Red Hat NETWORK SATELLITE 5.1.0 - CHANNEL MANAGEMENT User manual

Red Hat Network Satellite
Reference Guide 5.1.0
5.1
ISBN:
Publication date:

Red Hat Network Satellite

Red Hat Network Satellite: Reference Guide 5.1.0
Copyright ©2008 Red Hat, Inc.
Copyright ©2008 Red Hat, Inc. This material may only be distributed subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the
Open Publication License, V1.0 or later with the restrictions noted below (the latest version of the OPL is presently
available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).
Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the
copyright holder.
Distribution 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 fingerprint of the [email protected] key is:
CA 20 86 86 2B D6 9D FC 65 F6 EC C4 21 91 80 CD DB 42 A6 0E
1801 Varsity Drive
Raleigh, NC 27606-2072
USA
Phone: [phone]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
PO Box 13588
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
USA

Red Hat Network Satellite

Introduction to the Guide .......................................................................................... xiii
1. More to Come .............................................................................................. xiii
1.1. Send in Your Feedback ..................................................................... xiv
1. Red Hat Network Overview ..................................................................................... 1
1. Update .......................................................................................................... 2
2. Management ................................................................................................. 3
3. Provisioning ................................................................................................... 4
4. Monitoring ..................................................................................................... 4
5. Errata Notifications and Scheduled Package Installations ................................. 5
6. Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network .......................................... 5
7. Before You Begin ........................................................................................... 6
2. Red Hat Update Agent .......................................................................................... 9
1. Starting the Red Hat Update Agent ................................................................ 9
2. Registration ..................................................................................................12
2.1. Registering a User Account .................................................................13
2.2. Activate .............................................................................................16
2.3. Channels ...........................................................................................17
2.4. Packages Flagged to be Skipped ........................................................19
2.5. Available Package Updates ................................................................20
2.6. Retrieving Packages ...........................................................................22
2.7. Installing Packages ............................................................................23
3. Command Line Version .................................................................................25
3.1. Installing the Red Hat GPG key ...........................................................28
3.2. Manual Package Installation ...............................................................29
3.3. Synchronizing Your System Profile ......................................................30
3.4. Log File .............................................................................................30
4. Configuration ................................................................................................30
4.1. Using the Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Tool ........................30
4.2. Command Line Version ......................................................................34
5. Registering with Activation Keys ....................................................................35
6. Registering a System to an Organization ........................................................37
3. Red Hat Network Daemon .....................................................................................39
1. Configuring ...................................................................................................39
2. Viewing Status ..............................................................................................39
3. Disabling ......................................................................................................39
4. Troubleshooting ............................................................................................39
4. Red Hat Network Alert Notification Tool .............................................................41
1. Configuring the Applet ...................................................................................41
2. Notification Icons ..........................................................................................43
3. Viewing Updates ...........................................................................................44
4. Applying Updates ..........................................................................................44
5. Launching the RHN Website ..........................................................................44
5. Red Hat Network Registration Client ...................................................................45
1. Configuring the Red Hat Network Registration Client ...................................45
2. Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client .........................................47
3. Registering a User Account ...........................................................................50
v

4. Registering a System Profile ..........................................................................52
4.1. Hardware System Profile ....................................................................53
4.2. Software System Profile ......................................................................54
5. Finishing Registration ....................................................................................56
6. Entitling Your System ....................................................................................58
7. Text Mode RHN Registration Client ................................................................59
6. Red Hat Network Website ......................................................................................61
1. Navigation ....................................................................................................61
1.1. Entitlement Views ...............................................................................62
1.2. Categories and Pages ........................................................................62
1.3. Errata Alert Icons ...............................................................................65
1.4. Quick Search .....................................................................................65
1.5. Systems Selected ..............................................................................66
1.6. Lists ..................................................................................................66
2. Logging into the RHN Website .......................................................................66
3. Your RHN .....................................................................................................68
3.1. Your Account .....................................................................................70
3.2. Your Preferences ...............................................................................71
3.3. Locale Preferences ............................................................................72
3.4. Subscription Management ..................................................................72
4. Systems .......................................................................................................74
4.1. Overview — ...............................................................................74
4.2. Systems ............................................................................................74
4.3. System Groups — ......................................................................93
4.4. System Set Manager — ..............................................................96
4.5. Advanced Search — .................................................................103
4.6. Activation Keys — ....................................................................103
4.7. Stored Profiles — .....................................................................106
4.8. Custom System Info — .............................................................107
4.9. Kickstart — ..............................................................................107
5. Errata .........................................................................................................119
5.1. Relevant Errata ................................................................................120
5.2. All Errata .........................................................................................121
5.3. Advanced Search .............................................................................123
6. Channels ....................................................................................................124
6.1. Software Channels ...........................................................................124
6.2. Package Search ...............................................................................128
6.3. Manage Software Channels ..............................................................129
7. Configuration ..............................................................................................131
7.1. Preparing Systems for Config Management .......................................131
7.2. Overview .........................................................................................131
Red Hat Network Satellite
vi

7.3. Configuration Channels ....................................................................132
7.4. Configuration Files ...........................................................................134
7.5. Locally-Managed Files ......................................................................135
7.6. Systems ..........................................................................................137
8. Schedule ....................................................................................................138
8.1. Pending Actions ...............................................................................139
8.2. Failed Actions ..................................................................................139
8.3. Completed Actions ...........................................................................139
8.4. Archived Actions ..............................................................................139
8.5. Actions List ......................................................................................139
9. Users — .............................................................................................141
9.1. User List # Active — .................................................................141
9.2. User List # Deactivated — .........................................................146
9.3. User List # All — .......................................................................147
10. Monitoring — .....................................................................................147
10.1. Probe Status — ......................................................................147
10.2. Notification — .........................................................................149
10.3. Probe Suites ..................................................................................151
10.4. Scout Config Push — ..............................................................153
10.5. General Config — ...................................................................153
11. Satellite Tools ...........................................................................................154
11.1. Satellite Tools # Organizations ........................................................154
11.2. Satellite Tools # Satellite Configuration ............................................158
12. Help .........................................................................................................160
12.1. Help Desk ......................................................................................160
12.2. RHN Security .................................................................................160
12.3. Lookup Login/Password ..................................................................160
12.4. Release Notes ...............................................................................160
12.5. Reference Guide ............................................................................160
12.6. Satellite Installation Guide ...............................................................160
12.7. Proxy Guide ...................................................................................160
12.8. Client Configuration Guide ..............................................................161
12.9. Channel Management Guide ...........................................................161
12.10. API ..............................................................................................161
7. Monitoring ..........................................................................................................163
1. Prerequisites ..............................................................................................163
2. Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon (rhnmd) ..............................................163
2.1. Probes requiring the daemon ............................................................164
2.2. Installing the Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon ............................165
2.3. Configuring SSH ..............................................................................165
vii

2.4. Installing the SSH key ......................................................................166
3. mysql-server package ...............................................................................167
4. Notifications ................................................................................................167
4.1. Creating Notification Methods ...........................................................167
4.2. Receiving Notifications .....................................................................168
4.3. Redirecting Notifications ...................................................................169
4.4. Filtering Notifications ........................................................................170
4.5. Deleting Notification Methods ............................................................170
5. Probes .......................................................................................................171
5.1. Managing Probes .............................................................................171
5.2. Establishing Thresholds ....................................................................172
5.3. Monitoring the RHN Server ...............................................................172
6. Troubleshooting ..........................................................................................173
6.1. Examining Probes with rhn-catalog ................................................173
6.2. Viewing the output of rhn-runprobe .................................................174
8. Virtualization .......................................................................................................175
1. Setting Up the Host System for Your Virtual Systems ....................................175
1.1. Create a Kickstart Profile for the Guest Systems ................................175
1.2. Kickstart Your Host System ...............................................................176
2. Setting Up Your Virtual Systems ..................................................................181
2.1. Create a Kickstart Profile for the Guest Systems ................................181
2.2. Provision Your Guest Systems ..........................................................183
3. Working With Your Virtual Systems ..............................................................184
3.1. Logging into Virtual Systems Directly via SSH ....................................184
3.2. Gaining Console Access Via the Host ................................................185
3.3. Installing Software Via the Satellite Web Interface ..............................185
3.4. Installing Software Via Yum From the Virtual System ..........................186
3.5. Deleting Virtual Systems ...................................................................186
9. UNIX Support Guide ...........................................................................................189
1. Introduction ................................................................................................189
1.1. Supported UNIX Variants ..................................................................189
1.2. Prerequisites ....................................................................................189
1.3. Included Features ............................................................................189
1.4. Differences in Functionality ...............................................................190
1.5. Excluded Features ...........................................................................190
2. Satellite Server Preparation/Configuration ....................................................191
3. Client System Preparation ...........................................................................193
3.1. Download and Install Additional Packages .........................................193
3.2. Deploying Client SSL Certificates ......................................................197
3.3. Configuring the clients ......................................................................197
4. Registration and Updates ............................................................................198
4.1. Registering Systems .........................................................................198
4.2. Obtaining Updates ...........................................................................199
5. Remote Commands ....................................................................................204
5.1. Enabling Commands ........................................................................204
5.2. Issuing Commands ...........................................................................204
A. Command Line Config Management Tools ...........................................................207
Red Hat Network Satellite
viii

1. Red Hat Network Actions Control .............................................................207
1.1. General command line options ..........................................................207
2. Red Hat Network Configuration Client ......................................................208
2.1. Listing Config Files ...........................................................................208
2.2. Getting a Config File .........................................................................209
2.3. Viewing Config Channels ..................................................................209
2.4. Differentiating between Config Files ..................................................210
2.5. Verifying Config Files ........................................................................210
3. Red Hat Network Configuration Manager ..................................................211
3.1. Creating a Config Channel ................................................................212
3.2. Adding Files to a Config Channel ......................................................212
3.3. Differentiating between Latest Config Files ........................................213
3.4. Differentiating between Various Versions ...........................................214
3.5. Downloading All Files in a Channel ....................................................214
3.6. Getting the Contents of a File ............................................................215
3.7. Listing All Files in a Channel .............................................................215
3.8. Listing All Config Channels ...............................................................216
3.9. Removing a File from a Channel .......................................................216
3.10. Deleting a Config Channel ..............................................................216
3.11. Determining the Number of File Revisions ........................................217
3.12. Updating a File in a Channel ...........................................................217
3.13. Uploading Multiple Files at Once .....................................................218
B. RHN API Access ................................................................................................219
1. Using the auth Class and Getting the Session ...............................................219
2. Obtaining the system_id ..............................................................................219
3. Determining the sid .....................................................................................219
4. Viewing the cid ...........................................................................................219
5. Getting the sgid ...........................................................................................220
6. Channel Labels ...........................................................................................220
7. Sample API Script .......................................................................................220
C. Probes ...............................................................................................................223
1. Probe Guidelines ........................................................................................223
2. Apache 1.3.x and 2.0.x ................................................................................224
2.1. Apache::Processes ..........................................................................224
2.2. Apache::Traffic .................................................................................225
2.3. Apache::Uptime ...............................................................................226
3. BEA WebLogic 6.x and higher .....................................................................226
3.1. BEA WebLogic::Execute Queue ........................................................227
3.2. BEA WebLogic::Heap Free ...............................................................228
3.3. BEA WebLogic::JDBC Connection Pool .............................................228
3.4. BEA WebLogic::Server State ............................................................229
3.5. BEA WebLogic::Servlet ....................................................................229
4. General ......................................................................................................230
4.1. General::Remote Program ................................................................230
4.2. General::Remote Program with Data .................................................231
4.3. General::SNMP Check .....................................................................232
4.4. General::TCP Check ........................................................................232
ix

4.5. General::UDP Check ........................................................................233
4.6. General::Uptime (SNMP) ..................................................................234
5. Linux ..........................................................................................................234
5.1. Linux::CPU Usage ............................................................................234
5.2. Linux::Disk IO Throughput ................................................................235
5.3. Linux::Disk Usage ............................................................................235
5.4. Linux::Inodes ...................................................................................236
5.5. Linux::Interface Traffic ......................................................................236
5.6. Linux::Load ......................................................................................237
5.7. Linux::Memory Usage .......................................................................238
5.8. Linux::Process Counts by State .........................................................238
5.9. Linux::Process Count Total ...............................................................239
5.10. Linux::Process Health .....................................................................239
5.11. Linux::Process Running ..................................................................241
5.12. Linux::Swap Usage .........................................................................241
5.13. Linux::TCP Connections by State ....................................................242
5.14. Linux::Users ...................................................................................243
5.15. Linux::Virtual Memory .....................................................................243
6. LogAgent ....................................................................................................244
6.1. LogAgent::Log Pattern Match ............................................................244
6.2. LogAgent::Log Size ..........................................................................245
7. MySQL 3.23 - 3.33 ......................................................................................246
7.1. MySQL::Database Accessibility .........................................................246
7.2. MySQL::Opened Tables ...................................................................247
7.3. MySQL::Open Tables .......................................................................247
7.4. MySQL::Query Rate .........................................................................248
7.5. MySQL::Threads Running .................................................................248
8. Network Services ........................................................................................249
8.1. Network Services::DNS Lookup ........................................................249
8.2. Network Services::FTP .....................................................................249
8.3. Network Services::IMAP Mail ............................................................250
8.4. Network Services::Mail Transfer (SMTP) ...........................................251
8.5. Network Services::Ping .....................................................................251
8.6. Network Services::POP Mail .............................................................252
8.7. Network Services::Remote Ping ........................................................253
8.8. Network Services::RPCService .........................................................253
8.9. Network Services::Secure Web Server (HTTPS) ................................254
8.10. Network Services::SSH ...................................................................255
8.11. Network Services::Web Server (HTTP) ............................................255
9. Oracle 8i and 9i ...........................................................................................256
9.1. Oracle::Active Sessions ....................................................................257
9.2. Oracle::Availability ............................................................................257
9.3. Oracle::Blocking Sessions ................................................................258
9.4. Oracle::Buffer Cache ........................................................................258
9.5. Oracle::Client Connectivity ................................................................259
9.6. Oracle::Data Dictionary Cache ..........................................................260
9.7. Oracle::Disk Sort Ratio .....................................................................260
Red Hat Network Satellite
x

9.8. Oracle::Idle Sessions ........................................................................261
9.9. Oracle::Index Extents .......................................................................261
9.10. Oracle::Library Cache .....................................................................262
9.11. Oracle::Locks .................................................................................263
9.12. Oracle::Redo Log ...........................................................................263
9.13. Oracle::Table Extents .....................................................................264
9.14. Oracle::Tablespace Usage ..............................................................265
9.15. Oracle::TNS Ping ...........................................................................265
10. RHN Satellite Server .................................................................................266
10.1. RHN Satellite Server::Disk Space ....................................................266
10.2. RHN Satellite Server::Execution Time ..............................................267
10.3. RHN Satellite Server::Interface Traffic .............................................267
10.4. RHN Satellite Server::Latency .........................................................267
10.5. RHN Satellite Server::Load .............................................................268
10.6. RHN Satellite Server::Probe Count ..................................................268
10.7. RHN Satellite Server::Process Counts .............................................269
10.8. RHN Satellite Server::Processes .....................................................269
10.9. RHN Satellite Server::Process Health ..............................................270
10.10. RHN Satellite Server::Process Running .........................................271
10.11. RHN Satellite Server::Swap ..........................................................271
10.12. RHN Satellite Server::Users ..........................................................271
Glossary ................................................................................................................273
Index .....................................................................................................................279
xi

xii

Introduction to the Guide
Welcome to the Red Hat Network Satellite Server 5.1.0 Reference Guide. The RHN Reference
Guide guides you through registering systems with Red Hat Network and using its many
features.
Since Red Hat Network offers a variety of service levels, from the most basic Update module to
the most advanced Monitoring package, some content of this guide may be inapplicable to you.
This is particularly true of the RHN website, which displays selected categories, pages, and tabs
depending on the entitlement level of the account used to log in. Refer to Chapter 6, Red Hat
Network Website to determine what is available to you.
Depending on the version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux installed and the addition of new
features, the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the Red Hat Update Agent may differ
from the descriptions in this manual. Use Red Hat Network to update these applications before
referring to the latest version of this manual.
All versions of this manual are available in HTML and PDF formats at
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/RHNetwork/.
This version of the manual covers version 4.4.5 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 Red
Hat Update Agent and versions 2.9.14 and 2.9.12 of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 Red Hat
Update Agent and Red Hat Network Registration Client, respectively.
Warning
Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 must use the Red Hat Network
Registration Client before starting the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to
Chapter 5, Red Hat Network Registration Client for instructions. Systems
running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and later
register with the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Chapter 2, Red Hat Update
Agent for instructions.
For an overview of Red Hat Network offerings, please review the descriptions available at
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/.
1. More to Come
The Red Hat Network Reference Guide is constantly expanding as new Red Hat Network
features and service plans are launched. HTML and PDF versions of this and other manuals are
available within the Help section of the RHN website and at http://www.redhat.com/docs/.
Note
Although this manual reflects the most current information possible, read the
xiii

1http://www.redhat.com/docs/
RHN Release Notes for information that may not have been available prior to the
finalization of the documentation. The notes can be found on the RHN website
and at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/RHNetwork/1.
The following RHN documentation has been translated for the RHN 5.1 release: RHN Satellite
Reference Guide, RHN Satellite Installation Guide, RHN Client Configuration Guide, RHN
Channel Management Guide, and RHN Satellite Release Notes. Translated documentation is
available at http://rhn.redhat.com/help/
1.1. Send in Your Feedback
If you would like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network Reference Guide, please
submit a report in Bugzilla (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/) against the component
Documentation_Reference_Guide (Product: Red Hat Network Satellite, Version: 510).
Introduction to the Guide
xiv

Red Hat Network Overview
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 an unknown site?
Have you ever tried to find an RPM but instead found only source files that you had 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 single Red Hat Enterprise Linux system
or a network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and
Enhancement Alerts (collectively known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red
Hat or your own custom collection. You can even schedule updates for delivery to your system
immediately after release.
The main components of Red Hat Network are as follows:
• the Red Hat Update Agent
• the Red Hat Network website, whether this is hosted by the central RHN Servers, an RHN
Satellite Server, or fed through an RHN Proxy Server
• Red Hat Network Daemon
• the Red Hat Network Registration Client - for systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2.1 only.
The Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) provides your initial connection to Red Hat Network.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and newer systems use the Red Hat Update Agent to register with
RHN. Registration involves creating a unique RHN username 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. Once registered, the Red Hat Update Agent
enables channel subscription, package installs, and management of System Profiles. See
Chapter 2, Red Hat Update Agent for further information.
The Red Hat Update Agent, as the base component of RHN, is designed to manage a single
system. It allows the system's superuser to view and apply Errata to the system. The RHN web
interface facilitates the management, monitoring, and provisioning of a large deployment of
systems, including the configuration of the Red Hat Update Agent for each system.
Chapter 1.
1

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 3, Red Hat
Network Daemon for further information). This daemon is necessary in order to schedule
updates or other actions through the website.
The Red Hat Network Registration Client allows you to register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2.1 systems with RHN. (Newer versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux have registration
functionality built into the Red Hat Update Agent.) See Chapter 5, Red Hat Network
Registration Client for more information.
Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the Red Hat
Network Reference Guide, refer to the Glossary as necessary for an explanation of common
terms.
Tip
For a comparison chart of RHN service levels, refer to
http://www.redhat.com/software/rhn/table/.
1. Update
The RHN Update service is ideal for a user with one Red Hat Enterprise Linux system or a small
number of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. Updated Subscription to Update can be
purchased at https://www.redhat.com/apps/commerce/rhn/.
With each Update subscription, you receive the following services:
• Download Software — For customers who have purchased subscriptions to Red Hat Network,
ISO images are available for immediate download.
• Priority Access during periods of high load — When Red Hat releases a large erratum, users
with Priority Access can be guaranteed that they will be able to access the updated packages
immediately.
• RHN Support Access — All paying customers of Red Hat Network receive web based support
for their RHN questions.
• Errata Notification, Multiple Systems — Subscriptions for multiple systems means Errata
notification for Errata to all of those systems. Note that only one email is distributed per each
Erratum, regardless of the number of systems affected.
• Errata Updates, Multiple Systems — Get quick updates for multiple systems with an easy
button click for each system.
Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview
2

1https://rhn.redhat.com/
2. Management
In addition to the features offered in the RHN Update subscription level, the RHN Management
subscription service allows you to manage your network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems,
users, and system groups through its System Set Manager interface.
RHN Management is based upon the concept of an organization. Each Management-level Red
Hat customer has the ability to establish users who have administration privileges to system
groups. An Organization Administrator has overall control over each Red Hat Network
organization with the ability to add and remove systems and users. When users other than the
Satellite Administrator log into the Red Hat Network website, they see only the systems they
have permission to administer.
To create an account that can be used to entitle systems to RHN Management, go to
https://rhn.redhat.com/1and click on the Create Login link under the Sign In fields. On the
Create a Red Hat Login page, click Create a new Business Login. After creating a business
account, you may add users within your organization to it.
The Red Hat Network features available to you depend on the subscription level for each Red
Hat Enterprise Linux system. With each Management subscription, you receive the functionality
provided to Update users, plus:
• Package Profile Comparison — Compare the package set on a system with the package sets
of similar systems with one click.
• Search Systems — Search through systems based on a number of criteria: packages,
networking information, even hardware asset tags.
• System Grouping — Web servers, database servers, workstations and other
workload-focused systems may be grouped so that each set can be administered in common
ways.
• Multiple Administrators — Administrators may be given rights to particular system groups,
easing the burden of system management over very large organizations.
• System Set Manager — You may now apply actions to sets of systems instead of single
systems, work with members of a predefined system group, or work with an ad-hoc collection
of systems. Install a single software package to each, subscribe the systems to a new
channel, or apply all Errata to them with a single action.
• Batch Processing — Compiling a list of outdated packages for a thousand systems would
take days for a dedicated sysadmin. Red Hat Network Management service can do it for you
in seconds.
Provisioning
3

3. Provisioning
As the highest management service level, RHN Provisioning encompasses all of the features
offered in the RHN Update and Management subscription levels. It is designed to allow you to
deploy and manage your network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems, users, and system
groups.
Like Management, Provisioning is based upon an organization. It takes this concept a step
further by enabling customers with Provisioning entitlements to kickstart, reconfigure, track, and
revert systems on the fly.
In addition to all of the features mentioned in lower service levels, Provisioning provides:
• Kickstarting — Systems with Provisioning entitlements may be re-installed through RHN with
a whole host of options established in kickstart profiles. Options include everything from the
type of bootloader and time zone to packages included/excluded and IP address ranges
allowed. Even GPG and SSL keys can be pre-configured.
• Client Configuration — RHN Satellite Server Customers may use RHN to manage the
configuration files on Provisioning-entitled systems. Users can upload files to custom
configurations channels on the Satellite, verify local configuration files against those stored on
the Satellite, and deploy files from the Satellite.
• Snapshot Rollbacks — Provisioning-level users have the ability to revert the package profile
and RHN settings of systems. RHN Satellite Server customers can also roll back local
configurations files. This is possible because snapshots are captured whenever an action
takes place on a system. These snapshots identify groups, channels, packages, and
configuration files.
• Custom System Information — Provisioning customers may identify any type of information
they choose about their registered systems. This differs from System Profile information,
which is generated automatically, and the Notes, which are unrestricted, in that the Custom
System Information allows you to develop specific keys of your choosing and assign
searchable values for that key to each Provisioning-entitled system. For instance, this feature
allows you to identify the cubicle in which each system is located and search through all
registered systems according to their cubicle.
4. Monitoring
Monitoring entitlements are available to RHN Satellite Server customers with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux systems.
Monitoring allows an organization to install probes that can immediately detect failures and
identify performance degradation before it becomes critical. Used properly, the Monitoring
entitlement can provide insight into the applications, services, and devices on each system.
Specifically, Monitoring provides:
Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview
4

• Probes — Dozens of probes can be run against each system. These range from simple ping
checks to custom remote programs designed to return valuable data.
• Notification — Alerts can be sent to email and pager addresses with contact methods
identified by you when a probe changes state. Each probe notification can be sent to a
different method, or address.
• Central Status — The results of all probes are summarized in a single Probe Status page,
with the systems affected broken down by state.
• Reporting — By selecting a probe and identifying the particular metric and a range of time,
you can generate graphs and event logs depicting precisely how the probe has performed.
This can be instrumental in predicting and preventing costly system failures.
• Probe Suites — Groups of probes may be assigned to a system or set of systems at once
rather than individually. This allows Administrators to be certain that similar systems are
monitored in the same way and saves time configuring individual probes.
• Notification Filters — Probe notifications may be redirected to another recipient, halted, or
sent to an additional recipient for a specified time based on probe criteria, notification method,
scout or organization.
5. Errata Notifications and Scheduled Package
Installations
You can configure Red Hat Network to send you email notifications of new and updated
software packages as soon as the packages are available through RHN. You receive one email
per Erratum, regardless of the number of affected systems. You can also schedule package
installs or package updates. The benefits include:
• Reduced time and effort required by system administrators to stay on top of the Red Hat
Errata list
• Minimized security vulnerabilities in your network through the application of updates as soon
as Red Hat releases them
• Filtered list of package updates (packages not relevant to your network are not included)
• Reliable method of managing multiple systems with similar configurations
6. Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network
Red Hat Network provides significant benefits to your network, including security and quality
assurance. All transactions made between your systems and Red Hat Network are encrypted
and all RPM packages are signed with Red Hat's GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) signature to
ensure authenticity.
Errata Notifications and Scheduled Package
5

2https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt
Red Hat Network incorporates the following security measures:
1. Your System Profile, available at http://rhn.redhat.com, is accessible only with an
RHN-verified username and password.
2. A Digital Certificate is written to the client system after registration and is used to authenticate
the system during each transaction between the client and Red Hat Network. The file is only
readable by the root user on the client system.
3. Red Hat signs all communications with an electronic signature using GPG. RPM can be used
to verify the authenticity of the package before it is installed.
4. Red Hat encrypts all transactions using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection.
5. The Red Hat Quality Assurance Team tests and verifies all packages before they are added
to the Red Hat Errata list and Red Hat Network.
7. Before You Begin
By default, all software packages necessary to access Red Hat Network are installed with Red
Hat Enterprise Linux distributions. However, if you chose not to install them during the
installation process, you must obtain the Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) and possibly the
Red Hat Network Registration Client (rhn_register). In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and
later, registration functionality is built into the Red Hat Update Agent, while Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 2.1 users will need the Red Hat Network Registration Client.
Warning
The SSL certificate packaged with older versions of the Red Hat Update Agent
and the Red Hat Network Registration Client reached its end of life August 28,
2003. Users attempting to connect using this certificate will receive SSL
connection or certificate verification errors. You may view and obtain the versions
of these applications containing new certificates at the RHN Client Software2
page. In the RHN website, click Help at the top-right corner, Get RHN Software
in the left navigation bar, and scroll down to examine the packages and versions.
To determine the versions of the client applications installed, run the rpm -q command followed
by the package name. For instance, for the Red Hat Network Registration Client, type the
following command:
rpm -q rhn_register
Chapter 1. Red Hat Network Overview
6