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6.2.3. Running the Import

The rhns-satellite-tools package provides the satellite-sync program for managing all package, channel, and errata imports and synchronizations.
The following process assumes in the previous step the user has copied all data to /var/rhn-sat-import.
The first step in importing channels into the database is listing the channels available for import. This is accomplished with the command: 
satellite-sync --list-channels --mount-point /var/rhn-sat-import
The next step is to initiate the import of a specific channel. Do this using a channel label presented in the previous list. The command will look like: 
satellite-sync -c rhel-i386-as-3 --mount-point /var/rhn-sat-import

Note

Importing package data can take up to two hours per channel. You may begin registering systems to channels as soon as they appear in the RHN Satellite's website. No packages are necessary for registration, although updates cannot be retrieved from the Satellite until the channel is completely populated.
You may repeat this step for each channel or include them all within a single command by passing each channel label preceded by an additional -c flag, like so: 
satellite-sync -c channel-label-1 \
              -c channel-label-2 \
--mount-point /var/rhn-sat-import
This conducts the following tasks in this order:
  1. Populating the tables describing common features for channels (channel families). This can also be accomplished individually by passing the --step=channel-families option to satellite-sync.
  2. Creating a particular channel in the database and importing the metadata describing the channel. Individually, use the --step=channels option.
  3. Moving the RPM packages from the temporary repository into their final location. Individually, use the --step=rpms option.
  4. Parsing the header metadata for each package in the channel, uploading the package data, and associating it with the channel. Individually, use the --step=packages option.
  5. Identifying Errata associated with the packages and including them in the repository. Individually, use the --step=errata option.
After running the preceding sample command, the population of the channel should be complete. All of the packages should have been moved out of the repository; this can be verified with the command cd /var/rhn-sat-import/; ls -alR | grep rpm. If all RPMs have been installed and moved to their permanent locations, then this count will be zero, and the administrator may safely remove the temporary repository (in this case, /var/rhn-sat-import/).