How to e-mail the information of packages which can be updated in a system, or how to automatically update packages in a system.

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Issue

  • RHN notification mails are often delayed.
  • Are there ways to know packages which can be updated in a system?
  • In addition to notice them, are there ways to update?

Resolution

Use yum-cronm and yum-updatesd in RHEL5 and RHEL6 respectively.

How to setup yum-cron in RHEL6

  1. Add optional channel.

    yum-cron is a optional package, so optional channel needs to be added.

    # rhn-channel -a -c rhel-x86_64-server-optional-6

  2. Check optional channel.

    # rhn-channel -l
   rhel-x86_64-server-6
   rhel-x86_64-server-optional-6

  3. Install yum-cron

    # yum install yum-cron

  4. Edit /etc/sysconfig/yum-cron

    :
# Don't install, just check (valid: yes|no)
CHECK_ONLY=no                <--- change "yes" if you want to only check (need "yes" when DOWNLOAD_ONLY is yes)

:

# Don't install, just check and download (valid: yes|no)
# Implies CHECK_ONLY=yes (gotta check first to see what to download)

DOWNLOAD_ONLY=no                  <--- change "yes" if you want to only download 

MAILTO=                           <--- put a e-mail address
:

    If both "CHECK_ONLY and DOWNLOAD_ONLY" are "no", packages will be updated

  5. Setup to start yum-cron on boot

    # chkconfig yum-cron on

  6. Start yum-cron now

    # service yum-cron start

How to setup yum-updatesd in RHEL5

  1. Install yum-updatesd

    # yum install  yum-updatesd

  2. Setup to start yum-cron on boot

    # chkconfig yum-updatesd on

  3. Edit /etc/yum/yum-updatesd.conf

    [main]

run_interval = 3600  <--------------- setup seconds to chek (Default 3600 seconds = 1 hour)
:
# how to send notifications (valid: dbus, email, syslog)
emit_via = email      <---------------- change "email"
:
dbus_listener = no    <----------------  change "no"

email_to = xxxx@example.com      <--- add  To address
email_from = root@example.com    <--- add  From address


# automatically install updates
do_update = no                      <--- change if you want to update packages 
# automatically download updates
do_download = no                    <--- change if you want to only download packages 
# automatically download deps of updates
do_download_deps = no               <--- change if you want to download dependency packages

  4. Start yum-updatesd

    # service yum-updatesd start

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