Red Hat NETWORK PROXY SERVER 3.6 -, Installation Manual, Page: 6 / 38

2 Chapter 1. Introduction
with its own GPG signature, and have the local RHN Proxy Server update all the individual systems
in the network with the latest versions of the custom software.
Advantages of using RHN Proxy Server include:
•
Scalability — there can be multiple local RHN Proxy Servers within one organization.
•
Security — an end-to-end secure connection is maintained: from the client systems, to the local
RHN Proxy Server, to the Red Hat Network Servers.
•
Saves time — packages are delivered significantly faster over a local area network than the Internet.
•
Saves bandwidth — packages are downloaded from the RHN File Servers only once (per local
Proxy Server’s caching mechanism) instead of downloading each package to each client system.
•
Saves disk space on individual systems — one large disk array is required instead of extra disk
space on all the client systems.
•
Customized updates — create a truly automated package delivery system for custom software pack-
ages, as well as official Red Hat packages required for the client systems. Custom private RHN
channels allow an organization to automate delivery of in-house packages.
•
Customized configuration — restrict or grant updates to specific architectures and OS versions.
•
Only one Internet connection required — the client systems connect through the HTTP-enabled
Proxy Server and do not need an Internet connection. Only the RHN Proxy Server needs an Internet
connection to contact the RHN Servers.
1.3. Terms to Understand
Before understanding RHN Proxy 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 a specific architecture
and Red Hat release. A child channel is a channel associated with a base channel but contains extra
packages.
•
Organization Administrator — 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.
•
Channel Administrator — A Channel Administrator is a user role with full access to channel man-
agement capabilities. Users with this role are capable of creating channels and assigning packages
to 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 trou-
bleshooting the RHN Proxy Server. Tracebacks are automatically generated when a critical error
occurs and are mailed to the individual(s) designated in the RHN Proxy Server’s configuration file.
For more detailed explanations of these terms and others, refer to the Red Hat Network Reference
Guide available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.