Redhat NETWORK ENTERPRISE 1.1.1 User Manual

Red Hat Network Enterprise

User Reference Guide 2.1

Red Hat Network Enterprise: User Reference Guide 2.1

Red Hat, Inc.

1801 Varsity Drive Raleigh NC 27606-2072 USA Phone: +1 919 754 3700 Phone: 888 733 4281 Fax: +1 919 754 3701 PO Box 13588 Research Triangle Park NC 27709 USA

RHNent(EN)-2.1-Print-RHI (2003-03-27T14:490700) Copyright © 2003 by Red Hat, Inc. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/). Distribution of substantively modiﬁedversions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permissionof 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, Red Hat Network, the Red Hat "ShadowMan" logo, RPM, Maximum RPM, the RPM logo, Linux Library,

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Table of Contents

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................... i

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

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

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

1. What is Red Hat Network? ............................................................................................................1

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

1.2. Basic................................................................................................................................... 2

1.3. Enterprise ........................................................................................................................... 2

1.4. Errata Notiﬁcations and Scheduled Package Installations ................................................. 3

1.5. Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network .......................................................... 3

1.6. Before You Begin............................................................................................................... 4

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 ............................................................................. 13

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

2.3.1. Choosing a Channel ..........................................................................................18

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

2.3.3. Installing Updated Packages ............................................................................. 23

2.3.4. Update Agent Finished ..................................................................................... 24

2.3.5. Command Line Version .................................................................................... 25

2.4. Conﬁguration ...................................................................................................................29

2.4.1. Using the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool..................................29

2.4.2. Command Line Version .................................................................................... 32

3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool................................................................................... 35

3.1. Conﬁguring the Applet ....................................................................................................35

3.2. Notiﬁcation Icons............................................................................................................. 36

3.3. Viewing Updates ..............................................................................................................37

3.4. Applying Updates ............................................................................................................ 37

3.5. Launching the RHN Website ........................................................................................... 37

4. Red Hat Network Website............................................................................................................ 39

4.1. Logging into the RHN Website........................................................................................ 39

4.2. Introduction to the Web Interface .................................................................................... 39

4.2.1. Errata Alert Icons .............................................................................................. 41

4.2.2. Quick Search.....................................................................................................41

4.2.3. Systems Selected............................................................................................... 41

4.2.4. List Navigation.................................................................................................. 41

4.3. Your RHN ........................................................................................................................ 41

4.3.1. Your Account .................................................................................................... 43

4.3.2. Your Preferences ...............................................................................................43

4.3.3. Buy Now ........................................................................................................... 44

4.3.4. Purchase History ............................................................................................... 44

4.3.5. Help................................................................................................................... 44

4.4. Systems ............................................................................................................................45

4.4.1. Overview...........................................................................................................45

4.4.2. Systems .............................................................................................................46

4.4.3. System Groups ..................................................................................................50

4.4.4. System Set Manager ......................................................................................... 53

4.4.5. System Entitlements ......................................................................................... 54

4.4.6. Advanced Search............................................................................................... 55

4.4.7. Activation Keys.................................................................................................55

4.5. Errata................................................................................................................................56

4.5.1. Relevant Errata.................................................................................................. 57

4.5.2. All Errata...........................................................................................................57

4.5.3. Advanced Search............................................................................................... 59

4.5.4. Manage Errata ...................................................................................................59

4.6. Software ...........................................................................................................................59

4.6.1. Channels............................................................................................................59

4.6.2. Channel Entitlements ........................................................................................61

4.6.3. Instant ISOs.......................................................................................................61

4.6.4. Advanced Search............................................................................................... 62

4.6.5. Packages............................................................................................................62

4.6.6. Manage Channels..............................................................................................63

4.6.7. Manage Packages..............................................................................................64

4.7. Schedule........................................................................................................................... 64

4.7.1. Pending Actions ................................................................................................ 64

4.7.2. Failed Actions ................................................................................................... 65

4.7.3. Completed Actions............................................................................................ 65

4.7.4. Archived Actions .............................................................................................. 65

4.7.5. Actions List ....................................................................................................... 65

4.8. Users ................................................................................................................................66

4.8.1. User List............................................................................................................66

5. Red Hat Network Daemon ...........................................................................................................69

6. Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2 ...................................................................... 71

7. Red Hat Network Registration Client ......................................................................................... 73

7.1. Conﬁguring the Red Hat Network Registration Client................................................ 73

7.2. Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client ...................................................... 74

7.3. Registering a User Account .............................................................................................77

7.4. Registering a System Proﬁle ............................................................................................ 79

7.4.1. Hardware System Proﬁle .................................................................................. 79

7.4.2. Software System Proﬁle....................................................................................80

7.5. Finishing Registration......................................................................................................82

7.6. Entitling Your System......................................................................................................84

7.7. Text Mode RHN Registration Client ...............................................................................84

Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. 87

Index...................................................................................................................................................93

Introduction

Welcome to the Red Hat Network Enterprise User Reference Guide 2.1.

The Red Hat Network Enterprise User Reference Guide will guide you through registering your system for Red Hat Network and using its many features. Depending on which version of Red Hat 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 3.0.7 of the Red Hat Update Agent and version 2.7.21-

7.x.3 of the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

Warning

Systems running Red Hat Linux 6.2 through 7.3 and Red Hat Linux Advanced Server will need to use the separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Chapter 7 Red Hat Network Registration Client for instructions. Systems running Red Hat Linux 8.0 can go directly to the Red Hat Update Agent, which has registration functionality built in for the latest release. Refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for instructions.

For a technical overview of Red Hat Network, please refer to the whitepapers available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/wp/.

For an interactive demo of RHN, go to http://rhn.redhat.com/demo/rhn_demo.html. It requires the Macromedia Flash player.

1. Document Conventions

When you read this manual, you will see that 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 ﬁlenames). In these cases, they are considered to be part of the command, so the entire phrase will be 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.

filename

Filenames, 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:

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 ﬁlesystems.

ii Introduction

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 will display the list of ﬁles in the directory that start with that letter.

[key]-[combination]

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

The [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace] key combination will exit your graphical session and return 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 will be shown in this style. When you see text shown in this style, it 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

When you see a word in this style, it 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, you will see the New Tab option that 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 will be shown like the following example:

Go to Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Programming => Emacs to start the Emacs text editor.

button on a GUI screen or window

This style indicates that the text will be found on a clickable button on a GUI screen. Forexample:

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

computer output

When you see text in this style, it indicates text displayed by the computer on the command line. You will see responses to commands you typed in, error messages, and interactive prompts for your input during scripts or programs shown this way. For example:

Use the ls command to display the contents of a directory:

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

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

Introduction iii

prompt

A prompt, which is a computer’s way of signifying that it is ready for you to input something, will be shown in this style. 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 will need to type in the text command at the boot: prompt.

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 will be marked as note, tip, important, caution, or a 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 will not take effect until you restart the DHCP daemon.

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.

iv Introduction

Warning

If you choose not to partition manually, a server installation will remove all existing par titions on all installed hard drives. Do not choose this installation class unless you are sure you have no data you need to save.

2. More to Come

The Red Hat Network Enterprise User Reference Guide is constantly expanding as new Red Hat Network features and service plans are launched.

2.1. Send in Your Feedback

If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network Enterprise User Reference Guide, please mention this guide’s identiﬁer:

RHNent(EN)-2.1-Print-RHI (2003-03-27T14:490700)

You can send mail to:

<rhn-feedback@redhat.com>

Chapter 1.

What is Red Hat Network?

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 Linux system or a network of Red Hat Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts (collectively known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat. 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

• Red Hat Network Daemon

• The Red Hat Network Registration Client - for systems running Red Hat Linux 6.2-7.3 and Red

Hat Linux Advanced Server only.

The Red Hat Update Agent provides your initial connection to the Red Hat Network. Once registered, it enables channel subscription, package installs, and management of System Proﬁles. Red Hat Linux 8.0 systems will even use the Red Hat Update Agent to be registered to RHN. See Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for further information.

You can use either of the two Red Hat Network user interfaces:

• https://rhn.redhat.com

• The Red Hat Update Agent

Both the Web interface and the Red Hat Update Agent allow you to view Errata Alerts from in the Red Hat Errata list. Only packages relevant to your system are shown. Red Hat Network can also be conﬁgured to verify packages once downloaded, ignore update notiﬁcations for certain packages, and view package details before downloading them.

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 5 Red Hat Network Daemon for further information). This daemon is necessary if you want to schedule updates or other actions through the Web interface.

The Red Hat Network Registration Client allows you to register your Advanced Server or older Red Hat Linux system with RHN. Registration involves creating a unique RHN user name and password, probing the hardware on your system to create a Hardware Proﬁle, and probing the software packages

2 Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network?

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 7 Red Hat Network Registration Client for further information.

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

Tip

For a comparison chart of RHN service levels, refer to https://rhn.redhat.com/preview/.

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. Basic

The RHN Basic service is ideal for a user with one Red Hat Linux system or a small number of Red Hat Linux systems to keep updated. Subscription to Basic can be purchased at

http://rhn.redhat.com/purchase_info.pxt.

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

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

are available for immediate download. Beat the rush to the FTP servers by downloading directly from Red Hat Network.

• 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 notiﬁca-

tion for errata to all of those systems.

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

click for each system.

Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network? 3

1.3. Enterprise

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

RHN Enterprise is based upon the concept of an organization. Each Enterprise-level Red Hat customer is assigned a Red Hat Customer Number. A Red Hat Network organization can be established for each Red Hat Customer Number. Each Red Hat Network organization contains users who have administration privileges to system groups. An 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 Enterprise, 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 account. 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 Linux system. With each Enterprise subscription, you receive the functionality provided to Demo and Basic 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 package to each, subscribe them all to a new channel, or apply all errata to them with a single action.

• Massive Scalability — Figuring out a list of outdated packages for a thousand systems would take

days for a dedicated sysadmin. Red Hat Network Enterprise Service can do it for you in seconds.

1.4. Errata Notiﬁcations and Scheduled Package Installations

You can conﬁgure the Red Hat Network to send you email notiﬁcations of new and updated software packages as soon as the packages are available through RHN. 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

4 Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network?

1.5. 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.

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.

Tip

Refer to https://rhn.redhat.com/help/faq/ for a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

1.6. Before You Begin

Red Hat Network is available for Red Hat Linux 6.2 and higher. For instructions on conﬁguring Red Hat Linux 6.2 for Red Hat Network, refer to Chapter 6 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux

6.2.

By default, all the software packages you need to use Red Hat Network are installed with Red Hat Linux 7 and higher. However, if you chose not to install them during the installation process or performed an upgrade from Red Hat Linux 6.2 or lower, you may not have the Red Hat Network Reg- istration Client or the Red Hat Update Agent installed. Remember, if you are a Red Hat Linux

8.0 user, you do not need the Red Hat Network Registration Client. To determine if the Red Hat Network Registration Client is installed, 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-2.7.21-7.x.3

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. If you prefer to use the command line versions, you do not have to install the two packages ending in gnome.

Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network? 5

Package Name Description

rhn_register Provides the Red Hat Network Registration Client program and the

text mode interface

rhn_registergnome

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

If the packages are not installed, they can be found on the Red Hat Linux 7 (or higher) CD-ROM #1 in the RedHat/RPMS directory or downloaded from the Red Hat FTPsite available at ftp://ftp.redhat.com (or from a Red Hat FTP mirror available at http://www.redhat.com/mirrors.html). Always check the Red Hat Errata page, available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/, for package updates. If you install an older version of these packages, you can retrieve the latest versions using Red Hat Network. The ﬁrst time that you request the RPM updates for your system, they will be included.

6 Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network?

Chapter 2.

Red Hat Update Agent

The Red Hat Update Agent is your connection to the 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 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 Linux 8.0 can use the Red Hat Update Agent to register with RHN. Systems running Red Hat Linux 6.2 through 7.3 and Advanced Server will need to use the separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Chapter 7 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 Linux 8.0:

• 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 Linux 6.2 through 7.3:

• 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

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. If after reading the statement you have any questions about how your information is being used, please contact us at <feedback@redhat.com>. 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. 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 use the same username and password. However, you will still need to continue with the registration process to create your System Proﬁle.

Your username and password have the following restrictions:

• Must be at least four characters long

• Are case-insensitive

• Cannot contain any spaces

• Cannot contain any tabs

12 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

• Cannot contain any line feeds

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

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.

Figure 2-6. Error: Username Already Exists

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 13

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.

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

14 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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

• 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).

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 15

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. 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 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.

16 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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

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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 17

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 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

2.3.1. Choosing a 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. Refer to Section 4.6 Software 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.

Figure 2-15. Retrieve Update Information

20 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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.

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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 21

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.

22 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 23

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.

24 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 25

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

--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.

26 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Argument Description

-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.

--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.

--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.

--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

--proxyUser=proxy user ID

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

Specify a password to use with an authenticated HTTP proxy.

Specify a username to use with an authenticated HTTP proxy.

2.2 Registration for detailed instructions.

--showall List all packages available for download.

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

-solvedeps=dependencies

Find, download, and install the packages necessary to resolve dependencies.

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

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 27

Argument Description

--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.

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

tool.

--verbose Show additional output while updating.

-whatprovides=dependencies

Show 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.

Your Update Agent options specify that you want to use GPG.

To install the key, run the following as root:

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

To install the Red Hat GPG key, use the command displayed: /usr/bin/gpg --import

/usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY, or use the following steps:

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.

1. Cut and paste the following into a ﬁle and save it as redhat2.asc or download it from https://www.redhat.com/solutions/security/news/publickey/#key.

Type bits/keyID Date User ID pub 1024D/DB42A60E 1999-09-23 Red Hat Software, Inc. (security@redhat.com) sub 2048g/961630A2 1999-09-23

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----Version: GnuPG v1.0.0 (GNU/Linux)

28 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org

mQGiBDfqVDgRBADBKr3Bl6PO8 BQ0H8sJoD6p9U7Y yl7pjtZqioviPwXP+DCWd4u8 HQzcxAZ57m8ssA1LK1Fx93coJ hDzM130+p5BG9mY SWShLabR3N1KXdXQYYcowTOM GxdwYRGr1Spw8QydLhjVfU1VS l4xt6bupPbWJbyj kg5Z3P7BlUOUJmrx3wCgobNV EDGaWYJcch5z5B1of/41G8kEA Kii6q7Gu/vhXXnL S6m15oNnPVybyngiw/23dKjS ZVG7rKANEK2mxg1VB+vc/uUc4 k49UxJJfCZg1gu1 sPFV3GSa+Y/7jsiLktQvCiLP lncQt1dV+ENmHR5BdIDPWDzKB VbgWnSDnqQ6KrZ7 T6AlZ74VMpjGxxkWU6vV2xsW XCLPA/9P/vtImA8CZN3jxGgtK 5GGtDNJ/cMhhuv5 tnfwFg4b/VGo2Jr8mhLUqoIb E6zeGAmZbUpdckDco8D5fiFmq Tf5+++pCEpJLJkk zel/32N2w4qzPrcRMCiBURES PjCLd4Y5rPoU8E4kOHc/4BuHN 903tiCsCPloCrWs QZ7UdxfQ5LQiUmVkIEhhdCwg SW5jIDxzZWN1cml0eUByZWRoY XQuY29tPohVBBMR AgAVBQI36lQ4AwsKAwMVAwID FgIBAheAAAoJECGRgM3bQqYOs BQAnRVtg7B25Hm1 1PHcpa8FpeddKiq2AJ9aO8sB XmLDmPOEFI75mpTrKYHF6rkCD QQ36lRyEAgAokgI 2xJ+3bZsk8jRA8ORIX8DH05U lMH27qFYzLbT6npXwXYIOtVn0 K2/iMDj+oEB1Aa2 au4OnddYaLWp06v3d+XyS0t+ 5ab2ZfIQzdh7wCwxqRkzR+/H5 TLYbMG+hvtTdylf qIX0WEfoOXMtWEGSVwyUsnM3 Jy3LOi48rQQSCKtCAUdV20FoI GWhwnb/gHU1BnmE S6UdQujFBE6EANqPhp0coYoI hHJ2oIO8ujQItvvNaU88j/s/i zQv5e7MXOgVSjKe /WX3s2JtB/tW7utpy12wh1J+ JsFdbLV/t8CozUTpJgx5mVA3R KlxjTA+On+1IEUW ioB+iVfT7Ov/0kcAzwADBQf9 E4SKCWRand8K0XloMYgmipxMh JNnWDMLkokvbMNT UoNpSfRoQJ9EheXDxwMpTPwK ti/PYrrL2J11P2ed0x7zm8v3g LrY0cue1iSba+8g lY+p31ZPOr5ogaJw7ZARgoS8 BwjyRymXQp+8Dete0TELKOL2/ itDOPGHW07SsVWO R6cmX4VlRRcWB5KejaNvdrE5 4XFtOd04NMgWI63uqZc4zkRa+ kwEZtmbz3tHSdRC CE+Y7YVP6IUf/w6YPQFQriWY FiA6fD10eB+BlIUqIw80VgjsB KmCwvKkn4jg8kib Xgj4/TzQSx77uYokw1EqQ2wk OZoaEtcubsNMquuLCMWijYhGB BgRAgAGBQI36lRy AAoJECGRgM3bQqYOhyYAnj7h VDY/FJAGqmtZpwVp9IlitW5tA J4xQApr/jNFZCTk snI+4O1765F7tA== =3AHZ

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

2. At the shell prompt, import the key with the following command:

gpg --import redhat2.asc

The resulting message tells you that the key was processed. To check that the key was added, type gpg --list-keys. You will see the Red Hat, GPG key as well as your own keys.

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 Web interface, 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

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 29

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.

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.

30 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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.

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 31

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 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

• Enable RPM rollbacks — allow "undo" of updates. This requires additional storage space.

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

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).

32 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

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

2. depslist []

3. networkSetup Yes

4. retrieveOnly No

5. enableRollbacks No

Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 33

6. pkgSkipList [’kernel*’]

7. storageDir /var/spool/up2date

8. adminAddress [’root@localhost’]

9. noBootLoader No

10. serverURL https://www.rhns.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://www.rhns.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.

34 Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent

Chapter 3.

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 Linux 7.3, the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool appears on the panel by default as shown in Figure 3-1.

Figure 3-1. GNOME Panel with Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

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

• In Red Hat Linux 8.0 and later, 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 older versions of Red Hat Linux, 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.

3.1. 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 3-2.

36 Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

Figure 3-2. 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 http://HOST:PORT. For example, to use the proxy server http://squid.mysite.org on port 3128, 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.

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.

3.2. Notiﬁcation Icons

The applet displays a different icon, depending on the status of the updates. Refer to Table 3-1 for details.

Icon Description

Update are available

System is up-to-date

Checking for updates

Error has occurred

Table 3-1. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool Icons

Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool 37

If you see the icon, it is highly recommended that you apply the updates. Refer to Section 3.4 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.

3.3. 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 3-3. Available Updates

3.4. 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.

3.5. Launching the RHN Website

The simplest way to obtain a comprehensive view of your system’s status is to access the RHN Web interface. 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

4.2 Introduction to the Web Interface.

38 Chapter 3. Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool

Chapter 4.

Red Hat Network Website

You can use the Red Hat Network website to manage multiple Red Hat Linux systems simultaneously, including viewing Errata Alerts, applying Errata Updates, and installing packages.

4.1. Logging into the RHN Website

In a Web browser, go to http://rhn.redhat.com. The page shown in Figure 4-1 will be displayed.

Figure 4-1. 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.

4.2. Introduction to the Web Interface

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

A user with entitled systems has permission to use the following categories and pages. Each will be explained in more detail later in this chapter.

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

40 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

• 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.

• 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.

• Buy Now — Purchase Basic subscriptions and obtain contact information to buy Enterprise

subscriptions.

• 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 along with how many Errata Alerts each system

has and which systems are entitled.

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

Unentitled, Ungrouped, and Inactive.

• System Groups — List your system groups. Create additional 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 name,

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

• Activation Keys — Generate an activation key for an RHN Enterprise 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.

• 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.

• Manage Errata — Manage your organization’s Errata Alerts (published and unpublished) here.

Only Channel Administrators can use this feature.

• Software — View and manage the available RHN channels and the packages they contain.

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

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

associated with each.

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

write to CD.

• Advanced Search — Search RPMs using all or some portion of the package name.

• Manage Channels — Manage your organization’s channels here. Only Channel Administrators

can use this feature.

• Manage Packages — Manage your organization’s packages by channel here. Only Channel

Administrators can use this feature.

• Schedule — Keep track of your scheduled actions.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 41

• 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 — View and manage users for your organization.

• User List — List users for your organization.

4.2.1. Errata Alert Icons

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

represents a Bug Fix Alert. represents an Enhancement Alert.

In the Your RHN page, click on the Errata advisory to view details about the Errata 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 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.

represents a Security Alert.

4.2.2. Quick Search

In addition to the Advanced Search functionality offered within some categories, the RHN interface also offers a Quick Search tool near the top of each page. To use it, select the item type (such as RPMs) 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.

4.2.3. Systems Selected

Also near the top of the page is a tool for keeping track of the Enterprise-level 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 Enterprise 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 4.4.4 System Set Manager for details.

4.2.4. List Navigation

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.

42 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

4.3. Your RHN

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

Tip

If you are new to the RHN website, it is recommended that you read Section 4.2 Introduction to the Web Interface to become familiar with the layout and symbols used throughout the interface.

Figure 4-2. 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 4.4.2 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.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 43

• Ungrouped Systems — Each registered system must be a member of at least one system group.

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 at least a week. Refer

to Section 4.4.2.5 Inactive for details.

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 4.4.3.3 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 Relevant) links at the top of the table. To go to 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.

4.3.1. Your Account

The Your Account page allows you to modify your personal information, such as name, password, email 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. Replace the asterisks in the Password and Password Conﬁrmation text ﬁelds with your new password.

4.3.1.1. 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.

4.3.1.2. 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 next to the address to be modiﬁed, make the changes, and click Update Address.

4.3.2. Your Preferences

The Your Preferences page allows you to conﬁgure Red Hat Network options, including:

44 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

• 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 Enterprise customers to receive a daily summary 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 Enterprise 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. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details or Section

4.4.4 System Set Manager, respectively. 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.

4.3.3. Buy Now

The Buy Now page provides an online form to purchase Basic subscriptions and contact information to buy Enterprise subscriptions.

4.3.4. Purchase History

The Purchase History page displays a history of your entitlements, including the expiration date and the number available.

4.3.5. Help

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

4.3.5.1. 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.

4.3.5.2. 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, and troubleshooting.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 45

4.3.5.3. FAQ

The FAQ page lists Frequently Asked Questions and answers to those questions.

4.3.5.4. 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 only. Logged in Demo customers have access to the above, as well as an online form that can be submitted to rhn-feedback or the Customer Service address. Logged in Basic and Enterprise 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.

4.3.5.5. Red Hat Linux 6.2

The Red Hat Linux 6.2 page contains step-by-steps instructions for using RHN on Red Hat Linux

6.2. These instructions cover obtaining new versions of the Red Hat Update Agent and the Red Hat Network Registration Client. These same instructions can also be found in Chapter 6 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2 of this guide.

4.3.5.6. Enterprise Guide

The Enterprise Guide page takes you to this same document, the most comprehensive set of instructions for using Red Hat Network.

4.3.5.7. Security & Privacy

The Security & Privacy page describes the measures taken by Red Hat to shield you and your organization from intrusion, by us, as well as outsiders.

4.3.5.8. Terms & Conditions

The Terms & Conditions page displays the RHN Network Services Use and Subscription Agreement and its Limited Product Warranty.

4.4. 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.

4.4.1. Overview

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 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

46 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

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 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.

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 4.4.4 System Set Manager for more information.

4.4.2. Systems

As shown in Figure 4-3, the Systems page displays a list of all your registered systems. The Systems list contains several columns of information for each system:

• Select — Only Enterprise-entitled systems can 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 4.4.4 System Set Manager for 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, while the Unentitled icon goes to the Buy Now page, if the user is an Organization Administrator.

• — System is up-to-date

• — Critical Errata available, update strongly recommended

• — Updates available and recommended

• — Updates have been scheduled

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

• — System not entitled to any update service

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

for an Enterprise-level system takes you to a list of its relevant Errata.

• 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 Linux 7.1 i386 channel that contains version 2.5.4 of a package because that is the version that shipped with Red Hat Linux 7.1, 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. Clicking on the package number for an Enterprise-level system takes you to a list of its relevant packages.

• 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 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

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

Refer to Section 4.6.1 Channels for more information.

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

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 47

Figure 4-3. System List

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.

4.4.2.1. All

The All page contains the default set of your systems. It displays every system you’ve registered with Red Hat Network.

4.4.2.2. Out of Date

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

4.4.2.3. Unentitled

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

4.4.2.4. Ungrouped

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

48 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

4.4.2.5. Inactive

The Inactive page displays the registered 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.

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

• The system is behind a proxy that has not been properly conﬁgured.

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

Make certain:

1. your client is conﬁgured correctly.

2. 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

3. the RHN daemon is activated and running. You may ensure this by running the following 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.

4.4.2.6. 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:

• Details — Displays information about the system. This is the ﬁrst tab you see when you click on

a system. 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. Be sure you review the Errata List for the system before performing this action. After clicking the button, you will be asked to conﬁrm the update. Click the Conﬁrm Update button to complete the update. After conﬁrming, the action is added to the Pending Actions list under Schedule => Pending Actions from the top and left navigation bars, respectively.

The packages will be updated by the RHN Daemon. You must have the RHN Daemon enabled on your systems. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Daemon for more details. The Details tab contains the following subsets of information:

• 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.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 49

• 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 interface. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for details. The following properties deserve additional explanation:

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

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

• Include system in daily summary report calculations — This setting includes the Enterprise

system in a daily summary of system events. (By default, all Enterprise 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 4.3.2 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

automatically applied to an Enterprise 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.

• 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. 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.

• Errata — Contains a list of Errata Alerts applicable to the system. 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. Only those Errata that have not been scheduled or were scheduled and failed or canceled are listed. Updates already pending are excluded from the list.

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.

• Packages — Manages the packages on the system.

• 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.

• 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

4.6.5.3 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.

50 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

Note

If you are using up2date version 3.1 or higher, any dependency-related errors generated by the

attempted package removal are displayed on the page.

• Upgrade — Displays a list of packages that have a new version available based on the package

versions in the channel 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 .tar ﬁles, select them and click the Download Packages button. Refer to Section 4.6.5.2 Package Download for details.

• 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.

• Proﬁles — Gives you the ability to compare the packages on this system with the packages of

stored proﬁles and other Enterprise 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 additional information you desire, and click the Create Proﬁle button.

• Channels — Provides a predetermined method for systems to obtain regular updates, based upon

their 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 4.6.1 Channels for more information.

• Groups — Lists the system’s associated groups and enables you to change these associations. This

tab appears only for systems with Enterprise entitlement. To modify the system’s groups, select or unselect them and click the Update Membership button. Click on a group’s name to go to its System Group Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.

• Notes — Provides you with 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.

• Events — Displays past, current, and scheduled actions on the system. You may cancel pending

events here.

• History — The default display of the Events tab lists the type and status of events that have

failed, occurred or are occurring. This list is automatically generated. To view details of an event, click its summary in the System History table.

• Pending — Lists events that are scheduled but have not begun. To unschedule a pending event,

select the event and click the Cancel Events button at the bottom of the page.

4.4.3. System Groups

The System Groups page allows all RHN Enterprise users to view the System Groups list. Only Organization Administrators may perform the following additional tasks:

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 51

1. Create system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.3.1 Creating Groups.)

2. Add systems to system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.3.2 Adding and Removing Systems in Groups.)

3. Remove systems from system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details.)

4. Assign system group permissions to users. (Refer to Section 4.8 Users.)

As shown in Figure 4-4, the System Groups list displays all of your system groups.

Figure 4-4. System Group List

The System Groups list contains several columns for each group:

• Select — Enables you to add groups to the System Set Manager. To select groups, mark the

appropriate checkboxes and click the Updatebutton below the column. Selected groups are added to the System Set Manager. After adding groups to the System Set Manager, you can use it to perform actions on them simultaneously. To add an intersection of groups, select them and click the

Work with Intersection button. To add a union of groups, select them and click the Work with Union button. Refer to Section 4.4.4 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 4.4.3.3 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

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• 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 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.

• 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 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.

• Use in SSM — Clicking the Use Group button in this column loads the group from that row and

launches the System Set Manager immediately. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for more information.

4.4.3.1. Creating Groups

To add a new system group, click the create new group button on the top-left corner. 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.

4.4.3.2. Adding and Removing Systems in Groups

In the System Groups list, click the name of the group to receive the systems. This will take you to the System Group Details page. Once there, click the Target Systems tab and select the systems to be added to this group. Although all entitled systems should be listed, only systems at the Enterprise service level can be selected for addition. After selecting all of the systems to be added, click the Add Systems button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. The new systems will then be shown on the group’s Systems tab.

To remove systems from groups, use the Groups tab of the System Details page. Refer to Section

4.4.2.6 System Details for instructions.

4.4.3.3. System Group Details

At the top of each System Group Details page are two buttons: 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 4.4.4 System Set Man- ager for more information.

The System Group Details page contains ﬁve tabs:

• Details — Basic information about the system group: the group name and group description. To

change this information, make your changes in the appropriate ﬁelds and click the Modify Details button.

• 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 4.4.4 System Set Manager or Section 4.4.2.6 System Details, respectively.

• Target Systems — List of all systems in your organization. This tab enables you to add Enterprise-

level 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.

• 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 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 53

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.

• Admins — List of all organization users that potentially have permission to manage the system

group. Organization Administrators are clearly identiﬁed. To change the system group’s users, select and unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button.

4.4.4. System Set Manager

The System Set Manager allows you to perform the following actions on a system set (the current set of selected systems):

• 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

Before performing actions on multiple systems, you must select systems you wish to modify. Note that only Enterprise-level systems can be selected. Pages including Systems list, System Search, and System Groups list have a column of checkboxes under the Select heading. Mark the checkboxes beside the systems or groups 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 two ways: 1)Add systems and groups from their respective lists to the System Set Manager and click System Set Manager in the left navigation bar.

2)Click Use Group in the System Groups list or Work with Group in the System Group Details page to work with a predeﬁned system group.

The System Set Manager page contains a set of tabs:

• Overview — Description of the various options available to you in the remaining tabs.

• Systems — List of systems now selected. To delete systems from this particular set, select them

and click the Remove button.

• Errata — List of Errata Updates applicable to the current system set. To apply updates, select the

Errata and click the Apply Errata button.

• Packages — Options to modify packages on the system set:

• Install new packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of channels from which you may

retrieve packages. Click on the channel name and select the packages from the list. Then click the Install Packages button.

• Upgrade existing packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of all the packages installed

on the selected systems. Select the packages to be upgraded, then click the Upgrade Packages button.

• Remove existing packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of all the packages installed

on the selected systems. Select the packages to be deleted, then click the Remove Packages button.

• Groups — Tools to create groups and manage group membership. These functions are limited to

Organization Administrators. To add a new group, click the create new system group button on

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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.

• Channels — Tool to manage channel subscriptions. To subscribe or unsubscribe the selected sys-

tems in any of the channels, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Subscriptions button.

• Misc — Links to update System Proﬁles and preferences for the system set:

• 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.

• Reboot Systems — Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Reboot Systems

button sets those systems for reboot.

• Delete Systems — Clicking Delete System Proﬁles, then the Conﬁrm Deletions button removes

the selected proﬁles permanently.

• 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 4.4.2.6 System Details for instructions.

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

pertaining 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

summary of system events. (By default, all Enterprise 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

4.3.2 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

automatically applied to Enterprise 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 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.

4.4.5. System Entitlements

To use all of the features of RHN, your systems must be entitled — subscribed to an RHN service level. Every user receives one free Red Hat Network Basic entitlement subscription.

Use the System Entitlements page to conﬁgure which systems are entitled to which service offerings. There are two types of entitlements:

• Basic — should be used to manage a single Red Hat Linux system. It includes Errata Alerts, Sched-

uled Errata Updates, Package Installation, and the Red Hat Update Agent.

• Enterprise — should be used to manage multiple systems with multiple system administrators. In

addition to the features of the Basic offering, it includes system group management, user management, and the System Set Manager interface to quickly perform actions on multiple systems.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 55

The System Entitlements page allows you to view and change the entitlements for your registered systems. To change an 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 you need to purchase additional entitlements, click the Buy them now link at the top of the page.

4.4.6. Advanced Search

The System Search page allows you to search through your systems according to speciﬁc criteria. These criteria include system details, hardware, devices, interface, networking, packages, and location. 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 reverse your results list.

The results appear at the bottom of the page. For details about using the resulting system list, refer to Section 4.4.2 Systems.

4.4.7. Activation Keys

RHN Enterprise customers can generate activation keys through the RHN website. Each unique key can then be used to register the Red Hat Linux system, entitle the system to RHN Enterprise, and subscribe the system to speciﬁc channels and system groups through the command line utility rhn-

reg_ks. Thus, channel and group subscriptions can be automated along with registration, thereby

bypassing registration through either the Red Hat Network Registration Client or the Red Hat Update Agent and entitlement of each system through the RHN website.

Note

Systems running versions of Red Hat Linux older than 8.0 need version 2.7.20 or higher of the

rhn_register package. It is highly recommended you obtain the latest version before using activa-

tion keys.

To generate an activation key:

1. Select Systems => Activation Keys from the top and left navigation bars.

2. Click the create new key button at top-left.

3. Provide the following information:

• Description — User-deﬁned description to identify the generated activation key. To return to

the existing keys, click the View Key List.

• 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.

• Child Channels — Channels to subscribe the system to as applicable.

• Groups — System groups to subscribe the system to after registering it.

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.

56 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

To change information about a key, such as the channels or groups, click its description in the key list, make your modiﬁcations, and click the Update Key button. To remove a key entirely, click the delete key button 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.

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

rhnreg_ks --serialnumber=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b

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 the RHN Enterprise 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 Linux 7.2 system cannot be subscribed to the Red Hat Linux 7.1 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:

• 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 RHL distribution will be chosen. For instance, you may not take a 7.1 system and subscribe it to the 7.2 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 4.6 Software for more information.

4.5. Errata

If you click the Errata tab on the top navigation bar, the Errata category and links appear. The pages in the Errata category allow you to track and manage Errata Updates.

Tip

If you want to receive an email when Errata Alerts are issued for your system, go to Your RHN => Your Preferences and select Receive Errata email notiﬁcations.

Red Hat releases Errata Alerts in three categories, or types: Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts. Each Errata Alert is comprised of a summary of the problem and the solution, including the RPM packages required to ﬁx the problem.

Icons are used to identify the three types of Errata Alerts:

•

— Security Updates available, update strongly recommended

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 57

— Bug Fix Updates available and recommended

•

• — Enhancement Updates available

4.5.1. Relevant Errata

As shown in Figure 4-5, the Relevant Errata page displays a customized list of Errata Alerts that applies to your registered systems. The list provides a summary of each Errata Alert, including its type, advisory, synopsis, systems affected, and date updated.

Figure 4-5. Errata List

Clicking on the Advisory takes you to the Details tab of the Errata Details page. Clicking on the number of associated systems takes you to the Affected Systems tab of the Errata Details page. Refer to Section 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.

4.5.2. All Errata

The All Errata page displays a list of all Errata Alerts released by Red Hat. It works much the same as the Relevant Errata page in that clicking either the Advisory or the number of systems affected takes you to related tabs of the Errata Details page. Refer to Section 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.

58 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

4.5.2.1. Apply Errata Updates

Errata Alerts include a list of updated packages that are required to apply the Errata Update. To apply Errata Updates to a system, the system must be entitled.

You can apply all applicable Errata Updates to a system by clicking on Systems => Systems in the top and left navigation bars. Click on the name of an entitled system, and click the Errata tab of the resulting System Details page. When the Relevant Errata list appears, click Select All then the Apply Errata button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Only those Errata that have not been scheduled or were scheduled and failed or canceled are listed. Updates already pending are excluded from the list.

In addition, Enterprise-level users can apply Errata Updates using two other methods:

• To apply a speciﬁc Errata Update to one or more Enterprise-level systems, ﬁnd the update within

the Errata lists or by searching. In the table, click on the number of systems affected, which will take you to the Affected Systems tab of the Errata Details page. Then, individually select the systems to be updated and click the Apply Errata button. Double-check the systems to be updated on the conﬁrmation page, then click the Conﬁrm button.

• To apply more than one Errata Update to one or more systems, select the systems from a Systems

list and click the Update List button. Click the System Set Manager link in the left navigation bar, then click the Systems tab. After ensuring the appropriate systems are selected, click the Er- rata tab, select the Errata Updates to apply, and click the Apply Errata button. You can select to apply the Errata as soon as possible (the next time the Red Hat Network Daemon on the client systems connect to RHN) or schedule a date and time for the Errata Updates to occur. Then click the

Schedule Updates button. You can follow the progress of the Errata Updates through the Pending Actions list. Refer to Section 4.7 Schedule for more details.

Important

If you use scheduled package installation, the packages will be installed via the RHN Daemon. You must have the RHN Daemon enabled on your systems. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Daemon for more details.

The following rules apply to Errata Updates:

• Each package is a member of one or more channels. If a selected system is not subscribed to a

channel containing the package, the package will not be installed on that system.

• If a newer version of the package is already on the system, the package will not be installed on that

system.

• If an older version of the package is installed, the package will be upgraded.

4.5.2.2. Errata Details

If you click on the Advisory of an Errata Alert in the Relevant or All pages, its Errata Details page appears. This page is further divided into three tabs:

• The Details tab provides the Errata Report issued by Red Hat. It describes the problem and solution

and lists the channels it affects. Clicking on a channel name displays the Packages tab of the Channel Details page. Refer to Section 4.6.1.3 Channel Details for more information.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 59

• The Packages tab provides links to each of the updated RPMs broken down by channel. Clicking

on the name of a package displays its Package Details page. Refer to Section 4.6.5.3 Package Details for more information.

• The Affected Systems tab shows a list of systems affected by the Errata Alert. You can apply

updates here. (See Section 4.5.2.1 Apply Errata Updates.) Clicking on the name of a system takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

To help users determine whether an update has been scheduled, a Status column exists within the affected systems 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 Errata tab of the System Details page.

4.5.3. Advanced Search

The Advanced Search page allows you to search through Errata according to speciﬁc criteria, such as summary, advisory, and package name. Type your keyword, select the criterion to search by, and click the Search button. The results appear at the bottom of the page.

4.5.4. Manage Errata

The Manage Errata page enables RHN Enterprise customers who have their own private channel to issue Errata Alerts for their packages. Refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide for instructions on obtaining and using this ability.

4.6. Software

If you click the Software tab on the top navigation bar, the Software category and links appear. The pages in the Software category enable you to view and manage the channels and packages associated with your systems. In addition, you can obtain ISO images here.

4.6.1. Channels

The Channels page is the ﬁrst to appear in the Software category. A channel is a list of Red Hat Linux packages grouped by use. Channels are used to choose packages to be installed on a system.

There are two types of channels: base channels and child channels. A base channel consists of a list of packages based on a speciﬁc architecture and Red Hat Linux release. For example, all the packages in Red Hat Linux 7.1 for the x86 architecture is a base channel. The list of packages in Red Hat Linux 7.1 for the Itanium architecture is a different base channel. A child channel is a channel associated with a base channel but contains extra packages. For example, an organization can create a child channel associated with Red Hat Linux 7.1 for the x86 architecture that contains extra packages needed only for the organization, such as a custom engineering application.

A system must be subscribed to one base channel only. This base channel is assigned automatically during registration based upon the Red Hat Linux release and system architecture selected. In the case of public free channels (RHL 6.2, 7.x, 8.0), the action will succeed. In the case of Advanced Server and other paid base channels, this action will fail if an associated entitlement doesn’t exist.

A system can be subscribed to multiple child channels of its base channel. Only packages included in a system’s subscribed channels can be installed or updated on that system. Some customers, such as those using RHN Satellite and Proxy, have channel management authority. This authority, granted by

60 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

RHN as a separate role to certain customers, gives them the ability to create and manage their own custom channels.

Channels can be further broken down by their relevance to your systems. Two such lists emerge: Relevant and All.

4.6.1.1. Relevant Channels

As shown in Figure 4-6, the Relevant Channels page is shown by default when you click Channels in the left navigation bar. It displays a list of channels now associated with your systems. Links within this list go to different tabs of the Channel Details page. Clicking on a channel name takes you to the Details tab. Clicking on the packages number takes you to the Packages tab. And clicking on the systems number takes you to the Subscribed Systems tab. Refer to Section 4.6.1.3 Channel Details for details. The Relevant page also contains links to ISO images. Refer to Section 4.6.3 Instant ISOs for instructions.

Figure 4-6. Software - Relevant Channels

4.6.1.2. All Channels

The All Channels page can be retrieved by clicking All below Channels in the left navigation bar. It works identically to the Relevant Channels page with one exception; It displays all channels offered by Red Hat Network, regardless of whether you have systems associated with them.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 61

4.6.1.3. Channel Details

If you click on the name of a channel, the Channel Details page will appear. This page contains the following tabs:

• Details — General information about the channel and the parent channel if it is a child channel.

This is the ﬁrst tab you see when you click on a channel. It displays essential information about the channel, such as summary, description, and architecture. Clicking on its number of packages or systems subscribed takes you to the remaining Channel Details tabs.

• Packages — List of packages in the channel. To download packages as a .tar ﬁle, select them and

click the Download at the bottom-left corner of the page. Clicking on a package name takes you to the Package Details page. This page displays a set of tabs with information about the package, including which architectures it runs on, the package size, build date, package dependencies, the change log, list of ﬁles in the package, newer versions, and which systems have the package installed. From here, you can download the packages as RPMs or SRPMs. Refer to Section 4.6.5.3 Package Details for more information.

If you are looking for a speciﬁc package or a subset of packages, you can use the package ﬁlter on the top of the list. Entering a substring to search for will search all the packages in the list for the substring at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the package name. For example, typing ks in the ﬁlter might return all the ksconfig, krb5-workstation, and links. The ﬁlter is case-insensitive.

• Subscribed Systems — List of entitled systems subscribed to the channel. The list displays system

names, base channels, and their levels of entitlement. Clicking on a system name takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information. If it is a child channel, you will also have the option within this tab of unsubscribing systems from the channel. Use the checkboxes to select the systems, then click the Unsubscribe button on the bottom righthand corner.

• Target Systems — List of entitled systems that are eligible to be subscribed to the channel. This tab

appears only for child channels. Use the checkboxes to select the systems, then click the Subscribe button on the bottom right-hand corner. You will receive a success message or be notiﬁed of any errors. This can also be accomplished through the Channels tab of the System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

• License — Text of the channel’s End User License Agreement. This tab is associated only with

channels of third-party providers. It appears when you attempt a subscription to such a channel through the Target Systems tab. To complete the subscription, read the agreement, click the Accept button, and then click the Conﬁrm button. To decline the subscription, click the Cancel button.

Only customers with custom base channels may change their systems’ base channel assignment. They may do this through the website in two ways:

• The customer has its own base channel and it is assigning the system to that new base channel.

• The customer has its own base channel and, having assigned a system to this base channel, it

subsequently reverts the system to its original distribution-based base channel.

4.6.2. Channel Entitlements

The Channel Entitlements page displays the list of channels for which you have paid. Click the number of systems subscribed to see a list of systems tied to the corresponding channel.

62 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

4.6.3. Instant ISOs

The Instant ISOs page enables you to download binary ﬁles for use in making installation disks. This feature is available only to RHN Basic and RHN Enterprise subscribers.

To download an ISO image, click on the name of the corresponding Binary Disc image. For instructions on burning the ISO image to a CD-R or CD-RW, refer to the Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.

4.6.4. Advanced Search

The RPM Search page allows you to search through packages using various criteria. You may search by name or name and summary, within relevant or all channels, or within speciﬁc architectures. Type your keyword, select the criterion to search by, and click the Search button. The results appear at the bottom of the page.

4.6.5. Packages

A package is the smallest essential ingredient of any Red Hat Linux system. Packages, commonly known as RPMs because of their oversight by Red Hat Package Manager, are the pieces of software that, when installed, enable your system to operate. Packages are grouped by channels to help you more easily determine which are applicable to your systems.

These packages can be retrieved in one of two ways: by direct install or through download.

4.6.5.1. Package Install

Only packages included in a system’s subscribed channels can be installed or updated on that system.

Important

To apply Errata Updates, refer to Section 4.5.2.1 Apply Errata Updates. To upgrade and install packages through the Systems category, use the Packages tab of the System Details page. Refer to Section

4.4.2.6 System Details for instructions.

Within the Software category, you may install an individual package on multiple entitled systems by following these steps:

1. Select Software => Channels from the top and left navigation bars.

2. Click on the name of the channel that contains the package to be installed.

3. On the Channel Details page, click on the Packages tab.

4. Click on the name of the package you want to install.

5. On the Package Details page, click on the Target Systems tab.

6. Select the entitled systems you want to install the package on.

7. Click on the Install Packages button.

8. Conﬁrm the action.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 63

9. The action is added to the Pending Actions list under the Schedule tab in the top navigation bar.

4.6.5.2. Package Download

If you do not want to schedule a package installation, you can download the packages immediately. If you download the packages, you must install them manually.

To download packages through the Systems category, refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details.

To download individual RPMs and SRPMs through the Software category, follow these steps:

1. Select Software => Channels from the top and left navigation bars.

2. Click on the name of the channel that contains the package to be downloaded.

3. On the Channel Details page, click on the Packages tab.

4. Click on the name of the package that you want to download.

5. On the Package Details page, click the Download RPM (or SRPM) link on the bottom righthand corner.

6. Conﬁrm the action.

The next step is to install the packages manually. Refer to Section 2.3.5.2 Manual Package Installation for details.

4.6.5.3. Package Details

If you click on the name of any package in the interface, the Package Details page will appear. This page contains the following tabs:

• Details — Details about the package, including subtabs for overview, dependencies, change log,

and ﬁle list:

• Overview — A summary of the package, including the package description, size, and version.

(This information is similar to issuing the command rpm -qi packagename but with more detail.) Click the links in the bottom right-hand corner of the page to download the RPM and/or SRPM ﬁles for the package.

• Dependencies — A list of all other packages that must also be installed on the system for this

one to function properly. It also lists packages that it obsoletes or has conﬂicts with.

• Change Log — The events of this package’s history listed in reverse chronological order. (This

information is similar to issuing the command rpm -q --changelog packagename.)

• File List — A list of the ﬁles that comprise this package, including their MD5 Sums and sizes.

(This information is similar to issuing the command rpm -ql packagename.)

• Newer Versions — List of newer versions of the packages released via Errata Alerts.

• Installed Systems — List of systems with this package installed.

• Target Systems — List of systems on which the package can be installed. Go here to install pack-

ages on entitled systems. Refer to Section 4.6.5.1 Package Install for instructions.

64 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

4.6.6. Manage Channels

The Manage Channels button in the left navigation bar takes you to the Channel Management page. This page enables you to create new channels and modify others your organization has created. Refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide for instructions on obtaining and using this ability.

4.6.7. Manage Packages

The Manage Packages button in the left menu bar takes you to the Package Management page. This page enables you to remove packages from your custom channels. Refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide for instructions on obtaining and using this ability.

4.7. Schedule

If you click the Schedule tab on the top navigation bar, the Schedule category and links appear. These pages enable you to keep track of the actions taking place within your systems. An action is a scheduled RHN task that is to be performed on one or more client systems. For example, an action can be scheduled to apply all Errata Updates to a system.

Red Hat Network keeps track of the following action types:

1. Package Installations — For more information on how to perform package installations, refer to Section 4.6.5 Packages.

2. Errata Updates — For more information on how to apply Errata Updates, refer to Section 4.5.2.1 Apply Errata Updates.

3. Hardware Proﬁle Updates — To schedule a hardware proﬁle refresh, go to a system list under the Systems category, click on the name of the system, click the Hardware tab of the System Details page, and click the Schedule Hardware Refresh button.

4. Package List Proﬁle Updates — To schedule a package list proﬁle refresh, go to a system list under the Systems category, click on the name of the system, click the Packages tab of the System Details page, and click the Update Package List button.

Each page in the Schedule category represents a type of action.

4.7.1. Pending Actions

As shown in Figure 4-7, the Pending Actions page is shown by default when you click Schedule in the top navigation bar. It displays actions that have not started or are in progress.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 65

Figure 4-7. Schedule - Pending Actions

4.7.2. Failed Actions

The Failed Actions page displays actions that have failed to succeed. If the action returns an error, it will be displayed.

4.7.3. Completed Actions

The Completed Actions page displays actions that have succeeded.

4.7.4. Archived Actions

The Archived Actions page displays actions that you have selected to store for review.

4.7.5. Actions List

In each page, each row in the list represents a single scheduled event or action that might affect multiple systems and involve various packages. The list contains several columns of information:

• Select — Use the checkboxes in this column to select actions. After selecting actions, you can

either add them to your selection list or move them to the Archived Actions list. If you archive a pending action, it is not canceled; The action item just moves from the Pending Actions list to the

Archived Actions list.

66 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

• Action — Type of action to perform such as Errata Update or Package Install. Clicking an ac-

tion name takes you to its Action Details page. Refer to Section 4.7.5.1 Action Details for more information.

• Earliest — The earliest day and time the action will be performed.

• Succeeded — Number of systems on which this action was successful.

• Failed — Number of systems on which this action has been tried and failed.

• In Progress — Number of systems on which this action is taking place.

• Total — Total number of systems on which this action has been scheduled.

4.7.5.1. Action Details

If you click on the name of an action, the Action Details page appears. This page contains the following tabs:

• Details — General information about the action. This is the ﬁrst tab you see when you click on an

action. It displays the action type, scheduling administrator, earliest execution, and notes. Clicking the Errata name takes you to the Errata Details page. Refer to Section 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.

• Completed Systems — List of systems on which the action has been successfully undertaken.

Clicking a system name takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

• In Progress Systems — List of systems on which the action is now being undertaken. To cancel an

action, select the system using the appropriate checkbox and click the Unschedule Action button. Clicking a system name takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

• Failed Systems — List of systems on which the action has been attempted and failed. Clicking a

system name takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

4.8. Users

Only Organization Administrators can see the Users tab on the top navigation bar. If you click the Users tab, the Users category and links appear. These pages enable you to grant and edit permissions

for those who will administer your system groups. Click in the User List to modify users within your organization.

4.8.1. User List

As shown in Figure 4-8, each row in the User List represents a user within your organization. There are three columns of information for each user:

• Username — The login name of the user. If you click on a username, the User Details page for the

user is displayed. Refer to Section 4.8.1.2 User Details for more information.

• Real Name — The full name of the user (last name ﬁrst).

• Roles — List of the user’s privileges, such as Organization Administrator or normal user. Users can

have multiple roles.

• Last Sign In — Shows when the user last logged into RHN.

Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website 67

Figure 4-8. User List

4.8.1.1. Create User

Click the create new user button on the top-right corner of the page to add new users to the organization. When registering a system, a user account can be created and added to the organization, as well. This should be coordinated by the Organization Administrator. Refer to Section 7.3 Registering a User Account for instructions.

On the Create User page, complete all required ﬁelds, including all login and contact information. Then click the Create Login button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Once the login is created, you can click on the username in the User List to make system and group assignments. Refer to Section 4.8.1.2 User Details for more information.

4.8.1.2. User Details

Clicking on a username displays the User Details page for the individual. This page is divided into ﬁve tabs:

• Details — The username, ﬁrst name, last name, email address, and user roles for the user. All of this

information is modiﬁable. To do so, make your changes and click the Update button. Remember, when changing a user’s password, you will see only asterisks as you type the password. To assign a user the role of Organization Administrator or channel administrator, select the appropriate checkbox before clicking Update.

• Assigned Groups — List of system groups that the user may administer. To add or remove system

groups from a user’s administration, select or unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update Permissions button.

• Systems — List of systems that the user can administer. These systems come from the system

groups assigned to the user on the previous tab. To add systems to the System Set Manager, select them and click the Update button. Clicking the name of a system takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.

• Preferences — Modiﬁable Red Hat Network options. These include:

• Errata Email Notiﬁcation — Determine whether you want to receive email every time an Errata

Alert is applicable to one or more systems in your RHN account.

68 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website

• 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 the user’s view of system lists, Errata lists, package lists, and so on.

• Time Zone — Set your time zone so that scheduled actions are arranged 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.

To modify any of these options, make your changes and click the Alter Preferences button.

• Addresses — General address, billing address, and shipping address for the user, as conﬁgured

during user creation. To modify these addresses, click Edit this address next to the address to be modiﬁed, make the changes, and click the Update button.

Chapter 5.

Red Hat Network Daemon

The Red Hat Network Daemon periodically connects to the Red Hat Network to check for updates and notiﬁcations. The default interval time is two hours (120 minutes). This can be conﬁgured in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhnsd ﬁle by specifying the time interval in 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.

Note

The minimum time interval allowed is one hour (60 minutes). If you set the interval below one hour, it will default to two hours (120 minutes).

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.

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.

The same rules you conﬁgured for the Red Hat Update Agent apply to the Red Hat Network Daemon (see Section 2.4.1 Using the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool).

70 Chapter 5. Red Hat Network Daemon

Chapter 6.

Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2

Red Hat Linux 6.2 shipped with a program named Red Hat Update Agent (up2date). However, this version of the Red Hat Update Agent can not be used to connect to Red Hat Network to receive package updates. You need a new version of the Red Hat Update Agent and the Red Hat Network Registration Client to use Red Hat Network on a Red Hat Linux 6.2 system.

To download and install these programs, use the following steps:

1. In a shell prompt, log in as root and execute the command mkdir rhnpackages to create a new directory in which to download the packages.

2. In the same shell prompt, execute the command cd rhnpackages to change to the new directory.

3. Go to http://rhn.redhat.com/help/rh62.pxt and download the necessary packages.

4. Go back to the shell prompt in the rhnpackages directory (you must still be root) and execute the command rpm -Uvh * to upgrade the existing Red Hat Update Agent to the version that works with Red Hat Network. The Red Hat Network Registration Client will also be installed with this command along with other packages your system needs to run the Red Hat Network programs.

5. After they are installed, run the Red Hat Network Registration Client (rhn_register) to register your system. See Chapter 7 Red Hat Network Registration Client for details.

6. Login to your account at http://rhn.redhat.com to conﬁgure your preferences and to conﬁgure which systems you want to entitle.

72 Chapter 6. Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2

Chapter 7.

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 Linux 6.2 through 7.3 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS need to use this separate Red Hat Network Registration Client before star ting the Red Hat Update Agent. Systems running Red Hat Linux 8.0 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 starting the Red Hat Update Agent and begin steps listed in Section 2.3 Setup and Use.

7.1. Conﬁguring the Red Hat Network Registration Client

Warning

Most users do not need to conﬁgure the Red Hat Network Registration Client before registering their systems. Do not attempt to use this option unless you must.

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 7-1 will appear.

74 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 7-1. Red Hat Network Registration Client Conﬁguration

To start the command line version, use the command:

rhn_register --nox --configure

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://www.rhns.redhat.com/XMLRPC

2. oemInfoFile /etc/sysconfig/rhn/oeminfo

3. enableProxy No

4. networkSetup Yes

5. httpProxy

6. proxyUser

7. serverURL https://www.rhns.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.

Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 75

7.2. 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. 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

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 7.7 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 7-2. 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 7-2. 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 7-3 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.

76 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 7-3. 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 7-4). Click Next to continue with the registration process. If you click Cancel, the registration process will end and no information will be sent.

Figure 7-4. Welcome Screen

Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy (see Figure 7-5). 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. If you have any questions about how your information is being used, please contact us at <feedback@redhat.com>.

Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 77

Figure 7-5. Red Hat Privacy Statement

7.3. 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 7-7, 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 7-6). Try different usernames until you ﬁnd one that has not been used.

Figure 7-6. Error: Username Already Exists

78 Chapter 7. 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 and password have the following restrictions:

• Must be at least four characters long

• Are case-insensitive

• Can not contain any spaces

• Can not contain any tabs

• Can not contain any line feeds

• Can not contain the characters &, +, %, or ’

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 7-7. Create a Unique Username and Password

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,

Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 79

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 4.8.1.1 Create User for instructions.

Click Next to continue.

7.4. 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.

7.4.1. 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 7-8. 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 7-8).

Click Next to continue with the registration process.

80 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 7-8. System Proﬁle - Hardware

7.4.2. 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.

7.4.2.1. 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 Web interface or by using the

Red Hat Update Agent. Figure 7-9 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 7-9. Registration Wizard

Once the RPM package list is built, the list will be displayed as shown in Figure 7-10. Deselecting Include RPM Packages installed on this system in my System Proﬁle will omit this information from your System Proﬁle.

Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 81

Figure 7-10. RPM Package Information

7.4.2.2. 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 7-11 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.

82 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 7-11. Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Proﬁle

7.5. Finishing Registration

As seen in Figure 7-12, 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 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 83

Figure 7-12. Finished Collecting Information for System Proﬁle

Figure 7-13 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 7-13. 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 7-14). 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 7.6 Entitling Your System for details.

84 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Figure 7-14. Registration Finished

7.6. 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 login using the same username and password you just used in the Red Hat Network Registration Client. On the left navigation bar, click Entitlements under the Your RHN category. The Entitlement Manager tells you how many entitlements you have left. If you have one or more left, check the checkbox under the Entitled column beside the name of the system that you just registered. Then click the Update Entitlements button at the bottom of the page. The number of entitlements remaining will decrease, and your system is now ready to use the Red Hat Update Agent and RHN website. Refer to Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent and Chapter 4 Red Hat Network Website for details on how to use them. If you do not have any entitlement slots left, enter the number you want to purchase and click the Buy Now! button to purchase additional subscriptions.

7.7. 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

Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client 85

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 7.2 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

Figure 7-15. Text Mode Welcome Screen

86 Chapter 7. Red Hat Network Registration Client

Glossary

Action

A task that is scheduled by a system administrator using Red Hat Network to be performed on one or more client systems. For example, an action can be scheduled to update the kernel packages on all the systems within a selected group.

Activation Key

RHN Enterprise customers can generate activation keys through the RHN website. Each unique key can then be used to register a RHL system, entitle the system to RHN Enterprise, subscribe the system to speciﬁc channels, and subscribe the system to RHN system groups through the command line utility rhnreg_ks from the rhn_register package.

Base Channel

A base channel is a type of Channel that consists of a list of packages based on a speciﬁc architecture and Red Hat Linux release. For example, all the packages in Red Hat Linux 9 for the x86 architecture make a base channel.

Basic

One of the RHN service level offerings. Basic was formerly called Software Manager. Basic offers the same services as the Software Manager subscription did, plus more new features.

Bug Fix Alert

An Errata Alert that pertains to a bug ﬁx.

Bugzilla

Bugzilla is an online application (http://www.redhat.com/bugzilla) that allows users to communicate directly with the developers. From Bugzilla, users can submit bug reports and feature requests for Red Hat Linux and related open source packages.

88 Glossary

Channel

A channel is a list of Red Hat Linux packages. Channels are used to choose packages to be installed from client systems. Every client system must be subscribed to one Base Channel and can be subscribed to one or more Child Channel .

Child Channel

A child channel is a Channel associated with a Base Channel but contains extra packages.

Client System

See Registered System .

Digital Certiﬁcate

A client component in XML format that is stored in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid ﬁle on registered systems. Red Hat Network veriﬁes this certiﬁcate to authenticate the registered system before each connection. This certiﬁcate is issued by Red Hat and passed to the system as part of the registration process. It includes unique information about the registered system to avoid fraudulent use.

Email Notiﬁcation

Similar to an Errata Alert , except the information is delivered via email. If the email notiﬁcations option is selected, notiﬁcations are sent for every Red Hat Network Errata Alert . The email includes the type of Errata Alert, summary of the Errata, description of the Errata, and a list of which systems are affected by the report.

Enhancement Alert

An Errata Alert that pertains to a package enhancement request.

Enterprise

One of the RHN service level offering. It has more features than the Basic service level, including user management, system groups, and enhanced system details.

Glossary 89

Entitled Server

A server that is subscribed to Software Manager . Because the server is entitled, the Software Manager interface can be used to manage its packages.

Errata

Information published by Red Hat describing security ﬁxes, bug ﬁxes, and package enhancements for Red Hat Linux. The information includes the topics of the Errata, Bugzilla bug IDs, relevant releases/architectures, solutions including required RPMs, and MD5 checksums for veriﬁcation. Errata are also available at http://www.redhat.com/errata/. Each RHN Errata Alert is based on the Red Hat Linux Errata List.

Security issues and bug ﬁxes are submitted by Red Hat engineers as well as the Linux community through Bugzilla which generates a bug report for each issue. Red Hat engineering evaluates the reports, resolves the bug, and generates new RPM packages. After the Red Hat quality assurance team tests new packages they are placed on the Red Hat Public File Server and on the Red Hat Network Server and an Errata is generated.

Errata Alert

RHN Errata Alert that updated packages based on Red Hat Errata are available for one or more systems within an organization. There are three types of Errata Alerts: Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts.

Organization Administrator

Organization Administrator are sets of users that have the highest level of control over an organization’s Red Hat Network account. Members of this group can add users, systems, and system groups to the organization as well as remove them. An Organization Administrator can also give users administrative privileges to system groups. An RHN organization must have at least one member of the Organization Administrator group.

Package

All software in Red Hat Linux is divided into software packages. Software updates are released in the form of RPM packages that can be installed on a Red Hat Linux system.

Registered System

A system that is registered with Red Hat Network. Also known as a client system.

90 Glossary

Red Hat Network Daemon

The RHN client daemon (rhnsd) that periodically polls Red Hat Network for updates and notiﬁcations.

Red Hat Network Registration Client

The RHN client application (rhn_register) that collects information about the client system, creates a System Proﬁle and Digital Certiﬁcate , establishes a connection with the Red Hat Network servers, and registers the system with Red Hat Network.

Red Hat Update Agent

The RHN client application (up2date) that allows users to retrieve and install all updated packages for the client system on which the application is run. Use the Red Hat Update Agent Conﬁguration Tool to conﬁgure its preferences, including whether to install the packages after they are downloaded.

RPM

A software package manager that was developed by Red Hat. It can be used to build, install, query, verify, update, and uninstall software packages. All software updates from RHN are delivered in RPM format.

RPM Database

Each Red Hat Linux system has an RPM database that stores information about all the RPM packages installed on the system. This information includes the version of the package, which ﬁles were installed with the package, a brief description of the package, the installation date, and more.

RPM Update

Red Hat Network option to deliver the RPM packages based on the Errata Alert list to a client system without user intervention. If this feature is selected, packages are delivered through the Red Hat Network Daemon running on the client system.

Security Alert

An Errata Alert that pertains to system security.

Glossary 91

Service Level

A Red Hat Network subscription service. Different service levels offer different features of RHN. There are two service levels currently available: RHN Basic and RHN Enterprise.

Software Manager

The name of the ﬁrst Service Level offering for Red Hat Network. Software Manager is now known as RHN Basic .

System Directory

The System Directory section of Red Hat Network allows an organization to divide its client systems into system groups. Only members of the Organization Administrator group can add systems to the organization.

System ID

A unique string of characters and numbers that identiﬁes a registered system. It is stored in the system’s Digital Certiﬁcate .

System Proﬁle

Hardware and software information about the client system. It is created during the registration process. The software information is a list of RPM packages and their versions installed on the client system. The System Proﬁle is used to determine every Errata Alert relevant to each client system.

System Set Manager

Interface that allows users to perform actions on multiple systems. Actions include applying Errata Updates, upgrading packages, and adding/removing systems to/from system groups.

92 Glossary

Redhat NETWORK ENTERPRISE 1.1.1 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual