Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for Red Hat Satellite

Chapter 2. Client Applications

In order to utilize most enterprise-class features of Red Hat Network, such as registering with a RHN Satellite, configuration of the latest client applications is required. Obtaining these applications before the client has registered with Red Hat Network can be difficult. This paradox is especially problematic for customers migrating large numbers of older systems to Red Hat Network. This chapter identifies techniques to resolve this dilemma.

Important

Red Hat strongly recommends that clients connected to a RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server be running the latest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure proper connectivity.
Additionally, if client firewalls are configured, ports 80 and 443 should be open for proper functionality with Red Hat Network.

2.1. Deploying the Latest Red Hat Network Client RPMs

The Package Updater (pup), yum, and Red Hat Network Registration Client (rhn_register) on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (up2date on earlier versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux) are prerequisites for using much of Red Hat Network's enterprise functionality. It is crucial to install them on client systems before attempting to use RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server in your environment.
There are several sensible approaches to accomplish this update of the RHN client software. One of which involves storing the RPMs in a location that is accessible by all client systems and deploying the packages with the simplest command possible. In nearly all cases, a manual deployment of yum, pup, and rhn_register (up2date if earlier version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux) do not need to be performed. Those client tools should have no issues connecting to your RHN Satellite or Proxy environment. These discussion below assumes that the "out of box" yum, pup, and rhn_register (or up2date) are not the latest and do not work for your environment.
Remember, only systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems must have registered with RHN in firstboot after installation or use the rhn_register. Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 can use the registration functionality built into the Red Hat Update Agent.
This document presumes that the customer has installed at least one RHN Satellite Server and/or RHN Proxy Server on their network. The example below demonstrates a simple approach of deploying yum, pup, and rhn_register (or up2date) for the first time by an administrator assuming the machines don't already have a working RHN. The administrator has populated the /var/www/html/pub/ directory with a copy of the yum, pup, and rhn_register (or up2date) RPMs that the client systems need, and then has simply deployed those RPMs onto the client systems with a simple rpm -Uvh command. Run from a client, this command installs the RPMs to that client, assuming the domain name, paths, and RPM versions are correct (note that this command has been split into multiple lines for print and PDF purposes but should be typed as one line at a shell prompt):
rpm -Uvh
http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/rhn-setup-0.4.17-8.el5.i386.rpm
http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/yum-3.2.8-9.el5.i386.rpm
http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/pirut-1.3.28-13.3l5.noarch.rpm
Keep in mind that the architecture (in this case, i386) may need to be altered depending on the systems to be served.