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6.2.2. Preparing for Import from Local Media

To perform the RHN Satellite import, the following prerequisites must be met:
  • The RHN Satellite installation must have been performed successfully.
  • The Red Hat Network Channel Content ISOs or RHN Satellite Exporter data must be available, or the Satellite must have access to the Internet and the RHN website.
Although it is possible to conduct the import directly from the RHN website, this should be done only if Channel Content ISOs are not available. It takes a long time to populate a channel from scratch over the Internet. For this reason, Red Hat urges you to use ISOs, if they are available, for initial import.

6.2.2.1. Preparing Channel Content ISOs

Channel Content ISOs are special collections that contain both packages and XML dumps of metadata. The ISO images can be downloaded from the RHN website on a machine connected to the Internet and then transferred to the Satellite. After logging in, click Channels in the top navigation bar. Then, click on the RHN Satellite channel, making sure to select the Satellite channel that corresponds to your version of Satellite. Click the Downloads tab and use the instructions on the page to obtain the Channel Content ISOs, available by version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If the desired Channel Content ISOs do not appear, ensure your RHN Entitlement Certificate has been uploaded to RHN and correctly identifies the target channels.
Channel Content ISOs are mounted and then copied to a temporary repository directory. Before mounting the ISOs, ensure the temporary repository has enough disk space to copy all the contents into a single directory. For a single channel, the approximate required space is at least 20 GB. The process to copy Channel Content ISOs is to mount each one, copy its contents to the temporary repository, and then unmount the ISO. Each channel consists of several ISOs. Once finished, the administrator should delete the temporary directory and all of its contents. Follow these steps:
  1. Log into the machine as root.
  2. Insert the first Channel Content ISO that has been burned to disc.
  3. Create a directory in /mnt/ to store the file(s) with the command: 
    mkdir /mnt/import/
  4. Mount the ISO file from within the directory containing it using the command: 
    mount iso_filename /mnt/import -o loop
  5. Create a target directory for the files, such as: 
    mkdir /var/rhn-sat-import/
  6. This sample command assumes the administrator wants to copy the contents of the ISO (mounted in /mnt/import/) into /var/rhn-sat-import/: 
    cp -ruv /mnt/import/* /var/rhn-sat-import/
  7. Then unmount /mnt/import in preparation for the next CD or ISO: 
    umount /mnt/import
  8. Repeat these steps for each Channel Content ISO of every channel to be imported.