Red Hat NETWORK 3.3 - PROVISIONING Reference Manual Download Page 1

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Red Hat Network 3.3

Provisioning Reference Guide

Summary of Contents for NETWORK 3.3 - PROVISIONING

Page 1: ...Red Hat Network 3 3 Provisioning Reference Guide...

Page 2: ...s Torvalds Motif and UNIX are registered trademarks of The Open Group XFree86 is a trademark of The XFree86 Project Inc and is pending registration Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel...

Page 3: ...ent Finished 25 2 3 5 Command Line Version 26 2 4 Configuration 30 2 4 1 Using the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool 30 2 4 2 Command Line Version 33 2 5 Registering with Activation Keys 34 3 Re...

Page 4: ...ork Registration Client 85 6 2 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client 87 6 3 Registering a User Account 89 6 4 Registering a System Profile 91 6 4 1 Hardware System Profile 91 6 4 2 Software...

Page 5: ...ber of File Revisions 104 A 2 12 Updating a File in a Channel 104 A 2 13 Uploading Multiple Files at Once 105 B RHN API Access 107 B 1 Using the auth Class and Getting the Session 107 B 2 Obtaining th...

Page 6: ......

Page 7: ...Network offerings please review the descriptions available at http www redhat com software rhn 1 Document Conventions When you read this manual certain words are represented in different fonts typefac...

Page 8: ...UI screen or window A word in this style indicates that the word is the top level of a pulldown menu If you click on the word on the GUI screen the rest of the menu should appear For example Under Fil...

Page 9: ...version number where version number is the version of the kernel installed on this system Additionally we use several different strategies to draw your attention to certain pieces of informa tion In...

Page 10: ...e Red Hat Network Provisioning 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 ab...

Page 11: ...lient for systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2 1 only The Red Hat Update Agent provides your initial connection to the Red Hat Network Once regis tered it enables channel subscription package in...

Page 12: ...of RPMs available to Red Hat Network users Search Errata Search through the collection of all errata ever released through Red Hat Network 1 2 Update The RHN Update service is ideal for a user with o...

Page 13: ...ions 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 easin...

Page 14: ...ed 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 pack...

Page 15: ...ine the versions of the client applications installed run the rpm q command followed by the package name For instance for the Red Hat Network Registration Client type the following command rpm q rhn_r...

Page 16: ...6 Chapter 1 What is Red Hat Network...

Page 17: ...rtant 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...

Page 18: ...ault 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...

Page 19: ...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 sen...

Page 20: ...e 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 commi...

Page 21: ...nd 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 redha...

Page 22: ...er Account You must choose a unique username If you enter one already in use you will see an error message see Figure 2 6 Try different usernames until you find one that has not been used Warning Be s...

Page 23: ...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...

Page 24: ...rdware and software information about your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system The System Profile information is used by Red Hat Network to determine what software update notifications you receive 2 2 2 1...

Page 25: ...information about hardware and network see Figure 2 8 Figure 2 8 System Profile Hardware Click Forward to continue with the registration process 2 2 2 2 Software System Profile The software System Pr...

Page 26: ...r 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 so...

Page 27: ...hat 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...

Page 28: ...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...

Page 29: ...the Channels screen Figure 2 14 appears Select the appropriate base channel and click Forward to continue The Red Hat Update Agent offers only the channels enabled for the system in RHN or your RHN Sa...

Page 30: ...ages 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 Sy...

Page 31: ...ou 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 clos...

Page 32: ...Update Agent Figure 2 18 View Advisory The Available Package Updates screen is the next to appear If your system is not up to date your customized list of available updated packages is displayed as s...

Page 33: ...ests 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...

Page 34: ...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...

Page 35: ...tion 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 Fig...

Page 36: ...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 w...

Page 37: ...atabase 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...

Page 38: ...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...

Page 39: ...Bp9Z3MIDhcP00iIBctIHn7YP9fi5vV0G03iryT XE01mhWoBlC233wr3XHwsqxFfZzaCZqqNKTl0 PNfEAIzJRgtYiW8nzFTPpIR05E oRn6EvmQfayOF2uYDX9Sk lOD7T7RLtKjM hPW 9NoCGwwROaG VUzVv4aelh1L dJGEjpFtdxcrOUMD8xbkuGMznu0mpDI...

Page 40: ...e 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...

Page 41: ...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 Y...

Page 42: ...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...

Page 43: ...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 P...

Page 44: ...r changes and exit Press q and then Enter to quit without saving your changes Important Although this isn t configurable users should still make note that the port used by the Red Hat Update Agent is...

Page 45: ...generation The system will not be subscribed to channels that contain packages not suitable for the system For example a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2 1 system cannot be subscribed to the Red Hat Enterpr...

Page 46: ...36 Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent...

Page 47: ...d Hat Enterprise Linux 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 do...

Page 48: ...t 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 con...

Page 49: ...l 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 syste...

Page 50: ...40 Chapter 3 Red Hat Network Alert Notification Tool...

Page 51: ...ing 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 f...

Page 52: ...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 f...

Page 53: ...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 pag...

Page 54: ...he layout and symbols used throughout the website 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...

Page 55: ...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...

Page 56: ...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 packa...

Page 57: ...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 fe...

Page 58: ...s 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 Update entitled systems cannot...

Page 59: ...when run a conflict likely exists in the system s pack age profile or in the up2date configuration file To resolve the conflict either schedule a package list update or remove the packages from the P...

Page 60: ...ckins 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...

Page 61: ...in a daily summary of system events By default all Management and Provisioning systems are included in the summary These are actions affecting packages such as scheduled Errata Updates and system rebo...

Page 62: ...ply Errata button Double check the updates to be applied on the confirmation page then click the Confirm button After confirming the action is added to the Pending Actions list under Schedule Errata t...

Page 63: ...iated 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...

Page 64: ...es from the system to the central repository This is similar to granting root privileges on the machine mtime_upload Send files modified since a certain date and time from the system to the central re...

Page 65: ...snapshot list Snapshot Tags Provides a means to add meaningful descriptions to your system snapshots This can be used to indicate milestones such as a known working configuration or a successful upgr...

Page 66: ...n event click its summary in the System History table To again view the table click Return to history list at the bottom of the page Pending Lists events that are scheduled but have not begun To unsch...

Page 67: ...roup 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...

Page 68: ...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...

Page 69: ...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 on the System Group Details page...

Page 70: ...e Schedule Kickstart button Tag Systems Use this subtab to to add meaningful descriptions to the most recent snapshots of your selected systems To tag the most recent system snapshots enter a descript...

Page 71: ...allows you have all Errata Updates automatically applied to systems This means packages associated with Errata will be updated without any user intervention Customers should note that Red Hat does not...

Page 72: ...rough your systems according to specific criteria These criteria include custom system information system details hardware devices interface net working packages and location The activity selections D...

Page 73: ...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 4 4 8 Stored Profiles RHN Provision...

Page 74: ...casts its MAC address and a request to be discovered 2 The DHCP server recognizes the discovery request and extends an offer of network information needed for the new machine to boot This includes an...

Page 75: ...Kickstart button Options Collects the precise values to be applied against the kickstart process including boot loader type time zone root password and partition details Keep in mind the kickstart net...

Page 76: ...not be allowed unless one range is a subset of another in which case the kickstart associated with the smallest of the enclosing ranges will be presented Enter the range and click the Update IP range...

Page 77: ...start ks rhel i386 as 3 Then strip everything preceding the ks to derive the boot image For instance in the above example you would put ks rhel i386 as 3 in the Autokickstart Boot Image field Then sel...

Page 78: ...use the URL from the Kickstart Details page just as you do for CD ROM based installs To obtain specific instructions for conducting PXE kickstarts refer to the PXE Network Installations chapter of th...

Page 79: ...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 Update...

Page 80: ...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 a...

Page 81: ...gineering application A system must be subscribed to one base channel only This base channel is assigned automatically during registration based upon the Red Hat Enterprise Linux release and system ar...

Page 82: ...annel It displays essential information about the channel such as summary description and architecture In addition a Globally Subscribable checkbox can be seen by Organization Administrators and Chann...

Page 83: ...e 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...

Page 84: ...ISOs page is shown by default when you click Easy ISOs in the left navigation bar It displays a list of ISOs by channel now associated with your systems Links within this list go to the Downloads tab...

Page 85: ...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 Con...

Page 86: ...fig Channels The Manage Config Channels interface provides the means to create and oversee channels con taining configuration files Like software channels configuration channels store files to be inst...

Page 87: ...nel Details page will appear This page contains the following tabs Details General information about the channel This is the first tab you see when you click on a channel It displays basic information...

Page 88: ...annels for your organization To copy the latest revision of this file to channels select the appropriate checkboxes and click the Copy File button 4 7 Schedule If you click the Schedule tab on the top...

Page 89: ...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...

Page 90: ...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...

Page 91: ...t rhn support redhat com to have users removed RHN Satellite Server customers may use the button on the User Details page 4 8 1 2 User Details Clicking on a username displays the User Details page for...

Page 92: ...anagement Identifies channels the user may manage To change these select or unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update Permissions button This status does not enable the user to create n...

Page 93: ...dify the configuration file you must as root restart the daemon with the command service rhnsd restart or etc rc d init d rhnsd restart Important The minimum time interval allowed is one hour 60 minut...

Page 94: ...Daemon is activated and running You may ensure this by running the follow ing commands chkconfig level 345 rhnsd on service rhnsd start If these are correct and your systems still indicate they are no...

Page 95: ...y 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...

Page 96: ...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...

Page 97: ...al console or remote terminal Refer to Section 6 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...

Page 98: ...stration process If you click Cancel the registration process will end and no information will be sent Figure 6 4 Welcome Screen Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy see Figure 6 5 The info...

Page 99: ...nd a valid email address In the screen shown in Figure 6 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 o...

Page 100: ...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...

Page 101: ...stem 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 Host...

Page 102: ...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 T...

Page 103: ...ncluded in your System Profile to be up dated 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 6 11 shows t...

Page 104: ...de from System Profile 6 5 Finishing Registration As seen in Figure 6 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 Canc...

Page 105: ...me time depending on your connection speed Figure 6 13 Send System Profile to Red Hat Network You will know your System Profile has been successfully sent when you see the Registration Fin ished scree...

Page 106: ...ction from the dropdown menu under the Entitlement column beside the name of the system you just registered Only increases in entitlement levels are allowed Systems cannot be re entitled to a lower en...

Page 107: ...s 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 conc...

Page 108: ...98 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Registration Client...

Page 109: ...nd verify A 1 1 Listing Config Files To list the configuration files for the machine and the labels of the config channels containing them issue the command rhncfg client list You should see output re...

Page 110: ...pm No such file or directory A 1 5 Verifying Config Files To quickly determine if files are different than those associated with it in RHN issue the command rhncfg client verify You should see output...

Page 111: ...ig channel for your organization issue the command rhncfg manager create channel channel label If prompted for your RHN username and password provide them You should see output resembling Red Hat Netw...

Page 112: ...he config files on disk and the latest revisions in a channel issue the command rhncfg manager diff channel channel label dest file path to file txt local path to file You should see output resembling...

Page 113: ...ing All Files in a Channel To download all the files in a channel to disk create a directory and issue the command rhncfg manager download channel channel label topdir You should see output resembling...

Page 114: ...name and password provide them You should see output resembling Red Hat Network username rhn user Password Removing from config channel blah3 tmp dest_path foo txt removed A 2 10 Deleting a Config Cha...

Page 115: ...el dest file path to file txt local path to file You should see output resembling Pushing to channel blah Local file blah tmp dest_path foo txt remote file tmp dest_path foo txt A 2 13 Uploading Multi...

Page 116: ...106 Appendix A Command Line Config Management Tools...

Page 117: ...makes some of the calls B 1 Using the auth Class and Getting the Session It is worth noting you will almost invariably use the auth class first This class offers a single method login Use this to esta...

Page 118: ...make the association B 6 Sample API Script The following sample script depicts how an RHN API client should be constructed Review the com ments and links for a full discussion of the calls made usr b...

Page 119: ...ems client call system list_user_systems session for my system systems print Dumper system print n nCapturing ID of system systems 0 name n n my systemid systems 0 id This next call returns a list of...

Page 120: ...110 Appendix B RHN API Access...

Page 121: ...er package B 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 release For example all the packages in Red Hat Enterpris...

Page 122: ...escription 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 Entitled Server A server that is subscr...

Page 123: ...ion Administrator are sets of users that have the highest level of control over an orga nization s Red Hat Network account Members of this group can add users systems and system groups to the organiza...

Page 124: ...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 ca...

Page 125: ...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 informat...

Page 126: ...116 Glossary...

Page 127: ...s details 77 78 global 76 list of 76 Config Channels and Files Config Channel List 76 Configuration Channel List Channel Details 77 File Details 78 configuration files manage 77 quota 77 Configuration...

Page 128: ...uick Search explanation of 43 R reactivating systems 52 Red Hat Network Alert Notification Tool adding to panel 37 applying Errata Updates 39 configuring 37 icons 38 launching RHN website 39 requireme...

Page 129: ...1 System Set Manager 59 Systems Advanced Search 62 deleting 50 Entitlements 61 entitling 61 overview 48 searching 62 System Details 50 System List 48 Systems Overview 48 viewing a list of 48 viewing d...

Page 130: ...s 61 System Group List 56 System Groups 56 System List 48 System Search 62 Systems 48 Systems Overview 48 Users 80 Your Account 45 Your RHN 44 Y Your RHN 44 Account Deactivation 45 Addresses 45 Buy No...

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