6.2. Synchronization with Local Media

Although it is possible to conduct the import directly from the Red Hat Network 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.

6.2.1. Preparing for Import from Local Media

Channel Content ISOs are special collections that contain both packages and XML dumps of metadata. Download the ISO images from the Red Hat Customer Portal website on a machine connected to the Internet and then transfer to the Red Hat Satellite.

Procedure 6.1. Obtain the Channel Content ISOs

  1. Log into the web interface.
  2. Click Channels in the top navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Red Hat Satellite channel. Ensure you select the Satellite channel that corresponds to your version of Satellite.
  4. 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.
  5. If the desired Channel Content ISOs do not appear, ensure your Red Hat Entitlement Certificate has been uploaded to Red Hat Network and correctly identifies the target channels.
This next procedure mounts the Channel Content ISOs and copies the contents to a temporary repository directory.

Procedure 6.2. Mount and copy Channel Content ISOs

  1. Log into the machine as root.
  2. Create a directory in /mnt/ to store the file(s) with the command: 
    # mkdir /mnt/import/
  3. Mount the ISO file using the following command: 
    # mount [iso_filename] /mnt/import -o loop
  4. Create a target directory for the files: 
    # mkdir /var/rhn-sat-import/
  5. 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/
  6. Then unmount /mnt/import in preparation for the next ISO: 
    # umount /mnt/import
  7. Repeat these steps for each Channel Content ISO of every channel to be imported.