. Linux::Process Running ............................................................................... 156

C.5.12. Linux::Swap Usage ......................................................................................156

C.5.13. Linux::TCP Connections by State ................................................................157

C.5.14. Linux::Users.................................................................................................158

C.5.15. Linux::Virtual Memory ................................................................................158

C.6. LogAgent.......................................................................................................................159

C.6.1. LogAgent::Log Pattern Match ....................................................................... 159

C.6.2. LogAgent::Log Size .......................................................................................160

C.7. MySQL 3.23 - 3.33 ....................................................................................................... 161

C.7.1. MySQL::Database Accessibility ....................................................................161

C.7.2. MySQL::Opened Tables.................................................................................161

C.7.3. MySQL::Open Tables ....................................................................................161

C.7.4. MySQL::Query Rate ......................................................................................162

C.7.5. MySQL::Threads Running.............................................................................162

C.8. Network Services .......................................................................................................... 163

C.8.1. Network Services::DNS Lookup....................................................................163

C.8.2. Network Services::FTP .................................................................................. 163

C.8.3. Network Services::IMAP Mail.......................................................................164

C.8.4. Network Services::Mail Transfer (SMTP) ..................................................... 164

C.8.5. Network Services::Ping. ................................................................................. 165

C.8.6. Network Services::POP Mail .........................................................................165

C.8.7. Network Services::Remote Ping .................................................................... 166

C.8.8. Network Services::RPCService......................................................................167

C.8.9. Network Services::Secure Web Server (HTTPS)...........................................167

C.8.10. Network Services::SSH................................................................................ 168

C.8.11. Network Services::Web Server (HTTP)....................................................... 168

C.9. Oracle 8i and 9i .............................................................................................................169

C.9.1. Oracle::Active Sessions.................................................................................. 169

C.9.2. Oracle::Availability ........................................................................................170

C.9.3. Oracle::Blocking Sessions..............................................................................170

C.9.4. Oracle::Buffer Cache...................................................................................... 171

C.9.5. Oracle::Client Connectivity. ...........................................................................171

C.9.6. Oracle::Data Dictionary Cache ...................................................................... 172

C.9.7. Oracle::Disk Sort Ratio .................................................................................. 172

C.9.8. Oracle::Idle Sessions ......................................................................................173

C.9.9. Oracle::Index Extents .....................................................................................173

C.9.10. Oracle::Library Cache .................................................................................. 174

C.9.11. Oracle::Locks ............................................................................................... 175

C.9.12. Oracle::Redo Log .........................................................................................175

C.9.13. Oracle::Table Extents ...................................................................................176

C.9.14. Oracle::Tablespace Usage ............................................................................ 176

C.9.15. Oracle::TNS Ping ......................................................................................... 177

C.10. RHN Satellite Server ................................................................................................... 177

C.10.1. RHN Satellite Server::Disk Space................................................................177

C.10.2. RHN Satellite Server::Execution Time ........................................................ 178

C.10.3. RHN Satellite Server::Interface Trafﬁc........................................................ 178

C.10.4. RHN Satellite Server::Latency ..................................................................... 179

C.10.5. RHN Satellite Server::Load ......................................................................... 179

C.10.6. RHN Satellite Server::Probe Count..............................................................179

C.10.7. RHN Satellite Server::Process Counts ......................................................... 180

C.10.8. RHN Satellite Server::Processes .................................................................. 180

C.10.9. RHN Satellite Server::Process Health.......................................................... 181

C.10.10. RHN Satellite Server::Process Running..................................................... 182

C.10.11. RHN Satellite Server::Swap....................................................................... 182

C.10.12. RHN Satellite Server::Users.......................................................................182

Glossary ........................................................................................................................................... 183

Index.................................................................................................................................................189

Introduction to the Guide

Welcome to the Red Hat Network 3.7 Reference Guide. The RHN Reference Guide will guide you through registering your system with Red Hat Network and using its many features.

Since Red Hat Network offers a variety of service levels, from the most basic Update module to the most advanced Monitoring package, some content of this guide may be inapplicable to you. This is particularly true of the RHN website, which displays selected categories, pages, and tabs depending on the entitlement level of the account used to log in. Refer to Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Website to determine what is available to you.

Depending on which version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux you have installed, the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the Red Hat Update Agent might be different than the ones described in this manual as new features are added. Once you use Red Hat Network to update these applications, you can use the latest version of this manual.

All versions of this manual are available in HTML and PDF formats at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/RHNetwork/.

This version of the manual covers version 4.2.38 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Red Hat Update Agent and versions 2.9.14 and 2.9.12 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Red Hat Update Agent and Red Hat Network Registration Client, respectively.

Warning

Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 will need to use the separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network

Registration Client for instructions. Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 can go directly to the Red Hat Update Agent, which has registration functionality built in. 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. This highlighting is systematic; different words are represented in the same style to indicate their inclusion in a speciﬁc category. The types of words that are represented this way include the following:

command

Linux commands (and other operating system commands, when used) are represented this way. This style should indicate to you that you can type the word or phrase on the command line and press [Enter] to invoke a command. Sometimes a command contains words that would be displayed in a different style on their own (such as ﬁle names). In these cases, they are considered to be part of the command, so the entire phrase is displayed as a command. For example:

Use the cat testfile command to view the contents of a ﬁle, named testfile, in the current working directory.

file name

File names, directory names, paths, and RPM package names are represented this way. This style should indicate that a particular ﬁle or directory exists by that name on your system. Examples:

ii Introduction to the Guide

The .bashrc ﬁle in your home directory contains bash shell deﬁnitions and aliases for your own use.

The /etc/fstab ﬁle contains information about different system devices and ﬁle systems.

Install the webalizer RPM if you want to use a Web server log ﬁle analysis program.

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.

[key]-[combination]

A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way. For example:

The [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace] key combination exits your graphical session and returns you to the graphical login screen or the console.

text found on a GUI interface

A title, word, or phrase found on a GUI interface screen or window is shown in this style. Text shown in this style is being used to identify a particular GUI screen or an element on a GUI screen (such as text associated with a checkbox or ﬁeld). Example:

Select the Require Password checkbox if you would like your screensaver to require a password before stopping.

top level of a menu on a GUI screen or window

A word in this style indicates that the word is the top level of a pulldown menu. If you click on the word on the GUI screen, the rest of the menu should appear. For example:

Under File on a GNOME terminal, the New Tab option allows you to open multiple shell prompts in the same window.

If you need to type in a sequence of commands from a GUI menu, they are shown like the following example:

Go to Applications (the main menu on the panel) => Programming => Emacs Text Editor to start the Emacs text editor.

button on a GUI screen or window

This style indicates that the text can be found on a clickable button on a GUI screen. For example:

Click on the Back button to return to the webpage you last viewed.

computer output

Text in this style indicates text displayed to a shell prompt such as error messages and responses to commands. For example:

The ls command displays the contents of a directory. For example:

Desktop about.html logs paulwesterberg.png Mail backupfiles mail reports

Introduction to the Guide iii

The output returned in response to the command (in this case, the contents of the directory) 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, is shown in this style. Examples:

[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 command at the boot: prompt.



replaceable

Text used for examples, which is meant to be replaced with data provided by the user, is displayed in this style. In the following example,

The directory for the kernel source is /usr/src/kernels/



version-numberis the version and type of kernel installed on this system.





version-numberis displayed in this style:

version-number/, where



Additionally, we use several different strategies to draw your attention to certain pieces of information. In order of how critical the information is to your system, these items are marked as a note, tip, important, caution, or warning. For example:

Note

Remember that Linux is case sensitive. In other words, a rose is not a ROSE is not a rOsE.

Tip

The directory /usr/share/doc/ contains additional documentation for packages installed on your system.

Important

If you modify the DHCP conﬁguration ﬁle, the changes do not take effect until you restart the DHCP daemon.

iv Introduction to the Guide

Caution

Do not perform routine tasks as root — use a regular user account unless you need to use the root account for system administration tasks.

Warning

Be careful to remove only the necessary partitions. Removing other partitions could result in data loss or a corrupted system environment.

2. More to Come

The Red Hat Network Reference Guide is constantly expanding as new Red Hat Network features and service plans are launched. HTML and PDF versions of this and other manuals are available within the Help section of the RHN website and at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.

Note

Although this manual reﬂects the most current information possible, read the RHN Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to our documentation being ﬁnalized. The notes can be found on the RHN website and at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.

2.1. Send in Your Feedback

If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network Reference Guide, please submit a report in Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/

Be sure to select the Red Hat Network product and the Documentation component. To easily associate the problem with this guide, mention its identiﬁer:

RHNref(EN)-3.7-RHI (2005-03-16T12:14)

Chapter 1.

Red Hat Network Overview

Have you ever read about a new version of a software package and wanted to install it but could not ﬁnd it?

Have you ever tried to ﬁnd an RPM through an Internet search engine or an RPM repository and been linked to a site that you have never heard of?

Have you ever tried to ﬁnd an RPM but instead found only the source ﬁles that you had to compile yourself?

Have you ever spent hours or even days visiting different websites to see if you have the latest packages installed on your system, only to have to do it again in a few months?

Those days are over with Red Hat Network (RHN). RHN provides the solution to all your system software management needs.

Red Hat Network is an Internet solution for managing a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system or a network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts (collectively known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat or your own custom collection. You can even have updates scheduled to be delivered directly to your system as soon as they are released.

The main components of Red Hat Network are as follows:

• the Red Hat Update Agent

• the Red Hat Network website, whether this is hosted by the central RHN Servers, an RHN Satellite

Server or fed through an RHN Proxy Server

• Red Hat Network Daemon

• the Red Hat Network Registration Client - for systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1

only.

The Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) provides your initial connection to Red Hat Network. Once registered, it enables channel subscription, package installs, and management of System Proﬁles. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and newer systems will even use the Red Hat Update Agent to register with RHN. See Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for further information.

Although both the RHN website and the Red Hat Update Agent allow you to view Errata Alerts from the Red Hat Errata list and apply updates, the website offers a much more granular view of your account and provides added functionality required for management and provisioning of systems. For enterprise deployments of Red Hat Network, the website is a must.

The Red Hat Network Daemon (rhnsd) runs in the background as a service and probes the Red Hat Network for notiﬁcations and updates at set time intervals (see Chapter 3 Red Hat Network Daemon for further information). This daemon is necessary if you want to schedule updates or other actions through the website.

The Red Hat Network Registration Client allows you to register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux

2.1 systems with RHN. (Newer versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux have registration functionality built into the Red Hat Update Agent.) Registration involves creating a unique RHN username and password, probing the hardware on your system to create a Hardware Proﬁle, and probing the software packages installed on your system to create a Package Proﬁle. This information is sent to RHN, and RHN returns a unique System ID to your system. See Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Registration Client for more information.

2 Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview

Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the Red Hat Network Reference Guide, refer to the Glossary as necessary for an explanation of common terms.

Tip

For a comparison chart of RHN service levels, refer to http://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/table/.

1.1. Demo

The RHN Demo service level is the complimentary service level. All users receive one free subscription to RHN Demo. All that is required is the completion of a brief survey once every 60 days.

With each Demo subscription, you receive:

• Errata Notiﬁcations — Be the ﬁrst to know about Red Hat’s patches. Subscribe to email errata

notiﬁcation through Red Hat Network.

• Errata Updates — Immediately bring individual systems up-to-date with the click of a button.

• Search Packages — Search through the full repository of RPMs available to Red Hat Network

users.

• Search Errata — Search through the collection of all errata ever released through Red Hat Network.

1.2. Update

The RHN Update service is ideal for a user with one Red Hat Enterprise Linux system or a small number of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems to keep updated. Subscription to Update can be purchased at http://rhn.redhat.com/purchase_info.pxt.

With each Update subscription, you receive the essential functionality provided to Demo users, plus:

• Easy ISOs — For customers who have purchased subscriptions to Red Hat Network, ISO images

are available for immediate download.

• Priority Access during periods of high load — When Red Hat releases a large errata, users with

Priority Access can be guaranteed that they will be able to access the updated packages immediately.

• RHN Support Access — All paying customers of Red Hat Network receive web based support for

their RHN questions.

• Errata Notiﬁcation, Multiple Systems — Subscriptions for multiple systems means Errata notiﬁ-

cation for Errata to all of those systems. Note that only one email is distributed per each Errata, regardless of the number of systems affected.

• Errata Updates, Multiple Systems — Get quick updates for multiple systems with an easy button

click for each system.

1.3. Management

In addition to the features offered in the RHN Demo and Update subscription levels, the RHN Management subscription service allows you to manage your network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, users, and system groups through its System Set Manager interface.

RHN Management is based upon the concept of an organization. Each Management-level Red Hat customer has the ability to establish users who have administration privileges to system groups. An

Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview 3

Organization Administrator has overall control over each Red Hat Network organization with the ability to add and remove systems and users. When users other than the Organization Administrator log into the Red Hat Network website, they see only the systems they have permission to administer.

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 Login. After creating a corporate account, you may add users within your organization to it.

The Red Hat Network features available to you depend on the subscription level for each Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. With each Management subscription, you receive the functionality provided to Demo and Update users, plus:

• Package Proﬁle Comparison — Compare the package set on a system with the package sets of

similar systems with one click.

• Search Systems — Search through systems based on a number of criteria: packages, networking

information, even hardware asset tags.

• System Grouping — Web servers, database servers, workstations and other workload-focused sys-

tems may be grouped so that each set can be administered in common ways.

• Multiple Administrators — Administrators may be given rights to particular system groups, easing

the burden of system management over very large organizations.

• System Set Manager — You may now apply actions to sets of systems instead of single systems.

Work with members of a predeﬁned system group, or work with an ad-hoc collection of systems. Install a single software package to each, subscribe the systems to a new channel, or apply all Errata to them with a single action.

• Batch Processing — Figuring out a list of outdated packages for a thousand systems would take

days for a dedicated sysadmin. Red Hat Network Management service can do it for you in seconds.

1.4. Provisioning

As the highest management service level, RHN Provisioning encompasses all of the features offered in the RHN Demo, Update, and Management subscription levels. It is designed to allow you to deploy and manage your network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, users, and system groups.

Like, Management, Provisioning is based upon an organization. But it takes this concept a step further by enabling customers with Provisioning entitlements to kickstart, reconﬁgure, track, and revert systems on the ﬂy.

In addition to all of the features mentioned in lower service levels, Provisioning provides:

• Kickstarting — Systems with Provisioning entitlements may be re-installed through RHN with a

whole host of options established in kickstart proﬁles. Options include everything from the type of bootloader and time zone to packages included/excluded and IP address ranges allowed. Even GPG and SSL keys can be pre-conﬁgured.

• Client Conﬁguration — Customers may use RHN to manage the conﬁguration ﬁles on

Provisioning-entitled systems. Users can upload ﬁles to RHN’s central conﬁguration manager, verify local conﬁguration ﬁles against those stored by RHN, and deploy ﬁles from RHN. Further, custom conﬁguration channels can be created to help manage this process.

• Snapshot Rollbacks — Provisioning-level users have the ability to revert the package proﬁle, con-

ﬁguration ﬁles, and RHN settings of systems. This is possible because snapshots are captured whenever an action takes place on a system. These snapshots identify groups, channels, packages, and conﬁguration ﬁles.

4 Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview

• Custom System Information — Provisioning customers may identify any type of information they

choose about their systems. This differs from the more rigorous System Proﬁle information and the completely arbitrary Notes in that it allows you to develop speciﬁc keys of your choosing and then assign searchable values for that key to each Provisioning-entitled system. For instance, this feature would allow you to identify the cubicle in which each system is located.

1.5. Monitoring

Unlike the other service levels, RHN Monitoring does not include the systems management functions of other entitlements. Instead it is a separate entitlement available to Management- and Provisioninglevel customers with Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems.

Monitoring allows an organization to install probes that can immediately detect failures and identify performance degradation before it becomes critical. Used properly, the Monitoring entitlement can give you insight into the applications, services, and devices on each system.

Speciﬁcally, Monitoring provides:

• Probes — Dozens of probes can be run against each system. These range from simple ping checks

to custom remote programs designed to return valuable data.

• Notiﬁcation — Alerts resulting from probes entering WARNING and CRITICAL states can be sent

to email and pager addresses with contact methods identiﬁed by you. Each probe notiﬁcation can be sent to a different method, or address.

• Central Status — The results of all probes are summarized in a single Probe Status page, with the

systems affected broken down by state.

• Reporting — By selecting a probe and identifying the particular metric and a range of time, you

can generate graphs and event logs depicting precisely how the probe has performed.

1.6. Errata Notiﬁcations and Scheduled Package Installations

You can conﬁgure Red Hat Network to send you email notiﬁcations of new and updated software packages as soon as the packages are available through RHN. You receive one email per Errata, regardless of the number of your systems affected. You can also schedule package installs or package updates. The beneﬁts include:

• Reduced time and effort required by system administrators to stay on top of the Red Hat Errata list

• Minimized security vulnerabilities in your network by providing the patches as soon as Red Hat

releases them

• Filtered list of package updates (packages not relevant to your network are not included)

• Reliable method of managing multiple systems with similar conﬁgurations

1.7. Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network

Red Hat Network provides signiﬁcant beneﬁts to your network including security and quality assurance. All transactions made between you and Red Hat Network are encrypted, and all RPM packages are signed with 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.

Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview 5

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. The ﬁle is only readable by the root user on the client system.

3. All notiﬁcations and information messages are signed by Red Hat with an electronic signature using GPG. RPM can be used to verify the authenticity of the package before it is installed.

4. All transactions are encrypted using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection.

5. All packages are tested and veriﬁed by the Red Hat Quality Assurance Team before they are added to the Red Hat Errata list and Red Hat Network.

1.8. Before You Begin

By default, all the software packages you need to use Red Hat Network are installed with Red Hat distributions. However, if you chose not to install them during the installation process, you will need to obtain the Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) and possibly the Red Hat Network Registration

Client (rhn_register). In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, registration functionality is built into the Red Hat Update Agent, while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users will need the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

Warning

The SSL certiﬁcate packaged with older versions of the Red Hat Update Agent and the Red Hat Network Registration Client reached its end of life August 28, 2003. Users attempting to connect

using this certiﬁcate will receive SSL connection or certiﬁcate veriﬁcation errors. You may view and obtain the versions of these applications containing new certiﬁcates at the RHN Client Software page. In the RHN website, click Help at the top-right corner, Get RHN Software in the left navigation bar, and scroll down to examine the packages and versions.

To determine the versions of the client applications installed, run the rpm -q command followed by the package name. For instance, for the Red Hat Network Registration Client, type the following command:

rpm -q rhn_register

If the Red Hat Network Registration Client is installed, it will return something similar to:

rhn_register-2.9.3-1

The version number might differ slightly.

If you do not have the Red Hat Network Registration Client installed, the command will return:

package rhn_register is not installed

Perform this check for every package in Table 1-1 relevant to your system. Remember, only Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users need the separate Red Hat Network Registration Client. If you prefer to use the command line versions, you do not have to install the two packages ending in gnome.

Package Name Description

rhn_register Provides the Red Hat Network Registration Client program and the

text mode interface

6 Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview

Package Name Description

rhn_register-gnome Provides the GNOME interface (graphical version) for the Red Hat

Network Registration Client; runs if the X Window System is available

up2date Provides the Red Hat Update Agent command line version and the Red

Hat Network Daemon

up2date-gnome Provides the GNOME interface (graphical version) for the Red Hat

Update Agent; runs if the X Window System is available

Table 1-1. Red Hat Network Packages

Chapter 2.

Red Hat Update Agent

The Red Hat Update Agent is your connection to 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. This tool will allow you to always have the most up-to-date Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems with all security patches, bug ﬁxes, and software package enhancements.

Remember, this tool must be run on the system you wish to update. You cannot use the Red Hat Update Agent on the system if it is not entitled to an RHN service offering.

Warning

Only systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 can use the Red Hat Update Agent to register with RHN. Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 will need to use the separate Red Hat

Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Registration Client for instructions. Then return to this chapter for instructions on

using the Red Hat Update Agent.

Important

You must use Red Hat Update Agent Version 2.5.4 or higher to upgrade your kernel automatically. It will install the updated kernel and conﬁgure LILO or GRUB to boot the new kernel the next time the system is rebooted. To ensure you are running the latest version, execute the command up2date

up2date. If you do not have the latest version installed, this command will update it.

2.1. Starting the Red Hat Update Agent

If you are not running the X Window System or prefer the command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent, skip to Section 2.3.5 Command Line Version.

You must be root to run the Red Hat Update Agent. If you start it as a standard user, you will be prompted to enter the root password before proceeding. The Red Hat Update Agent can be started using one of the following methods:

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3:

• On the GNOME and KDE desktops, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => System Tools

=> Red Hat Network.

• At a shell prompt (for example, an xterm or gnome-terminal), type the command up2date.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1:

• On the GNOME desktop, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Programs => System

=> Update Agent.

• On the KDE desktop, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Update Agent.

• At a shell prompt (for example, an xterm or gnome-terminal), type the command up2date.

8 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 packages (temporarily overriding your saved conﬁguration):

up2date --tmpdir=/tmp/up2date

Argument Description

--configure Conﬁgure Red Hat Update Agent options. Refer to Section 2.4

Conﬁguration for detailed instructions.

-d, --download Download packages only; do not install them. This argument

temporarily overrides the conﬁguration option Do not install packages after retrieval. Use this option if you prefer to install

the packages manually.

-f, --force Force package installation. This option temporarily overrides the

ﬁle, package, and conﬁguration skip lists.

-i, --install Install packages after they are downloaded. This argument

temporarily overrides the conﬁguration option Do not install packages after retrieval.

-k, --packagedir Specify a colon separated path of directories to look for packages

before trying to download them.

--nosig Do not use GPG to check package signatures. This option

temporarily overrides the saved conﬁguration option.

--tmpdir=directory Temporarily override the conﬁgured package directory. The

default location is /var/spool/up2date. This option is useful if you do not have enough space in the conﬁgured location.

--justdb Only add packages to the database and do not install them.

--dbpath=dir Specify an alternate RPM database to use temporarily.

Table 2-1. Graphical Update Agent Options

The ﬁrst time you run the Red Hat Update Agent, two dialog boxes will appear that you will not see in subsequent startups: Conﬁgure Proxy Server and Install GPG Key.

As shown in Figure 2-1, the ﬁrst dialog box to appear will prompt you for HTTP Proxy Server information. This is useful if your network connection requires you to use a proxy server to make HTTP connections. To use this feature, select the Enable HTTP Proxy checkbox and type your proxy server in the text ﬁeld with the format http://HOST:PORT, such as http://squid.mysite.org:3128. Additionally, if your proxy server requires a username and password, select the Use Authentication checkbox and enter your username and password in the respective text ﬁelds.

An HTTP Proxy Server is not required by Red Hat Network. If you do not want to use this feature, click the OK button without making any selections. Note that the Red Hat Network Server dropdown menu at the top of the dialog box is only useful to RHN Proxy and Satellite customers. These customers should refer to the RHN Client Conﬁguration Guide for registration steps. Also note this dialox box is actually the General tab of the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool. Refer to Section

2.4 Conﬁguration for detailed instructions.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 9

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.

Figure 2-2. Install GPG Key

2.2. Registration

Before you begin using Red Hat Network, you need to create a username, password, and System Proﬁle. Upon launch, the Red Hat Update Agent senses whether these tasks have been accomplished. If not, it guides you through the registration process. If you ever need to force the Red Hat Update Agent into registration mode, say to re-register an existing system, you may do so by issuing the following command at a shell prompt:

up2date --register

10 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Important

If your username is part of a larger organizational account, you should take caution when registering your systems. By default, all systems registered with the Red Hat Update Agent end up in the Ungrouped section of systems visible only to Organization Administrators. To ensure you retain management of these systems, Red Hat recommends your organization create an activation key associated with a speciﬁc system group and grant you permissions to that group. You may then register your systems using that activation key and ﬁnd those System Proﬁles within RHN immediately. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions.

After installing the Red Hat GPG key, the screen in Figure 2-3 will appear. It appears every time you start the Red Hat Update Agent. Click Forward to continue.

Figure 2-3. Welcome Screen

After clicking through the Welcome Screen, the Red Hat Privacy Statement appears. (See Figure 2-

4). Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy. The information gathered during the Red Hat Network registration process is used to create a System Proﬁle, which is essential to receiving update notiﬁcations about your system. When satisﬁed, click Forward.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 11

Figure 2-4. Red Hat Privacy Statement

2.2.1. Registering a User Account

Before you can create a System Proﬁle, you must create a user account. Red Hat recommends you create your account through the RHN website, but you may also do so through up2date. All that is required is a unique username-password combination and a valid email address.

In the screen shown in Figure 2-5, choose a username and password. Once logged in to Red Hat Network, you can modify your preferences, view your existing System Proﬁle, or obtain the latest Red Hat software packages.

Note

If you are already a member of redhat.com, you can and should use the same username and password. However, you will still need to continue with the registration process to create your System Proﬁle.

Your username has the following restrictions:

• Cannot contain any spaces

• Cannot contain the characters &, +, %, or ’

12 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

• Is not case-sensitive, thereby eliminating the possibility of duplicate usernames differing only by

capitalization

In addition, the following restrictions apply to both your username and password:

• Must be at least four characters long

• Cannot contain any tabs

• Cannot contain any line feeds

Passwords are case-sensitive for obvious reasons.

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). Try different usernames until you ﬁnd one that has not been used.

Warning

Be sure to identify a username that you will be satisﬁed with permanently, as this cannot be changed after account creation.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 13

Figure 2-6. Error: Username Already Exists

Most users can leave the Org Info section blank. If you have an existing organization account, 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.

If you have already registered a machine and created a System Proﬁle, you can add a new machine to your account. Run the Red Hat Update Agent on the new machine you wish to add, and enter your existing Red Hat Network username and password. The new machine will be added to your existing account, and you can log into Red Hat Network with your username and password to view all your systems simultaneously.

In the Create Account screen, click Forward to continue.

If you are a new user to RHN, the Red Hat Update Agent takes you to the screen shown in Figure 2-

7. Here you will add details about yourself and your business, if applicable, and identify the methods by which you should be reached.

Note

Unlike other details, your company name can be changed only through Red Hat Customer Service, so enter it carefully. If you do need to have your company name changed, send your request to customerservice@redhat.com.

14 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 Enterprise Linux system. The System Proﬁle information is used by Red Hat Network to determine what software update notiﬁcations you receive.

2.2.2.1. Hardware System Proﬁle

After creating a username and password for your Red Hat Network account, the Red Hat Update Agent probes your system for the following information:

• Red Hat Linux version

• Hostname

• IP address

• CPU model

• CPU speed

• Amount of RAM

• PCI devices

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 15

• 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. Optionally, you can enter a computer serial or identiﬁcation number for the system.

If you do not wish to include information about your hardware or network in your System Proﬁle, deselect Include information about hardware and network (see Figure 2-8).

Figure 2-8. System Proﬁle - Hardware

Click Forward to continue with the registration process.

2.2.2.2. Software System Proﬁle

The software System Proﬁle consists of a list of RPM packages for which you wish to receive notiﬁcations. The Red Hat Update Agent 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.

2.2.2.2.1. Gathering RPM Database Information

Only those packages you choose during this part of the registration will be included in your System Proﬁle, and you will receive notiﬁcations only about the packages in your System Proﬁle. Therefore,

16 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

you must include packages in your proﬁle to have RHN send you Errata regarding them. You should also note if 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. Figure 2-9 shows the progress bar you will see while the Red Hat Update Agent gathers a list of the RPM packages installed on your system. This operation may take some time, depending on your system installation.

Figure 2-9. Registration Wizard

Once the RPM package list is built, the list will be displayed as shown in Figure 2-10. Deselecting Include RPM Packages installed on this system in my System Proﬁle will omit this information from your System Proﬁle.

Figure 2-10. RPM Package Information

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 17

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 checkbox beside the package name. For example, Figure 2-11 shows that the Canna-devel and Canna-libs packages have been omitted from the package list.

Choose which packages to exclude, if any, from the System Proﬁle, and click Forward to continue with the registration process.

Figure 2-11. Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Proﬁle

2.2.2.3. Finishing Registration

As seen in Figure 2-12, the last step of registration is to conﬁrm that you want to send your System Proﬁle to the Red Hat Network. If you choose Cancel at this point, no information will be sent. Clicking Forward will submit your RHN System Proﬁle.

18 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. Send System Proﬁle to Red Hat Network

You will know your System Proﬁle has been successfully sent when you see the Channels screen (Figure 2-14) appear. Refer to Section 2.3.1 Choosing a Software Channel for continued instructions.

2.3. Setup and Use

After completing the registration process, you should set up the Red Hat Update Agent to effectively manage all of your system’s package updates. This requires selecting its channel, identifying the packages requiring maintenance, and making your ﬁrst installation.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 19

Before you proceed, however, you should consider ensuring you have the latest version of the Red Hat Update Agent, as development on it is continuous. This task is as simple as running the tool

against its own package. Shut down the GUI version and run this command in a terminal (as root), like so:

up2date up2date

2.3.1. Choosing a Software 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. The Red Hat Update Agent offers only the channels enabled for the system in RHN (or your RHN Satellite Server). Refer to Section 6.6 Channels for more information on channels and how channels are used to determine which packages are installed.

Figure 2-14. Channels

2.3.2. Choosing Packages to Update

After clicking Forward, the dialog box in Figure 2-15 will appear. This means a connection to Red Hat Network is being established and your customized list of updates is being retrieved. This might take some time, depending on the speed of your connection and the number of packages you have installed.

20 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Figure 2-15. Retrieve Update Information

While you see this dialog box, the Red Hat Update Agent uses your unique Digital Certiﬁcate (/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid) to determine if there are any updated packages available for your system. If there are no updated packages available for your system, the dialog box in Figure 2-16 appears. Click OK to exit the Red Hat Update Agent.

Figure 2-16. No new packages needed

If you excluded any packages while registering your System Proﬁle, these are displayed in Figure 2-17. You may override these settings and include any of these packages in the update by selecting the checkboxes next to them. To see a summary of each package in the Package Information section at the bottom of the screen, click the name of the package.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 21

Figure 2-17. Packages Flagged to be Skipped

If you want to view the advisory for the RPM Alert, click the View Advisory button. This will display what type of Errata Alert it is and what problem(s) it addresses as shown in Figure 2-18. Click OK to close the advisory. Click Finished when you are ﬁnished selecting packages to include.

22 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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 23

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.

After choosing which packages to update, the Red Hat Update Agent tests for RPM dependencies and prompts you if you have chosen to omit packages that are required for software updates that you did choose. The dialog box in Figure 2-20 is shown while it is testing for dependencies. This process might take some time depending upon how many packages are updating.

Figure 2-20. Testing Packages

After testing is complete, package retrieval begins. The progress of each package retrieval is shown in Figure 2-21. When they have all been retrieved, the message All ﬁnished is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Click Forward to continue.

24 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. If you conﬁgured it to install the packages (the default setting), the selected packages are installed. The progress of installing each package, as well as the total progress, is displayed. When the packages have been installed, as seen in Figure 2-22, click Forward to continue.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 25

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.

26 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 or to perform actions with little or no interaction. For example, the following command updates your system with no interaction. It will download the newer packages and install them if you conﬁgured it to install them.

up2date -u

The command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent accepts the following arguments:

Argument Description

-?, --usage Brieﬂy describe the available options.

-h, --help List the available options and exit.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 27

Argument Description

--arch=architecture Force up2date to install this architecture of the package. Not

valid with --update, --list, or --dry-run.

--channel=channel Specify which channels to update from using channel labels.

--configure Conﬁgure Red Hat Update Agent options. Refer to Section 2.4

Conﬁguration for detailed instructions.

-d, --download Download packages only; do not install them. This argument

temporarily overrides the conﬁguration option Do not install packages after retrieval. Use this option if you prefer to install

the packages manually.

--dbpath=dir Specify an alternate RPM database to use temporarily.

--dry-run Do everything but download and install packages. This is useful

in checking dependencies and other requirements prior to actual installation.

-f, --force Force package installation. This option temporarily overrides the

ﬁle, package, and conﬁguration skip lists.

--firstboot Pop up in the center of the screen for Firstboot.

--get Fetch the package speciﬁed without resolving dependencies.

--get-source Fetch the source package speciﬁed without resolving

dependencies.

--gpg-flags Show the ﬂags GPG will be invoked with, such as the keyring.

--hardware Update this system’s hardware proﬁle on RHN.

-i, --install Install packages after they are downloaded. This argument

temporarily overrides the conﬁguration option Do not install packages after retrieval.

--installall Install all available packages. Used with --channel.

--justdb Only add packages to the database and do not install them.

-k, --packagedir Specify a colon-separated path of directories to look for packages

in before trying to download them.

-l, --list List packages relevant to the system.

--list-rollbacks Show the package rollbacks available.

--nodownload Do not download packages at all. This is useful in testing.

--nosig Do not use GPG to check package signatures. This option

temporarily overrides the saved conﬁguration option.

--nosrc Do not download source packages (SRPMs).

--nox Do not attempt to run in X. This launches the command line

version of the Red Hat Update Agent.

-p, --packages Update packages associated with this System Proﬁle.

--proxy=proxy URL Specify an HTTP proxy to use.

--proxyPassword=proxy

password

Specify a password to use with an authenticated HTTP proxy.

28 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Argument Description

--proxyUser=proxy user ID

--register Register (or re-register) this system with RHN. Refer to Section

Specify a username to use with an authenticated HTTP proxy.

2.2 Registration for detailed instructions.

--serverUrl=server URL Specify an alternate server from which to retrieve packages.

--showall List all packages available for download.

--show-available List all packages available that are not currently installed.

--show-channels Show the channel name associated with each package.

--show-orphans List all packages currently installed that are not in channels the

system is subscribed to.

--show-package-dialog Show the package installation dialog in GUI mode.

--solvedeps=dependencies Find, download, and install the packages necessary to resolve

dependencies.

--src Download source packages, as well as binary RPMs.

--tmpdir=directory Temporarily override the conﬁgured package directory. The

default location is /var/spool/up2date. This option is useful if you do not have enough space in the conﬁgured location.

--undo Reverse the last package set update.

-u, --update Update system with all relevant packages.

--upgrade-to-release=release

version

--uuid=uuid Pass in a Unique User ID generated by the Alert Notiﬁcation

Upgrade to the channel speciﬁed.

tool.

-v, --verbose Show additional output while updating.

--version Show up2date version information.

--whatprovides=dependenciesShow the packages that resolve the comma-separated list of

dependencies.

Table 2-2. Update Agent Command Line Arguments

2.3.5.1. Installing the Red Hat GPG key

The ﬁrst time you run the graphical version of the Red Hat Update Agent, it prompts you to install the Red Hat GPG key. This key is required to authenticate the packages downloaded from Red Hat Network. If you run the command line version the ﬁrst time you start Red Hat Update Agent, you need to install the Red Hat GPG key manually. If you do not have it installed, you will see the following message:

Your GPG keyring does not contain the Red Hat, Inc. public key. Without it, you will be unable to verify that packages Update Agent downloads are securely signed by Red Hat.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 29

Note

GPG keys must be installed for each user. To install the key to use with Red Hat Network, import the key while logged in as root.

The method for installing the key varies depending on your version of RPM. Starting with version

4.1, which shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, you may import GPG keys using rpm, like so (as root):

rpm --import /usr/share/doc/rpm-4.1/RPM-GPG-KE Y

For older versions of RPM, such as the one that came with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, use the gpg command (as root):

/usr/bin/gpg --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG- KEY

If you need to download the Red Hat GPG key ﬁrst, you may obtain it from https://www.redhat.com/security/team/key.html . Here’s an example:

Type bits/keyID Date User ID pub 1024D/650D5882 2001-11-21 Red Hat, Inc. (Security Response Team) sub 2048g/7EAB9AFD 2001-11-21

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux)

mQGiBDv70vQRBADh701rf8WUzDG88kqlV/N5KQ1PF0amnODB/1EeuAD7n6bCBRmV ekQWJCdfab0Rf1S+VsFg6IAAAmDIarVnacTLQzqCdGJqTpXm/rGVpLv+mCh+OmT9 QRFbjSzB0uPJOpiIvJwSS00D/wJ8XKzHkVNgW3DiJ9Qz2BHYszU2ISI6FwCgxY6d IVjWT5jblkLNjtD3+fR024ED/i0e2knetTX3S9LjC+HdGvP8Eds92Ti2CnJLaFJk Rp749PucnK9mzxPcO2jSHgdtjWAXst/st+gWFVbFmkjBQDVSd00B/xEwI1T1+LN8 V7R8BElBmg99IlJmDvA2BI/seXvafhzly9bxSHScFnceco/Az9umIs3NXwv3/yOm ZakDBAC6SAGHBmpVkOdeXJDdb4LcbEhErFU3CpRCjZ6AOnFuiV1MGdulZXvEUgBA I6/PDE5nBHfZY3zPjyLPZVtgYioJpZqcRIx/g+bX2O8kPqvJEuZ19tLCdykfZGpy bsV7QdSGqBk3snNOizmFj543RaHyEbnwKWbNADhujWMeUAxN+7Q8UmVkIEhhdCwg SW5jLiAoU2VjdXJpdHkgUmVzcG9uc2UgVGVhbSkgPHNlY2FsZXJ0QHJlZGhhdC5j b20+iFcEExECABcFAj3GczYFCwcKAwQDFQMCAxYCAQIXgAAKCRBeVICDZQ1YghAU AJoCeQfuMR2dKyLft/10O6qUs+MNLQCggJgdO8MUO2y11TWID3XOYgyQG+2InAQT AQIABgUCPtyYpQAKCRDurUz9SaVj2e97A/0b2s7OhhAMljNwMQS4I2UWVGbgtxdu D+yBcG/3mwL76MJVY7aX+NN/tT9yDGU+FSiQZZCL/4OFOHMvjpcDqfJY+zpTlBii ZMAPJWTs2bB+0QaXxUgWlwW84GVf2rA6RSbvMLTbDjTH8t7J1RGP9zAqu8SgraTA QbQdao6TNxVt+ohGBBMRAgAGBQI+3LjCAAoJECGRgM3bQqYOf5MAoIjiJDe+hDOj 9+jlR0qDs9lIi/C2AJ9SBBfd4A8hyR4z3lY7e0LzjWF51LkCDQQ7+9O3EAgA8tMs xdUmuTfA+X78fMXh7LCvrL4Hi28CqvNM+Au81XJjDLNawZvpVmFlMmd9h0Xb5Jt2 BZWLR13rcDUByNdw1EWhVAzCz6Bp9Z3MIDhcP00iIBctIHn7YP9fi5vV0G03iryT XE01mhWoBlC233wr3XHwsqxFfZzaCZqqNKTl0+PNfEAIzJRgtYiW8nzFTPpIR05E oRn6EvmQfayOF2uYDX9Sk//lOD7T7RLtKjM/hPW/9NoCGwwROaG+VUzVv4aelh1L dJGEjpFtdxcrOUMD8xbkuGMznu0mpDI+J2BUDh5n57yOyEMaGrQ0jfY1ZqdqDvZg osY1ZHa6KlmuCWNTnwADBQf/XYhCicp6iLetnPv6lYtyRfFRpnK98w3br+fThywC t81P2nKv8lio6OsRbksGc1gX8Zl6GoHQYfDe7hYsCHZPoWErobECFds5E9M7cmzV TTyNTvrELrs07jyuPb4Q+mHcsYPILGR3M+rnXKGjloz+05kOPRJaBEBzP6B8SZKy QNqEfTkTYU4Rbhkzz/UxUxZoRZ+tqVjNbPKFpRraiQrUDsZFbgksBCzkzd0YURvi CegO2K7JPKbZJo6eJA10qiBQvAx2EUijZfxIKqZeLx40EKMaL7Wa2CM/xmkQmCgg Hyu5bmLSMZ7cxFSWyXOst78dehCKv9WyPxHV3m4iANWFL4hGBBgRAgAGBQI7+9O3 AAoJEF5UgINlDViCKWcAoMCeYStWVKXJTytzHEL6Wl8rXr8WAKCHuapJIA4/eFsf 4ciWtjY8cO0v8Q==

30 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

=yOVZ

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Save the text ﬁle and import it into your keyring using the method applicable for your version of RPM.

2.3.5.2. Manual Package Installation

If you chose to download the software updates with the Red Hat Update Agent or from the RHN website, you must install them manually using RPM.

To install them, change to the directory that contains the downloaded packages. The default directory is /var/spool/up2date. Then, type the command rpm -Uvh *.rpm. When the packages are ﬁnished installing, you can delete them if you wish. You do not need them anymore.

After installing the packages, you must update your System Proﬁle so that you are not prompted to download them again. Refer to Section 2.3.5.3 Synchronizing Your System Proﬁle for details.

2.3.5.3. Synchronizing Your System Proﬁle

If you conﬁgured the Red Hat Update Agent to install the latest packages, then your System Proﬁle stored by Red Hat Network will be updated after the packages are installed. However, if you only download the latest RPM packages using the Red Hat Update Agent, download the RPM packages from the website, or upgrade/install/remove RPM packages yourself, your System Proﬁle will not be updated automatically. You will need to send your updated System Proﬁle to the RHN Servers.

To synchronize the RPM package list on your local system and on Red Hat Network, run the command:

up2date -p

After running this command, your RHN System Proﬁle will reﬂect the latest software versions installed 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 /var/log/up2date. It uses the standard rotating log method. Thus, older logs are in

/var/log/up2date.1, /var/log/up2date.2, and /var/log/up2date.3. The log ﬁles store

actions performed by the Red Hat Update Agent such as when your RPM database is opened, when it connects to Red Hat Network to retrieve information from your System Proﬁle, which packages are downloaded, which packages are installed using the Red Hat Update Agent, and which packages are deleted from your system after installation. If you choose to install and delete packages yourself, it will not be logged in this ﬁle. You should keep your own log of actions not performed with the Red Hat Update Agent.

2.4. Conﬁguration

The Red Hat Update Agent offers various options to conﬁgure its settings.

If you are not running the X Window System or prefer the command line version, skip to Section 2.4.2 Command Line Version.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 31

2.4.1. Using the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool

You must be root to run the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool. If you start the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool as a standard user, you will be prompted to enter the root password

before proceeding. The Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool can be started by typing the command up2date-config at a shell prompt (for example, an xterm or a gnome-terminal).

2.4.1.1. General Settings

The General tab allows you to enable an HTTP Proxy Server. If your network connection requires you to use an HTTP Proxy Server to make HTTP connections, select the Enable HTTP Proxy option and type your proxy server in the text ﬁeld with the format http://HOST:PORT. For example, to use the proxy server http://squid.mysite.org on port 3128, you would enter http://squid.mysite.org:3128 in the text ﬁeld. Additionally, if your proxy server requires a username and password, select the Use Authentication option and enter your username and password in the respective text ﬁelds.

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. 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.

32 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 — if the conﬁguration

ﬁle has been modiﬁed for a package such as apache or squid, do not attemp to upgrade it. This option is useful if you are installing custom RPMs on your system and you do not want them updated or reverted to the default Red Hat Enterprise Linux packages.

• Retrieve source RPM along with binary package — download both the source (*.src.rpm)

and the binary (*.[architecture].rpm) ﬁles

The following installation options are conﬁgurable (see Figure 2-25):

• Use GPG to verify package integrity — before installing the packages, verify Red Hat’s GPG

signature (highly recommended for security reasons)

• After installation, keep binary packages on disk — save binary packages in desired directory

instead of deleting them after installation

The following additional options are conﬁgurable from this tab:

• Override version stored in System Proﬁle — override the Red Hat Linux version in your System

Proﬁle

• Package storage directory — change the directory where packages are downloaded; the default

location is /var/spool/up2date

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 33

2.4.1.3. Package Exceptions Settings

The Package Exceptions tab allows you to deﬁne which packages to exclude from the list of updated RPM packages according to the package name or ﬁle name (see Figure 2-26).

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. A wild card at the beginning of the character string means any packages that end with the character string will be excluded from the list.

For example, if the string kernel* in the Package Names to Skip section, the Red Hat Update Agent will not display any packages beginning with kernel.

To exclude packages by ﬁle name, follow the same rules except click the Add button next to the File

Names to Skip section.

Figure 2-26. Package Exceptions Settings

2.4.2. Command Line Version

The command line version of this tool performs the same function as the graphical version. It allows you to conﬁgure the settings used by the Red Hat Update Agent and store them in the conﬁguration ﬁle /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date.

To run the command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool, use the following command:

up2date --nox --configure

You will be presented with a list of options and their current values:

0. debug No

1. isatty Yes

34 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

2. depslist []

3. networkSetup Yes

4. retrieveOnly No

5. enableRollbacks No

6. pkgSkipList [’kernel*’]

7. storageDir /var/spool/up2date

8. adminAddress [’root@localhost’]

9. noBootLoader No

10. serverURL https://xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com/XMLRPC

11. fileSkipList []

12. sslCACert /usr/share/rhn/RHNS-CA-CERT

13. noReplaceConfig Yes

14. useNoSSLForPackage No

15. systemIdPath /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid

16. enableProxyAuth No

17. retrieveSource No

18. versionOverride

19. headerFetchCount 10

20. networkRetries 5

21. enableProxy No

22. proxyPassword

23. noSSLServerURL http://xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com/XMLRPC

24. keepAfterInstall No

25. proxyUser

26. removeSkipList [’kernel*’]

27. useGPG Yes

28. gpgKeyRing /etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date-keyring.gpg

29. httpProxy

30. headerCacheSize 40

31. forceInstall No

Enter number of item to edit

return to exit, q to quit without saving:



Enter the number of the item that you want to modify and enter a new value for the option. When you ﬁnish changing your conﬁguration, press [Enter] to save your changes and exit. Press [q] and then [Enter] to quit without saving your changes.

Important

Although this isn’t conﬁgurable, users should still make note that the port used by the Red Hat Update Agent is 443 for SSL (HTTPS) and 80 for non-SSL (HTTP). By default, up2date uses SSL only. For

this reason, users should ensure their ﬁrewalls allow connections over por t 443. To bypass SSL, in

/etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date change the protocol for serverURL from https to http.

2.5. Registering with Activation Keys

In addition, to the standard Red Hat Update Agent interface, up2date offers a utility aimed at batch processing the registration of systems: activation keys. Each unique key can be used to register Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, entitle them to an RHN service level, and subscribe them to speciﬁc channels and system groups, all in one action.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 35

Thus, channel and group subscriptions can be automated along with registration, thereby bypassing entitlement and registration through either the Red Hat Network Registration Client or the Red Hat Update Agent, both of which offer the activation keys utility rhnreg_ks as part of their packages.

Note

Systems running Red Hat Enter prise Linux 2.1 need version 2.9.3-1 or higher of the rhn_register package. It is highly recommended you obtain the latest version before using activation keys.

Before using an activation key, you must ﬁrst generate one through the RHN website. Refer to Section

6.4.7 Activation Keys —

for precise steps.

Touse an activation key, as root from a shell prompt on the system to be registered, run the rhnreg_ks command followed by the key. For example:

rhnreg_ks --activationkey=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b

Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 will use the --serialnumber instead of

--activationkey, like so:

rhnreg_ks --serialnumber=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b

In addition, Provisioning-entitled systems may use multiple activation keys at once, either at the command line or within kickstart proﬁles, to include a variety of values without creating a special key for the desired results. To do this, specify the keys separated by commas, like this:

rhnreg_ks --activationkey=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b,\

39f41081f0329c20798876f37cb9p6a3

Note

The trailing backslash (\) in this command example is a continuation character; it may safely be omitted.

Refer to Section 6.4.7.2 Using Multiple Activation Keys at Once — to understand how differences in activation keys are handled.

This command performs all the actions of the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the registration function of the Red Hat Update Agent. Do not run either of these applications for registration after running rhnreg_ks.

A System Proﬁle, including software and hardware information, is created for the system and sent to the RHN Servers along with the unique activation key. The system is registered with RHN under the account used to generate the key, entitled to an RHN service offering, and subscribed to the RHN channels and system groups selected during key generation. The system will not be subscribed to channels that contain packages not suitable for the system. For example, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux

2.1 system cannot be subscribed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 channel.

The unique Digital Certiﬁcate for the system is generated on the system in

/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid.

When using activation keys to assign channels, a couple of rules should be kept in mind:

36 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

• A key may specify either zero or one base channel. If speciﬁed, it must be a custom base channel.

If not, the base channel corresponding to the system’s Red Hat distribution will be chosen. For instance, you may not take a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 system and subscribe it to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 channel.

• A key may specify any number of child channels. For each child channel, subscription is attempted.

If the child channel matches the system’s base channel, subscription succeeds. If it does not, the subscription fails silently. Refer to Section 6.6 Channels for more information.

• Keys may be modiﬁed by any user with the role of Activation Key Administrator or Organization

Administrator (or both). These permissions are set through the Users tab of the RHN website. Refer

to Section 6.8 Users —

• Systems registered by activation keys are tied to the organization or overall account in which the

for details.

key was created, not the key itself. After registration, a key can be safely deleted without any effect on the systems it was used to register.

Chapter 3.

Red Hat Network Daemon

The Red Hat Network Daemon (rhnsd) periodically connects to Red Hat Network to check for updates and notiﬁcations. The daemon, which runs in the background, is typically started from the initialization scripts in /etc/init.d/rhnsd or /etc/rc.d/init.d/rhnsd.

Tip

Provisioning-entitled systems served by an RHN Satellite Server may have actions immediately initiated or pushed to them. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6.1 System Details enabling this feature.

To check for updates, rhnsd runs an external program called rhn_check located in /usr/sbin/. This is a small application that actually makes the network connection to RHN. The Red Hat Network Daemon does not listen on any network ports or talk to the network directly. All network activity is done via the rhn_check utility.

3.1. Conﬁguring

The Red Hat Network Daemon can be conﬁgured by editing the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhnsd conﬁguration ﬁle. This is actually the conﬁguration ﬁle the rhnsd initialization script uses. The most important setting offered by the daemon is its check-in frequency. The default interval time is four hours (240 minutes). If you modify the conﬁguration ﬁle, you must (as root) restart the daemon with the command service rhnsd restart or /etc/rc.d/init.d/rhnsd restart.

Important

The minimum time interval allowed is one hour (60 minutes). If you set the interval below one hour, it will default to four hours (240 minutes).



Details for instructions on

3.2. Viewing Status

You can view the status of the rhnsd by typing the command service rhnsd status or

/etc/rc.d/init.d/rhnsd status at a shell prompt.

3.3. Disabling

To disable the daemon, (as root) run the ntsysv utility and uncheck rhnsd. You can also (as root) execute the command chkconfig rhnsd off. Using these two methods will only disable the service the next time the system is started. To stop the service immediately, use the command service

rhnsd stop or /etc/rc.d/init.d/rhnsd stop.

38 Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Daemon

3.4. Troubleshooting

If you are seeing messages indicating checkins are not taking place, the RHN client on your system is not successfully reaching 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

• 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.

Chapter 4.

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. The system does not have to be registered with Red Hat Network to display a list of updates; however, retrieving the updates with the Red Hat Update Agent requires registration with Red Hat Network and a subscription to an RHN service offering. The notiﬁer does not send any identiﬁable information about the user or the system to the RHN Servers.

To use the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool, you must install the rhn-applet RPM package and use the X Window System.

Starting with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool appears on the panel by default as shown in Figure 4-1.

Figure 4-1. GNOME Panel with Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

If it does not appear on the panel, you can add it:

• In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, select the Main Menu Button => System Tools => Red Hat

Network Alert Icon. To ensure the icon appears on subsequent sessions, select the Save current setup checkbox when logging out.

• In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, select the Main Menu Button => Panel => Add to Panel =>

Applet => Red Hat Network Monitor. To move it around the panel, right-click on the applet,

select Move, move the mouse left and right until it is in the desired location, and click the mouse to place the applet.

4.1. Conﬁguring the Applet

The ﬁrst time the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool is run, a conﬁguration wizard starts. It displays the terms of service and allows the user to conﬁgure an HTTP proxy as shown in Figure 4-2.

40 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

Figure 4-2. HTTP Proxy Conﬁguration

If your network connection requires you to use an HTTP Proxy Server to make HTTP connections, on the Proxy Conﬁguration screen, type your proxy server in the text ﬁeld with the format HOST:PORT. For example, to use the proxy server http://squid.mysite.org on port 3128, enter squid.mysite.org:3128 in the text ﬁeld. Additionally, if your proxy server requires a username and password, select the Use Authentication option and enter your username and password in the respective text ﬁelds.

Tip

To run the conﬁguration wizard again, right-click on the applet, and select Conﬁguration.

Your preferences are written to the ﬁle .rhn-applet.conf in your home directory. The Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool also uses the system-wide conﬁguration ﬁle

/etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhn-applet. Do not modify the system-wide conﬁguration ﬁle; it is

automatically generated by the application.

You can also conﬁgure the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool not to list speciﬁc packages. To conﬁgure which packages to ignore, click on the applet, and select the Ignored Packages tab.

4.2. Notiﬁcation Icons

The applet displays a different icon, depending on the status of the updates. Refer to Table 4-1 for details.

Icon Description

Updates are available

System is up-to-date

Checking for updates

Error has occurred

Table 4-1. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool Icons

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool 41

If you see the icon, it is highly recommended that you apply the updates. Refer to Section 4.4 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. The icon changes to the

If you apply a kernel update (or the kernel update is automatically applied), the applet will display the

until the system is rebooted with the new kernel. If you click on the applet, the Available Updates

tab displays a list of packages that can be updated on your system.

icon after the Errata Updates are applied.

4.3. Viewing Updates

Clicking on the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool displays a list of available updates. To alter your list of excluded packages, click the Ignored Packages tab and make your modiﬁcations.

Figure 4-3. Available Updates

4.4. Applying Updates

If the system is registered with RHN and entitled to a service offering, you can apply the Errata Updates with the Red Hat Update Agent. To launch the Red Hat Update Agent, click on the applet, and then click on the Launch up2date button. You can also right-click on the icon and select Launch

up2date. For more information on the Red Hat Update Agent, refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent.

4.5. Launching the RHN Website

The simplest way to obtain a comprehensive view of your system’s status is to access the RHN website. This can be accomplished through the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool by rightclicking on it and selecting RHN Website. For more information on the RHN website, refer to Section

6.1 Navigation.

42 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

Chapter 5.

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 Enterprise Linux 2.1 need to use this separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Systems running Red Hat Enterprise

Linux 3 have this registration functionality built into the Red Hat Update Agent. After registering your system, refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for instructions on star ting the Red Hat Update Agent and begin steps listed in Section 2.3 Setup and Use.

5.1. Conﬁguring the Red Hat Network Registration Client

To start the graphical interface for conﬁguring the application to connect through an HTTP proxy server, type the following command at a shell prompt:

rhn_register --configure

The window shown in Figure 5-1 will appear.

Figure 5-1. Red Hat Network Registration Client Conﬁguration

To start the command line version, use the command:

rhn_register --nox --configure

44 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

It has more conﬁguration options than the graphical version.

You will be presented with a list of options and their current values:

0. enableProxyAuth No

1. noSSLServerURL http://xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com/XMLRPC

2. oemInfoFile /etc/sysconfig/rhn/oeminfo

3. enableProxy No

4. networkSetup Yes

5. httpProxy

6. proxyUser

7. serverURL https://xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com/XMLRPC

8. proxyPassword

9. debug No

Enter number of item to edit

return to exit, q to quit without saving:



Enter the number of the item that you want to modify, and enter a new value for the option. When you ﬁnish changing your conﬁguration, press [Enter] to save your changes and exit. Press [q] and then [Enter] to quit without saving your changes.

The most common options conﬁgured are enableProxy and httpProxy to enable a proxy server. To enable a proxy server, change the value for enableProxy to Yes and the value of httpProxy to the name of the proxy server and port number in the format http://HOST:PORT. For example, to use the proxy server http://squid.mysite.org on port 3128, you would change the value to http://squid.mysite.org:3128.

If you require a proxy username and password, set enableProxyAuth to Yes to enable username/password authentication for the proxy, and set proxyUser and proxyPassword to the appropriate username and password for the proxy.

To bypass SSL, in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhn_register change the protocol for serverURL from https to http.

5.2. Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client

You must be root to register a system with RHN. If you start the Red Hat Network Registration Client as a standard user, you will be prompted to enter the root password before proceeding.

Important

If your username is part of a larger organizational account, you should take caution when registering your systems. By default, all systems registered with the Red Hat Network Registration Client end up in the Ungrouped section of systems visible only to Organization Administrators. To ensure you retain management of these systems, Red Hat recommends your organization create an activation key associated with a speciﬁc system group and grant you permissions to that group. You may then register your systems using that activation key and ﬁnd those System Proﬁles within RHN immediately. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions.

To start the Red Hat Network Registration Client, use one of the following methods:

1. On the GNOME desktop, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Programs => System => Red Hat Network

2. On the KDE desktop, go to the Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => System => Red Hat

Network

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 45

3. Type the command rhn_register at a shell prompt (for example an XTerm or GNOME terminal)

4. If you are not running the X Window System, type the command rhn_register at a virtual console or remote terminal. Refer to Section 5.7 Text Mode RHN Registration Client for further details.

Caution

You must use Python 1.5.2-24 or later with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) support. If not, the information you transfer will not be encrypted. If you have an earlier version of Python, you will see the message shown in Figure 5-2. To determine the version of Python on your system, use the command

rpm -q python. It is strongly recommended you use Python 1.5.2-24 or later.

Figure 5-2. Use Python 1.5.2-24 or later

If you have already registered your system and try to register it again, the dialog box shown in Figure 5-3 will appear. If you continue, it will overwrite your existing Digital Certiﬁcate ﬁle (/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid), and you will create a different System Proﬁle. You will no longer be able to use your previous 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.

Figure 5-3. Warning: This System Already Registered

The opening screen for the Red Hat Network Registration Client gives you a brief overview of the services available and the steps required to register (see Figure 5-4). Click Next to continue with the registration process. If you click Cancel, the registration process will end and no information will be sent.

46 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 5-4. Welcome Screen

Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy (see Figure 5-5). The information gathered during the 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.

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 47

Figure 5-5. Red Hat Privacy Statement

5.3. 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 5-7, you must choose a username and password. Once logged in to Red Hat Network, you can modify your preferences, view your existing System Proﬁle, or obtain the latest Red Hat software packages. You must choose a unique username. If you enter one already in use, you will see an error message (see Figure 5-6). Try different usernames until you ﬁnd one that has not been used.

Figure 5-6. Error: Username Already Exists

48 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Note

If you are already a member of redhat.com, you can use the same user name and password. However, you will still need to continue with the registration process to create your System Proﬁle.

Your username has the following restrictions:

• Cannot contain any spaces

• Cannot contain the characters &, +, %, or ’

• Is not case-sensitive, thereby eliminating the possibility of duplicate usernames differing only by

capitalization

In addition, the following restrictions apply to both your username and password:

• Must be at least four characters long

• Cannot contain any tabs

• Cannot contain any line feeds

Passwords are case-sensitive for obvious reasons.

If you have already registered a machine and created a System Proﬁle, you can add a new machine to your account. Run the Red Hat Network Registration Client on the new machine you wish to add, and enter your existing Red Hat Network username and password. The new machine will be added to your existing account, and you can log into Red Hat Network with your username and password to view all your systems simultaneously.

Figure 5-7. Create a Unique Username and Password

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 49

Most users can leave the Org Info section blank. If you have an existing organization account, work with your Organization Administrator to ensure your system is added to that account. This will require entering 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. Your Organization Administrator can then create your user account through the Users category of the RHN website. Refer to

Section 6.8.2.1 Create User —

for instructions.

Click Next to continue.

5.4. 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. The software System Proﬁle information is used by Red Hat Network to determine what software update notiﬁcations you receive.

5.4.1. Hardware System Proﬁle

After creating a username and password for your Red Hat Network account, the Red Hat Network Registration Client probes your system for the following information:

• Red Hat Linux version

• Hostname

• IP address

• CPU model

• CPU speed

• Amount of RAM

• PCI devices

• Disk sizes

• Mount points

The next step is choosing a proﬁle name for your system as shown in Figure 5-8. 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. Optionally, you can enter a computer serial or identiﬁcation number for the system.

If you do not wish to include information about your hardware or network in your System Proﬁle, deselect Include information about hardware and network (see Figure 5-8).

Click Next to continue with the registration process.

50 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 5-8. System Proﬁle - Hardware

5.4.2. Software System Proﬁle

The software System Proﬁle consists of a list of RPM packages for which you wish to receive notiﬁcations. 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.

5.4.2.1. Gathering RPM Database Information

Only those packages you choose during this part of the registration will be included in your System Proﬁle, and you will only receive notiﬁcations about the packages in your System Proﬁle. Thus, if 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 website or by using the Red

Hat Update Agent. Figure 5-9 shows the 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 5-9. Registration Wizard

Once the RPM package list is built, the list will be displayed as shown in Figure 5-10. Deselecting Include RPM Packages installed on this system in my System Proﬁle will omit this information from your System Proﬁle.

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 51

Figure 5-10. RPM Package Information

5.4.2.2. 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 updated by Red Hat Network. To exclude a package, uncheck the package from the list by clicking the checkbox beside the package name. For example, Figure 5-11 shows that the procmail, procps, and psgml packages have been omitted from the package list.

Choose which packages to exclude, if any, from the System Proﬁle, and click Next to continue with the registration process.

52 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 5-11. Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Proﬁle

5.5. Finishing Registration

As seen in Figure 5-12, the last step of registration is to conﬁrm that you want to send your System Proﬁle to the Red Hat Network. If you choose Cancel at this point, no information will be sent. Clicking Next will submit your RHN System Proﬁle.

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 53

Figure 5-12. Finished Collecting Information for System Proﬁle

Figure 5-13 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 5-13. Send System Proﬁle to Red Hat Network

You will know your System Proﬁle has been successfully sent when you see the Registration Finished screen (Figure 5-14). Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

After completing the registration, you must entitle your system to an RHN service level. Refer to Section 5.6 Entitling Your System for details.

54 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 5-14. Registration Finished

5.6. Entitling Your System

Now that you have registered your system, it must be entitled before you can receive updated packages. In other words, you must subscribe it to a service level offering. Everyone automatically receives one free 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. The System Entitlements page displays the number of available entitlements, or subscriptions, at the bottom.

If you have one or more subscriptions left, make a selection from the dropdown menu under the Entitlement column beside the name of the system you just registered. Only increases in entitlement levels are allowed. Systems cannot be re-entitled to a lower entitlement level. For instance, a system entitled to the Update service level can be promoted to the Management level, but this action cannot be reversed. Then click the Update Entitlements button at the bottom of the page.

Warning

Changing a system’s entitlement is an irreversible action. You may be unable to change the entitlement levels of some systems. For more information, refer to the RHN entitlement policy linked from the System Entitlements page.

The number of entitlements remaining decreases, and your system becomes ready to use the Red Hat Update Agent and RHN website. Refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent and Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Website for details on how to use them. If you do not have any entitlements left, click the Buy more system entitlements now link at the top of the System Entitlements page to make additional

purchases.

Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client 55

5.7. 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. Some of the text in the text mode version is more concise due to lack of space in the interface. However, there is an equal number of screens and ﬁelds in both versions. Thus, if you are using the text mode version, you can still follow the instructions that begin in Section 5.2 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

Figure 5-15. Text Mode Welcome Screen

56 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Chapter 6.

Red Hat Network Website

You can use the Red Hat Network website to manage multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems simultaneously, including viewing Errata Alerts, applying Errata Updates, and installing packages. This chapter seeks to identify all of categories, pages, and tabs within the website and explain how to use them.

6.1. Navigation

The top navigation bar is divided into tabs of primary categories containing pages linked from the left navigation bar.

6.1.1. Entitlement Views

Keep in mind, since this guide covers all entitlement levels, some tabs, pages, and even whole categories described here may not be visible to you. For this reason, icons are used here to identify which functions are available to each entitlement level.

Icon Entitlement

Management or higher

Provisioning

Monitoring

Table 6-1. Entitlement Icons

If no icon follows a category, page, or tab label within this chapter, the area described is available to all Red Hat Network users. If an icon does follow, the associated entitlement is needed. Remember that Provisioning inherits all of the functions of Management.

If an icon precedes a paragraph, only the speciﬁc portion of the page or tab discussed afterward required the indicated entitlement level. When a page or tab is associated with a particular entitlement level, all of its tabs and subtabs require at least the same entitlement level but may need a higher entitlement. Regardless, each tab is identiﬁed separately.

6.1.2. Categories and Pages

This section summarizes all of the categories and primary pages (those linked from the top and left navigation bars) within the RHN website. It does not list the many subpages, tabs and subtabs accessible from the left navigation bar and individual pages. Each area of the website is explained in detail later in this chapter:

• Your RHN — View and manage your primary account information and obtain help.

• 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.

• Your Account — Update your personal proﬁle and addresses.

58 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

• Your Preferences — Indicate if you wish to receive email notiﬁcations about Errata Alerts for

your systems, set how many items are displayed at one time for lists such as system lists and system group lists, set your time zone, and identify your contact options.

• Purchase History — View a history of your entitlements, including the expiration date and the

number available.

• Help — Learn how to use Red Hat Network and receive support if needed.

• Systems — Manage your systems here.

• Overview —

— View a summary of your systems or system groups showing how many

Errata Alerts each system has and which systems are entitled.

• Systems — Select and view subsets of your systems by speciﬁc criteria, such as Out of Date,

Unentitled, Ungrouped, and Inactive.

• System Groups —

• System Set Manager — — Perform actions on currently selected systems.

• System Entitlements — Change the entitlement levels of systems.

• Advanced Search — — Quickly search all of your systems by speciﬁc criteria, such as

— List your system groups. Create additional groups.

name, hardware, devices, system info, networking, packages, and location.

• Activation Keys —

— Generate an activation key for an RHN-entitled system. This activation key can be used to grant a speciﬁed level of entitlement or group membership to a newly registered system with the rhnreg_ks command.

• Stored Proﬁles — — View system proﬁles used to provision systems.

• Custom System Info — — Create and edit system information keys containing completely

customizable values that can be assigned while provisioning systems.

• Kickstart —

— Display and modify various aspects of kickstart proﬁles used in provisioning

systems.

• Errata — View and manage Errata Alerts here.

• Errata — List Errata Alerts and download associated RPMs.

• Advanced Search — Search Errata Alerts based on speciﬁc criteria, such as synopsis, advisory

type, and package name.

• Channels — View and manage the available RHN channels and the ﬁles they contain.

• Software Channels — View a list of all software channels and those applicable to your systems.

• Channel Entitlements — View a list of software channels for which you have paid, as well as

the systems associated with each.

• Easy ISOs — Access priority downloading of Red Hat ISO images. ISO images are used to

write to CD.

• Package Search — Search packages using all or some portion of the package name.

• Manage Conﬁg Channels —

• Schedule — Keep track of your scheduled actions.

— Create and edit channels used to deploy conﬁguration ﬁles.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 59

• 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

be archived at any time.

• Archived Actions — List completed actions that have been selected to archive.

• Users —

• User List — — List users for your organization.

• Monitoring —

• Probe Status — — View probes by state.

• Notiﬁcation — — View contact methods established for yor organization.

• Scout Conﬁg Push — — Reconﬁgure your monitoring infrastructure.

• Global Conﬁg — — Change organization-wide monitoring settings.

— View and manage users for your organization.

— Run probes and receive notiﬁcations regarding systems.

6.1.3. Errata Alert Icons

Throughout Red Hat Network you will see three Errata Alert icons. represents a Security Alert.

represents a Bug Fix Alert. represents an Enhancement Alert.

In the Your RHN page, click on the Errata advisory to view details about the Erratum or click on the number of affected systems to see which are affected by the Errata Alert. Both links take you to tabs of the Errata Details page. Refer to Section 6.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.

6.1.4. Quick Search

In addition to the Advanced Search functionality offered within some categories, the RHN website also offers a Quick Search tool near the top of each page. To use it, select the item type (such as packages) and type a keyword that will be used to look for a name match. Then click the Search button. Your results will appear at the bottom of the page. Refer to the appropriate category for instructions on using these results.

6.1.5. Systems Selected

Also near the top of the page is a tool for keeping track of the systems you’ve selected for use in the System Set Manager. It identiﬁes the number selected at all times and provides the means to work with them. Clicking the Clear button deselects all systems, while clicking the Manage button launches the System Set Manager with your selected systems in place.

These systems can be selected in a number of ways. Only systems entitled to the Management and Provisioning service are eligible for selection. On all system and system group lists, a Select column exists for this purpose. Select the checkboxes next to the systems or groups and click the Update List button below the column. Each time, the Systems Selected tool at the top of the page will change to reﬂect the new number of systems ready for use in the System Set Manager. Refer to Section 6.4.4

System Set Manager — for details.

60 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

6.1.6. Lists

The information within most categories is presented as lists. These lists have some common features for navigation. For instance, you can navigate through virtually all lists by clicking the back and next arrows above and below the right side of the table. Some lists also offer the ability to retrieve items alphabetically by clicking the letters above the table.

6.2. Logging into the RHN Website

In a Web browser, go to http://rhn.redhat.com. The page shown in Figure 6-1 will be displayed.

Figure 6-1. 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. Refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for step-by-step instructions.

After registering your system with Red Hat Network, go back to http://rhn.redhat.com and complete the username and password ﬁelds with the same information established during registration. Click the

Sign In link near the top to display the ﬁelds, if they are not already visible. Once complete, click the Sign In button.

6.3. Your RHN

After logging into the website of Red Hat Network, the ﬁrst page to appear is Your RHN. This page contains important information about your systems, including summaries of system status, actions, and Errata Alerts.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 61

Tip

If you are new to the RHN website, it is recommended that you read Section 6.1 Navigation to become familiar with the layout and symbols used throughout the website.

Figure 6-2. Your Red Hat Network

The top of the page shows how many systems need attention, provides a link to quickly view those systems, and displays a summary of scheduled actions. Refer to Section 6.4.2 Systems for information on using the Systems pages.

The System Summary section of Your RHN page provides the following information:

• Total Systems — Number of total systems that you have registered for your organization.

• Out of Date Systems — Number of registered systems that have applicable Errata Alerts that have

not been applied.

• Unentitled Systems — Number of systems that are not entitled.

• Ungrouped Systems — Each system may be a member of one or more groups. The number of

ungrouped systems refers to systems that are not yet members of any system group.

• Inactive Systems — Number of systems that have not checked into RHN for 24 hours or more.

Refer to Section 6.4.2.5 Inactive for details.

62 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

The Action Summary section provides the following information about events scheduled in the past week:

• Recently Failed Actions — Number of scheduled actions that did not succeed.

• Pending Actions — Number of scheduled actions that have not yet been completed.

• Recently Completed Actions — Number of scheduled actions that succeeded.

The System Groups section gives you access to the groups of systems you establish. Clicking on the links in this section takes you to the System Group Details pages. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System

Group Details —

for more information.

The Errata section lists all and relevant Errata Alerts. You may toggle between All and Relevant by clicking the View All or View Relevant link at the top of the table. This view is retained until you toggle it by again clicking the link.

Relevant Errata are those derived from software channels to which your systems are subscribed. They refer to versions of packages that are newer than those installed on the systems. To goto a complete list of applicable Errata Alerts for your systems stored in the Errata category, click View All Relevant Errata in the bottom right-hand corner.

You can return to this page by clicking Your RHN on the left navigation bar.

6.3.1. Your Account

The Your Account page allows you to modify your personal information, such as name, password, and title. To modify any of this information, merely make the changes in the appropriate text ﬁelds and click the Update button in the bottom right-hand corner.

Remember, if you change your Red Hat Network password (the one used to log into RHN and redhat.com), you will not see your new one as you type it for security reasons. Also for security, your password is represented by 12 asterisks no matter how many characters it actually contains. Replace the asterisks in the Password and Password Conﬁrmation text ﬁelds with your new password.

6.3.1.1. Addresses

The Addresses page allows you to manage your mailing, billing and shipping addresses, as well as the associated phone numbers. Just click Edit this address below the address to be modiﬁed, make the changes, and click Update Address.

6.3.1.2. Change Email

The email address listed in the Your Account page is the address Red Hat Network sends email notiﬁcations to, if you select to receive Errata Alerts or daily summaries for your systems on the Your Preferences page.

To change your preferred email address, click Change Email in the left navigation bar. You will then be asked for the new email address. Enter it and click the Update button. A conﬁrmation email will be sent to the new email address; responding to the conﬁrmation email will validate the new email address. Note that false email addresses such as those ending in "@localhost" are ﬁltered and rejected.

6.3.1.3. Account Deactivation

The Account Deactivation page provides a means to cancel your Red Hat Network service. It presents steps for manual deactivation or instructions for contacting Customer Service, depending on your level of service. Deactivation of the account should occur within one business week.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 63

6.3.2. 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 summar y of system events. These include actions affecting packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, and system reboots or failures to check in. In addition to selecting this checkbox, you must identify each system to be included in this summary email. (By default, all Management and Provisioning systems are included in the summary.) This can be done either through the System Details page individually or through the System Set Manager interface for multiple systems at once. Note that RHN will send these summaries only to veriﬁed email addresses. To disable all messages, simply deselect this checkbox.

• RHN List Page Size — Maximum number of items that will appear in a list on a single page. If more

items are in the list, clicking the Next button will display the next group of items. This preference applies to system lists, Errata lists, package lists, and so on.

• Time Zone — Set your time zone so that scheduled actions are scheduled according to the time in

your time zone.

• Red Hat Contact Options — Identify what ways (email, phone, fax, or mail) Red Hat may contact

you.

After making changes to any of these options, click the Save Preferences button on the bottom righthand corner.

6.3.3. Purchase History

The Purchase History page displays a list of your RHN purchases, including the dates bought and expired and the number purchased.

6.3.4. Help

The Help pages provide access to the full suite of documentation and support available to RHN users. Click Help in the Your RHN category to see a list of options available to you.

6.3.4.1. Help Desk

The Help Desk page summarizes the help options available within this section. Click either the links within this page or the buttons on the left navigation bar to explore further.

6.3.4.2. 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 troubleshooting.

64 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

6.3.4.3. FAQ

The FAQ page lists Frequently Asked Questions and answers to those questions. These are broken down into the following categories, each represented by a separate button and page: Top Ten, General, Account Management, Getting Started, Service Levels, Using RHN, Technical Questions, Management Service, Privacy/Legal, Policies, Deﬁnitions, and All.

6.3.4.4. Reference Guide

The Reference Guide page takes you to this same document, the most comprehensive set of instructions for using Red Hat Network. Note that links to other technical guides may also appear in the left navigation bar, depending on the entitlement level and product offering of the account with which you logged in.

6.3.4.5. Contact RHN

The Contact RHN page provides methods by which customers may obtain help. Speciﬁcally, logged out users have access to the FAQ, Customer Service email address, and rhn-users mailing list. Logged in Demo customers have access to the above, as well as an online form that can be submitted to rhnfeedback or the Customer Service address. Logged in paid users have access to all of the above. In addition, the online form enables them to submit requests for technical support.

The Customer Service address handles billing and purchasing questions, while the rhn-users list enables customers to help one another. The rhn-feedback address collects customer input and provides an auto response, but nothing more. The technical support form ensures the customer will get a personalized and helpful response in a timely manner.

6.3.4.6. Terms & Conditions

The Terms & Conditions page displays the RHN Network Services Useand Subscription Agreement.

6.3.4.7. Outage Policy

The Outage Policy page identiﬁes scheduled maintenance windows for Red Hat Network and provides the means to subscribe to the Email Outage List (rhn-outage-list@redhat.com) to be notiﬁed of emergency and other unscheduled outages.

6.3.4.8. Release Notes

The Release Notes page lists the notes accompanying every recent release of Red Hat Network. These notes describe all signiﬁcant changes occurring in a given release cycle, from major enhancements to the user interface to minor changes to the related documentation.

6.3.4.9. 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

Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) certiﬁcates if you are using an older version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux that shipped with a certiﬁcate that is now expired.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 65

6.4. Systems

If you click the Systems tab on the top navigation bar, the Systems category and links appear. The pages in the Systems category allow you to select systems so that you can perform actions on them and create System Proﬁles.

6.4.1. Overview —

As shown in Figure 6-3, the Overview page provides a summary of your systems, including their status, number of associated Errata and packages, and entitlement level. Clicking on the name of a system takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

Figure 6-3. Systems Overview

Clicking the View System Groups link at the top of the Overview page takes you to a similar summary of your system groups. It identiﬁes group status and displays the number of systems contained. Clicking on the number of systems takes you to the Systems tab of the System Group Details page, while clicking on the system name takes you to the Details tab. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System Group

Details —

for more information.

66 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

You can also click the Use Group button in the System Groups section of the Overview page to

go directly to the System Set Manager. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — for more information.

6.4.2. Systems

The Systems page displays a list of all your registered systems. The Systems list contains several columns of information for each system:

• Select — Update-entitled systems cannot be selected. To select systems, mark the appropriate

checkboxes and click the Update List button below the column. Selected systems are added to the System Set Manager. After adding systems to the System Set Manager, you can use it to

perform actions on them simultaneously. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — details.

• Status — Shows which type of Errata Alerts are applicable to the system or conﬁrms that it is

up-to-date. Some icons are linked to pages providing resolution. For instance, the standard Updates icon is linked to the Upgrade subtab of the packages list, while the Critical Updates icon goes directly to the Update Conﬁrmation page. Also, the Not Checking In icon is linked to instructions for resolving the issue.

— System is up-to-date

•

• — Critical Errata available, update strongly recommended

• — Updates available and recommended

• — System is locked; Actions prohibited

• — System is being kickstarted

• — Updates have been scheduled

• — System not checking in properly (for 24 hours or more)

• — System not entitled to any update service

for

• Errata — Total number of Errata Alerts applicable to the system.

• Packages — Total number of package updates for the system. Includes packages from Errata Alerts

as well as newer packages that are not from Errata Alerts. For example, if a system is subscribed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 i386 channel that contains version 2.5.4 of a package because that is the version that shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, but the system has version 2.5.2 of the package installed, the newer version of the package will be in the list of updated packages for the system.

Important

If the RHN website identiﬁes package updates for the system, yet the Red Hat Update Agent responds with "Your system is fully updated" when run, a conﬂict likely exists in the system’s package proﬁle or in the up2date conﬁguration ﬁle. To resolve the conﬂict, either schedule a package list update or remove the packages from the Package Exceptions list for the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6 System Details or Section 2.4.1.3 Package Exceptions Settings, respectively, for instructions.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 67

• System — The name of the system as conﬁgured when registering it. The default name is the

hostname of the system. Clicking on the name of a system takes you to the System Details page for the system. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

• Base Channel — The primary channel for the system, based upon its operating system distribution.

Refer to Section 6.6.1 Software Channels for more information.

• Entitlement — Whether or not the system is entitled and at what service level.

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.

6.4.2.1. All

The All page contains the default set of your systems. It displays every system you have permission to manage. A user has permission to manage a system if he is the only user in his organization, if he is an Organization Administrator, or if the system is a member of a group to which he has admin rights.

6.4.2.2. Out of Date

The Out of Date page displays the systems that have applicable Errata Alerts that have not been applied.

6.4.2.3. Unentitled —

The Unentitled page displays the systems that have not yet been entitled for Red Hat Network service.

6.4.2.4. Ungrouped

The Ungrouped page displays the systems that have not yet been assigned to a speciﬁc system group.

6.4.2.5. Inactive

The Inactive page displays the 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. If you are seeing a message indicating checkins are not taking place, the RHN client on your system is not successfully reaching Red Hat Network for some reason. This indicates:

• The system is not entitled to any RHN service. System Proﬁles that remain unentitled for 180 days

(6 months) are removed.

• The system is entitled, but the Red Hat Network Daemon has been disabled on the system. Refer to

Chapter 3 Red Hat Network Daemon for instructions on restarting and troubleshooting.

• The system is behind a ﬁrewall that does not allow connections over https (port 443).

• The system is behind an HTTP proxy server that has not been properly conﬁgured.

• The system is connected to an RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server that has not been properly

conﬁgured.

• The system itself has not been properly conﬁgured, perhaps pointing at the wrong RHN Server.

• The system is not on the network.

• Some other barrier exists between the system and the RHN Servers.

68 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

6.4.2.6. System Details

If you click on the name of a system on any page, it will display the System Details page for the system. From here, you may modify this information or remove the system altogether by clicking the delete system link on the top-right corner.

The System Details page is further divided into tabs:



6.4.2.6.1. System Details

Details

Displays information about the system. This is the ﬁrst tab you see when you click on a system. It offers direct access to some of the functionality provided in subsequent tabs. For instance, under the System Info heading, a message should appear describing the status of this machine. If it states "Critical updates available" you may click the update now link to apply all relevant Errata Updates to the individual system, as you would under the Errata tab.

— In addition, some Management-level functions can be accessed only on this tab. Most importantly, a system may be locked by clicking the Lock system link near the bottom-left corner of the page. This prohibits the scheduling of any action through RHN that would affect the system, including package updates and system reboots. To undo this, click the Unlock system link in the same location.

— Finally, still other Provisioning-level features can be found here, as well. The most important of these is the marker indicating the client system can have actions pushed to it. This feature requires it be connected to an RHN Satellite Server that has this feature enabled and is identiﬁed by the OSA Status section within the System Details page.

Push enables Satellite customers to immediately initiate tasks on Provisioning-entitled systems, rather than wait for those systems to check in with RHN. Scheduling actions through push is identical to the process of scheduling any other action except the task will begin immediately instead of waiting the set interval.

In addition to the conﬁguration of the Satellite, each client system to receive pushed actions must have the osad package installed and its service started. Refer to the Enabling Push to Clients section of the RHN Satellite Server Installation Guide for details.

The Details tab contains the following subsets of information:

6.4.2.6.1.1. System Details



DetailsOverview

A summary of the system’s details. In addition to the system status message, the Overview subtab contains basic System Info, Subscribed Channels, and System Properties. Clicking the Alter Channel Subscriptions link takes you to the Channels tab, while clicking the Edit these properties link takes you to the Properties subtab. See the following sections for more information.

6.4.2.6.1.2. System Details

DetailsProperties



The proﬁle name, entitlement level, notiﬁcation choice, daily summary, auto-Errata update, and physical location of the system, including street address, city, state, country, building, room, and rack. To modify this information, make your changes and click the Update Properties button. Note that many of these properties can be set for multiple systems at once through the System Set Manager inter-

face. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager —

for details. The following properties deserve

additional explanation:

• Receive Notiﬁcations of Updates/Errata — This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories per-

taining to the system. Anytime an update is produced and released for the system, a notiﬁcation is sent via email.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 69

• 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. In addition to including the system here, you must choose to receive email notiﬁcations in the Your Preferences page of the Your RHN category. Refer to Section 6.3.2 Your Preferences for instructions. Note that RHN will send these summaries only to veriﬁed email addresses.

• Automatic application of relevant errata — This setting allows you have all Errata Updates auto-

matically applied to a system. This means packages associated with Errata will be updated without any user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the auto-update feature for production systems because conﬂicts between packages and environments can cause system failures. The Red Hat Network Daemon must be enabled on the systems for this feature to work.

6.4.2.6.1.3. System Details



DetailsHardware

Detailed information about the system, including networking, BIOS, storage, and other devices. This appears only if you selected to include the hardware proﬁle for this machine during registration. If the hardware proﬁle looks incomplete or outdated, click the Schedule Hardware Refresh button to schedule a 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.

6.4.2.6.1.4. System Details



DetailsNotes

A place to create notes about the system. To add a new note, click the create new note button, type a subject and details, and click the Create button. To modify a note, click on its subject in the list of notes, make your changes, and click the Update button. To remove a note, click on its subject in the list of notes and then click the delete note button.

6.4.2.6.1.5. System Details

DetailsCustom Info —



Completely customizable information about the system. Unlike a note, information included here is more formal and can be searched upon. For instance, you may decide to identify an asset tag for each system. To do this, you must ﬁrst create an asset key within the Custom System Info page. Refer

to Section 6.4.9 Custom System Info — for instructions. Once the key exists, you may assign a value to it by clicking create new value here. Click the name of the key in the resulting list and enter a value for it in the Description ﬁeld, such as "Example#456." Then click the Update Key button.

6.4.2.6.1.6. System DetailsDetailsReactivation —

A System Proﬁle-speciﬁc activation key. This allows you to create an activation key encompassing this system’s ID, history, groups, and channels. You may then use this key only once with the rhnreg_ks command line utility to re-register this system and regain all Red Hat Network settings. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions. Unlike typical activation keys, which are not associated with a speciﬁc system ID, keys created here do not show up within the Activation Keys page.

Warning

When kickstarting a system with its existing RHN proﬁle, it will use the system-speciﬁc activation key created here to reregister the system and return its other RHN settings. For this reason, you should

70 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

not regenerate, delete, or use this key (with rhnreg_ks) while a proﬁle-based kickstart is in progress. If you do, the kickstart will fail.



6.4.2.6.1.7. System Details

DetailsRemote Command —

The method for running a remote command on the system. To allow remote commands to be run on the client through RHN, ﬁrst install the latest rhncfg* packages available within the RHN Provisioning child channel for the system. These may already be installed if you kickstarted the system with conﬁguration management functionality.

Next, create the necessary directory on the target system:

mkdir -p /etc/sysconfig/rhn/allowed-actions/sc ript

Then create a run ﬁle in that directory to act as a ﬂag to RHN signaling permission to allow remote commands:

touch /etc/sysconfig/rhn/allowed-actions/script/run

You may then identify a speciﬁc user, group, and timeout period, as well as the script itself on this page. Select a date and time to begin attempting the command, and click Schedule Remote Com- mand.

6.4.2.6.1.8. System Details



DetailsConnection

The system’s path to the package repository. This tab appears for any system in an organization that has a registered RHN Proxy Server version 3.1 or later. This subtab is designed to help you determine if updates and other information are passing through one or more RHN Proxy Servers. It identiﬁes the Proxies being used and the order in which data passes through them to reach this system. The Proxy connecting directly to the central RHN Servers or your RHN Satellite Server is numbered ’1’.

6.4.2.6.2. System DetailsErrata

Contains a list of Errata Alerts applicable to the system. Refer to Section 6.1.3 Errata Alert Icons for meanings of the icons on this tab. To apply updates, select them and click the Apply Errata button. Double-check the updates to be applied on the conﬁrmation 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. Possible values are: None, Pending, Picked Up, Completed, and Failed. This column identiﬁes only the latest action related to an Errata. For instance, if an action fails and you reschedule it, this column will show the status of the Errata as Pending only (with no mention of the previous failure). Clicking a status other than None takes you to the Action Details page. This column corresponds to one on the Affected Systems tab of the Errata Details page.



6.4.2.6.3. System Details

Packages

Manages the packages on the system.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 71

— When selecting packages to install, upgrade, or remove, Provisioning customers have the

option of running a remote command automatically before or after the package installation. Refer to

Section 6.4.2.6.1.7 System Details



DetailsRemote Command — for more information.

6.4.2.6.3.1. System DetailsPackagesPackages

The default display of the Packages tab describes the options available to you and provides the means to update your package list. If after exploring the packages, you believe the list is outdated or incomplete (or you installed the packages manually and did not have RHN install them), click the Update Package List button on the bottom right-hand corner of this page. The next time the RHN Daemon connects to RHN, it will update your System Proﬁle with the latest list of installed packages.

6.4.2.6.3.2. System Details

PackagesList/Remove



Lists installed packages from the system’s software System Proﬁle and enables you to remove them. Click on a package name to view its Package Details page. (Refer to Section 6.6.5.3 Package Details.) To delete packages from the system, select their checkboxes and click the Remove Packages button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. A conﬁrmation page will appear with the packages listed. Click the Conﬁrm button to remove the packages.

6.4.2.6.3.3. System DetailsPackagesUpgrade

Displays a list of packages that have a new version available based on the package versions in the channels for the system. Click on the latest package name to view its Package Details page. To upgrade packages immediately, select them and click the Upgrade Packages button. To download the packages as a .tar ﬁle, select them and click the Download Packages button. Refer to Section

6.6.5.2 Package Download for details.

6.4.2.6.3.4. System Details

PackagesInstall



Enables you to install new packages on the system from the available channels. Click on the package name to view its Package Details page. To install packages, select them and click the Install Selected Packages button.

6.4.2.6.3.5. System DetailsPackagesVerify —

Validates the packages installed on the system against its RPM database. This is the equivalent of running rpm -V. Speciﬁcally, this tab allows you to compare the metadata of the system’s packages with information from the database, such as MD5 sum, ﬁlesize, permissions, owner, group and ﬁle size and type. To verify a package or packages, select them and click the Verify Selected Packages button and then conﬁrm this action. Once ﬁnished, you can view the results by selecting this action within the History subtab under Events.

6.4.2.6.3.6. System Details

PackagesProﬁles —



Gives you the ability to compare the packages on this system with the packages of stored proﬁles and other Management and Provisioning systems. To make the comparison with a stored proﬁle, select that proﬁle from the pulldown menu and click the Compare button. To make the comparison with another system, select it from the associated pulldown menu and click the Compare button. To create a stored proﬁle based upon the existing system, click the Create System Proﬁle button, enter any

72 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

additional information you desire, and click the Create Proﬁle button. These proﬁles are kept within the Stored Proﬁles page linked from the left navigation bar.

— Once package proﬁles have been compared, Provisioning customers have the ability to synchronize the packages of the selected system with the package manifest of the compared proﬁle. Note that this action may delete packages on the system not in the proﬁle, as well as install packages from the proﬁle. To install speciﬁc packages, select the checkboxes of packages from the proﬁle. 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. Then click the Sync Packages to button. On the conﬁrmation screen, review the changes, select a time frame for the action, and click the Schedule Sync button.

6.4.2.6.4. System DetailsChannels

Manage the channels associated with the system.

6.4.2.6.4.1. System DetailsChannelsSoftware

Software channels provide a well-deﬁned method to determine which packages should be available to a system for installation or upgrade, based upon its operating systems, packages and, functionality. Click a channel name to view its Channel Details page. To modify the child channels associated with this system, use the checkboxes next to the channels and click the Change Subscriptions button. You will receive a success message or be notiﬁed of any errors. To change the system’s base channel, select the new one from the pulldown menu and click the Modify Base Channel button. Refer to Section

6.6.1 Software Channels for more information.



6.4.2.6.4.2. System Details

ChannelsConﬁguration —

Assists in managing the conﬁguration of the system. This section is available to normal users with access to systems that have conﬁguration management enabled. Like software channels, conﬁguration channels store ﬁles to be installed on systems. While software updates are provided by RHN, conﬁguration ﬁles are managed solely by you. Also unlike software packages, various versions of conﬁguration ﬁles may prove useful to a system at any given time. Remember, only the latest version can be deployed. If you want to distribute an older version through RHN, make it the latest version ﬁrst.

To manage the conﬁguration of a system, it must have the latest rhncfg* packages installed and the configfiles/ directory and associated ﬁles created on it. Refer to Section 6.6.6.1 Preparing Systems for Conﬁg Management for instructions. Command line tools also exist for many of these functions. Refer to Appendix A Command Line Conﬁg Management Tools for instructions.

Here are the options available within the system’s Conﬁguration tab, each of which results in a separate subtab:

• Managed Files — List all conﬁguration ﬁles currently associated with the system. The Overrides

column identiﬁes which conﬁg ﬁle from which channel will apply if the system is unsubscribed from the conﬁg channel that provides the ﬁle now. For instance, if a system has ’/etc/foo’ from channel ’bar’ and ’/etc/foo’ from channel ’baz’ is in the Overrides column, then unsubscribing from channel ’bar’ will mean that the ﬁle from channel ’baz’ will be applicable. Also, if nothing is in the ’Overrides’ column for a given ﬁle path, then unsubscribing from the channel providing the ﬁle will mean that the ﬁle is no longer managed (though it will (not remove the ﬁle from the system).

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 73

• Diff — Validate the conﬁguration ﬁles installed on the system by comparing them to versions stored

in RHN’s central conﬁguration manager. Select the ﬁles to be diffed and click Analyze Differences.

• Conﬁg Channels — Set the subscription and rank of conﬁguration channels that may be associated

with the system, lowest ﬁrst. Enter numbers in the Rank ﬁelds to establish the order in which channels are used. Channels with no numeric value are not associated with the system. This system’s local conﬁguration channel will always override all other channels for this system and therefore cannot have its rank adjusted from 1. All other channels are created in the Manage Conﬁg Chan- nels interface within the Channels category. Refer to Section 6.6.6 Manage Conﬁg Channels —

for instructions. When satisﬁed, click Update.

• Local Overrides — View and manage the default conﬁguration ﬁles for the system. If no ﬁles exist,

you may use the add ﬁles, upload ﬁles, and add directories links within the page description to associate ﬁles with this system. These tabs correspond to those within the Conﬁguration Channel Details page, affecting your entire organization and available only to Conﬁguration Administrators.

Refer to Section 6.6.6.5 Conﬁguration Channel Details —

for instructions.

If a ﬁle exists, click its name to go to the Conﬁguration File Details page. Refer to Section 6.6.6.6

Conﬁguration File Details — for instructions. To replicate the ﬁle within a conﬁg channel, select its checkbox, click the Copy to Conﬁg Channel button, and select the destination channel. To remove a ﬁle, select it and click Delete Selected Files.

• Sandbox — Manipulate conﬁguration ﬁles without deploying them. This sandbox provides you

with an area to experiment with ﬁles without affecting systems. To add ﬁles, click the import new ﬁles link, select an option for their addition from the dropdown menu, and click Go. Ensure you have the latest rhncfg* packages. The rest of the functions work like those on the Local Overrides subtab.

6.4.2.6.5. System DetailsGroups —

Lists the system’s associated groups and enables you to change these associations.

6.4.2.6.5.1. System DetailsGroupsList/Remove —

Lists groups to which the system belongs and enables you to cancel those associations. Only System Group Administrators and Organization Administrators can remove the system from groups. Nonadmins just see a ’Review this system’s group membership’ page. To remove the system from groups, select the groups’ checkboxes and click the Leave Selected Groups button. Click on a group’s name

to go to its System Group Details page. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System Group Details —

for

more information.

6.4.2.6.5.2. System Details

GroupsJoin —



Lists groups that the system may be subscribed to. Only System Group Administrators and Organization Administrators can add the system to groups. Non-admins just see a ’Review this system’s group membership’ page. To add the system to groups, select the groups’ checkboxes and click the Join

Selected Groups button.

74 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website



6.4.2.6.6. System Details

Snapshots —

Provides snapshots enabling rollback of the system’s package proﬁle, conﬁguration ﬁles, and RHN settings. These snapshots are captured whenever an action takes place on the system.

6.4.2.6.6.1. System Details

SnapshotsSnapshots —



The default display of the Snapshots tab lists the reason, dates, and times for snapshots taken, as well as any tags associated with the snapshots. To revert to a previous conﬁguration, click the Reason of the snapshot taken at the desired date and time and review the potential changes on the provided subtabs, starting with Rollback.

You may add a tag to an existing snapshot on the System Details



SnapshotsSnapshots



Snapshot Tags subtab by clicking the create new snapshot tag link, providing a descriptive term, and clicking Tag This Snapshot button. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6.6.2 System Details



Snapshots



Snapshot Tags — for more information. When satisﬁed with the reversion, return to the Rollback subtab and click the Rollback to Snapshot button. To see the list again, click Return to snapshot list.

6.4.2.6.6.2. System DetailsSnapshotsSnapshot Tags —

Provides a means to add meaningful descriptions to your most recent system snapshot. This can be used to indicate milestones, such as a known working conﬁguration or a successful upgrade. To tag the most recent snapshot, click create new system tag, enter a descriptive term in the Tag name ﬁeld, and click the Tag Current Snapshot button. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6.6.1 System Details

Snapshots — to tag older snapshots. You may then revert using this tag directly by clicking



Snapshots

its name in the Snapshot Tags list. To delete tags, select their checkboxes, click Remove Tags, and conﬁrm the action.

6.4.2.6.7. System DetailsKickstart —

Enables the re-installation of the system based upon selectable parameters, including speciﬁc Red Hat distribution. These kickstarts are based upon proﬁles developed within the Kickstart interface. Refer

to Section 6.4.10 Kickstart —

for details.

6.4.2.6.7.1. System DetailsKickstartSchedule —

The default display of the Kickstart tab, this subtab allows the kickstarting of the selected system. To schedule a kickstart, select a distribution, identify the type (IP address or manual selection of kickstart proﬁle), and click Continue. Note that IP address kickstarts require ranges to be deﬁned in kickstart proﬁles.

On the next page, ﬁnish choosing from the options available. Using the existing RHN proﬁle will rely upon the system-speciﬁc activation key created within the Reactivation tab to reregister the system. Do not regenerate, delete, or use this key while a proﬁle-based kickstart is in progress. Selecting the Deploy Conﬁguration checkbox will re-install conﬁguration ﬁles from any conﬁg channels associated with the system. When ﬁnished, click the Schedule Kickstart button.

Caution

It is imperative the kickstart proﬁle selected match the installation ﬁles supplied. For instance, it is possible a given IP address could be associated with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 kickstart proﬁle,

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 75

but you insert an IP address kickstart CD-ROM built for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. This would result in errors and cause the kickstart to fail.



6.4.2.6.7.2. System Details

KickstartSession Status —

If you’ve scheduled a kickstart, this subtab shows where the system’s kickstart stands. Details include the kickstart proﬁle used, its state, and pending and latest actions. Kickstarts that do not complete within approximately two hours will be marked as failed here. Click the proﬁle name to access the Kickstart Details page. Click the view link to see the actual kickstart conﬁguration ﬁle generated by RHN. To force this page to reload at a set interval, select one from the pulldown menu and click the Change Reload Time button.

6.4.2.6.7.3. System Details

KickstartSession History —



Displays particular points in a kickstart session’s progress. Like Session Status, this subtab appears only if you’ve scheduled a kickstart. It lists individual actions, such as package installs, as they occur. Click the name of an action to see information about it, including summary, details, and time. Failed kickstarts are shown here, as well. To force this page to reload at a set interval, select one from the pulldown menu and click the Change Reload Time button.

6.4.2.6.8. System DetailsEvents

Displays past, current, and scheduled actions on the system. You may cancel pending events here. The following sections describe the Events subtabs and the features they offer.

6.4.2.6.8.1. System Details



EventsHistory

The default display of the Events tab lists the type and status of events that have failed, occurred or are occurring. To view details of an event, click its summary in the System History list. To again view the table, click Return to history list at the bottom of the page.

6.4.2.6.8.2. System DetailsEventsPending

Lists events that are scheduled but have not begun. A prerequisite action is required to complete successfully before a given action will be attempted. If an action has a prerequisite, there will not be a checkbox available to cancel that speciﬁc action. Instead, there will be a checkbox next to the prerequisite action; Cancelling the prerequisite action will cause the action in question to fail.

Actions can be chained in this manner so that action ’a’ requires action ’b’ which requires action ’c’. Action ’c’ will be the ﬁrst one attempted, and will be the one with the checkbox next to it until it is completed successfully - if any action in the chain fails, the remaining actions also fail. To unschedule a pending event, select the event and click the Cancel Events button at the bottom of the page. The following icons indicate the type of events listed here:

•

— Package Event

• — Errata Event

• — Preferences Event

76 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

— System Event

•

6.4.2.6.9. System DetailsProbes —

Displays all of the probes monitoring the system. You must be logged into an RHN Satellite Server with Monitoring enabled to see this tab. The State column shows icons representing the status of

each probe. Refer to Section 6.9 Monitoring —

for descriptions of these states. The Status String column displays the last message received from the probe. Clicking the probe description takes you to its Current State page.

To add a probe to the system, click the create new probe link at the top-right corner of the page and complete the ﬁelds on the following page. Refer to Section 7.3.1 Creating Notiﬁcation Methods for detailed instructions.

Once the probe has been added, you must reconﬁgure your Monitoring infrastructure to recognize it.

Refer to Section 6.9.3 Scout Conﬁg Push —

for details. After the probe has run, its results become

available on the Current State page. Refer to Section 6.9.1.7 Current State — for details.

6.4.3. System Groups —

The System Groups page allows all RHN Management and Provisioning users to view the System Groups list. Only System Group Administrators and Organization Administrators may perform the

following additional tasks:

1. Create system groups. (Refer to Section 6.4.3.1 Creating Groups.)

2. Add systems to system groups. (Refer to Section 6.4.3.2 Adding and Removing Systems in Groups.)

3. Remove systems from system groups. (Refer to Section 6.4.2.6 System Details.)

4. Assign system group permissions to users. (Refer to Section 6.8 Users —

As shown in Figure 6-4, the System Groups list displays all of your system groups.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 77

Figure 6-4. System Group List

The System Groups list contains several columns for each group:

• Select — These checkboxes enable you to add systems in groups to the System Set Manager. To

select groups, mark the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button below the column. All systems in the selected groups are added to the System Set Manager. You can then use the System Set Manager to perform actions on them simultaneously. To add only the systems in all selected groups, select them and click the Work with Intersection button. To add all systems in all selected groups, select them and click the Work with Union button. Each system will show up once, regardless of the number of groups to which it belongs. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set

Manager — for details.

• Status — Shows which type of Errata Alerts are applicable to the group or conﬁrms that it is up-

to-date. Clicking on a group’s status icon takes you to the Errata tab of its System Group Details

page. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System Group Details —

for more information.

The status icons call for differing degrees of attention:

• — All systems within group are up-to-date

• — Critical Errata available, update strongly recommended

• — Updates available and recommended

• 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. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System Group

Details —

for more information.

78 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

• Systems — Total number of systems contained by the group. Clicking on the number takes you to

the Systems tab of the System Group Details page for the group. Refer to Section 6.4.3.3 System

Group Details —

• Use in SSM — Clicking the Use Group button in this column loads the group from that row and

for more information.

launches the System Set Manager immediately. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — for more information.

6.4.3.1. Creating Groups

To add a new system group, click the create new group button at the top-right corner of the page. Type a name and description and click the Create Group button. Make sure you use a name that clearly sets this group apart from others. The new group will appear in the System Groups list.

6.4.3.2. Adding and Removing Systems in Groups

Systems can be added and removed from system groups in two places: the Target Systems tab of the System Group Details page and the Groups tab of the System Details page. The process is similar in both instances. Select the systems to be added or removed and click the Add Systems or Remove Systems button.

6.4.3.3. System Group Details —

At the top of each System Group Details page are two links: work with group and delete group. Clicking delete group does just that and should be used with caution. Clicking Work with Group functions similarly to the Use Group button from the System Groups list in that it loads the group’s systems and launches the System Set Manager immediately. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Man-

ager —

for more information.

The System Group Details page is broken down into tabs:

6.4.3.3.1. System Group DetailsDetails —

Basic information about the system group: the group name and group description. To change this information, click Edit Group Properties, make your changes in the appropriate ﬁelds, and click the Modify Details button.

6.4.3.3.2. System Group DetailsSystems —

List of systems that are members of the system group. Clicking links within the table takes you to corresponding tabs within the System Details page for the associated system. To remove systems from the group, select the appropriate checkboxes and click the Remove from group button on the bottom of the page. Clicking it does not delete systems from RHN entirely. This is done through the

System Set Manager or System Details pages. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — Section 6.4.2.6 System Details, respectively.

6.4.3.3.3. System Group Details



Target Systems —

Target Systems — List of all systems in your organization. This tab enables you to add systems to the speciﬁed system group. Merely select the systems using the checkboxes to the left and click the Add Systems button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 79



6.4.3.3.4. System Group Details

Errata —

List of relevant Errata for systems in the system group. Clicking the Advisory takes you to the Details tab of the Errata Details page. (Refer to Section 6.5.2.2 Errata Details for more 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.

6.4.3.3.5. System Group Details

Admins —



List of all organization users that potentially have permission to manage the system group. Organization Administrators are clearly identiﬁed. System Group Administrators are marked with an asterisk (*). To change the system group’s users, select and unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button.

6.4.4. System Set Manager —

The System Set Manager allows you to perform many actions possible individually through the System Details page on multiple systems at once, including:

• Apply Errata updates

• Upgrade packages to the most recent versions available

• Add/remove systems to/from system groups

• Subscribe/unsubscribe systems to/from channels

• Update system proﬁles

• Modify system preferences such as scheduled download and installation of packages

• Kickstart several Provisioning-entitled systems at once

• Set the subscription and rank of conﬁguration channels for Provisioning-entitled systems

• Tag the most recent snapshots of your selected Provisioning-entitled systems

• Revert Provisioning-entitled systems to previous snapshots

• Run remote commands on Provisioning-entitled systems

Before performing actions on multiple systems, you must select the systems you wish to modify. Note that Update-level systems cannot be selected. Pages including Systems list and System Search have a column of checkboxes under the Select heading. Mark the checkboxes beside the systems you want to select, and click the Update List button below the column to add them to the System Set Manager.

You can access the System Set Manager page in three ways: 1)The System Set Manager button in the left navigation bar. 2)The Use Group button in the System Groups list (or Work with Group on the System Group Details page to work). 3)The Manage button just below the top navigation bar. The System Set Manager page is broken down into tabs:

6.4.4.1. System Set Manager



Overview —

Description of the various options available to you in the remaining tabs.

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

6.4.4.2. System Set Manager

Systems —

List of systems now selected. To remove systems from this set, select them and click the Remove button.

6.4.4.3. System Set Manager

Errata —



List of Errata Updates applicable to the current system set. Click the number in the Systems column to see to which systems in the System Set Manager the given Errata applies to. To apply updates, select the Errata and click the Apply Errata button.

6.4.4.4. System Set Manager

Packages —



Options to modify packages on the system within the following subtabs (Click the number in the Systems column to see to which systems in the System Set Manager the given package applies to.):

— When selecting packages to install, upgrade, or remove, Provisioning customers have the

option of running a remote command automatically before or after the package installation. Refer to

Section 6.4.2.6.1.7 System Details



DetailsRemote Command — for more information.

6.4.4.4.1. System Set ManagerPackagesInstall —

A list of channels from which you may retrieve packages. The list of channels is the list of all the channels that systems in the set are subscribed to; a package will be installed on a system only if the system is subscribed to the channel from which the package comes. Click on the channel name and select the packages from the list. Then click the Install Packages button.

6.4.4.4.2. System Set ManagerPackagesUpgrade —

A list of all the packages installed on the selected systems that might be upgraded. Systems must be subscribed to a channel providing the package for the system to be able to upgrade the package. If multiple versions of a package appear, note that only the latest version available to each system will be upgraded on that system. Select the packages to be upgraded, then click the Upgrade Packages button.

6.4.4.4.3. System Set ManagerPackagesRemove —

A list of all the packages installed on the selected systems that might be removed. Multiple versions will appear if systems in the System Set Manager have more than one version installed. Select the packages to be deleted, then click the Remove Packages button.

6.4.4.5. System Set ManagerGroups —

Tools to create groups and manage group membership. These functions are limited to Organization Administrators and System Group Administrators. To add a new group, click create new group on the top-right corner. In the resulting page, type its name and description in the identiﬁed ﬁelds and click the Create Group button. To add or remove the selected systems in any of the system groups, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Membership button.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 81



6.4.4.6. System Set Manager

Channels —

Options to manage channel associations through the following subtabs:

6.4.4.6.1. System Set Manager



ChannelsChannel Subscriptions —

To subscribe or unsubscribe the selected systems in any of the channels, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Subscriptions button. Keep in mind, subscribing to channels uses up channel entitlements, and if not enough channel entitlements are available, not all systems will get an entitlement. Similarly, systems will be subscribed to a child channel only if they are subscribed to the base channel that is the parent of the child channel in question.

6.4.4.6.2. System Set Manager



ChannelsConﬁg Channels —

Like the options within the System DetailsChannelsConﬁguration tab, the subtabs here can be used to subscribe the selected systems to conﬁguration channels and deploy and compare the conﬁguration ﬁles on the systems. The channels are created in the Manage Conﬁg Channels

interface within the Channels category. Refer to Section 6.6.6 Manage Conﬁg Channels — for channel creation instructions.



6.4.4.6.2.1. System Set Manager

ChannelsConﬁg ChannelsSubscriptions —

On this subtab, available only to Conﬁguration Administrators and Organization Administrators, enter numbers in the Rank column to establish the order in which channels are used, lowest ﬁrst. Channels not assigned a numeric value will not be associated with the systems. Your local conﬁguration channel will always override all other channels. Once you’ve established the rank of the conﬁg channels, you must decide how they should be applied to the selected systems.

The three buttons below the channels reﬂect your options. Clicking Add with Highest Rank places all the ranked channels before any channels already subscribed to by the systems. Clicking Add with

Lowest Rank places the ranked channels after channels subscribed to by the systems. Clicking Replace Existing Conﬁg Channels removes any existing association and starts cleanly with the ranked

channels, leaving every system with the same conﬁg channels in the same order.

In the ﬁrst two cases, if any of the newly ranked conﬁg channels is already in a system’s existing conﬁg channel list, the duplicate channel is removed and re-added according to the new rank, effectively reordering the system’s existing channels. When such conﬂicts exist, you’re presented with a conﬁrmation page to ensure the intended action is correct. When the change has taken place, a message appears at the top of the page indicating the update was successful.

6.4.4.6.2.2. System Set Manager

ChannelsConﬁg ChannelsDeploy —



Use this subtab to distribute conﬁguration ﬁles from your central repository on RHN to the selected systems at once. The table lists the conﬁguration ﬁles associated with any of the selected systems. Clicking its system count displays the systems already subscribed to the ﬁle.

To subscribe the selected systems to the available conﬁguration ﬁles, select the checkbox for each desired ﬁle. When done, click Deploy Conﬁguration and schedule the action. Note that the ﬁles deployed are of the latest version at the time of scheduling and do not account for versions that may appear before the action takes place.

82 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website



6.4.4.6.2.3. System Set Manager

ChannelsConﬁg ChannelsDiff —

Use this subtab to validate conﬁguration ﬁles on the selected systems against copies in your central repository on RHN. The table lists the conﬁguration ﬁles associated with any of the selected systems. Clicking its system count displays the systems already subscribed to the ﬁle.

To compare the conﬁguration ﬁles deployed on the systems with those in RHN, select the checkbox for each ﬁle to be validated. Then click Analyze Differences and schedule the action. Note that the ﬁles compared are of the latest version at the time of scheduling and do not account for versions that may appear before the action takes place. Then ﬁnd the results within the main Schedule category or within the System Details

Events tab.



6.4.4.6.3. System Set Manager



ChannelsBase Channel Alteration —

Channel Administrators may use this subtab to change the base channels the selected systems are subscribed to. The default Red Hat base channel selection in the pulldown menu will subscribe the system to whichever Red Hat-provided base channel representing the operating system installed on the system. Systems will be unsubscribed from all channels and subscribed to the new base channels. For this reason, this should be done with caution. Select the new base channel from the pulldown menus and click the Change Base Channels button.

6.4.4.7. System Set Manager

Provisioning —



Provisioning — Options for provisioning systems through the following subtabs:

6.4.4.7.1. System Set ManagerProvisioningKickstart —

Use this subtab to re-install the selected Provisioning-entitled systems. To schedule a kickstart, select a distribution, identify the type (IP address or manual), and click Continue. Then ﬁnish choosing from the options available on the subsequent screen and click the Schedule Kickstart button.

6.4.4.7.2. System Set ManagerProvisioningTag Systems —

Use this subtab to to add meaningful descriptions to the most recent snapshots of your selected systems. To tag the most recent system snapshots, enter a descriptive term in the Tag name ﬁeld, and click the Tag Current Snapshots button.

6.4.4.7.3. System Set ManagerProvisioningRollback —

Use this subtab to rollback selected Provisioning-entitled systems to previous snapshots marked with a tag. Click the name of the tag, verify the systems to be reverted, and click the Rollback Systems button.

6.4.4.7.4. System Set Manager



ProvisioningRemote Command —

Use this subtab to issue remote commands on selected Provisioning-entitled systems. You must have created a run ﬁle on the client systems for this function to be allowed. Refer to the description of the Conﬁguration subtab of the Channels tab for instructions. You may then identify a speciﬁc user,

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 83

group, and timeout period, as well as the script itself on this page. Select a date and time to begin attempting the command, and click Schedule Remote Command.



6.4.4.8. System Set Manager

Misc —

Misc — Tools to update System Proﬁles and preferences for the system set. Here are the tools broken down by section:

6.4.4.8.1. System Set Manager



MiscSystem Proﬁle Updates —

Clicking Update Hardware Proﬁle, then the Conﬁrm Refresh button schedules a hardware proﬁle update. Clicking Update Package Proﬁle, then the Conﬁrm Refresh button schedules a package proﬁle update.

6.4.4.8.2. System Set Manager



MiscCustom System Information —

Clicking Set a custom value then the name of a key allows you to provide values for all selected systems. Enter the information and click the Set Values 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.

6.4.4.8.3. System Set Manager



MiscReboot Systems —

Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Reboot Systems link sets those systems for reboot. To immediately cancel this action, click the list of systems link that appears within the conﬁrmation message at the top of the page, select the systems, and click Unschedule Action.

6.4.4.8.4. System Set ManagerMiscLock Systems —

Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Lock Systems link prevents the scheduling of any action through RHN that would affect the systems. This can be reversed by clicking the Unlock Systems link.

6.4.4.8.5. System Set Manager

MiscDelete Systems —



Clicking Delete System Proﬁles, then the Conﬁrm Deletions button removes the selected proﬁles permanently.

6.4.4.8.6. System Set Manager

MiscUpgrade System Entitlements —



Clicking Upgrade to * Entitlement upgrades the entitlement for as many selected systems as possible. Keep in mind, entitlements cannot be downgraded.

84 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website



6.4.4.8.7. System Set Manager

MiscSystem Preferences —

Toggling the Yes and No radio buttons and then clicking the Change Preferences button alters your notiﬁcation preferences for the selected systems. All of these preferences may also be applied to systems individually through the Properties subtab of the System Details page. Refer to Section

6.4.2.6.1.2 System Details

• Receive Notiﬁcations of Updates/Errata — This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories per-



DetailsProperties for instructions.

taining to your systems. Anytime an update is produced and released for a system under your supervision, a notiﬁcation is sent via email.

• Include system in Daily Summary — This setting includes the selected systems in a daily sum-

mary 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. In addition to including the systems here, you must choose to receive email notiﬁcations in the Your Preferences page of the Your RHN category. Refer to Section 6.3.2 Your Preferences for instructions. Note that RHN will send these summaries only to veriﬁed email addresses.

• Automatic application of relevant Errata — This setting allows you have all Errata Updates au-

tomatically applied to systems. This means packages associated with Errata will be updated without any user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the autoupdate feature for production systems because conﬂicts between packages and environments can cause system failures.

6.4.5. System Entitlements

To use all of the features of RHN, your systems must be entitled — subscribed to an RHN service level. Use the System Entitlements page to conﬁgure which systems are entitled to which service offerings. There are three primary types of entitlements:

• Update — should be used to manage a single Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. It includes Errata

Alerts, Scheduled Errata Updates, Package Installation, and the Red Hat Update Agent.

• Management — should be used to manage multiple systems with multiple system administrators.

In addition to the features of the Update offering, it includes system group management, user management, and the System Set Manager interface to quickly perform actions on multiple systems.

• Provisioning — offers the highest level of functionality. It should be used to provision multiple sys-

tems that will need to be re-installed and reconﬁgured regularly. The Provisioning offering provides 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. Only increases in entitlement levels are allowed. Systems cannot be re-entitled to a lower entitlement level. For instance, a system entitled to the Update service level can be promoted to the Management level, but this action cannot be reversed.

To change an individual entitlement, select the entitlement from the system’s pulldown menu and click the Update Entitlements button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click the name of a system to see details about it. If no drop-down menu exists for your Update-level system, you may need to purchase a Management entitlement. Do this through the Buy Now link at the left of the page.

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 85

Warning

In addition, you may entitle all newly registered systems to the Management service level at once by clicking the Auto-Entitle Newest Servers Now link at the bottom of the page. To use this link, which appears only when new, unentitled systems exist, ﬁrst make sure you have enough Management entitlements available. If you need to purchase additional entitlements, click the Buy more system

entitlements now link at the top of the page. After auto-entitling, a message appears at the top of the System Entitlements page indicating the number of systems successfully entitled to the Management

service level.

When an entitlement expires, the last system entitled to the same service level (such as Management) will be unentitled. For instance, if you have 10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS systems entitled to Management and either one of the RHN entitlements or one of the operating system subscriptions expire, the last system subscribed or entitled will have their subscription or entitlement removed.

6.4.6. Advanced Search —

The System Search page allows you to search through your systems according to speciﬁc criteria. These criteria include custom system information, system details, hardware, devices, interface, networking, packages, and location. The activity selections (Days Since Last Checkin, for instance) can be especially useful in ﬁnding and removing outdated System Proﬁles. Type the keyword, select the criterion to search by, use the radio buttons to identify whether you wish to query all systems or only those loaded in the System Set Manager, and click the Search button. Yo may also select the Invert Result checkbox to list those systems that do not match the criteria selected.

The results appear at the bottom of the page. For details about using the resulting system list, refer to Section 6.4.2 Systems.

6.4.7. Activation Keys —

RHN Management and Provisioning customers with the Activation Key Administrator role (including Organization Administrators) can generate activation keys through the RHN website. These keys can then be used to register a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, entitle the system to an RHN service level and subscribe the system to speciﬁc channels and system groups through the command line utility

rhnreg_ks. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions on use.

Note

System-speciﬁc activation keys created through the Reactivation subtab of the System Details page do not show up in this list because they are not reusable across systems.

6.4.7.1. Managing Activation Keys

To generate an activation key:

1. Select Systems => Activation Keys from the top and left navigation bars.

86 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

2. Click the create new key link at the top-left corner.

Warning

In addition to the ﬁelds listed below, RHN Satellite Ser ver customers may also populate the Key ﬁeld itself. This user-deﬁned string of characters can then be supplied with rhnreg_ks to register client systems with the Satellite. Do not insert commas in the key. All other characters are accepted. Commas are problematic since they are the separator used when including two or more activation keys at once. Refer to Section 6.4.7.2 Using Multiple Activation Keys at Once

—

for details.

3. Provide the following information:

• Description — User-deﬁned description to identify the generated activation key.

• Usage Limit — The number of times the key can be used to register a system before the

activation key is disabled. Leave blank for unlimited use.

• Base Channel — The primary channel for the key. Selecting nothing will enable you to select

from all child channels, although systems can be subscribed to only those that are applicable.

• Entitlement — The service level for the key, either Management or Provisioning. All systems

will be subscribed at this level with the key.

• Universal default — Whether or not this key should be considered the primary activation

key for your organization.

Click Create Key.

After creating the unique key, it appears in the list of activation keys along with the number of times it has been used. Note that only Activation Key Administrators can see this list. At this point, you may associate child channels and groups with the key so systems registered with it will automatically be subscribed to them.

To change information about a key, such as the channels or groups, click its description in the key list, make your modiﬁcations in the appropriate tab, and click the Update Key button. To disassociate channels and groups from a key, deselect them in their respective menus by [Ctrl]-clicking their highlighted names. To remove a key entirely, click the delete key link in the top-right corner of the edit page.

If you do not want a key to be used to activate a system, you can disable it by unselecting the corresponding checkbox under the Enabled column in the key list. The key can be re-enabled by selecting the checkbox. After making these changes, click the Update Keys button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

6.4.7.2. Using Multiple Activation Keys at Once —

Provisioning customers should note that multiple activation keys can be included at the command line or in a single kickstart proﬁle. This allows you to aggregate the aspects of various keys without having to recreate a new key speciﬁc to the desired systems, simplifying the registration and kickstart processes while slowing the growth of your key list.

Without this stacking ability, your organization would need at least six activation keys to manage four server groups and subscribe a server to any two groups. Factor in two versions of the operating system, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and 3, and you need twice the number of activation keys. A larger organization would need keys in the dozens.

Before speciﬁying more than one activation key, you must understand how their values are combined and resolved. These entities are straight unions: server groups, software packages, software child channels, and conﬁg channels. A combination of these will be used. If there is a conﬂict between the remaining properties, they will be resolved in the following manner:

Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website 87

• base software channels — registration fails

• entitlements — registration fails

• enable conﬁg ﬂag — conﬁguration management is set

Also remember, using a system-speciﬁc re-activation key along with a normal activation key will fail.

You’re now ready to use multiple activation keys at once. This is done with comma separation at the command line with rhnreg_ks or in a kickstart proﬁle within the Post tab of the Kickstart Details page. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys and Section 6.4.10.3 Creating Kickstarts, relatively, for instructions.

6.4.8. Stored Proﬁles —

RHN Provisioning customers can create package proﬁles through the Proﬁles subtab of the Packages tab within the System Details page. Those proﬁles end up here, on the Stored Proﬁles page, where they may be edited and even deleted.

To edit a proﬁle, click its name in the list, alter its name and description, and click the Update Proﬁle. To view software associated with the proﬁle, click the Packages subtab. To remove the proﬁle entirely, click delete stored proﬁle at the upper-right corner of the page.

6.4.9. Custom System Info —

RHN Provisioning customers may include completely customizable information about systems. Unlike notes, the information here is more formal and can be used in searches. For instance, you may decide to identify an asset tag for each system. To do this, you must create an asset key within the Custom System Info page.

Click create new key at the upper-right corner of the page. Enter a descriptive label and description, such as Asset and Precise location of each system, and click the Create Key. The key will then show up in the custom info keys list.

Once the key exists, you may assign a value to it through the Custom Info tab of the System Details



page. Refer to Section 6.4.2.6.1.5 System Details

DetailsCustom Info — for instructions.

6.4.10. Kickstart —

To satisfy the provisioning needs of customers, RHN provides this interface for developing kickstart proﬁles that can be used to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on either new or already-registered systems. This enables systems to be installed to particular speciﬁcations automatically.

Important

If your systems are connected to the central RHN Servers, you will need an external installation tree for each distribution to be kickstarted. This tree can be hosted anywhere that is accessible by the target system via HTTP. If the systems are connected through an RHN Proxy Server, then you may place the installation tree in /var/www/html/pub / on the Proxy. RHN Satellite Servers already have a tree for each Red Hat distribution and therefore do not require separate trees. Even if the system connects through an RHN Proxy Server to get to the Satellite, these trees will be available

for kickstart. Refer to Section 6.4.10.9 Kickstart installation trees.

Distributions — for instructions on setting up



88 Chapter 6. Red Hat Network Website

6.4.10.1. Kickstart Prerequisites

Although Red Hat Network has taken great pains to ease the provisioning of systems, some preparation is still required for your infrastructure to handle kickstarts. For instance, before creating kickstart proﬁles, you may consider:

• A DHCP server is not required for kickstarting, but it can make things easier. If you are using static

IP addresses, you should select static IP while developing your kickstart proﬁle.

• An FTP server can be used in place of hosting the kickstart distribution trees via HTTP.

• If conducting a bare metal kickstart, you should 1)Conﬁgure DHCP to assign required networking

parameters and the bootloader program location. 2)Specify within the bootloader conﬁguration ﬁle the kernel to be used and appropriate kernel options.

For a decription of the innerworkings of the kickstart process, refer to Section 6.4.10.2 Kickstart Explained.

6.4.10.2. Kickstart Explained

When a machine is to receive a network-based kickstart, the following events must occur in this order:

1. After being placed on the network and turned on, the machine’s PXE logic broadcasts its MAC address and a request to be discovered.

2. If a static IP address is not being used, the DHCP server recognizes the discovery request and extends an offer of network information needed for the new machine to boot. This includes an IP address, the default gateway to be used, the netmask of the network, the IP address of the TFTP or HTTP server holding the bootloader program, and the full path and ﬁlename of that program (relative to the server’s root).

3. The machine applies the networking information and initiates a session with the server to request the bootloader program.

4. The bootloader, once loaded, searches for its conﬁguration ﬁle on the server from which it was itself loaded. This ﬁle dictates which kernel and kernel options, such as the initial RAM disk (initrd) image, should be executed on the booting machine. Assuming the bootloader program is SYSLINUX, this ﬁle will be located in the pxelinux.cfg directory on the server and named the hexadecimal equivalent of the new machine’s IP address. For example, a bootloader conﬁguration ﬁle for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 should contain:

port 0 prompt 0 timeout 1 default My_Label label My_Label

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.

6. This kickstart conﬁguration ﬁle in turn directs the machine to the location of the installation ﬁles.

7. The new machine is built based upon the parameters established within the kickstart conﬁguration ﬁle.

Red Hat Network 3.7 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual