Red Hat NETWORK 3.5 - PROVISIONING Reference Manual Download Page 1

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Red Hat Network 3.5

Provisioning Reference Guide

Summary of Contents for NETWORK 3.5 - PROVISIONING

Page 1: ...Red Hat Network 3 5 Provisioning Reference Guide...

Page 2: ...available at http www opencontent org openpub Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder Distribution of the...

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

Page 4: ...onfiguring the Red Hat Network Registration Client 91 6 2 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client 93 6 3 Registering a User Account 95 6 4 Registering a System Profile 97 6 4 1 Hardware Syste...

Page 5: ...1 Determining the Number of File Revisions 110 A 2 12 Updating a File in a Channel 110 A 2 13 Uploading Multiple Files at Once 111 B RHN API Access 113 B 1 Using the auth Class and Getting the Session...

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: ...com docs Note Although this manual reflects the most current information possible read the RHN Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to our documentation being finalized...

Page 11: ...anagement of System Profiles Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and newer systems will even use the Red Hat Update Agent to be registered to RHN See Chapter 2 Red Hat Update Agent for further information Alth...

Page 12: ...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...

Page 13: ...rovisioning As the highest service level RHN Provisioning encompasses all of the features offered in the RHN Demo Update and Management subscription levels It is designed to allow you to deploy and ma...

Page 14: ...ure 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 pass...

Page 15: ...talled it will return something similar to rhn_register 2 9 3 1 The version number might differ slightly If you do not have the Red Hat Network Registration Client installed the command will return pa...

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

Page 17: ...ant 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 th...

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: ...Hat Network You will know your System Profile has been successfully sent when you see the Channels screen Figure 2 14 appear Refer to Section 2 3 1 Choosing a Software Channel for continued instructi...

Page 29: ...ile 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 RH...

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: ...our 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 i...

Page 45: ...efer to Section 4 4 7 2 Using Multiple Activation Keys at Once to understand how differences in activation keys are handled This command performs all the actions of the Red Hat Network Registration Cl...

Page 46: ...for more information Keys may be modified by any user with the role of Activation Key Administrator or Organization Administrator or both These permissions are set through the Users tab of the RHN we...

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 fo...

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: ...age Select a date and time to begin attempting the command and click Schedule Remote Command Connection The system s path to the package repository Regardless of whether your client systems receive up...

Page 63: ...the metadata of the system s packages with information from the database such as MD5 sum filesize permissions owner group and file size and type To verify a package or packages select them and click t...

Page 64: ...tory mkdir p etc sysconfig rhn allowed actions configfiles Then you should decide exactly what actions should be allowed by system administrators The following modes are available deploy Install confi...

Page 65: ...go to its System Group Details page Refer to Section 4 4 3 3 System Group Details for more information Join Lists groups that the system may be subscribed to To add the system to groups select the gro...

Page 66: ...k the Schedule Kickstart button Caution It is imperative the kickstart profile selected match the installation files supplied For instance it is possible a given IP address could be associated with a...

Page 67: ...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 confir...

Page 68: ...rk 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...

Page 69: ...ms 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...

Page 70: ...ovisioning systems Kickstart Use this subtab to re install the selected Provisioning entitled systems To schedule a kickstart select a distribution identify the type IP address or manual and click Con...

Page 71: ...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 Not...

Page 72: ...f the page After auto entitling a message appears at the top of the System Entitlements page indicating the number of systems successfully entitled to the Management service level 4 4 6 Advanced Searc...

Page 73: ...abs and click the Update Key button To remove a key entirely click the delete key link in the top right corner of the edit page If you do not want a key to be used to activate a system you can disable...

Page 74: ...is located To do this you must create a cubicle key within the Custom System Info page Click create new key at the upper right corner of the page Enter a descriptive label and description such as Cub...

Page 75: ...y on the TFTP server and named the hexadecimal equivalent of the new machine s IP address For example a bootloader configuration file for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2 1 should contain port 0 prompt 0...

Page 76: ...the settings included on the Options tab For instance the network setting here defines the parameters of the Red Hat installation program while the kickstart network configuration value there affects...

Page 77: ...the profile name to access different tabs of the Kickstart Details page 4 4 10 6 Sessions The Sessions page lists kickstart processes underway Click the name of the system to obtain details about the...

Page 78: ...utokickstart Boot Image field Then select the matching distribution from the Base Channel and Installer Generation dropdown menus and click the Create button 4 4 10 9 File Preservation The File Preser...

Page 79: ...ution cd while file iso is the output iso file put into the current directory You may then burn the ISO to CD ROM To use the disc assuming you left the label for the kickstart boot as ks you should bo...

Page 80: ...PM packages required to fix the problem Icons are used to identify the three types of Errata Alerts Security Updates available update strongly recommended Bug Fix Updates available and recommended Enh...

Page 81: ...tems 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...

Page 82: ...h 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 bott...

Page 83: ...is shown by default when you click Software 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 Softw...

Page 84: ...e dates issued Clicking on an advisory name takes you to its Errata Details page Refer to Section 4 5 2 2 Errata Details for more information Packages List of packages in the channel To download packa...

Page 85: ...ither curl or wget Click the help on using curl or wget link for precise instructions To obtain the URL right click on the disc link and select to open the link in a new window or tab You may then can...

Page 86: ...lled or updated on that system 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 Chapt...

Page 87: ...his 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 pack...

Page 88: ...e system and those associated with it in the central repository diff Display differences between configuration files on the system and those associated with it in the central repository upload Send an...

Page 89: ...the filename to go to the Configuration File Details page Refer to Section 4 6 6 7 Configuration File Details for instructions Click the config channel name to access the Configuration Channel Details...

Page 90: ...well as identify whether it is binary Note that files larger than 16 KB cannot be edited through the RHN website In addition you can define macros variables here that will have different values inter...

Page 91: ...licable to all of your servers that differs only in IP address and hostname Rather than manage a separate configuration file for each server you may create a single file say server conf with the IP ad...

Page 92: ...types 1 Package Installations For more information on how to perform package installations refer to Section 4 6 5 Software Packages 2 Errata Updates For more information on how to apply Errata Update...

Page 93: ...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 94: ...em 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 Sy...

Page 95: ...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...

Page 96: ...tered by that user To do this select the default group or groups from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page Then click the Update Defaults button An asterisk appears next to the names of the def...

Page 97: ...one 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 modi...

Page 98: ...88 Chapter 4 Red Hat Network Website...

Page 99: ...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 100: ...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 101: ...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 102: ...r 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 qu...

Page 103: ...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 104: ...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 105: ...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 106: ...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 107: ...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 108: ...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 109: ...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 110: ...ude 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 Can...

Page 111: ...ome 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 scre...

Page 112: ...ection 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 e...

Page 113: ...ns 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 con...

Page 114: ...104 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Registration Client...

Page 115: ...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 116: ...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 117: ...cfg manager diff revisions help You can see such a list of options for the add mode at Section A 2 2 1 Add Options A 2 1 Creating a Config Channel To create a config channel for your organization issu...

Page 118: ...entiating between Latest Config Files To obtain a difference between the config files on disk and the latest revisions in a channel issue the command rhncfg manager diff channel channel label dest fil...

Page 119: ...PGP SIGNATURE A 2 5 Downloading 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...

Page 120: ...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 121: ...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 122: ...112 Appendix A Command Line Config Management Tools...

Page 123: ...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 124: ...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 125: ...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 126: ...116 Appendix B RHN API Access...

Page 127: ...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 128: ...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 129: ...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 130: ...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 131: ...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 132: ...122 Glossary...

Page 133: ...fig Channel List 77 config channels details 79 80 global 78 list of 77 Config Channels and Files Config Channel List 77 config management system preparation 78 Configuration Channel List Channel Detai...

Page 134: ...76 overview 76 password change 45 preferences change 46 Provisioning service level 3 proxy server with Red Hat Network Alert Notification Tool 38 with Red Hat Network Registration Client 92 with Red...

Page 135: ...ns i introduction to the i registering with activation keys 34 Registration 91 as part of an organization 96 Configuration 91 Email notification 95 Hardware System Profile 97 Password 95 RPM Package L...

Page 136: ...List 85 V variables macros in configuration files 80 W website 41 activation keys 62 All Errata 71 Buy Now 46 Channel List 72 Channels 72 Config Channel List 77 Configuration Channel Details 79 Confi...

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