Red Hat NETWORK BASIC - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 3.3, User Reference Manual

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Chapter 1.
What is Red Hat Network?
Have you ever read about a new version of a software package and wanted to install it but could not
find it?
Have you ever tried to find an RPM through an Internet search engine or an RPM Repository and been
linked to a site that you have never heard of?
Have you ever tried to find an RPM but instead you are only able to find the source files that you have
to compile yourself?
Have you ever spent hours or even days visiting different websites to see if you have the latest packages
installed on your system, only to have to do it again in a few months?
Those days are over with Red Hat Network (RHN). RHN provides the solution to all your system
software management needs.
Red Hat Network is an Internet solution for managing a Red Hat Linux system or a network of Red
Hat Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts (collective known
as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat. You can even have updates automatically
delivered directly to your system as soon as they are released.
The three main components of Red Hat Network are as follows:
•
The
Red Hat Network Registration Client
•
The Red Hat Network user interface
•
Red Hat Network Daemon
The
Red Hat Network Registration Client
allows you to register your system with RHN. Registra-
tion involves creating a unique RHN user name and password, probing the hardware on your system
to create a Hardware Profile, and probing the software packages installed on your system to create a
Package Profile. This information is sent to RHN and RHN returns a unique System ID to your system
(see Chapter 2 for further information).
You can use either of the two Red Hat Network user interfaces:
•
https://rhn.redhat.com
•
The
Red Hat Update Agent
Both the Web interface and the
Red Hat Update Agent
allow you to view Errata Alerts from in the
Red Hat Errata list. Only packages relevant to your system are shown. Red Hat Network can also be
configured to verify packages once downloaded, ignore update notifications for certain packages, and
view package details before downloading them.
The
Red Hat Network Daemon
(
rhnsd
) runs in the background as a service and probes the Red Hat
Network for notifications and updates at set time intervals (see Chapter 7 for further information). This
daemon is necessary if you want to receive automatic updates or if you schedule an action through the
Web interface.
Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the
Red Hat Network
User Reference Guide , refer to the Glossary as necessary for an explanation of common terms.