Resolution

• To use the command rhn-channel or spacewalk-channel the server must be registered. These commands let you register your server in secondary channels from the command line. These commands are provided by package rhn-setup.

• It is not possible to use rhn-channel and spacewalk-channel commands to modify or list available channels without entering a password, or supplying an encrypted password instead of plain text. However rhn-channel -l can be used to list channels, with no username/password.

Command Options:

-c CHANNEL, --channel=CHANNEL - name of channel you want to (un)subscribe
-a, --add - subscribe to channel
-r, --remove - unsubscribe from channel
-l, --list - list subscribed channels
-L, --available-channels - list available channels
-v, --verbose - verbose output
-u USER, --user=USER - your user name
-p PASSWORD, --password=PASSWORD - your password

Please note -L, --available-channels is not available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Examples:

Subscribe to a channel:

# rhn-channel --add --channel=<channel-name> --user=<rhn-username> --password=<rhn-password>
# rhn-channel -a -c <channel-name> -u <rhn-username> -p <rhn-password>

Unsubscribe from a channel:

# rhn-channel --remove --channel=<channel-name> --user=<rhn-username> --password=<rhn-password>
# rhn-channel -r -c <channel-name> -u <rhn-username> -p <rhn-password>

List all available child channels for your subscription. This is a new option available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:

# rhn-channel -L -u <rhn-username> -p <rhn-password>

List the channels you are subscribed to:

# rhn-channel -l