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Red Hat Network Satellite

5.0.0

Installation Guide 5.0.0

ISBN: N/A

Publication date:

Summary of Contents for NETWORK SATELLITE 5.0.0 -

Page 1: ...Red Hat Network Satellite 5 0 0 Installation Guide 5 0 0 ISBN N A Publication date ...

Page 2: ...Red Hat Network Satellite ...

Page 3: ...istribution of the work or derivative of the work in any standard paper book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder Red Hat and the Red Hat Shadow Man logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat Inc in the United States and other countries All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners The GPG finge...

Page 4: ...Red Hat Network Satellite ...

Page 5: ... MySQL Installation 36 5 Entitlements 37 1 Receiving the Certificate 37 2 Uploading the RHN Entitlement Certificate 38 3 Managing the RHN Certificate with RHN Satellite Activate 38 3 1 Command Line Entitlement Options 39 3 2 Activating the Satellite 39 4 Satellite Entitlement Certificate Expiration 40 6 Importing and Synchronizing 41 1 Exporting with RHN Satellite Exporter 41 1 1 rhn satellite exp...

Page 6: ...Database 62 4 3 Verifying the Backup 63 4 4 Restoring the Database 63 5 Cloning the Satellite with Embedded DB 64 6 Establishing Redundant Satellites with Stand Alone DB 64 7 Conducting Satellite Specific Tasks 65 7 1 Using the Tools menu 66 7 2 Deleting Users 67 8 Automating Synchronization 68 9 Implementing PAM Authentication 69 10 Enabling Push to Clients 70 A Sample RHN Satellite Server Config...

Page 7: ...ools services and information repositories needed to maximize the reliability security and performance of their systems To use RHN system administrators register the software and hardware profiles known as System Profiles of their client systems with Red Hat Network When a client system requests package updates only the applicable packages for the client are returned based upon the software profil...

Page 8: ...ry of custom packages Access control system administrators can be restricted to access only those systems within their maintenance responsibilities Bandwidth management the bandwidth used for transactions between the clients and the RHN Satellite Server is controlled by the organization on the local area network RHN Satellite Server clients do not have to compete with other clients accessing the c...

Page 9: ...and are mailed to the individual s designated in the RHN Satellite Server s configuration file For more detailed explanations of these terms and others refer to the Red Hat Network Reference Guide 4 How it Works RHN Satellite Server consists of the following components Database for the Stand Alone Database this may be the organization s existing database or preferably a separate machine RHN Satell...

Page 10: ...he RHN Satellite Server those packages are removed from the list of outdated packages for the client The organization can configure the website for the RHN Satellite Server to be accessible from the local area network only or from both the local area network and the Internet The Satellite s version of the RHN website allows full control over client systems system groups and users The RHN Satellite...

Page 11: ...l as this RHN Satellite Server Installation Guide For a full list of the necessary technical documents refer to Chapter 2 Requirements For this reason this section seeks to provide a definitive list of all required and recommended steps from evaluation through custom package deployment They should take place in roughly this order 1 After an evaluation you contact your Red Hat sales representative ...

Page 12: ...es into the Satellite 10 Register a representative machine for each distribution type or channel Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2 1 3 4 to the Satellite 11 Copy using SCP the rhn_register and up2date configuration files from the etc sysconfig rhn directory of each machine individually to the pub directory on the Satellite The rhn org trusted ssl cert noarch rpm will already be there 12 Download and i...

Page 13: ...des The process for upgrading a Satellite from one version to another is not covered within this Satellite Guide but can be found within the Red Hat Knowledgebase http kbase redhat com faq http kbase redhat com faq and can be found by performing a search for upgrade satellite or by following this link http kbase redhat com faq FAQ_49_8610 shtm Upgrades 7 ...

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Page 15: ...m for the Satellite Warning Security enhanced Linux SELinux must be disabled or in permissive mode prior to installation of RHN Satellite Server To do this during CD or ISO image installation select Permissive when presented with options for SELinux support To do this for kickstart installation include the command selinux permissive or wait for the install to complete edit the etc selinux config f...

Page 16: ...z 512K cache or equivalent Required Pentium IV processor 2 4GHz 512K cache or equivalent Recommended Pentium IV processor 2 4GHz dual processor 512K cache or equivalent Recommended Pentium IV processor 2 4GHz dual processor 512K cache or equivalent Required 2 GB of memory Required 2 GB of memory Recommended 4 GB of memory Strongly recommended 4 GB of memory 3 GB storage for base install of Red Hat...

Page 17: ...ed Default Red Hat channels contain approximately 3 GB of packages each and that size grows with each synchronization customers must also account for the space requirements of packages in their own private channels Whatever storage solution the customer chooses its mount point may be defined during the installation process If you are installing RHN Satellite Server with Embedded Database skip to S...

Page 18: ...system typical 500 Although you should be generous in your database sizing estimates you must consider that size affects the time to conduct backups and adds load to other system resources If the database is shared its hardware and spacing are entirely dependent on what else is using it Additionally block sizes must be a minimum of 8 KB for RHN Satellite Server to install properly The Oracle datab...

Page 19: ...onal Requirements The following additional requirements must be met before the RHN Satellite Server installation Full Access Client systems need full network access to the RHN Satellite Server solution s services and ports Firewall Rules RHN strongly recommends firewalling the RHN Satellite Server solution from the Internet However various TCP ports must be opened on the Satellite depending on you...

Page 20: ...lient systems 5269 Inbound If you push actions to an RHN Proxy Server Table 2 2 Ports to open on the Satellite Synchronized System Times There is great time sensitivity when connecting to a Web server running SSL Secure Sockets Layer it is imperative that the time settings on the clients and server be reasonably close together so the SSL certificate does not expire before or during use For this re...

Page 21: ...pdates must have an external account with Red Hat Network This account should be set up at the time of purchase with the sales representative Warning Do not subscribe your RHN Satellite Server to any of the following child channels available on RHN Hosted Red Hat Developer Suite Red Hat Application Server Red Hat Extras Subscribing to these channels and updating your Satellite such as by running u...

Page 22: ... also push to an RHN Proxy Server you must also allow inbound connections on port 5269 No system components should be directly publicly available No user other than the system administrators should have shell access to these machines All unnecessary services should be disabled using ntsysv or chkconfig The httpd service should be enabled If the Satellite serves Monitoring entitled systems and you ...

Page 23: ...de describes how to create RHN accounts register and update systems and use the RHN website to its utmost potential This guide will probably come in handy throughout the installation and configuration process Additional Requirements 17 ...

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Page 25: ...ite Servers being used in the customer environment The number of RHN Proxy Servers being used in the customer environment The rest of this chapter describes possible configurations and explains their benefits 1 Single Satellite Topology The simplest configuration is to use a single RHN Satellite Server to serve your entire network This configuration is adequate to service a medium size group of cl...

Page 26: ... Satellite Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology An alternative method to balance load is to install RHN Proxy Servers below a RHN Satellite Server These Proxies connect to the Satellite for RPMs from Red Hat Network and custom packages created locally In essence the Proxies act as clients of the Satellite This vertically tiered configuration requires that channels and RPMs be created only on the RHN S...

Page 27: ...Figure 3 3 Satellite Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology Satellite Proxy Vertically Tiered Topology 21 ...

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Page 29: ... 2 Hardware Requirements for precise specifications Enable Network Time Protocol NTP on the Satellite and separate database if it exists and select the appropriate time zone All client systems should already be running the ntpd daemon and be set to the correct time zone Due to potential complications it is strongly advised that the home partition is locally mounted 2 RHN Satellite Server Installat...

Page 30: ...g entitlement for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and an RHN Satellite Server entitlement Warning Users should note that the RHN Satellite Server Installation Program updates the kernel as well as all required packages 5 From the media cdrom directory enter the following command to start the RHN Satellite Server Installation Program install pl This script has several options to assist with your instal...

Page 31: ...ates and populates the initial database if you have opted for the RHN Satellite Server with Embedded Database If you are installing RHN Satellite Server with Stand Alone Database the installer connects with the database This step can take quite a while If you would like to monitor the progress of the installation use tail in a separate window to monitor the var log rhn install_db log file Setting ...

Page 32: ...llite resides The country code must be exactly two letters or the certificate generation fails 14 Once the CA Cert certificate is generated the RHN Satellite Server Installation Program performs final configuration and restarts the associated services Final configuration Restarting services Installation complete Visit https your satellite example com to create the satellite administrator account 1...

Page 33: ...tion 16 A blue text box appears at the top of the screen indicating that you can now custom configure the Satellite and its behavior To do so click the bold clicking here text at the end RHN Satellite Server Installation Program 27 ...

Page 34: ...figuration Prompt 17 The Satellite Configuration General Configuration page allows you to alter the most basic Satellite settings such as the admin email address and whether Monitoring is enabled Chapter 4 Installation 28 ...

Page 35: ...ification messages to administration This is required only if you intend to receive alert notifications from probes If you do provide the mail server exchanger and domain to be used Note that sendmail must be configured to handle email redirects of notifications Refer to Section 4 Sendmail Configuration for instructions When finished click Continue The RHN Registration page appears RHN Satellite S...

Page 36: ...input its contents open your certificate in a text editor copy all lines and paste them directly into the large text field at the bottom Red Hat recommends using the file locator as it is less error prone Click Validate Certificate to continue If you receive errors related to DNS ensure your Satellite is configured correctly Refer to Section 3 Host Not Found Could Not Determine FQDN Chapter 4 Inst...

Page 37: ...ields are pre populated with values derived from previous installation steps Ensure this information is accurate Checkboxes offer options for including built in security SSL and GNU Privacy Guard GPG features both of which are advised In addition you may enable remote command acceptance and remote configuration management of the systems to be bootstrapped here Both features are useful for completi...

Page 38: ... final step in configuring the Satellite Click the Restart button to restart the Satellite in order to incorporate all of the configuration options added on the previous screens Note that it will take between four and five minutes for the restart to finish Chapter 4 Installation 32 ...

Page 39: ...to begin using your Satellite Figure 4 8 Restart Complete 2 1 Options to the Satellite Installation Program The various options available for the Satellite Installation Program are included below for easy reference Option Usage help Print this help message Options to the Satellite Installation Program 33 ...

Page 40: ... set during installation Using this option may result in a Satellite server that is not fully functional skip db install Do not install the embedded database This option may be useful if you are reinstalling the satellite and do not want to clear the database skip db diskspace check Do not check to make sure there is enough free disk space to install the embedded database skip db population Do not...

Page 41: ...entitled systems and you wish to acknowledge via email the alert notifications you receive you must configure sendmail to properly handle incoming mail This is required by the email redirect feature which allows you to stop notifying users about a Monitoring related event with a single reply Important Some more restrictive corporate mail configurations will not allow mail to be sent from an addres...

Page 42: ...plicable only if your RHN Satellite Server will serve Monitoring entitled systems and you wish to run MySQL probes against them Refer to the Probes appendix of the RHN Reference Guide for a list of available probes If you do wish to run MySQL probes subscribe the Satellite to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS Extras channel and install the mysql server package either through the RHN website or up2da...

Page 43: ...ate such as one reflecting an increase in the number of entitlements 1 Receiving the Certificate The RHN Entitlement Certificate is an XML document that looks something like this xml version 1 0 encoding UTF 8 rhn cert version 0 1 rhn cert field name product RHN SATELLITE 001 rhn cert field rhn cert field name owner Clay s Precious Satellite rhn cert field rhn cert field name issued 2005 01 11 00 ...

Page 44: ...thin the Channels category 3 In the System Details page click the Satellite subtab and examine the existing certificate Ensure you have a backup of this file by copying and pasting its contents into a text editor 4 Click Deactivate Satellite License at the bottom of the page Then click Confirm Deactivation You will receive a message describing the deactivation at the top of the page 5 You may then...

Page 45: ...N Entitlement Certificate Options To use these options insert the option and the appropriate value if needed after the rhn satellite activate command Refer to Section 3 2 Activating the Satellite 3 2 Activating the Satellite You should use the options in Table 5 1 RHN Entitlement Certificate Options to accomplish the following tasks in this order 1 Validate the RHN Entitlement Certificate s sanity...

Page 46: ...ard grace period of seven 7 days now exists between the date of Satellite certificate expiration and when the Satellite becomes inactive This grace period is provided in order for customers to contact Red Hat Support and obtain a new certificate During the grace period the following things happen The Satellite remains active Each user that logs into the Satellite sees a banner on their Your RHN pa...

Page 47: ...her Satellite the RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool may be used to import the contents synchronizing two Satellites 1 1 rhn satellite exporter The RHN Satellite Exporter can export the following content Channel Families Architectures Channel metadata Blacklists RPMs RPM metadata Errata Kickstarts The amount of time it takes rhn satellite exporter to export data is dependent on the number and size...

Page 48: ...ecified by label only NOTE the channel s label is NOT the same as the channel s name list channels List all available channels and exit list steps List all of the steps that rhn satellite exporter takes while exporting data These can be used as values for step p print configuration Print the configuration and exit print report Print a report to the terminal when the export is complete no rpms Do n...

Page 49: ...hen finished the export directory may be moved to another Satellite or a storage solution using rsync or scp r 2 Importing with RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool Before distributing packages via RHN Satellite Server the packages must first be uploaded to the Satellite This section describes the process for importing packages and other channel data Important To populate custom channels correctly y...

Page 50: ...5 errata Import synchronize Errata information Each of these steps can be initiated individually for testing purposes with the effect of forcing the tool to stop when that step is complete All steps that precede it however will have taken place Therefore calling the rpms step will automatically ensure the channels and channel families steps take place first To initiate an individual step use the s...

Page 51: ...VEL_NUMBER Override the amount of messaging sent to log files and generated on the screen set in etc rhn rhn conf 0 6 2 is default email Email a report of what was imported synchronized to the designated recipient of traceback email traceback mail TRACEBACK_MAIL Direct sync output from email to this email address s server SERVER Include the hostname of an alternative server to connect to for synch...

Page 52: ... must be available or the Satellite must have access to the Internet and the RHN website Although it is possible to conduct the import directly from the RHN website this should be done only if Channel Content ISOs are not available It takes a long time to populate a channel from scratch over the Internet For this reason Red Hat urges you to use ISOs if they are available for initial import 2 2 1 P...

Page 53: ...command mkdir mnt import 4 Mount the ISO file from within the directory containing it using the command mount iso_filename mnt import o loop 5 Create a target directory for the files such as mkdir var rhn sat import 6 This sample command assumes the administrator wants to copy the contents of the ISO mounted in mnt import into var rhn sat import cp ruv mnt import var rhn sat import 7 Then unmount ...

Page 54: ...rming the import 2 3 Running the Import The rhns satellite tools package provides the satellite sync program for managing all package channel and errata imports and synchronizations The following process assumes in the previous step the user has copied all data to var rhn sat import The first step in importing channels into the database is listing the channels available for import This is accompli...

Page 55: ...ividually use the step channels option 3 Moving the RPM packages from the temporary repository into their final location Individually use the step rpms option 4 Parsing the header metadata for each package in the channel uploading the package data and associating it with the channel Individually use the step packages option 5 Identifying Errata associated with the packages and including them in th...

Page 56: ...ges in that channel Metadata for all Errata that affect that channel Note All analysis is performed on the RHN Satellite Server the central RHN Servers deliver only an export of its channel information and remain ignorant of any details regarding the RHN Satellite Server 3 After the analysis of the export data any differences are imported into the RHN Satellite Server database Please note that imp...

Page 57: ... to Section 2 2 1 Preparing Channel Content ISOs for instructions on downloading the ISOs For ease of import we recommend that the data be copied from media directly into a common repository through a command such as the following cp rv mnt cdrom var rhn sat sync Then the following command satellite sync c rhel i386 as 3 mount point var rhn sat sync This can be used to perform the sync process des...

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Page 59: ...ed to monitor performance and ensure proper configuration See Table 7 1 Log Files for the paths to all relevant log files Component Task Log File Location Apache Web server var log httpd directory RHN Satellite Server var log rhn directory RHN Satellite Server Installation Program var log rhn_satellite_install log Database installation Embedded Database var log rhn rhn database installation log Da...

Page 60: ...mmand service rhn satellite status In addition you can obtain the status of components such as the Apache Web server and the RHN Task Engine individually For instance to view the status of the Apache Web server run the command service httpd status If the Apache Web server isn t running entries in your etc hosts file may be incorrect Refer to Section 3 Host Not Found Could Not Determine FQDN for a ...

Page 61: ...ult Stop the jabberd daemon before removing these files To do so issue the following commands as root service jabberd stop cd var lib jabberd rm f _db service jabberd start 3 Host Not Found Could Not Determine FQDN Because RHN configuration files rely exclusively on fully qualified domain names FQDN it is imperative key applications are able to resolve the name of the RHN Satellite Server into an ...

Page 62: ... updated when the machine obtains a new address 4 Connection Errors A common connection problem indicated by SSL_CONNECT errors is the result of a Satellite being installed on a machine whose time had been improperly set During the Satellite installation process SSL certificates are created with inaccurate times If the Satellite s time is then corrected the certificate start date and time may be s...

Page 63: ...ACHINE_NAME VER REL noarch rpm is installed on the RHN Satellite Server and the corresponding rhn org trusted ssl cert noarch rpm or raw CA SSL public client certificate is installed on all client systems Verify the client systems are configured to use the appropriate certificate If also using one or more RHN Proxy Servers ensure each Proxy s SSL certificates are prepared correctly The Proxy shoul...

Page 64: ...gnostic Info Gatherer commonly known by its command satellite debug To use this tool issue the command as root You will see the pieces of information collected and the single tarball created like so root miab root satellite debug Collecting and packaging relevant diagnostic information Warning this may take some time copying configuration information copying logs querying RPM database versioning o...

Page 65: ...the entire RHN Satellite Server and retrieve status messages from all of its services at once 2 Updating the Satellite If any critical updates are made to RHN Satellite Server they will be released in the form of an Erratum for the RHN Satellite Server For RHN Satellite Server systems that may be connected to the Internet the best method for applying these Errata Updates is using the Red Hat Updat...

Page 66: ...so needs to be backed up For the Stand Alone Database consult your organization s database administrator For the Embedded Database refer to Section 4 Using RHN DB Control for a complete description of this process and the options available Here are the minimum files and directories Red Hat recommends backing up rhnsat Embedded Database only never to be backed up while the database is running refer...

Page 67: ...Embedded Database requires a utility for managing that database Red Hat provides just such a tool RHN DB Control This command line utility allows you to do everything from make verify and restore backups to obtain database status and restart it when necessary You must be the oracle user to invoke RHN DB Control To begin switch to the oracle user su oracle Next issue the following command db contro...

Page 68: ...t recommends performing nightly backups of the Embedded Database and moving the resulting directory to another system via NFS SCP FTP etc Preferably this backup system resides off site To conduct a backup shut down the database and related services first by issuing the following command as root service rhn satellite stop Then switch to the oracle user and issue this command to initiate the backup ...

Page 69: ...re thorough review including checking the md5sum of each of the files in the backup issue this command as oracle db control verify DIRNAME 4 4 Restoring the Database RHN DB Control makes Embedded Database restoration a relatively simple process As in the creation of backups you will need to shut down the database and related services first by issuing the following commands in this order as root se...

Page 70: ...s 6 Change DNS to point to the new machine or configure your load balancer appropriately 6 Establishing Redundant Satellites with Stand Alone DB In keeping with the cloning option available to Satellite with Embedded Database you may limit outages on Satellites with Stand Alone Database by preparing redundant Satellites Unlike cloning a Satellite with Embedded Database redundant Satellites with St...

Page 71: ...s to install the certificate on client systems 5 If you did not create a new bootstrap script copy the contents of var www html pub bootstrap from the primary Satellite to the secondary If you did generate a new one copy that directory s contents to the primary Satellite 6 Turn off the RHN Task Engine on the secondary Satellite with the following command sbin service taskomatic stop You may use cu...

Page 72: ...lso have access to a Tools menu Clicking this opens the RHN Internal Tools page Figure 8 1 Internal Tools To refresh the view of channels that have been updated but do not yet reflect those modifications on the Satellite website click the Update Errata cache now link on this page 7 1 1 Maintaining the RHN Task Engine The default display shows the status of the RHN Task Engine This tool is a daemon...

Page 73: ...ring Manager function This page allows you to edit footers headers and other universal information displayed in emails error messages and elsewhere 7 2 Deleting Users Because of the isolated environment in which RHN Satellite Servers operate Satellite customers have been granted the ability to delete users To access this functionality click Users in the top navigation bar of the RHN website In the...

Page 74: ...or for the organization by clicking on the Users tab and then visiting the Details sub tab Figure 8 3 User Delete Confirmation Many other options exist for managing users You can find instructions for them in the RHN website chapter of the RHN Reference Guide 8 Automating Synchronization Manually synchronizing the RHN Satellite Server repository with Red Hat Network can be a time intensive task Un...

Page 75: ...redirect stdout and stderr from cron to prevent duplicating the more easily read message from satellite sync Options other than email can also be included Refer to Table 6 2 Satellite Import Sync Options for the full list of options Once you exit from the editor the modified crontab is installed immediately 9 Implementing PAM Authentication As security measures become increasingly complex administ...

Page 76: ...PAM is enabled for that user In the above example for instance the Kerberos password will not be changed 10 Enabling Push to Clients In addition to allowing client systems to regularly poll the Satellite for scheduled actions you may enable the Satellite to immediately initiate those tasks on Provisioning entitled systems This bypasses the typical delay between scheduling an action and the client ...

Page 77: ...sa dispatcher and osad accept stop restart and status commands as well Keep in mind this feature depends on the client system recognizing the fully qualified domain name FQDN of the Satellite This name and not the IP address of the server must be used when configuring the Red Hat Update Agent Refer to the RHN Client Configuration Guide for details Now when you schedule actions from the Satellite o...

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Page 79: ... hostname PORT server satellite http_proxy corporate_gateway example com 8080 server satellite http_proxy_username server satellite http_proxy_password Database connection information username password SID default_db test01 test01 test01 DON T TOUCH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING web satellite 1 web session_swap_secret_1 ea6c79f71cfcf307d567fed583c393b9 web session_swap_secret_2 01dee83a7b7f27157f5335744eb0...

Page 80: ...RHN Task RHNProc RHN Task PackageCleanup web rhn_gpg_backend_module RHN GPG OpenPGP web restrict_mail_domains Appendix A Sample RHN Satell 74 ...

Page 81: ...el 12 database RPMs default location opt 23 db control options 61 db control use 61 disable services ntsysv chkconfig 16 E embedded database default location rhnsat 23 enabling push to clients 70 entitlement certificate 15 23 uploading 38 F firewall rules requirements 13 G general problems 53 GPG keys 23 H host not found error could not determine FQDN 55 how it works 3 httpd 16 I import channel co...

Page 82: ...62 options 61 restore 63 verify 63 RHN Entitlement Certificate options 39 RHN Entitlement Certificates 37 receiving 37 RHN Satellite Activate 38 RHN Satellite Exporter 41 RHN Satellite Server entitlement 23 RHN Satellite Synchronization Tool 43 options 44 RHN Task Engine 66 67 rhn satellite service 59 rhn satellite activate 38 activating 39 options 39 rhn satellite exporter 41 export 43 options 42...

Page 83: ...orizontally tiered 20 satellite and proxies vertically tiered 20 single satellite 19 traceback 3 definition 2 troubleshooting 53 etc hosts 54 Embedded Database 54 full disk space 54 SSL_CONNECT errors 56 traceback email address 55 U updating the RHN Satellite Server 59 77 ...

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