Red Hat NETWORK SATELLITE SERVER 4.1.0, RHN SATELLITE SERVER 4.1.0 Installation Manual
RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0
Installation Guide
RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0: Installation Guide
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction....................................................................................................................1
1.1. Red Hat Network ..............................................................................................1
1.2. RHN Satellite Server.........................................................................................2
1.3. Terms to Understand .........................................................................................2
1.4. How it Works ....................................................................................................3
1.5. Summary of Steps .............................................................................................5
2. Requirements.................................................................................................................. 9
2.1. Software Requirements .....................................................................................9
2.2. Hardware Requirements..................................................................................10
2.3. Database Requirements ...................................................................................11
2.4. Additional Requirements ................................................................................13
3. Example Topologies .....................................................................................................17
3.1. Single Satellite Topology ................................................................................17
3.2. Multiple Satellite Horizontally Tiered Topology ............................................18
3.3. Satellite-Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology ....................................................19
4. Installation ....................................................................................................................21
4.1. Base Install......................................................................................................21
4.2. RHN Satellite Server Installation Program................................................21
4.2.1. Options to the Satellite Installation Program ...................................30
4.3. Automated RHN Satellite Server Installation .................................................32
4.4. Sendmail Configuration ..................................................................................32
4.5. MySQL Installation ........................................................................................33
5. Entitlements..................................................................................................................35
5.1. Receiving the Certificate .................................................................................35
5.2. Uploading the RHN Entitlement Certificate ...................................................36
5.3. Managing the RHN Certificate with RHN Satellite Activate .......................36
5.3.1. Command Line Entitlement Options ...............................................37
5.3.2. Activating the Satellite .....................................................................37
6. Importing and Synchronizing .....................................................................................39
6.1. Exporting with RHN Satellite Exporter .......................................................39
6.1.1. rhn-satellite-exporter..........................................................39
6.1.2. Exporting..........................................................................................41
6.2. Importing with RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool ..................................41
6.2.1. satellite-sync ...........................................................................42
6.2.2. Preparing for Import from Local Media ..........................................44
6.2.3. Running the Import ..........................................................................46
6.3. Synchronizing .................................................................................................47
6.3.1. Synchronizing Errata and Packages Directly via RHN ...................48
6.3.2. Synchronizing Errata and Packages via Local Media ......................48
7. Troubleshooting............................................................................................................51
7.1. Log Files .........................................................................................................51
7.2. General Problems ............................................................................................52
7.3. Host Not Found/Could Not Determine FQDN ...............................................53
7.4. Connection Errors ...........................................................................................54
7.5. Satellite Debugging by Red Hat .....................................................................55
8. Maintenance .................................................................................................................57
8.1. Managing the Satellite Service .......................................................................57
8.2. Updating the Satellite ......................................................................................57
8.3. Backing Up the Satellite .................................................................................58
8.4. Using RHN DB Control ................................................................................59
8.4.1. DB Control Options .........................................................................59
8.4.2. Backing up the Database..................................................................60
8.4.3. Verifying the Backup .......................................................................61
8.4.4. Restoring the Database ....................................................................61
8.5. Cloning the Satellite with Embedded DB .......................................................62
8.6. Establishing Redundant Satellites with Stand-Alone DB ...............................62
8.7. Conducting Satellite-Specific Tasks ...............................................................63
8.7.1. Using the Tools menu ......................................................................64
8.7.2. Deleting Users..................................................................................65
8.8. Automating Synchronization ..........................................................................67
8.9. Implementing PAM Authentication ................................................................68
8.10. Enabling Push to Clients ...............................................................................69
A. Sample RHN Satellite Server Configuration File.....................................................71
Index..................................................................................................................................73
Chapter 1.
Introduction
RHN Satellite Server provides a solution to organizations requiring absolute control over
and privacy of the maintenance and package deployment of their servers. It allows Red
Hat Network customers the greatest flexibility and power in keeping servers secure and
updated.
Two types of RHN Satellite Server are available: One with a stand-alone database on a
separate machine and one with an embedded database installed on the same machine as
the Satellite. This guide describes the installation of both types of Satellite.
Although the two types of RHN Satellite Server are functionally similar, some differences
do exist. These variations are primarily isolated to hardware requirements, installation
steps, and maintenance activities. They may also appear during troubleshooting. This guide
identifies distinctions between the Satellite types by marking the differing instructions as
either Stand-Alone Database or Embedded Database.
1.1. Red Hat Network
Red Hat Network (RHN) is the environment for system-level support and management of
Red Hat systems and networks of systems. Red Hat Network brings together the tools,
services, and information repositories needed to maximize the reliability, security, and performance of their systems. To use RHN, system administrators register the software and
hardware profiles, known as System Profiles, of their client systems with Red Hat Network.
When a client system requests package updates, only the applicable packages for the client
are returned (based upon the software profile stored on the RHN Servers).
Advantages of using Red Hat Network include:
• Scalability — with Red Hat Network, a single system administrator can set up and main-
tain hundreds or thousands of Red Hat systems more easily, accurately, and quickly than
they could maintain a single system without Red Hat Network.
• Standard Protocols — standard protocols are used to maintain security and increase
capability. For example, XML-RPC gives Red Hat Network the ability to do much more
than merely download files.
• Security — all communication between registered systems and Red Hat Network takes
place over secure Internet connections.
• View Errata Alerts — easily view Errata Alerts for all your client systems through one
website.
2 Chapter 1. Introduction
• Scheduled Actions — use the website to schedule actions, including Errata Updates,
package installs, and software profile updates.
• Simplification — maintaining Red Hat systems becomes a simple, automated process.
1.2. RHN Satellite Server
RHN Satellite Server allows organizations to utilize the benefits of Red Hat Network without having to provide public Internet access to their servers or other client systems. System
Profiles are stored locally on the customer’s RHN Satellite Server. The Red Hat Network
website is served from a local Web server and is not accessible from the Internet. All package management tasks, including Errata Updates, are performed through the local area
network.
Advantages of using RHN Satellite Server include:
• Security — an end-to-end secure connection is maintained from the client systems to
the RHN Satellite Server without connecting to the public Internet.
• Efficiency — packages are delivered significantly faster over a local area network.
• Control — clients’ System Profiles are stored on the local RHN Satellite Server, not on
the central Red Hat Network Servers.
• Customized updates — create a truly automated package delivery system for custom
software packages required by client systems, as well as Red Hat packages. Custom
channels allow fine-grained control of the delivery of custom packages.
• Access control — system administrators can be restricted to access only those systems
within their maintenance responsibilities.
• Bandwidth management — the bandwidth used for transactions between the clients and
the RHN Satellite Server is controlled by the organization on the local area network;
RHN Satellite Server clients do not have to compete with other clients accessing the
central Red Hat Network file servers.
• Scalability — RHN Satellite Server may oversee an entire organization’s servers in com-
bination with RHN Proxy Server.
1.3. Terms to Understand
Before understanding RHN Satellite Server, it is important to become familiar with the
following Red Hat Network terms:
• Channel — A channel is a list of software packages. There are two types of channels:
base channels and child channels. A base channel consists of a list of packages based on
Chapter 1. Introduction 3
a specific architecture and Red Hat release. A child channel is a channel associated with
a base channel that contains extra packages.
• Organization Administrator — An Organization Administrator is a user role with the
highest level of control over an organization’s Red Hat Network account. Members of
this role can add other users, systems, and system groups to the organization as well
as remove them. A Red Hat Network organization must have at least one Organization
Administrator.
• INCLUDE — A Channel Administrator is a user role with full access to channel man-
agement capabilities. Users with this role are capable of creating channels, assigning
packages to channels, cloning channels, and deleting channels. This role can be assigned
by an Organization Administrator through the Users tab of the RHN website.
• Red Hat Update Agent — The Red Hat Update Agent is the Red Hat Network client
application (up2date) that allows users to retrieve and install new or updated packages
for the client system on which the application is run.
• Traceback — A traceback is a detailed description of "what went wrong" that is useful
for troubleshooting the RHN Satellite Server. Tracebacks are automatically generated
when a critical error occurs and are mailed to the individual(s) designated in the RHN
Satellite Server’s configuration file.
For more detailed explanations of these terms and others, refer to the Red Hat Network
Reference Guide.
1.4. How it Works
RHN Satellite Server consists of the following components:
• Database — for the Stand-Alone Database, this may be the organization’s existing
database or, preferably, a separate machine. RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0 supports Oracle
9i R2. For the Embedded Database, the database comes bundled with RHN Satellite
Server and is installed on the same machine as the Satellite during the installation
process.
• RHN Satellite Server — core "business logic" and entry point for Red Hat Update
Agent running on client systems. The RHN Satellite Server also includes an Apache
HTTP Server (serving XML-RPC requests).
• RHN Satellite Server Web interface — advanced system, system group, user, and chan-
nel management interface.
• RPM Repository — package repository for Red Hat RPM packages and custom RPM
packages identified by the organization.
• Management Tools:
• Database and file system synchronization tools
4 Chapter 1. Introduction
• RPM importing tools
• Channel maintenance tools (Web-based)
• Errata management tools (Web-based)
• User management tools (Web-based)
• Client system and system grouping tools (Web-based)
• Red Hat Update Agent on the client systems
The Red Hat Update Agent on the client systems must be reconfigured to retrieve updates from the organization’s internal RHN Satellite Server instead of the central Red Hat
Network Servers. After this one-time reconfiguration, client systems may retrieve updates
locally using the Red Hat Update Agent, or system administrators may schedule actions
through the RHN Satellite Server website.
Important
Red Hat strongly recommends that clients connected to RHN Satellite Server be running
the latest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure proper connectivity.
When a client requests updates, the organization’s internal RHN Satellite Server queries its
database, authenticates the client system, identifies the updated packages available for the
client system, and sends the requested RPMs back to the client system. Depending upon
the client’s preferences, the package may also be installed. If the packages are installed,
the client system sends an updated package profile to the database on the RHN Satellite
Server; those packages are removed from the list of outdated packages for the client.
The organization can configure the website for the RHN Satellite Server to be accessible
from the local area network only or from both the local area network and the Internet.
The Satellite’s version of the RHN website allows full control over client systems, system
groups, and users.
The RHN Satellite Server management tools are used to synchronize the RHN Satellite
Server database and package repository with Red Hat Network. The RHN Satellite Server
import tool allows the system administrator to include custom RPM packages in the package repository.
RHN Satellite Server can be used in conjunction with RHN Proxy Server to deliver a distributed, self-contained Red Hat Network deployment for the organization. For example,
an organization can maintain one RHN Satellite Server in a secure location. Red Hat systems with local network access to the RHN Satellite Server can connect to it. Other remote
offices can maintain RHN Proxy Server installations that connect to the RHN Satellite
Server. The different locations inside the organization must be networked, but this can be a
Chapter 1. Introduction 5
private network; an Internet connection is not required for any of the systems. Refer to the
RHN Proxy Server Installation Guide for more information.
Figure 1-1. Using RHN Satellite Server and RHN Proxy Server Together
1.5. Summary of Steps
Implementing a fully functional RHN Satellite Server requires more than installing software and a database. Client systems must be configured to use the Satellite. Custom packages and channels should be created for optimal use. Since these tasks extend beyond the
basic installation, they are covered in detail in other guides, as well as this RHN Satellite
Server Installation Guide. For a full list of the necessary technical documents, refer to
Chapter 2 Requirements.
For this reason, this section seeks to provide a definitive list of all required and recommended steps, from evaluation through custom package deployment. They should take
place in roughly this order:
6 Chapter 1. Introduction
1. After an evaluation, you contact your Red Hat sales representative to purchase RHN
Satellite Server.
2. Your Red Hat contact sends you an RHN Entitlement Certificate via email.
3. Your Red Hat contact creates a Satellite-entitled account on the RHN website and
sends you the login information.
4. Log into the RHN website (rhn.redhat.com) and download the distribution ISOs for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 or 4 and RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0. These can be
found within the Downloads tab of the respective Channel Details pages. Refer to
the RHN Reference Guide for instructions.
5. While still logged into the RHN website, download the Channel Content ISOs to
be served by your Satellite, also available through the Downloads tab of your Satellite’s Channel Details page. These Channel Content ISOs differ from the distribution
ISOs previously mentioned in that they contain metadata necessary for parsing and
serving packages by Satellite.
6. If installing a Stand-Alone Database, prepare your database instance using the formula provided in Chapter 2 Requirements.
7. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and then RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0 on the
Satellite machine.
8. Create the first user account on the Satellite by opening the Satellite’s hostname in a
Web browser and clicking Create Account. This will be the Satellite Administrator’s
(also referred to as the Organization Administrator) account.
9. Use the RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool to import the channels and associated
packages into the Satellite.
10. Register a representative machine for each distribution type, or channel (Red Hat
Enterprise Linux AS 2.1, 3, 4), to the Satellite.
11. Copy (using SCP) the rhn_register and up2date configuration files from the
/etc/sysconfig/rhn/ directory of each machine individually to the /pub/ di-
rectory on the Satellite. The rhn-org-trusted-ssl-cert-*.noarch.rpm will
already be there.
12. Download and install from the Satellite the configuration files and
rhn-org-trusted-ssl-cert-*.noarch.rpm on the remaining client systems
of the same distribution type. Repeat this and the previous step until all distribution
types are complete.
13. Through the Satellite’s website, create an Activation Key for each distribution
aligned to the appropriate base channel. At this point, system groups and child
channels may also be predefined.
14. Run the Activation Key from the command line (rhnreg_ks) of each client system.
Note that this step can be scripted to batch register and reconfigure all remaining
client systems in a distribution.
Chapter 1. Introduction 7
15. Record all relevant usernames, passwords and other login information and store in
multiple secure places.
16. Now that the Satellite is populated with standard Red Hat channels and packages and
all clients are connected to it, you may begin creating and serving custom channels
and packages. Once the custom RPMs are developed, you can import them into the
Satellite using RHN Push and add custom channels in which to store them through
the Satellite’s website. Refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide for details.
8 Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2.
Requirements
These requirements must be met before installation.
2.1. Software Requirements
To perform an installation, the following software components must be available:
• Base operating system — RHN Satellite Server is supported with Red Hat Enterprise
Linux AS 3 Update 5 or later, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 only. The operating
system can be installed from disc, local ISO image, kickstart, or any of the methods
supported by Red Hat, but must contain certain packages not included in a standard
installation.
Note
When Red Hat Enterprise Linux is mentioned, it refers to the x86, 32-bit version. All
other variants of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are currently unsupported as a base operating system for the Satellite.
Warning
Security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) must be disabled or in permissive mode prior to installation of RHN Satellite Server. To do this during CD or ISO image installation, select
Permissive when presented with options for SELinux support. To do this for kickstart
installation, include the command selinux --permissive or wait for the install to complete, edit the /etc/selinux/config file to read SELINUX=permissive and reboot the
system.
More in-depth coverage of SELinux is available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/. You may
also refer to the Red Hat Knowledgebase article on SELinux and RHN Satellite Server at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/.
• Satellite installation disc or ISO — this contains the RHN Satellite Server Installation
Program. All packages required in order to suport the Program are installed automati-
cally, and require no intervention from the user.
10 Chapter 2. Requirements
Note
Installing packages other than the packages contained in the @ Base package group can
lead to package conflicts.
• Channel content — All software packages and data exported for all entitled Red Hat
channels. This content may be loaded directly on the Satellite after installation using the
RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool or obtained from your Red Hat representative if
synchronization is not possible, such as in a disconnected environment.
When installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 or 4 from CD or ISO image, there is no
need to select any package groups, only the base install is required. When installing either
operating system via kickstart, select the @ Base package group.
2.2. Hardware Requirements
The following hardware configuration is required for the two types of RHN Satellite
Server:
Stand-Alone Database Embedded Database
Required - Pentium IV processor, 2.4GHz,
512K cache or equivalent
Required - Pentium IV processor, 2.4GHz,
512K cache or equivalent
Recommended - Pentium IV processor,
2.4GHz dual processor, 512K cache or
equivalent
Recommended - Pentium IV processor,
2.4GHz dual processor, 512K cache or
equivalent
Required - 2 GB of memory Required - 2 GB of memory
Recommended - 4 GB of memory Strongly recommended - 4 GB of memory
3 GB storage for base install of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux AS
3 GB storage for base install of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux AS
6 GB storage per channel, in the
/var/satellite/ directory by default
but configurable at install
6 GB storage per channel, in the
/var/satellite/ directory by default
but configurable at install
Recommended - an external SAN for more
reliable backups
Recommended - an external SAN for more
reliable backups
Chapter 2. Requirements 11
Stand-Alone Database Embedded Database
12 GB storage for the database repository,
in the /rhnsat partition (local storage
only)
Strongly recommended - a SCSI drive
connected to a level 5 RAID
Separate partition (or better, a separate set
of physical disks) for storing backups. This
can be any directory specifiable at backup
time.
Table 2-1. Stand-Alone Database and Embedded Database Satellite Hardware Requirements
The following hardware configuration is required for the Stand-Alone Database:
• Two processors
• 2 GB of memory
See Section 2.3 Database Requirements for instructions on estimating the tablespace of the
database and setting its environment variables.
Keep in mind, the frequency with which client systems connect to the Satellite is directly
related to load on the Apache HTTP Server and the database. Reducing the default interval
of four hours (or 240 minutes) as set in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhnsd configuration
file of the client systems significantly increases the load on those components.
Additional hardware requirements include:
• The Stand-Alone Database must not run on the same server as the RHN Satellite Server.
• The package repository may be any large storage device easily and securely accessed
by the other components. The space requirements depend on the number of packages
that will be stored. Default Red Hat channels contain approximately 3 GB of packages
each, and that size grows with each synchronization; customers must also account for the
space requirements of packages in their own private channels. Whatever storage solution
the customer chooses, its mount point may be defined during the installation process.
If you are installing RHN Satellite Server with Embedded Database, skip to
Section 2.4 Additional Requirements.
2.3. Database Requirements
This section applies only to RHN Satellite Server with Stand-Alone Database as the requirements for the Embedded Database are included in the Satellite machine’s hardware
12 Chapter 2. Requirements
requirements. Red Hat supports RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0 installations in conjunction
with Oracle 9i R2. The Stand-Alone Database must not run on the same server as the RHN
Satellite Server.
A single 6 GB tablespace is recommended as more than sufficient for most installations. It
is possible for many customers to function with a smaller tablespace. An experienced Oracle database administrator (DBA) will be necessary to assess sizing issues. The following
formula should be used to determine the required size of your database:
• 192 KB per client system
• 64 MB per channel
For instance, an RHN Satellite Server containing 10 channels serving 10,000 systems
would require 1.92 GB for its clients and 640 MB for its channels. If custom channels
are to be established for testing and staging of packages, they must be included in this
formula.
Keep in mind, the database storage needs may grow rapidly, depending upon the variance
of the following factors:
• The number of public Red Hat packages imported (typical: 5000)
• The number of private packages to be managed (typical: 500)
• The number of systems to be managed (typical: 1000)
• The number of packages installed on the average system (typical: 500)
Although you should be generous in your database sizing estimates, you must consider
that size affects the time to conduct backups and adds load to other system resources. If the
database is shared, its hardware and spacing are entirely dependent on what else is using
it.
The Oracle database should have a user assigned to RHN Satellite Server with full DDL
and DML access to that user’s default tablespace. The user needs standard connection
information for the database at the time of installation.
The precise access levels required by the Oracle user are as follows:
• ALTER SESSION
• CREATE SEQUENCE
• CREATE SYNONYM
• CREATE TABLE
• CREATE VIEW
• CREATE PROCEDURE
• CREATE TRIGGER
Chapter 2. Requirements 13
• CREATE TYPE
• CREATE SESSION
Additional database requirements include:
• Security Identifier (SID)
• Listener Port
• Username
• Uniform Extent Size
• Auto Segment Space Management
• UTF-8 character set
The disk layout on the database machine is independent of the RHN Satellite Server and
entirely up to the customer.
2.4. Additional Requirements
The following additional requirements must be met before the RHN Satellite Server installation:
• Full Access
Client systems need full network access to the RHN Satellite Server solution’s services
and ports.
•
Firewall Rules
RHN strongly recommends firewalling the RHN Satellite Server solution from the Internet. However, it must be able to issue outbound connections to rhn.redhat.com, xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com and satellite.rhn.redhat.com on ports 80 and 443. Also, if Monitoring
is enabled on your RHN Satellite Server, inbound traffic must be allowed on port 4545.
•
Synchronized System Times
There is great time sensitivity when connecting to a Web server running SSL (Secure
Sockets Layer); it is imperative that the time settings on the clients and server be reasonably close together so the SSL certificate does not expire before or during use. For
this reason, Red Hat requires the Satellite and all client systems to use Network Time
Protocol (NTP). This also applies to the separate database machine in RHN Satellite
Server with Stand-Alone Database, which must also be set to the same time zone as the
Satellite.
• Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
14 Chapter 2. Requirements
The system upon which the RHN Satellite Server will be installed must resolve its own
FQDN properly. If this is not the case, cookies will not work properly on the website.
• Functioning Domain Name Service (DNS)
For the RHN Satellite Server’s domain name to be resolved by its clients, it and they
must all be linked to a working DNS server in the customer environment.
•
An Entitlement Certificate
The customer will receive, via email from the sales representative, a signed Entitlement
Certificate explaining the services provided by Red Hat through RHN Satellite Server.
This certificate will be required during the installation process.
• A Red Hat Network Account
Customers who connect to the central Red Hat Network Servers to receive incremental
updates must have an external account with Red Hat Network. This account should be
set up at the time of purchase with the sales representative.
• Backups of Login Information
It is imperative that customers keep track of all primary login information. For RHN
Satellite Server, this includes usernames and passwords for the Organization Administrator account on rhn.redhat.com, the primary administrator account on the Satellite
itself, SSL certificate generation, and database connection (which also requires a SID,
or net service name). Red Hat strongly recommends this information be copied onto two
separate floppy disks, printed out on paper, and stored in a fireproof safe.
In addition to these requirements, it is recommended that the RHN Satellite Server be
configured in the following manner:
• The entire RHN Satellite Server solution should be protected by a firewall if the Satellite
accesses or is accessed via the Internet. An Internet connection is not required for RHN
Satellite Servers running in completely disconnected environments. This feature instead
uses Channel Content ISOs that can be downloaded to a separate system to synchronize
the Satellite with the central Red Hat Network Servers. All other RHN Satellite Servers
should be synchronized directly over the Internet.
•
All unnecessary ports should be firewalled off. Client systems connect to RHN Satellite Server over ports 80, 443, and 4545 (if Monitoring is enabled). In addition, if you
plan to enable the pushing of actions from the Satellite to client systems, as described
in Section 8.10 Enabling Push to Clients, you must allow inbound connections on port
5222. Finally, if the Satellite will also push to an RHN Proxy Server, you must also allow
inbound connections on port 5269.
• No system components should be directly, publicly available. No user other than the
system administrators should have shell access to these machines.
Chapter 2. Requirements 15
•
All unnecessary services should be disabled using ntsysv or chkconfig.
•
The httpd service should be enabled.
•
If the Satellite serves Monitoring-entitled systems and you wish to acknowledge via
email the alert notifications you receive, you must configure sendmail to properly handle
incoming mail as described in Section 4.4 Sendmail Configuration.
Finally, you should have the following technical documents in hand for use in roughly this
order:
1. The RHN Satellite Server Installation Guide — This guide, which you are now reading, provides the essential steps necessary to get an RHN Satellite Server up and
running.
2. The RHN Client Configuration Guide — This guide explains how to configure the
systems to be served by an RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. (This will
also likely require referencing The RHN Reference Guide, which contains steps for
registering and updating systems.)
3. The RHN Channel Management Guide — This guide identifies in great detail the
recommended methods for building custom packages, creating custom channels, and
managing private Errata.
4. The RHN Reference Guide — This guide describes how to create RHN accounts, register and update systems, and use the RHN website to its utmost potential. This guide
will probably come in handy throughout the installation and configuration process.
16 Chapter 2. Requirements
Chapter 3.
Example Topologies
The RHN Satellite Server can be configured in multiple ways. Select one method depending on the following factors:
• The total number of client systems to be served by the RHN Satellite Server.
• The maximum number of clients expected to connect concurrently to the RHN Satellite
Server.
• The number of custom packages and channels to be served by the RHN Satellite Server.
• The number of RHN Satellite Servers being used in the customer environment.
• The number of RHN Proxy Servers being used in the customer environment.
The rest of this chapter describes possible configurations and explains their benefits.
3.1. Single Satellite Topology
The simplest configuration is to use a single RHN Satellite Server to serve your entire
network. This configuration is adequate to service a medium-size group of clients and
network.
The disadvantage of using one RHN Satellite Server is that performance will be compromised as the number of clients requesting packages grows.
18 Chapter 3. Example Topologies
Figure 3-1. Single Satellite Topology
3.2. Multiple Satellite Horizontally Tiered Topology
For very large networks, a more distributed method may be needed, such as having multiple
RHN Satellite Servers in a horizontally tiered configuration and balancing the load of client
requests.
It is possible to synchronize content between RHN Satellites using the
rhn-satellite-exporter and satellite-sync -m commands. This feature is
discussed in detail in Section 6.1.1 rhn-satellite-exporter.
Additional maintenance is the biggest disadvantage of this horizontal structure.
Chapter 3. Example Topologies 19
Figure 3-2. Multiple Satellite Horizontally Tiered Topology
3.3. Satellite-Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology
An alternative method to balance load is to install RHN Proxy Servers below a RHN Satellite Server. These Proxies connect to the Satellite for RPMs from Red Hat Network and
custom packages created locally. In essence, the Proxies act as clients of the Satellite.
This vertically tiered configuration requires that channels and RPMs be created only on the
RHN Satellite Server. In this manner, the Proxies inherit and then serve packages from a
central location. For details, refer to the RHN Channel Management Guide.
Similarly, you should make the Proxies’ SSL certificates clients of the Satellite while also
setting them to serve the client systems. This process is described in the RHN Client Con-
figuration Guide.
20 Chapter 3. Example Topologies
Figure 3-3. Satellite-Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology
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