B.3. Red Hat Network Configuration Manager

Unlike the Red Hat Network Configuration Client, the Red Hat Network Configuration Manager (rhncfg-manager) is designed to maintain RHN's central repository of config files and channels, not those located on client systems. This tool offers a command line alternative to the configuration management features within the RHN website, as well as the ability to script some or all of the related maintenance.
It is intended for use by Config Administrators and requires an RHN username and password that has the appropriate permission set. The username may be specified in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhncfg-manager.conf or in the [rhncfg-manager] section of ~/.rhncfgrc.
When the Red Hat Network Configuration Manager is run as root, it attempts to pull in needed configuration values from the Red Hat Update Agent. When run as a user other than root, you may have to make configuration changes within the ~/.rhncfgrc file. The session file is cached in ~/.rhncfg-manager-session to prevent logging in for every command.
The default timeout for the Red Hat Network Configuration Manager is 30 minutes. To alter this, add the server.session_lifetime option and new value to the /etc/rhn/rhn.conf file on the server running the manager, like so: 
 server.session_lifetime = 120
The Red Hat Network Configuration Manager offers these primary modes: add, create-channel, diff, diff-revisions, download-channel, get, list, list-channels, remove, remove-channel, revisions, update, and upload-channel.
Each mode offers its own set of options, which can be seen by issuing the following command: 
 rhncfg-manager mode --help
Replace mode with the name of the mode to be inspected: 
rhncfg-manager diff-revisions --help
You can see such a list of options for the add mode at Table B.4, “rhncfg-manager add options”.

B.3.1. Creating a Config Channel

To create a config channel for your organization, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager create-channel channel-label
If prompted for your RHN username and password, provide them. The output resembles the following: 
 Red Hat Network username: rhn-user Password: Creating config channel channel-label Config channel channel-label created
Once you have created a config channel, use the remaining modes listed above to populate and maintain that channel.

B.3.2. Adding Files to a Config Channel

To add a file to a config channel, specify the channel label as well as the local file to be uploaded, such as: 
 rhncfg-manager add --channel=channel-label /path/to/file
In addition to the required channel label and the path to the file, you may use the available options for modifying the file during its addition. For instance, you may alter the path and file name by including the --dest-file option in the command, like: 
 rhncfg-manager add --channel=channel-label--dest-file=/new/path/to/file.txt/path/to/file
The output resembles the following: 
 Pushing to channel example-channel Local file >/path/to/file -> remote file /new/path/to/file.txt
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager add:

Table B.4. rhncfg-manager add options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL --channel=CHANNEL Upload files in this config channel
-dDEST_FILE --dest-file=DEST_FILE Upload the file as this path
--delim-start=DELIM_START Start delimiter for variable interpolation
--delim-end=DELIM_END End delimiter for variable interpolation
-h, --help show help message and exit

Note

By default, the maximum file size for configuration files is 128KB. If you need to change that value, find or create the following line in the /etc/rhn/default/rhn_web.conf file: 
web.maximum_config_file_size=128
Additionally, find or create the following line in the /etc/rhn/default/rhn_server.conf file: 
maximum_config_file_size=128
In both locations, change the value from 128 to whatever limit you want in bytes.

B.3.3. Differentiating between Latest Config Files

To view the differences between the config files on disk and the latest revisions in a channel, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager diff --channel=channel-label --dest-file=/path/to/file.txt \ /local/path/to/file
You should see output resembling: 
 /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt /home/test/blah/hello_world.txt --- /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt config_channel: example-channel revision: 1 +++ /home/test/blah/hello_world.txt 2003-12-14 19:08:59.000000000 -0500 @@ -1 +1 @@ -foo +hello, world
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager diff:

Table B.5. rhncfg-manager diff options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL Get file(s) from this config channel
-rREVISION, --revision=REVISION Use this revision
-dDEST_FILE, --dest-file=DEST_FILE Upload the file as this path
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Make all files relative to this string
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.4. Differentiating between Various Versions

To compare different versions of a file across channels and revisions, use the -r flag to indicate which revision of the file should be compared and the -n flag to identify the two channels to be checked. Refer to Section B.3.11, “Determining the Number of File Revisions” for related instructions. Specify only one file name here, since you are comparing the file against another version of itself. For example: 
 rhncfg-manager diff-revisions -n=channel-label1-r=1-n=channel-label2-r=1/path/to/file.txt
The output resembles the following: 
 --- /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt 2004-01-13 14:36:41 \ config channel: example-channel2 revision: 1 --- /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt 2004-01-13 14:42:42 \ config channel: example-channel3 revision: 1 @@ -1 +1,20 @@ -foo +blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah +-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- +Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) +Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org + +iD8DBQA9ZY6vse4XmfJPGwgRAsHcAJ9ud9dabUcdscdcqB8AZP7e0Fua0NmKsdhQCeOWHX +VsDTfen2NWdwwPaTM+S+Cow= +=Ltp2 +-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager diff-revisions:

Table B.6. rhncfg-manager diff-revisions options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL Use this config channel
-rREVISION, --revision=REVISION Use this revision
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.5. Downloading All Files in a Channel

To download all the files in a channel to disk, create a directory and issue the following command: 
	 rhncfg-manager download-channel channel-label --topdir .
The output resembles the following: 
 Copying /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt -> \ blah2/tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager download-channel:

Table B.7. rhncfg-manager download-channel options

Option Description
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Directory all the file paths are relative to. This option must be set.
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.6. Getting the Contents of a File

To direct the contents of a particular file to stdout, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager get --channel=channel-label \ /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
You should see the contents of the file as output.

B.3.7. Listing All Files in a Channel

To list all the files in a channel, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager list channel-label
You should see output resembling: 
 Files in config channel `example-channel3': /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager get:

Table B.8. rhncfg-manager get options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL Get file(s) from this config channel
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Make all files relative to this string
-rREVISION, --revision=REVISION Get this file revision
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.8. Listing All Config Channels

To list all of your organization's configuration channels, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager list-channels
The output resembles the following: 
 Available config channels: example-channel example-channel2 example-channel3 config-channel-14 config-channel-17
Note that this does not list local_override or server_import channels.

B.3.9. Removing a File from a Channel

To remove a file from a channel, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager remove --channel=channel-label /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
If prompted for your RHN username and password, provide them. You should see output resembling: 
 Red Hat Network username: rhn-user Password: Removing from config channel example-channel3 /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt removed
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager remove:

Table B.9. rhncfg-manager remove options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL Remove files from this config channel
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Make all files relative to this string
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.10. Deleting a Config Channel

To destroy a config channel in your organization, issue the command: 
rhncfg-manager remove-channel channel-label
The output resembles the following: 
 Removing config channel example-channel Config channel example-channel removed

B.3.11. Determining the Number of File Revisions

To find out how many revisions (revisions go from 1 to N where N is an integer greater than 0) of a file/path are in a channel, issue the following command: 
 rhncfg-manager revisions channel-label /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
The output resembles the following: 
 Analyzing files in config channel example-channel \ /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt: 1

B.3.12. Updating a File in a Channel

To create a new revision of a file in a channel (or add the first revision to that channel if none existed before for the given path), issue the following command: 
 rhncfg-manager update \ --channel=channel-label --dest-file=/path/to/file.txt /local/path/to/file
The output resembles the following: 
 Pushing to channel example-channel: Local file example-channel/tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt -> \ remote file /tmp/dest_path/example-config.txt
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager update:

Table B.10. rhncfg-manager update options

Option Description
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL Upload files in this config channel
-dDEST_FILE, --dest-file=DEST_FILE Upload the file as this path
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Make all files relative to this string
--delim-start=DELIM_START Start delimiter for variable interpolation
--delim-end=DELIM_END End delimiter for variable interpolation
-h, --help Show help message and exit

B.3.13. Uploading Multiple Files at Once

To upload multiple files to a config channel from local disk at once, issue the command: 
 rhncfg-manager upload-channel --topdir=topdir channel-label
The output resembles the following: 
 Using config channel example-channel4 Uploading /tmp/ola_world.txt from blah4/tmp/ola_world.txt
The following table lists the options available for rhncfg-manager upload-channel:

Table B.11. rhncfg-manager upload-channel options

Option Description
-tTOPDIR, --topdir=TOPDIR Directory all the file paths are relative to
-cCHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL List of channels the config info will be uploaded into. Channels delimited by ','. Example: --channel=foo,bar,baz
-h, --help Show help message and exit