Red Hat NETWORK - USER REFERENCE GUIDE 2.0 Product information sheet

Red Hat Network
User Reference Guide 2.0

ISBN: N/A
Red Hat, Inc.
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© 2001 Red Hat, Inc.
RHNurg(EN)-2.0-Print-RHI (2001-01-29T10:47-0400)
Copyright © 2001 by Red Hat, Inc. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and con-
ditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available
at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).
Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit per-
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marks or registered trademarks and/or service marks of Compaq.
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All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners.
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ii

Contents
Red Hat Network
Introduction................................................................................... v
Document Conventions.................................................................... v
MoretoCome.............................................................................. viii
Chapter 1 What is Red Hat Network? .................................... 11
1.1 Automatic Notifications........................................................... 12
1.2 Security, Quality Assurance, and Red Hat Network .......................... 12
1.3 Before You Begin ................................................................. 13
Chapter 2 Registration............................................................. 15
2.1 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client............................. 15
2.2 Registering a User Account ..................................................... 17
2.3 Registering a System Profile.................................................... 21
2.4 Finishing Registration............................................................ 25
2.5 Text Mode RHN Registration Client............................................. 27
Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration.................. 29
3.1 Configuring the Red Hat Update Agent ........................................ 29
3.2 General Settings.................................................................. 29
3.3 Retrieval/Installation Settings ................................................... 30
3.4 Package Exceptions Settings ................................................... 32
Chapter 4 Red Hat Update Agent........................................... 35
4.1 Starting the Red Hat Update Agent ............................................ 35
4.2 Choosing Packages to Update.................................................. 37
4.3 Installing Updated Packages .................................................... 40
4.4 Update Agent Finished........................................................... 41
4.5 Command Line Mode Red Hat Update Agent................................. 42
4.6 Syncronizing Your System Profile............................................... 45
iii

Chapter 5 Red Hat Network..................................................... 47
5.1 Logging into Red Hat Network .................................................. 47
5.2 Viewing Your Notifications ....................................................... 48
5.3 Adding a System Profile ......................................................... 49
5.4 Viewing Your Network Group.................................................... 50
5.5 Viewing Individual System Pages............................................... 52
5.6 Downloading Updated Packages ............................................... 53
5.7 Customizing Preferences........................................................ 53
5.8 Searching Errata.................................................................. 55
5.9 Viewing Online Help.............................................................. 56
Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon..................................... 57
Chapter 7 Using Red Hat Network with Red Hat Linux 6.2.59
Chapter 8 Frequently Asked Questions................................ 61
iv

Section 0.1:Document Conventions v
Introduction
Welcome to the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide 2.0.
The Red Hat Network User Reference Guide will guide you through registering your system for Red
Hat Network and using its many features. Depending on which version of Red Hat Linux you have
installed, the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the Red Hat Update Agent might be
different than the ones described in this manual as new features are added. All version of this manual
are available at http://www.redhat.com/support/manuals/. Once you use Red Hat Network to update
these applications, you can use the latest version of this manual.
This version of the manual covers version 2.1.7 of the Red Hat Update Agent and version 1.0.2 of the
Red Hat Network Registration Client.
For a more detailed, technical overview of Red Hat Network, please refer to the Red Hat Network
Whitepaper and the Red Hat Network Technical Paper available at http://www.redhat.com/prod-
ucts/network/.
Document Conventions
When you read this manual, you’ll see that certain words are represented in different fonts, typefaces,
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 to you that you can type in the word or phrase on the command line
and press [Enter] to invoke a command. Sometimes a command contains words that would be
displayed in a different style on their own (e.g., filenames). In these cases, they are considered
to be part of the command, so the entire phrase will be displayed as a command. For example:
Use the cat testfile command to view the contents of a file, named testfile, in the
current working directory.
filename
Filenames, directory names, paths and RPM package names are represented this way. This style
should indicate that a particular file or directory exists by that name on your Red Hat Linux
system. Examples:
The .bashrc file in your home directory contains bash shell definitions and aliases for your
own use.

vi Introduction
The /etc/fstab file contains information about different system devices and filesystems.
The /usr/share/doc directory contains documentation for various programs.
Install the webalizer RPM if you want to use a Web server log file analysis program.
application
This style should indicate to you that the program named is an end-user application (as opposed
to system software). For example:
Use Netscape Navigator to browse the Web.
[key]
A key on the keyboard is shown in this style. For example:
To use [Tab] completion, type in a character and then press the [Tab] key. Your terminal will
display the list of files in the directory that start with that letter.
[key]-[combination]
A combination of keystrokes is represented in this way. For example:
The [Ctrl]-[Alt]-[Backspace] key combination will restart the X Window System.
text found on a GUI interface
A title, word or phrase found on a GUI interface screen or window will be shown in this style.
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’d like your screensaver to require a password
before stopping.
top level of a menu on a GUI screen or window
When you seea word in this style, it indicates that the word isthe top level ofa pull-down menu.
If you click on the word on the GUI screen, the rest of the menu should appear. For example:
Under Settings on a GNOME terminal, you’ll see the following menu items: Preferences,
Reset Terminal,Reset and Clear, and Color selector.
If you need to type in a sequence of commands from a GUI menu, they’ll be shown like the
following example:
Click on Programs=>Applications=>Emacs to start the Emacs text editor.
button on a GUI screen or window

Section 0.1:Document Conventions vii
This style indicates that the text will be found on a clickable button on a GUI screen. For ex-
ample:
Click on the Back button to return to the Web page you last viewed.
computer output
When you see text in this style, it indicates text displayed by the computer on the command line.
You’ll see responses to commands you typed in, error messages and interactive promptings for
your input during scripts or programs shown this way. For example:
Use the ls to display the contents of a directory:
$ls
Desktop axhome logs paulwesterberg.gif
Mail backupfiles mail reports
The output returned in response to the command (in this case, the contents of the directory) is
shown in this style.
prompt
A prompt, which is a computer’s way of signifying that it is ready for you to input something,
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 and windows are 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 example, with the word root displayed as something the user needs to type in:
If you need to log in as root when you first log into your system, and you are using the graphical
login screen, at the Login prompt, type root. At the Password prompt, type in the root
password.
glossary entry

viii Introduction
A word that appears in the glossary will be shown in the body of the document in this style. For
example:
The lpd daemon handles printing requests.
In this case, the style of the word daemon should indicate to you that a definition of the term is
available in the glossary.
Additionally, we use several differentstrategies to drawyour attention to certain piecesof information.
In order of how critical the information is to your system, these items will be marked as a tip, a note,
important, a caution or a warning. For example:
Note
Remember that Linux is case sensitive. In other words, a rose is not a ROSE
is not a rOsE.
CAUTION
Don’t do routine tasks as root -- use a regular user account unless you need
to use the root account to administer your system.
WARNING
If you choose not to partition manually, a server-class installation will
remove all existing partitions on all installed hard drives. Don’t choose
this installation class unless you’re 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.

Section 0.2:More to Come ix
Send in Your Feedback
If you’d like to make suggestions about the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide, please mention
this guide’s identifier:
RHNurg(EN)-2.0-Print-RHI (2001-01-29T10:47-0400)
You can send mail to:
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x Introduction