Red Hat NETWORK - USER 1.2, User Reference Manual

Page 1: ...Red Hat Network User Reference Guide 1 2 ...

Page 2: ...n an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc Netscape is a registered trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation in the United States and other countries TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners Copyright 2000 by Red Hat...

Page 3: ...t Configuration 25 3 1 Configuring the Red Hat Update Agent 25 3 2 Retrieval Installation Settings 25 3 3 Package Exceptions Settings 27 Chapter 4 Red Hat Update Agent 29 4 1 Starting the Red Hat Update Agent 29 4 2 Choosing Packages to Update 31 4 3 Installing Updated Packages 34 4 4 Update Agent Finished 36 4 5 Command Line Mode Red Hat Update Agent 37 Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Web Application 3...

Page 4: ...nloading Updated Packages 45 5 7 Customizing Preferences 46 5 8 Searching Errata 48 5 9 Viewing Online Help 49 5 10 Navigation 50 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon 53 Chapter 7 Frequently Asked Questions 55 iv ...

Page 5: ...nched in September 2000 with Red Hat Linux 7 0 Red Hat Network RHN is an Internet solution for managing a Red Hat Linux system or a network of Red Hat Linux systems All security patches bug fixes and software package enhancements can be downloaded directly from Red Hat using the Red Hat Update Agent standalone application or through a Web browser using the Red Hat Network Web Application The three...

Page 6: ...at Network Registration Client Red Hat Update Agent is a standalone application that runs locally on your system All the software dependencies it requires are shipped with Red Hat Linux 7 The Red Hat Network Web Application runs inside a SSL enabled Web browser such as Netscape and does not have software dependencies The Red Hat Network Daemon rhnsd runs in the background as a service and probes t...

Page 7: ... 1 The Red Hat Network Web Application is only accessible with the correct user name and password 2 A Digital Certificate stored on the client system in the file etc syscon fig rhn systemid after registration is used to authenticate the system dur ing each transaction between the client and Red Hat Network 3 All notifications and information messages are signed by Red Hat with an elec tronic signa...

Page 8: ...8 Chapter 1 What is Red Hat Network ...

Page 9: ...be prompted to enter the root pass word before proceeding To start the Red Hat Network Registration Client in Red Hat Linux 7 use one of the following methods 1 On the GNOME desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Programs System RHN Registration 2 On the KDE desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Red Hat System RHN Registration 3 Type the command rhn_register at a shell prompt fo...

Page 10: ...rmine the version of Python on your system use the command rpm q python It is strongly recommended you use Python 1 5 2 24 or later Figure 2 1 Use Python 1 5 2 24 or later The opening screen for the Red Hat Network Registration Client gives you a brief overview of the services available and the steps required to register see Figure 2 2 Welcome Screen Click Next to continue with the registration pr...

Page 11: ...gure 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 about your system If you have any questions about how your information is being used please contact us at feedback red hat com ...

Page 12: ... 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 to 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 message see Figure 2 4 Error Username Already ...

Page 13: ...e Your user name and password have the following restrictions Must be at least four characters 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 and wish to update your System Profile you can run the Red Hat Network Registration Client again and enter your existing user name ...

Page 14: ... new machine to your System Profile 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 System Profile and you can log into the Red Hat Network Web Application with your user name and password to view all your systems simultaneously Currently you are allowed to a...

Page 15: ...titled I want to receive email notification for updates to my System Profiles When selected the Email address text area will no longer be shaded and you can enter the email address where notifications will be sent The email address can be changed at any time If you purchased Red Hat Linux 7 Deluxe Workstation or Professional Server enter your Registration Number to activate your Free Support Servi...

Page 16: ... Hat e Newslet ter please fill out the relevant information see Figure 2 7 Optional User Account Information Figure 2 7 Optional User Account Information 2 3 Registering a System Profile Now that you have a user account you can create a System Profile that consists of hardware and software information about your Red Hat Linux system The software System Profile information is used by Red Hat Networ...

Page 17: ...ing a profile name for your system as shown in Figure 2 8 System Profile Hardware This name is used to identify the system in the Red Hat Network Web Application The default value is the hostname for the system You may modify this to be a more descriptive string such as Email Server for Support Team if you find it more helpful If you do not wish to include information about your hardware or networ...

Page 18: ...e list by deselecting 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...

Page 19: ... depending on your system Figure 2 9 Registration Wizard Once the RPM package list is built the list will be displayed as shown in Figure 2 10 RPM Package Information Deselecting Include RPM Packages installed on this system in my System Profile will omit this information from your System Profile Figure 2 10 RPM Package Information ...

Page 20: ...1 Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Profile shows that the procmail procps and psgml packages have been omitted from the package list Choose which packages to exclude from the system profile and click Next to continue with the registration process Figure 2 11 Choose which RPM Packages to Exclude from System Profile 2 4 Finishing Registration As seen in Figure 2 12 Finished Collectin...

Page 21: ...xt will send your profile Figure 2 12 Finished Collecting Information for System Profile Figure 2 13 Send System Profile to Red Hat Network shows the progress bar you will see while your profile is being sent This process may take some time depending on your connection speed Figure 2 13 Send System Profile to Red Hat Network ...

Page 22: ... System Profile and make any changes Figure 2 14 Registration Finished 2 5 Text Mode RHN Registration Client The screens for the Text Mode Red Hat Network Registration Client 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 nu...

Page 23: ...Section 2 5 Text Mode RHN Registration Client 23 the instructions that begin in Section 2 1 Starting the Red Hat Network Registration Client Figure 2 15 Text Mode Welcome Screen ...

Page 24: ...24 Chapter 2 Registration ...

Page 25: ...he GNOME desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Programs System RHN Configuration or Update Agent Configuration for older versions of Red Hat Update Agent On the KDE desktop go to the Main Menu Button on the Panel Red Hat RHN Configuration or Update Agent Configuration for older versions of Red Hat Update Agent Type the command up2date config at a shell prompt for example an xterm or a gn...

Page 26: ...lable not only those installed on system ignore Software System Profile preferences and show all new RPM packages available Don t display packages when local configuration file has been modified if the config uration file has been modified for a package such as Apache and Squid do not display them in the list of available packages Retrieve source RPM along with binary package download both the sou...

Page 27: ...e 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...

Page 28: ...28 Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration Figure 3 2 Package Exceptions Settings ...

Page 29: ...t If you start the Red Hat 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 ...

Page 30: ... Agent Figure 4 1 Install GPG Key After installing the Red Hat GPG key the screen in Figure 4 2 Welcome Screen will appear It appears every time you start the Red Hat Update Agent Click Next to continue Figure 4 2 Welcome Screen ...

Page 31: ...r These means a connection to Red Hat Network is being established and your customized list of updates is being retrieved This might take some time depending on the speed of your connection and the number of pack ages you have installed Figure 4 3 Retrieve Update Information The available updated packages for your system are displayed as shown in Figure 4 4 List of Available Updates ...

Page 32: ...u highlight each package the package description will be 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 the checkbox as shown in Figure 4 5 Choose Updates to Retrieve Click Next when you are finished selecting packages ...

Page 33: ...ess of each package retrieval as shown in Figure 4 6 Retrieval Finished When they have all been retrieved the message All finished is displayed at the bottom of the screen Click Next to continue If you did not chose to install the packages automatically skip the next section and go to Section 4 4 Update Agent Finished ...

Page 34: ...al Finished 4 3 Installing Updated Packages If you chose to have all the packages installed automatically see Chapter 3 Red Hat Update Agent Configuration you can watch the progress of the package installations as shown in Figure 4 7 Package Installation ...

Page 35: ...Section 4 3 Installing Updated Packages 35 Figure 4 7 Package Installation When the packages have been installed as seen in Figure 4 8 Installation Finished click Next to continue ...

Page 36: ...shed 4 4 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 9 Update Agent Finished Click Finish to exit the Red Hat Update Agent ...

Page 37: ... can still run the Red Hat Update Agent from a virtual console or remote terminal The command line version of the Red Hat Update Agent accepts the following arguments Table 4 1 Update Agent Command Line Arguments Argument Description a allpackages make available all packages not just those installed on your system l list list packages available for retrieval ...

Page 38: ...h Red Hat Network You can register as a full user later by running rhn_register u update download all packages relevant to my system and install if preferences set through up2date config has Do not install packages unchecked packagename only download packagename and install if preferences set through up2date config has Do not install packages unchecked v version show program version information ...

Page 39: ...u to download each package once instead of downloading the same package multiple times for various systems 2 The Search Errata tab allows you to generate custom reports detailing the health and security of your Network Group 3 System administrators can quickly determine if their systems require updating and what type of updates are available by viewing the System Overview page 4 The Red Hat Networ...

Page 40: ... all registered systems in your network group see Figure 5 1 Main Page Click the View All button to view the details for the errata related to your network group You can also view the errata page for your network by clicking the Your Network button on the top navigation bar and then the Errata tab Figure 5 1 Main Page 5 3 Adding a System Profile Chapter 2 Registration discusses registering your sy...

Page 41: ...notifications and excluding packages from your system profile Please Note For more control over the registration process and your sys tem profile use the Red Hat Network Registration Client to register a new system see Chapter 2 Registration To register a system through the Red Hat Network Web Application use the following steps 1 Login to the Red Hat Network Web Application click the Main button ...

Page 42: ...age rhnsd pid 958 is running the pid will vary depending on your system skip to the next step If you see the message rhnsd is stopped you will need to start the daemon As root open a shell prompt and type the command sbin service rhnsd start 7 Click the Finish button 8 The newly registered system will not appear in your network group immediately The next time the daemon connects to Red Hat Network...

Page 43: ...rently you can register up to five systems To add a new system click the Add New System link on the first available row see Section 5 3 Adding a System Profile Visual alerts provide a quick summary of the types of errata that are available for each system Depending on your notification preference settings individual systems may be flagged with bug fix security alert or package enhancement icons Cl...

Page 44: ... determine which notifications you receive The Errata tab shows you errata for a currently selected system If an errata has been issued on any package in your system profile you can learn about it here The Status column alerts you to errata reports you have not yet viewed Click on the Errata Report link to display a quick summary of the issues to view which of your systems are affected and to view...

Page 45: ...eport This takes you to a list of packages required to fix the errata Select the packages you wish to download After choosing which packages to download you have three options Click the Download Now button to download the RPM files immediately Click the Download Later button to add it to your Download List All RPM pack ages added to your Download List remain there until they are downloaded or dele...

Page 46: ...anges There is also a customizable list of Favorite Guides and Favorite Forums on the Main Page Under Favorite Guides and Favorite Forums on the Preferences page choose which guides amd forums you want to appear in this list Click the Update button at the bottom of the page to apply the changes 5 7 2 General Preferences Click on the General tab to customize the date time format to use your session...

Page 47: ...ton to apply the changes 5 7 3 Notifications Under the Visual Alerts section select the visual alerts you want to see for all the sys tems in your network group You can set alerts to appear whenever a new security alert bug fix or package enhancement errata has been issued for one of your systems see Figure 5 3 Visual Alerts Figure 5 3 Visual Alerts If you wish to receive email notifications about...

Page 48: ... the changes and start receiving email notifica tions 5 8 Searching Errata After logging into the Red Hat Network Web Application click the Search Errata but ton on the top navigation bar The Search Errata tab allows you to search all available errata including errata not re lated to the system in your network You can also narrow down your search to search only the systems in your network group se...

Page 49: ... Search Errata 5 9 Viewing Online Help In addition to this User Reference Guide the following help is available by clicking the Help Desk button on the top navigation bar Security and Privacy statement FAQs Contact Customer Service Support Forums ...

Page 50: ...n view more details by selecting an individual system in the group Within the individual system page you can view a list of new packages available for the system errata reports relevant to the system the hardware profile for the system and the history of events performed on the system while using the Red Hat Network Web Application RHN Main Page Your Network Add System Profile System Overview Syst...

Page 51: ...ation 51 Errata Report History Resources ErrataReport Package Report Package Info Dependencies Change Log File List Systems Download List Search Preferences Help Desk Your RHN Account Privacy and Security FAQs Page Help ...

Page 52: ...52 Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Web Application ...

Page 53: ...wed is one hour 60 min utes 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 o...

Page 54: ...54 Chapter 6 Red Hat Network Daemon ...

Page 55: ...that is relevant to your systems and preferences It is a systems management service that works for you You don t have to manually troll for packages and install them on dozens of systems redhat com is a destination for Linux and open source solutions of which the Red Hat Network is a key piece Q How do I sign up for Red Hat Network A If you are a member of redhat com you are automatically a member...

Page 56: ...ty alerts bug fixes and enhancements for the software running on your systems the Red Hat Network does it for you The Red Hat Network also brings package updates to you so you can spend your time downloading not searching Q What s the difference between Red Hat Linux and the Red Hat Network A Red Hat Linux is a custom Linux operating system Red Hat Network is a ser vice that allows users of Red Ha...

Page 57: ...tions concerned primarily with security and bug fixes Q How does the Red Hat Network work A Each registered system has a System Profile that contains hardware and software information about the system RHN uses this information to alert you of security alerts bug fixes and package enhancements from the Red Hat errata List via email notifications The Red Hat Network Web Application can also be used ...

Page 58: ...sed to verify the authenticity of the package before it is installed All transactions are encrypted using a Secure Sockets Layer SSL connection All packages are tested and verified by the Red Hat Quality Assurance Team before they are added to the official Red Hat errata list and Red Hat Network Q Why do you need to know so much personal information about my system A Red Hat makes every effort to ...

Page 59: ...do not supply an email ad dress And you ll need to provide additional information to access the Red Hat Net work web site We ask for this information to help us better support you and protect your security Q What will the Network be in 6 months What are your plans for the Network A The Red Hat Network available now is just the beginning of our plans for it Be ginning in December 2000 some of the n...

Page 60: ...ckages check out our Download site at www redhat com download Q Will Red Hat Network update packages that were not installed with the Red Hat distribution A No Red Hat Network currently supports all RPM packages installed from the Red Hat Linux 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 receive updates from Red Hat ...

Page 61: ...running on my system and what does it do A rhnsd is the Red Hat Network Daemon Every thirty minutes it sends a request to Red Hat Network asking for any notifications or updates and works in coordination with the Red Hat Network Web Application to schedule automated tasks It only sends information to Red Hat Network requested by you If you add a new system using the Red Hat Network Web Application...

Page 62: ...62 Chapter 7 Frequently Asked Questions ...

Page 63: ...40 Download Digital Certificate 41 Download List 45 Download Update Packages 45 Errata 44 Logging In 39 Main page 40 Navigation 50 Online Help 49 Preferences 46 General 46 Main Page 46 Notifications 47 Search Errata 48 System Detail 44 Systems Overview 43 Visual Alerts 43 Your Network Group 42 Your Notifications 40 Red Hat Update Agent 5 29 Command Line Arguments 37 Configuration 25 Registration 9...

Page 64: ...64 Index Secure Sockets Layer 7 Security 7 System Profile 16 ...