Chapter 1. What is Red Hat Network?

Have you ever read about a new version of a software package and wanted to install it but could not find it?

Have you ever tried to find an RPM through an Internet search engine or an RPM Repository and been linked to a site that you have never heard of?

Have you ever tried to find an RPM but instead you are only able to find the source files that you have to compile yourself?

Have you ever spent hours or even days visiting different websites to see if you have the latest packages installed on your system, only to have to do it again in a few months?

Those days are over with Red Hat Network (RHN). RHN provides the solution to all your system software management needs.

Red Hat Network is an Internet solution for managing a Red Hat Linux system or a network of Red Hat Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts (collective known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat. You can even have updates automatically delivered directly to your system as soon as they are released.

The three main components of Red Hat Network are as follows:

• The Red Hat Network Registration Client

• The Red Hat Network user interface

• Red Hat Network Daemon

The Red Hat Network Registration Client allows you to register your system with RHN. Registration involves creating a unique RHN user name and password, probing the hardware on your system to create a Hardware Profile, and probing the software packages installed on your system to create a Package Profile. This information is sent to RHN and RHN returns a unique System ID to your system (see Chapter 2 for further information).

You can use either of the two Red Hat Network user interfaces:

• https://rhn.redhat.com

• The Red Hat Update Agent

Both the Web interface and the Red Hat Update Agent allow you to view Errata Alerts from in the Red Hat Errata list. Only packages relevant to your system are shown. Red Hat Network can also be configured to verify packages once downloaded, ignore update notifications for certain packages, and view package details before downloading them.

The Red Hat Network Daemon (rhnsd) runs in the background as a service and probes the Red Hat Network for notifications and updates at set time intervals (see Chapter 7 for further information). This daemon is necessary if you want to receive automatic updates or if you schedule an action through the Web interface.

Many Red Hat Network terms are used throughout this manual. As you read the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide, refer to the Glossary as necessary for an explanation of common terms.

	Tip
	For a comparison chart of RHN service levels, refer to https://rhn.redhat.com/preview/.