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Chapter 4. Using Command Line Configuration Management Tools
In addition to the options provided in the Red Hat Satellite website, there are two command line tools for managing a system's configuration files: the Red Hat Network Configuration Client and the Red Hat Network Configuration Manager. There is a complementary Red Hat Network Actions Control tool that is used to enable and disable configuration management on client systems. If you do not yet have these these tools installed, they can be found within the Red Hat Network Tools child channel for your operating system.
Note
Whenever a configuration file is deployed via the website, a backup of the previous file including its full path is made in the
/var/lib/rhncfg/backups/ directory on the affected system. The backup retains its filename but has a .rhn-cfg-backup extension appended.
4.1. Using Red Hat Network Actions Control
The Red Hat Network Actions Control (
rhn-actions-control) application is used to enable and disable configuration management of a system. Client systems cannot be managed in this fashion by default. This tool allows System Administrators to enable or disable specific modes of allowable actions such as: deploying a configuration file onto the system, uploading a file from the system, using diff to find out what is currently managed on a system and what is available, or allowing running arbitrary remote commands. These various modes are enabled/disabled by placing/removing files and directories in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/allowed-actions/ directory. Due to the default permissions on the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/ directory, Red Hat Network Actions Control have to be run by someone with root access.
4.1.1. Using General Command Line Options
There is a
man page available, as there are for most command line tools. Simply decide what Red Hat Network scheduled actions should be enabled for use by system administrators. These options enable the various scheduled action modes:
Table 4.1. rhn-actions-control options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| --enable-deploy | Allow rhncfg-client to deploy files. |
| --enable-diff | Allow rhncfg-client to diff files. |
| --enable-upload | Allow rhncfg-client to upload files. |
| --enable-mtime-upload | Allow rhncfg-client to upload mtime. |
| --enable-all | Allow rhncfg-client to do everything. |
| --enable-run | Enable script.run |
| --disable-deploy | Disable deployment. |
| --disable-diff | Disable diff |
| --disable-upload | Disable upload |
| --disable-mtime-upload | Disable mtime upload |
| --disable-all | Disable all options |
| --disable-run | Disable script.run |
| --report | Report whether the modes are enabled or disabled |
| -f, --force | Force the operation without asking first |
| -h, --help | show help message and exit |
Once a mode is set, your system is now ready for config management through Red Hat Satellite.
rhn-actions-control --enable-all is a common option.
