How do I test if my system can connect to Red Hat Network (RHN)?

Updated -

When troubleshooting problems with up2date it is first best to ensure that your system can actually communicate with Red Hat Network (RHN).

The following command will test whether your system can indeed communicate with RHN:

telnet xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com 443

telnet xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com 80

OR:

nc xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com 443

nc xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com 80

These commands attempt to make a connection to RHN on ports 443 which is required for SSL transmission and port 80 for HTTP connection.

Below is the output of a successful test:

Trying 209.132.177.100...
Connected to xmlrpc.rhn.redhat.com (209.132.177.100).
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Below is the output of a failed test:

Trying 209.132.177.100...

A failed test will hang at this point indicating that a firewall or some other network related problem is blocking the connection to either this address entirely or port 443 (SSL).

If you have a proxy on your network you need to ensure that you have configured up2date to use it. Run up2date ---configure to configure up2date with any proxy server settings.

If a firewall is blocking access then you need to allow this outbound port (TCP Port 443) from your firewall to allow access. See additional articles in the Knowledgebase for details on how to unblock ports.

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