Red Hat NETWORK - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 3.1 User Reference Manual Download

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Red Hat Network

User Reference Guide 3.1

Summary of Contents for NETWORK - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 3.1

Page 1: ...Red Hat Network User Reference Guide 3 1 ...

Page 2: ...t holder Red Hat Red Hat Network the Red Hat Shadow Man logo RPM Maximum RPM the RPM logo Linux Library PowerTools Linux Undercover RHmember RHmember More Rough Cuts Rawhide and all Red Hat based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat Inc in the United States and other countries Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds Motif and UNIX are registered tradema...

Page 3: ...ed Hat Network Registration Client 14 2 3 Registering a User Account 16 2 4 Registering a System Profile 19 2 5 Finishing Registration 22 2 6 Entitling Your System 24 2 7 Text Mode RHN Registration Client 25 Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool 27 3 1 Configuring the Red Hat Update Agent 27 3 2 General Settings 27 3 3 Retrieval Installation Settings 28 3 4 Package Exceptions Settings ...

Page 4: ...izing Your System Profile 46 4 9 Log File 46 Chapter 5 Software Manager 47 5 1 Logging into Software Manager 47 5 2 Introduction to the Web Interface 48 5 3 Your RHN 51 5 4 Systems 53 5 5 Channels and Packages 57 5 6 Errata 60 5 7 Scheduled Actions 62 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon 65 Chapter 7 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6 2 67 Chapter 8 Frequently Asked Questions 69 Glossary 73 iv...

Page 5: ...tain words are represented in different fonts type faces sizes and weights This highlighting is systematic different words are represented in the same style to indicate their inclusion in a specific category The types of words that are represented this way include the following command Linux commands and other operating system commands when used are represented this way This style should indicate ...

Page 6: ...tyle When you see text shown in this style it is being used to identify a particular GUI screen or an element on a GUI screen e g text associated with a checkbox or field Examples On the GNOME Control Center screen you can customize your GNOME window manager Select the Require Password checkbox if you would like your screensaver to require a password before stopping top level of a menu on a GUI sc...

Page 7: ...ething will be shown in this style Examples stephen maturin stephen leopard login user input Text that the user has to type either on the command line or into a text box on a GUI screen is displayed in this style In the following example text is displayed in this style To boot your system into the text based installation program you will need to type in the text command at the boot prompt Another ...

Page 8: ...e all existing partitions on all installed hard drives Do not choose this installation class unless you are sure you have no data you need to save More to Come The Red Hat Network User Reference Guide is constantly expanding as new Red Hat Network features and service plans are launched Send in Your Feedback If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide pleas...

Page 9: ...an 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 create a unique RHN user name and pass word an...

Page 10: ...and Enhancement Alerts are issued for all the systems in your network through the Software Manager interface Automatic email notifications receive an email notification when an Errata Alert is issued for your system Scheduled Errata Updates schedule delivery of Errata Updates with optional automatic instal lation Package installation Schedule package installation on one or more systems with the cl...

Page 11: ...s are encrypted using a Secure Sockets Layer SSL connection 5 All packages are tested and verified by the Red Hat Quality Assurance Team before they are added to the Red Hat errata list and Red Hat Network 1 4 Before You Begin Red Hat Network is available for Red Hat Linux 6 2 and higher For instructions on configuring Red Hat Linux 6 2 for Red Hat Network refer to Chapter 7 Using Red Hat Network ...

Page 12: ...Provides the Red Hat Update Agent command line version and the Red Hat Network Daemon up2date gnome Provides the GNOME interface graphical version for the Red Hat Update Agent runs if the X Window System is available If the packages are not installed they can be found on the Red Hat Linux 7 or higher CD ROM 1 in the RedHat RPMS directory or downloaded from the Red Hat FTP site available at ftp ftp...

Page 13: ...ableProxyAuth No 1 noSSLServerURL http www rhns redhat com XMLRPC 2 enableProxy No 3 httpProxy 4 proxyUser 5 serverURL https www rhns redhat com XMLRPC 6 proxyPassword 7 debug No Enter number of item to edit return to exit q to quit without saving Enter 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 sav...

Page 14: ...he GNOME desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Programs System Red Hat Network 2 On the KDE desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Red Hat System Red Hat Network 3 Type the command rhn_register at a shell prompt for example an xterm or gnome terminal 4 If you are not running the X Window System type the command rhn_register at a virtual console or remote terminal Please refer to...

Page 15: ...ation process If you click Cancel the registration process will end and no information will be sent Figure 2 2 Welcome Screen Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy see Figure 2 3 Red Hat Privacy Statement The information gathered during the Red Hat Network Registration process is used to create a System Profile The System Profile is essential if you wish to receive update notifications a...

Page 16: ...er name and password and a valid email address In the screen shown in Figure 2 6 Create a Unique User Name and Password you must choose a user name and password Once logged into Red Hat Network you can modify your preferences view your existing System Profile or obtain the lastest Red Hat software packages You must choose a unique user name If you enter one already in use you will see an error mes...

Page 17: ...ters long Are case insentitive Can not contain any spaces Can not contain any tabs Can not contain any line feeds Can not contain the characters or If you have already registered your system and try to register it again the dialog box shown in Figure 2 5 Warning This System Already Registered will appear If you continue it will overwrite your ex isting systemid file etc sysconfig rhn systemid and ...

Page 18: ...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 user name and password The new machine will be added to your existing account and you can log into Red Hat Network with your user name and password to view all your systems simultaneously Figure 2 6 Create a Unique User Name and Password ...

Page 19: ...r creating a user name 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 Hostname IP address CPU model CPU speed Amount of RAM PCI devices Disk sizes Mount points The next step is choosing a profile name for your system as shown in Figure 2 7 System Profile Hardware The default value is the h...

Page 20: ...eselecting packages Gathering RPM Database Information Only those packages you choose during this part of the registration will be included in in your System Profile and 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 This RPM list can be modifed th...

Page 21: ...ystem Profile will omit this information from your System Profile Figure 2 9 RPM Package Information Choosing Which RPM Packages to Exclude from the System Profile By default all RPM packages in your RPM database are included in your System Profile to be updated by Red Hat Network To exclude a package uncheck the package from the list by clicking the X beside the package name For example Figure 2 ...

Page 22: ...to continue with the regis tration process Figure 2 10 Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Profile 2 5 Finishing Registration As seen in Figure 2 11 Finished Collecting Information for System Profile the last step of registration is to confirm that you want to send your System Profile to the Red Hat Network If you choose Cancel at this point no information will be sent Clicking Next w...

Page 23: ...is process may take some time depending on your connection speed Figure 2 12 Send System Profile to Red Hat Network You will know your System Profile has been successfully sent when you see the Registration Finished screen Figure 2 13 Registration Finished Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Network Registration Client After completing registration visit http rhn redhat com to verify your System Prof...

Page 24: ...t Network Registration Client On the left navigation bar click Entitlements under the Your RHN category The Entitlement Manager tells you how many entitlements you have left If you have one or more left check the checkbox under the Entitled column beside the name of the system that you just registered Then click the Update Entitlements button at the bottom of the page The number of entitlements re...

Page 25: ...are almost identical to the screens for the graphical version of Red Hat Network Registration Client Some of the text in the text mode version is more concise due to lack of space in the interface However there is an equal number of screens and fields in both versions Thus if you are using the text mode version you can still follow the instructions that begin in Section 2 2 Starting the Red Hat Ne...

Page 26: ...26 Chapter 2 Red Hat Network Registration Client ...

Page 27: ... the following methods On the GNOME desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Programs System Update Agent Configuration On the KDE desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Type the command up2date config at a shell prompt for example an xterm or a gnome terminal 3 2 General Settings The General tab allows you to enable an HTTP Proxy Server If your n...

Page 28: ...allation tab allows you to customize your software package retrieval and package installation preferences Note You must use Red Hat Update Agent Version 2 5 4 or higher to upgrade your kernel automatically Red Hat Update Agent will install the updated kernel and configure LILO to boot the new kernel the next time the system is rebooted ...

Page 29: ... been modified for a package such as Apache or Squid do not display them in the list of available packages Retrieve source RPM along with binary package download both the source src rpm and the binary architecture rpm files The following installation options are configurable see Figure 3 2 Retrieval Installation Settings After installation keep binary packages on disk save binary packages in desir...

Page 30: ...a set of packages to be excluded according to the package name click the Add button next to the Package Names to Skip section and enter a character string including wild cards A wild card at the end of the character string means all packages beginning with the character string will be excluded from the list A wild card at the beginning of the character string means any packages that end with the c...

Page 31: ... as the graphical version It allows you to configure the settings used by the Red Hat Update Agent and store them in the configuration file etc sysconfig rhn up2date To run the command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool use the follow ing command up2date nox configure You will be presented with a list of options and their current values 0 storageDir var spool up2date 1 hea...

Page 32: ...17 noBootLoader No 18 systemIdPath etc sysconfig rhn systemid 19 serverURL https beta rhns redhat com XMLRPC 20 pkgSkipList kernel 21 adminAddress root localhost 22 forceInstall No 23 fileSkipList 24 retrieveSource No Enter number of item to edit return to exit q to quit without saving Enter the number of the item that you want to modify and enter a new value for the option When you finish changin...

Page 33: ...Update Agent as a standard user you will be prompted to enter the root password before proceeding The Red Hat Update Agent can be started using one of the following methods On the GNOME desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Programs System Update Agent On the KDE desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Red Hat Update Agent Type the command up2date at a shell prompt for example an...

Page 34: ...ol 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 Specify a path where an alternate RPM database to use is found The first time you run the Red Hat Update Agent the dialog window in Figure 4 1 Install GPG Key will prompt you to install the Red Hat GPG key This is used to verify the RPM...

Page 35: ... The first step is to select the channel s from which you want the updated packages to be retreived Select one or more channels and click Next Refer to Section 5 5 Channels and Packages for more information on channels and how channels are used to determine which packages to install ...

Page 36: ...n to Red Hat Network is being established and that your customized list of updates is being retreived This might take some time depending on the speed of your connection and the number of packages you have installed Figure 4 4 Retrieve Update Information While you see this dialog box Red Hat Update Agent uses your unique Digital Certificate etc sysconfig rhn systemid to determine if there are any ...

Page 37: ...ist of available updated packages is displayed as shown in Figure 4 6 List of Available Updates Figure 4 6 List of Available Updates By default no packages are selected for download If you highlight each package a brief package description is displayed in the Package Information section at the bottom of the screen To select the package for download and installation if you chose that option click t...

Page 38: ...n you are finished selecting packages Figure 4 7 View Advisory After choosing which packages to update the Red Hat Update Agent tests for RPM dependencies and prompt you if you have chosen to omit packages that are required for software updates that you did choose The dialog box in Figure 4 8 Testing Packages is shown while it is testing This process might take some time depending upon how many pa...

Page 39: ...etrieval Finished 4 4 Installing Updated Packages After downloading the packages through the Red Hat Update Agent they must be installed If you chose not to have the packages installed automatically skip to Section 4 7 Manual Package Installa tion for further instructions If you chose to have all the packages installed automatically see Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool the selecte...

Page 40: ...shed 4 5 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 Figure 4 11 Update Agent Finished Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Update Agent ...

Page 41: ...you are not running X you can still run the Red Hat Update Agent from a virtual console or remote terminal If you are running X but want to use the command line version you can force it not to display the graphical interface with the following command up2date nox The command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent accepts the following arguments ...

Page 42: ...s argument will override the configuraton option Do not install packages after retrieval l list Display the list of updated packages that are available for the system showall Show a list of all packages available for your release of Red Hat Linux including those not currently installed k packagedir STRING Specify a colon separated path of directories to look for packages before trying to download ...

Page 43: ...M database to use is found version Display which version of Red Hat Update Agent you are running usage Briefly describe the options for up2date packagename Specify a package name to download and install if you chose that option Only specify the package name Do not include the version or release numbers For example the command up2date python downloads and optionally installs the python package if t...

Page 44: ...l the Red Hat GPG key use the command it displays usr bin gpg import usr share rhn RPM GPG KEY or use the following steps Note GPG keys must be installed for each user To install the key to use with Red Hat Network import the key while logged in as root 1 Cut and paste the following into a file and save it as redhat2 asc or download it from http www redhat com about contact Type bits keyID Date Us...

Page 45: ...B BlIUqIw80VgjsBKmCwvKkn4jg8kibXgj4 TzQSx77uYokw1EqQ2wk OZoaEtcubsNMquuLCMWijYhGBBgRAgAGBQI36lRyAAoJECGRgM3bQqYOhyYAnj7h VDY FJAGqmtZpwVp9IlitW5tAJ4xQApr jNFZCTksnI 4O1765F7tA 3AHZ END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK 2 At the shell prompt import the key with the following command gpg import redhat2 asc The resulting message tells you that the key was processed To check that the key was added type gpg list ke...

Page 46: ...ur System Profile on Red Hat Network will reflect the latest software versions installed on your system 4 9 Log File The Red Hat Update Agent keeps a log of all the actions that it peforms on your system in the file var log up2date It uses the standard rotating log method Thus older logs are in var log up2date 1 var log up2date 2 and var log up2date 3 The log files store actions performed by the R...

Page 47: ...pdates through Software Manager 5 1 Logging into Software Manager In a Web browser go to http rhn redhat com The page shown in Figure 5 1 Logging into Red Hat Network will be displayed If you have not registered a system yet or do not have a redhat com account create a new account by clicking Create Account under the Your RHN category on the left navigation bar After creating a new user account yo...

Page 48: ...ck overview of your account It notifies you if systems need attention provides a quick link to go directly to them and displays the most recent Errata Alerts for your account Your Account Update your personal profile and addresses Indicate if you wish to receive email notifications about Errata Alerts for your systems Entitlements Select systems that you want to be entitled to use Software Manager...

Page 49: ...ilable through Red Hat Network Errata All Errata List of all released Errata Alerts Applicable Errata List of all applicable Errata Alerts for all of your systems Errata Search Search Errata Alerts based on specific criteria Scheduled Actions Pending Actions List of scheduled actions that have not been completed Completed Actions List of scheduled actions that have been completed Completed ac tion...

Page 50: ...mber of systems affected to view a list of systems affected by the Errata Alert 5 2 2 Selection List Before performing actions such as applying errata updates you must select the packages and systems you wish to modify Pages including System List and System Search have a column of check boxes under the Select column Click the checkbox beside the item that you want to select and click to add the se...

Page 51: ...he first page you see is the main page or the Your Red Hat Network page This page displays important information about your systems including Recent Errata Alerts for your systems under the title Recent Errata To view a complete list of applicable Errata Alerts for a system click View All Applicable Errata in the bottom right hand corner Tip If you are new to the Software Manager interface it is r...

Page 52: ...return to this page by click Your RHN on the left navigation bar 5 3 1 Your Account The Your Account page under the Your RHN category allows you to modify your personal information as well as set some RHN preferences To modify any information on the Details tab or the Addresses tab change the information and click the Update button on the page If you want to change your Red Hat Network password th...

Page 53: ...ware Manager your systems must be entitled they must be sub scribed to the Software Manager subscription service Every user receives one free entitlement slot The Entitlement Manager page displays the number of total used and available entitlement slots for your account To buy more entitlement slots enter the number to purchase and click the Buy Now button This page also allows you to change the e...

Page 54: ...and click Number of Security Alerts for the system Number of Bug Fix Alerts for the system Number of Enhancement Alerts for the system Total number of package updates for the system Includes packages from Errata Alerts as well as newer packages that are not from Errata Alerts For example if a system is subscribed to the Red Hat Linux 7 1 i386 channel that contains version 2 5 4 of a package becaus...

Page 55: ...you will receive email notifications when Errata Alerts are issued for any of your registered systems Automatic Download of New Packages If you select this packages will be automatically downloaded to your systems when Errata Alerts are issued for them The download is peformed the next time the RHN Daemon connects to RHN and asks if any actions are required for the sys tem The packages are downloa...

Page 56: ... to add to your selection list from here Clicking on the Synposis displays the Errata Details page for the Errata Alert Refer to Section 5 6 5 Errata Details for more information about the Errata Details page This tab only appears for entitled systems Installed Packages List of installed packages from the system s Sofware System Profile Click on a package name to view its Package Details page Refe...

Page 57: ...m architecture is a different base channel A child channel is a channel associated with a base channel but contains extra packages For example an organization can create a child channel that is associated with the Red Hat Linux 7 1 for the x86 architecture and that contains extra packages needed only for the organization such as a custom engineering application 5 5 1 Channel List The Channel List ...

Page 58: ...ox beside it and click the Modify System Profile button at the bottom of the page To unsubscribe the system from a child channel uncheck the box beside the channel name and click Modify System Profile 5 5 3 Package Details If you click on the name of an RPM package or the name of the Newer Package in the Outdated Packages section of the System Details page the Package Details page for the package ...

Page 59: ...within the channel use the Select column to select packages to download Click the Download Selected Packages button on the bottom of the page 3 Add packages to your selection list as described in Section 5 2 2 Selection List After adding all the packages that you want to download click the Installable Packages link in the Current Selections box After choosing to download the packages using one of ...

Page 60: ...ckages tar The next step is to install the packages manually Refer to Section 4 7 Manual Package Installation for details 5 6 Errata Red Hat releases Errata Alerts in three categories Security Alerts Bug Fix Alerts and Enhancement Alerts Each Errata Alert is comprised of a summary of the problem and the solution including the RPM packages required to fix the problem The Errata category of Software...

Page 61: ...ppear Refer to Section 5 6 5 Errata Details for more information To add Errata to your selection list check the Select box beside the Errata and click 5 6 3 Errata Search The results of the last search are on the bottom of the page You can create a new result set choose to union with the previous result set or intersect with the previous result set The Errata Search page allows you to search throu...

Page 62: ...s a member of the package will not be installed on that system 2 If a newer version of the package is already on the system the package will not be installed on that system 3 If an older version of the package is installed the package will be upgraded The packages will be updated by the RHN Daemon You must have the RHN Daemon enabled on your systems Refer to Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon for mo...

Page 63: ...tion it is not cancelled the action item just moves to the Archived Actions list so you do not see it in the Pending Actions list Action Type Type of action to perform such as Errata Update or Package Install Earliest Action The earliest day and time to perform the action Completed Number of systems on which this action has been completed Failed Number of systems on which this action has been trie...

Page 64: ...64 Chapter 5 Software Manager Figure 5 6 Scheduled Actions ...

Page 65: ...is one hour 60 minutes If you set the interval below one hour it will default to two hours 120 minutes You can view the status of the rhnsd by typing the command service rhnsd status or etc rc d init d rhnsd status at a shell prompt To disable the daemon as root run the ntsysv utility and uncheck rhnsd You can also as root execute the command chkconfig rhnsd off Using these two methods will only d...

Page 66: ...66 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon ...

Page 67: ...ell prompt execute the command cd rhnpackages to change to the new direc tory 3 In a Web browser download the necessary packages from http rhn redhat com help rh62 pxt 4 Go back to the shell prompt in the rhnpackages directory you must still be root and execute the command rpm Uvh to upgrade the existing Red Hat Update Agent to the version that works with Red Hat Network The Red Hat Network Regist...

Page 68: ...68 Chapter 7 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6 2 ...

Page 69: ...iptions contact Customer Service at 888 RedHat1 Q Do I need to use Red Hat Linux to benefit from Red Hat Network A Yes Currently you must be running Red Hat Linux 6 2 or higher to utilize Red Hat Network Q How does Software Manager work A Each registered system has a System Profile that contains hardware and software information about the system Software Manager uses this information to provide yo...

Page 70: ...inux CD Red Hat PowerTools CD and the Red Hat Linux Applications CD Q What version of Red Hat Linux do I have to run to be able to use Red Hat Network and Software Manager A You must be running Red Hat Linux 6 2 or higher Q Why is something called rhnsd running on my system and what does it do A rhnsd is the Red Hat Network Daemon Every other hour it sends a request to Red Hat Network asking for a...

Page 71: ... attempting to access Red Hat Network through a proxy server Proxy server settings can be configured in the newest version of up2date available at http www redhat com support errata RHBA 2000 138 html For instructions on configuring the proxy server refer to Section 3 2 General Settings Q Why does the Red Hat Network Registration Client return the error No Route to Host A The system you are runnin...

Page 72: ...72 Chapter 8 Frequently Asked Questions ...

Page 73: ... is a base channel Bug Fix Alert An Errata Alert that pertains to a bug fix Bugzilla Bugzilla is an online application http www redhat com bugzilla that allows users to com municate directly with the developers From Bugzilla users can submit bug reports and feature requests for Red Hat Linux and related open source packages C Channel A channel is a list of Red Hat Linux packages Channels are used ...

Page 74: ...ert that pertains to a package enhancement request Entitled Server A server that is subscribed to Software Manager Because the server is entitled the Software Manager interface can be used to manage its packages Errata Information published by Red Hat describing security fixes bug fixes and package enhance ments for Red Hat Linux The information includes the topics of the Errata Bugzilla bug IDs r...

Page 75: ...lows users to retreive and install all updated packages for the client system on which the application is run Use the Red 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 can be used to build install query verify update and uninstall software packages ...

Page 76: ...ing for Red Hat Network Software Manager also refers to the Web interface for RHN 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 information about the client system It is created during the registration process The software information is a list of RPM packages and their v...

Page 77: ...hing 61 viewing details 62 viewing list of all errata 61 viewing list of applicable errata 61 F FAQs 69 Frequently Asked Questions 69 G Getting started 11 GNU Privacy Guard 11 H hardware profile Updating on server 57 I Introduction document 9 L left navigation bar 48 N Notifications Automatic 10 O overview of Web interface 48 P package list Updating on server 46 56 packages downloading 59 filter 5...

Page 78: ...ackage List 20 Software System Profile 20 System Profile 16 19 through the Web 47 User name 16 with a proxy server 13 rhn_register 14 See also Registration rhnsd 65 S Secure Sockets Layer 11 Security 10 Software Manager 10 47 Channels and Packages 57 Errata 60 left navigation bar 48 logging in 47 overview 48 Scheduled Actions 62 Systems 53 subscribe to channel 58 system deleting 56 System Profile ...

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