1.2.9. Creating Custom Channels From Specific Update Levels

The following situations may require custom channels with specific update levels:
  • A controlled environment with systems that require only minor release updates instead of the latest updates
  • A test environment with a specific package set
  • Systems with applications that require specific versions to function
Prerequisites

To implement the solution below, the Satellite Server must be subscribed to the Red Hat Network Tools channel and the spacewalk-remote-utils must be installed on the Satellite Server. The package is included in the Red Hat Network Tools channel.

  1. Log in as root to the Satellite server.
  2. Create the custom channel from a specific update level on Red Hat Satellite: 
    # spacewalk-create-channel --user=admin --server=localhost --version=6 --update=GOLD --release=Server --arch=x86_64 --destChannel=gold-rhel6
 You have not specified a source channel, we will try to determine it from inputs
 Trying with source channel: rhel-x86_64-server-6
 Creating channel, gold-rhel6, with arch x86_64 2797 packages in source file to push.
 Pushing 2797 packages, please wait.
 Successfully pushed 2797 packages out of 2797

# spacewalk-create-channel -l admin -s localhost -d update1-rhel6 -D /usr/share/rhn/channel-data/6-u1-server-x86_64
 Password:
 You have not specified a source channel, we will try to determine it from inputs
 Trying with source channel: rhel-x86_64-server-6
 Creating channel, update1-rhel6, with arch x86_64 2857 packages in source file to push.
 Pushing 2857 packages, please wait.
 Successfully pushed 2857 packages out of 2857
    Where:
    • -lUSER, --user=USER - The username to connect to the server.
    • -sSERVER, --server=SERVER - The hostname or IP address of the Satellite or Spacewalk server to connect to. Defaults to localhost.
    • -vVERSION, --version=VERSION - The version of the channel to create (e.g. 6, 5, 4).
    • -rRELEASE, --release=RELEASE - The release of the channel to create (e.g. AS, ES, WS, Server, Client, Desktop).
    • -uUPDATE_LEVEL, --update=UPDATE_LEVEL - The update level of a channel to create (e.g. GOLD, U1, U2, U3, U4, U5, U6, U7, U8, U9), where GOLD stands for the initial release.
    • -aARCH, --arch=ARCH - The arch of the channel to create (e.g. i386, ia64, ppc, s390, s390x, x86_64).
    • -dDEST_CHANNEL, --destChannel=DEST_CHANNEL - The label of the destination channel. This will be created if not present.
    • -DDATAFILE, --data=DATAFILE - Path to a list of rpms to move to the destination channel, only used if version, release, update, and arch are not specified.(Optional)

Note

Only applicable to Red Hat Satellite 5.3 and newer.