12.4. Registration and Updates

This section describes the RHN registration process for UNIX systems. You must use the rhnreg_ks command to accomplish this; the use of activation keys for registering your systems is optional. These keys allow you to predetermine settings within RHN, such as base channels and system groups, and to apply those automatically to systems during their registration.

Since activation key generation and use is covered extensively in other chapters, this section focuses on differences when applying them to UNIX variants. Refer to Section 7.4.6.1, “Managing Activation Keys” for full descriptions of this process.

To register UNIX systems with your RHN Satellite, accomplish the following tasks in this order:

Package updates in UNIX are handled much differently than in Linux. For instance, Solaris relies on Patch Clusters to update multiple packages at once, while Red Hat operating systems use Errata Updates to associate upgrades with specific packages. In addition, Solaris uses answer files to automate interactive package installations, something Linux doesn't understand, while Red Hat offers the concept of source packages. For this reason, this section seeks to highlight differences in using RHN tools on UNIX systems. (Note: RHN does not support Solaris answer files in the current release; such support is planned for future releases.)

Despite inherent differences, such as the lack of Errata, the channel and package management interfaces within the RHN website on the Satellite work largely the same for UNIX systems. All software channels designed to serve UNIX variants can be constructed almost exactly as the custom channels described in the RHN Channel Management Guide. The most significant difference is the architecture. When creating a UNIX software channel, ensure you select the base channel architecture appropriate for the systems to be served.

Furthermore, Red Hat recommends you break down your packages into base and child channels depending on their nature. For example, on Solaris, installation packages should go in the Solaris base channel, while patches and Patch Clusters should go in a child channel of the Solaris base channel. Extra installation packages can go in a separate Extras child channel.

RHN treats patches similarly to packages; they are listed and installed in the same way and with the same interface as normal packages. Patches are 'numbered' by Solaris, and will have names like "patch-solaris-108434". The version of a Solaris patch is extracted from the original Solaris metadata, and the release is always 1.

Patch Clusters are bundles of patches that are installed as a unit. RHN keeps track of the last time that a Patch Cluster was installed successfully on a system. However, Patch Clusters are not tracked on the client as installed entities so they do not appear in the installed packages or patches list. Patch Cluster names look like "patch-cluster-solaris-7_Recommended". The version is a datestring, such as "20040206", the release is always 1 and the epoch is always 0.

# solaris2mpm RHATrpush-3.1.5-21.pkg RHATrpush-3.1.5-23.pkg
Opening archive, this may take a while
Writing out RHATrpush-3.1.5-21.sparc-solaris.mpm
Opening archive, this may take a while
Writing out RHATrpush-3.1.5-23.sparc-solaris.mpm

name-version-release.arch.mpm

% rhnpush -v --server testbox.example.com --username myuser -c solaris-8 \
RHATrpush-3.1.5-*.mpm
 Red Hat Network password:
 Connecting to http://testbox.example.com/APP
 Uploading package RHATrpush-3.1.5-21.sparc-solaris.mpm
 Uploading package RHATrpush-3.1.5-23.sparc-solaris.mpm

rhnsd --foreground --interval=240