Red Hat NETWORK - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 2.0, NETWORK 2.0 User Reference Manual

Red Hat Network

User Reference Guide 2.0

ISBN: N/A

Red Hat, Inc.

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Contents

Red Hat Network

Introduction...................... .................. ..................... ..................... . v

Document Conventions.................................................................... v

More to Come .............................................................................. viii

Chapter 1 What is Red Hat Network? ........... ..................... .... 11

1.1 Automatic Notifications........................................................... 12

1.2 Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network .......................... 12

1.3 Before You Begin ................................................................. 13

Chapter 2 Registration.......... ..................... ..................... ......... 15

2.1 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client............................. 15

2.2 Registering a User Account ..................................................... 17

2.3 Registering a System Profile .................................................... 21

2.4 Finishing Registration ............................................................ 25

2.5 Text Mode RHN Registration Client............................................. 27

Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration......... ......... 29

3.1 Configuring the Red Hat Update Agent ........................................ 29

3.2 General Settings.................................................................. 29

3.3 Retrieval/Installation Settings ................................................... 30

3.4 Package Exceptions Settings ................................................... 32

Chapter 4 Red Hat Update Agent............. ..................... ......... 35

4.1 Starting the Red Hat Update Agent ............................................ 35

4.2 Choosing Packages to Update.................................................. 37

4.3 Installing Updated Packages.................................................... 40

4.4 Update Agent Finished........................................................... 41

4.5 Command Line Mode Red Hat Update Agent................................. 42

4.6 Syncronizing Your System Profile............................................... 45

iii

Chapter 5 Red Hat Network....... ..................... ..................... .... 47

5.1 Logging into Red Hat Network .................................................. 47

5.2 Viewing Your Notifications ....................................................... 48

5.3 Adding a System Profile ......................................................... 49

5.4 Viewing Your Network Group.................................................... 50

5.5 Viewing Individual System Pages............................................... 52

5.6 Downloading Updated Packages ............................................... 53

5.7 Customizing Preferences........................................................ 53

5.8 Searching Errata.................................................................. 55

5.9 Viewing Online Help.............................................................. 56

Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon.. ..................... .............. 57

Chapter 7 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2.59

Chapter 8 Frequently Asked Questions............... ................. 61

Section 0.1:Document Conventions v

Introduction

Welcome to the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide 2.0. The Red Hat Network 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. All version of this manual are available at http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals/. Once you use Red Hat Network to update these applications, you can use the latest version of this manual.

This version of the manual covers version 2.1.7 of the Red Hat Update Agent and version 1.0.2 of the Red Hat Network Registration Client.

For a more detailed, technical overview of Red Hat Network, please refer to the Red Hat Network Whitepaper and the Red Hat Network Technical Paper available at http://www.redhat.com/products/network/.

Document Conventions

When you read this manual, you’ll 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 in 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 (e.g., 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 Red Hat Linux system. Examples:

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

vi Introduction

The /etc/fstab file contains information about different system devices and filesystems. The /usr/share/doc directory contains documentation for various programs. Install the webalizer RPM if you want to use a Web server log file analysis program.

application

This style should indicate to you that the program named is an end-user application (as opposed to system software). For example:

Use Netscape Navigator 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 restart the X Window System.

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 (e.g., text associated with a checkbox or field). Examples:

On the GNOME

Control Center screen, you can customize your GNOME window manager.

Select the

Require Password checkbox if you’d 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 levelof a pull-downmenu. If you click on the word on the GUI screen, the rest of the menu should appear. For example:

Under

Settings on a GNOME terminal, you’ll see the following menu items: Preferences,

Reset Terminal,

Reset and Clear, and Color selector.

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

Click on

Programs=>Applications=>Emacs to start the Emacs text editor.

button on a GUI screen or window

Section 0.1:Document Conventions vii

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

Click on the

Back button to return to the Web page you last viewed.

computer output

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

Use the ls to display the contents of a directory:

$ls Desktop axhome logs paulwesterberg.gif 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.

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 and windows are 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.

Another example, with the word root displayed as something the user needs to type in: If you need to log in as root when you first log into your system, and you are using the graphical

glossary entry

viii Introduction

A word that appears in the glossary will be shown in the body of the document in this style. For example:

The lpd daemon handles printing requests. In this case, the style of the word daemon should indicate to you that a definition of the term is

available in the glossary.

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 a tip, a note, important, a 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.

CAUTION

Don’t do routine tasks as root -- use a regular user account unless you need to use the root account to administer your system.

WARNING

If you choose not to partition manually, a server-class installation will remove all existing partitions on all installed hard drives. Don’t choose this installation class unless you’re sure you have no data you need to save.

More to Come

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

Section 0.2:More to Come ix

Send in Your Feedback

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

RHNurg(EN)-2.0-Print-RHI (2001-01-29T10:47-0400) You can send mail to:

rhn-feedback@redhat.com

x Introduction

What is Red Hat Network? 11

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?

Haveyou 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 evertried to find an RPM but instead you are only able to find the source files that you have to compile yourself?

Haveyou everspent hours or evendays visiting differentwebsites to see ifyou 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 (collective known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat using the Red Hat Update Agent standalone application or through a Web browser at http://www.redhat.com/network/.

The three main components of Red Hat Network are as follows:

• The Red Hat Network Registration Client

• The Red Hat Network user interface

• The Red Hat Network Daemon

The Red Hat Network Registration Client allows you to create a unique RHN user name and password and probes the hardware and software on your system to create a System Profile. The System Profile is sent to RHN and RHN returns a unique System ID to your system (see Chapter 2, Registra- tion for further information).

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

• web interface available at http://www.redhat.com/network/

• The Red Hat Update Agent Both the web interface and the Red Hat Update Agent allow you to viewall Errata Alerts included 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.

12 Chapter 1:What is Red Hat Network?

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 6, Red Hat Network Daemon for further information).

1.1 Automatic Notifications

During registration, you can configure Red Hat Network to send you email notifications of new and updated software packages. Automated notifications of the latest updates

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

• Minimize security vulnerabilities in your network by providing the patches as soon as Red Hat releases them

• Filter out package updates not relevant to your network

• Provide a reliable method of managing multiple systems with similar configurations

1.2 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://www.redhat.com/network/ is only accessible with the correct user name and password.

2. A Digital Certificatestored on the client system in the file/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid after registration is used to authenticate the system during each transaction between the client and Red Hat Network.

3. All notifications and information messages are signed by Red Hat with an electronic signature using GPG. The rpm utility 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.

Section 1.3:Before You Begin 13

1.3 Before You Begin

Red Hat Network is available for Red Hat Linux 6.2. Refer to Chapter 7, Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2 for details on installing the necessary packages.

By default, all the software packages you need to use Red Hat Network are installed with Red Hat Linux 7. However, if you chose not to install them during the installation process or performed an upgrade to Red Hat Linux 7, you might not have the Red Hat Network Registration Client or the Red Hat Update Agent installed. To verify that 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-1.0-7

The version number might differ slightly if you have a newer version installed. If you do not have 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, Red Hat Network Packages. If you do not want to use the graphical versions, you do not have to install the two packages ending in gnome.

Table 1–1 Red Hat Network Packages

Package Name Description

rhn_register Provides the Red Hat Network Registration Client program and the text

mode interface

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

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

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

Hat Network Daemon

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

Update Agent; runs if the X Window System is available

Ifthe packages are not installed, they can be found on the Red Hat Linux7 CD1 in the RedHat/RPMS directory or downloaded from the Red Hat FTP site 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.

14 Chapter 1:What is Red Hat Network?

Section 2.1:Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client 15

2 Registration

Before you begin using Red Hat Network, you need to create a user name, password, and System Profile. The Red Hat Network Registration Client will walk you through this process.

2.1 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 in Red Hat Linux 6.2 or higher, use one of the following methods:

1. On the GNOME desktop, go to the

Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Programs => System

=> RHN Registration

2. On the KDE desktop, go to the

Main Menu Button (on the Panel) => Red Hat => System => RHN

Registration

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. Please refer to Section 2.5, 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 2–1, Use Python 1.5.2-24 or later. 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.

16 Chapter 2:Registration

Figure 2–1 Use Python 1.5.2-24 or later

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 2–2, Welcome Screen). Click

Next to

continue with the registration process. If you click

Cancel, the registration process will end and no

information will be sent.

Figure 2–2 Welcome Screen

Section 2.2:Registering a User Account 17

Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy (see Figure 2–3, Red Hat Privacy Statement). 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 feed- back@redhat.com.

Figure 2–3 Red Hat Privacy Statement

2.2 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 user name and password.

2.2.1 Required User Account Information

In the screen shown in Figure 2–6, Create a Unique User Name and Password, you must choose a user name and password. Once logged into Red Hat Network, you can to modify your preferences, view your existing System Profile, or obtain the lastest Red Hat software packages. You must choose a unique user name. If you enter one already in use, you will see an error message (see Figure 2–4,

18 Chapter 2:Registration

Error: Username AlreadyExists) until you have successfully chosen a unique user name and password combination.

Figure 2–4 Error: Username Already Exists

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 user name and password have the following restrictions:

• Must be at least four characters long

• Are case-insentitive

• 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 your system and try to register it again, the dialog box shown in Figure 2–5, Warning: This System Already Registered will appear. If you continue, it will overwrite your existing systemid 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.

Section 2.2:Registering a User Account 19

Figure 2–5 Warning: This System Already Registered

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

You can register one free system with Red Hat Network Software Manager. To register more than one system, you must purchase additional Software Manager subscriptions. Refer Section 5.4.3, As- sign Service Levels for more information about purchasing additional subscriptions.. Once again, it is important to use your existing user name and password combination when registering an additional system. If you do not, you will not be able to login with one user name and password to view all your systems.

20 Chapter 2:Registration

Figure 2–6 Create a Unique User Name and Password

2.2.2 Optional User Account Information

You can also choose whether to receive email notifications about updates relevant to your system by selecting the box next titled

I want to receive email notification for updates to my System Profiles.

When selected, the

Email address:

text area will no longer be shaded and you can enter the email

address where notifications will be sent. The email address can be changed at any time. Click

Next to continue creating a User Account.

After successfully creating a user name and password, you are prompted for your contact information. This information is optional. If you would like to receive information about special offers from Red Hat’s partners or receive the Red Hat e-Newsletter,please fill out the relevant information (see Figure 2–7, Optional User Account Information).

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