Red Hat NETWORK SATELLITE 5.3.0 - CHANNEL MANAGEMENT, Reference Manual, Page: 226 / 318

Chapter 12. UNIX Support Guide
214
To register UNIX systems with your RHN Satellite, accomplish the following tasks in this order:
1. Log into the Satellite's web interface and click the
Systems
tab in the top navigation bar followed
by
Activation Keys
in the left navigation bar. Then click the
create new key
link at the top-right
corner of the page.
2. On the following page, select the base channel you created at the end of
Section 12.2, “Satellite
Server Preparation/Configuration”
.
3. After creating the key, click its name in the
Activation Keys
list to enhance its RHN settings by
associating software and configuration channels and system groups.
4. Open a terminal on the client system to be registered and switch user to root.
5. Use
rhnreg_ks
along with the
--activationkey
option to register the client with the Satellite.
The string of characters that make up the key may be copied directly from the
Activation Keys
list
on the website. The resulting command will look something like the following:
rhnreg_ks --activationkey=b25fef0966659314ef9156786bd9f3af
6. Go back to the website, click the name of the activation key, and ensure the new system appears
within the
Activated Systems
tab.
12.4.2. Obtaining Updates
Package updates in UNIX are handled much differently than in Linux. For instance, Solaris relies on
Patch Clusters to update multiple packages at once, while Red Hat operating systems use Errata
Updates to associate upgrades with specific packages. In addition, Solaris uses answer files to
automate interactive package installations, something Linux doesn't understand, while Red Hat offers
the concept of source packages. For this reason, this section seeks to highlight differences in using
RHN tools on UNIX systems. (Note: RHN does not support Solaris answer files in the current release;
such support is planned for future releases.)
Despite inherent differences, such as the lack of Errata, the channel and package management
interfaces within the RHN website on the Satellite work largely the same for UNIX systems. All
software channels designed to serve UNIX variants can be constructed almost exactly as the custom
channels described in the
RHN Channel Management Guide
. The most significant difference is the
architecture. When creating a UNIX software channel, ensure you select the base channel architecture
appropriate for the systems to be served.
Furthermore, Red Hat recommends you break down your packages into base and child channels
depending on their nature. For example, on Solaris, installation packages should go in the Solaris
base channel, while patches and Patch Clusters should go in a child channel of the Solaris base
channel. Extra installation packages can go in a separate Extras child channel.
RHN treats patches similarly to packages; they are listed and installed in the same way and with the
same interface as normal packages. Patches are 'numbered' by Solaris, and will have names like
"patch-solaris-108434". The version of a Solaris patch is extracted from the original Solaris metadata,
and the release is always 1.
Patch Clusters are bundles of patches that are installed as a unit. RHN keeps track of the last time
that a Patch Cluster was installed successfully on a system. However, Patch Clusters are not tracked