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If you click the Systems tab on the top navigation bar, the Systems category and links appear. The pages in the Systems category allow you to select systems so that you can perform actions on them and create System Profiles.
The Overview page provides a summary of your systems, including their status, number of associated Errata and packages, and entitlement level. Clicking on the name of a system takes you to its System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.
Clicking the View System Groups link at the top of the Overview page takes you to a similar summary of your system groups. It identifies group status and displays the number of systems contained. Clicking on the number of systems takes you to the Systems tab of the System Group Details page, while clicking on the system name takes you to the Details tab. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.
You can also click the Use Group button in the System Groups section of the Overview page to go directly to the System Set Manager. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for more information.
As shown in Figure 4-3, the Systems page displays a list of all your registered systems. The Systems list contains several columns of information for each system:
Select — Update-entitled systems cannot be selected. To select systems, mark the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update List button below the column. Selected systems are added to the System Set Manager. After adding systems to the System Set Manager, you can use it to perform actions on them simultaneously. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for details.
Status — Shows which type of Errata Alerts are applicable to the system or confirms that it is up-to-date. Some icons are linked to pages providing resolution. For instance, the standard Updates icon is linked to the Upgrade subtab of the packages list, while the Critical Updates icon goes directly to the Update Confirmation page. Also, the Not Checking In icon is linked to instructions for resolving the issue, while the Unentitled icon goes to the Buy Now page, if the user is an Organization Administrator.
— System is up-to-date
— Critical Errata available, update
strongly recommended
— Updates available and recommended
— System is locked; Actions prohibited
— Updates have been scheduled
— System not checking in properly (for 24 hours or more)
— System not entitled to any update service
Errata — Total number of Errata Alerts applicable to the system.
Packages — Total number of package updates for the system. Includes packages from Errata Alerts as well as newer packages that are not from Errata Alerts. For example, if a system is subscribed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 i386 channel that contains version 2.5.4 of a package because that is the version that shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1, but the system has version 2.5.2 of the package installed, the newer version of the package will be in the list of updated packages for the system.
 | Important |
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If the RHN website identifies package updates for the system, yet the Red Hat Update Agent responds with "Your system is fully updated" when run, a conflict likely exists in the system's package profile or in the up2date configuration file. To resolve the conflict, either schedule a package list update or remove the packages from the Package Exceptions list for the Red Hat Update Agent. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details or Section 2.4.1.3 Package Exceptions Settings, respectively, for instructions. |
System — The name of the system as configured when registering it. The default name is the hostname of the system. Clicking on the name of a system takes you to the System Details page for the system. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for more information.
Base Channel — The primary channel for the system, based upon its operating system distribution. Refer to Section 4.6.1 Software Channels for more information.
Entitlement — Whether or not the system is entitled and at what service level.
Links in the left navigation bar below Systems enable you to select and view predefined sets of your systems. All of the options described above can be applied within these pages.
The All page contains the default set of your systems. It displays every system you've registered with Red Hat Network.
The Out of Date page displays the registered systems that have applicable Errata Alerts that have not been applied.
The Unentitled page displays the registered systems that have not yet been entitled for Red Hat Network service.
The Ungrouped page displays the registered systems that have not yet been assigned to a specific system group.
The Inactive page displays the registered systems that have not checked into RHN for 24 hours or more. When the Red Hat Update Agent connects to RHN to see if there are any updates available or if any actions have been scheduled, this is considered a checkin. If you are seeing a message indicating checkins are not taking place, the RHN client on your system is not successfully reaching Red Hat Network for some reason. This indicates:
The system is not entitled to any RHN service. System Profiles that remain unentitled for 180 days (6 months) are removed.
The system is entitled, but the Red Hat Network Daemon has been disabled on the system. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Daemon for instructions on restarting and troubleshooting.
The system is behind a firewall that does not allow connections over https (port 443).
The system is behind a proxy that has not been properly configured.
Some other barrier exists between the system and the RHN Servers.
If you click on the name of a system on any page, it will display the System Details page for the system. From here, you may modify this information or remove the system altogether by clicking the delete system link on the top-right corner.
The System Details page is further divided into tabs:
Details — Displays information about the system. This is the first tab you see when you click on a system. It offers direct access to some of the functionality provided in subsequent tabs. For instance, under the System Info heading, a message should appear describing the status of this machine. If it states "Critical updates available" you may click the update now link to apply all relevant Errata Updates to the individual system, as you would under the Errata tab.
In addition, some functions can be accessed only on this tab. Most importantly, a system may be locked by clicking the Lock system link near the bottom-left corner of the page. This prohibits the scheduling of any action through RHN that would affect the system, including package updates and system reboots. To undo this, click the Unlock system link in the same location.
The packages will be updated by the RHN Daemon. You must have the RHN Daemon enabled on your systems. Refer to Chapter 5 Red Hat Network Daemon for more details. The Details tab contains the following subsets of information:
Overview — A summary of the system's details. In addition to the system status message, the Overview subtab contains basic System Info, Subscribed Channels, and System Properties. Clicking the Alter Channel Subscriptions link takes you to the Channels tab, while clicking the Edit these properties link takes you to the Properties subtab. See the following sections for more information.
Properties — The profile name, entitlement level, notification choice, daily summary, auto-Errata update, and physical location of the system, including street address, city, state, country, building, room, and rack. To modify this information, make your changes and click the Update Properties button. Note that many of these properties can be set for multiple systems at once through the System Set Manager interface. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for details. The following properties deserve additional explanation:
Receive Notifications of Updates/Errata — This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories pertaining to the system. Anytime an update is produced and released for the system, a notification is sent via email.
Include system in daily summary report calculations — This setting includes the system in a daily summary of system events. (By default, all Management systems are included in the summary.) These are actions affecting packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, and system reboots or failures to check in. In addition to including the system here, you must choose to receive email notifications in the Your Preferences page of the Your RHN category. Refer to Section 4.3.2 Your Preferences for instructions. Note that RHN will send these summaries only to verified email addresses.
Automatic application of relevant errata — This setting allows you have all Errata Updates automatically applied to a system. This means packages associated with Errata will be updated without any user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the auto-update feature for production systems because conflicts between packages and environments can cause system failures. The Red Hat Network Daemon must be enabled on the systems for this feature to work.
Hardware — Detailed information about the system, including networking, BIOS, storage, and other devices. This appears only if you selected to include the hardware profile for this machine during registration. If the hardware profile looks incomplete or outdated, click the Schedule Hardware Refresh button to schedule a Hardware Profile update for your system. The next time the RHN Daemon connects to RHN, it will update your System Profile with the latest list of hardware.
Notes — A place to create notes about the system. To add a new note, click the create new note button, type a subject and details, and click the Create button. To modify a note, click on its subject in the list of notes, make your changes, and click the Update button. To remove a note, click on its subject in the list of notes and then click the delete note button.
Connection — The system's path to the package repository. Regardless of whether your client systems receive updates from the central RHN servers or an RHN Satellite Server, it is important to know if packages are being routed through any RHN Proxy Servers. This subtab identifies the proxies being used and the order in which they receive updates. A one (1) indicates the top proxy connected to either RHN or a satellite. If no proxy is used, you receive a message stating, "This system connects directly and not through a proxy."
Errata — Contains a list of Errata Alerts applicable to the system. To apply updates, select them and click the Apply Errata button. Double-check the updates to be applied on the confirmation page, then click the Confirm button. After confirming, the action is added to the Pending Actions list under Schedule. Errata that have been scheduled cannot be selected for update. In the place of a checkbox, you will find a clock icon that, when clicked, takes you to the Action Details page.
To help users determine whether an update has been scheduled, a Status column exists within the Errata table. Possible values are: None, Pending, Picked Up, Completed, and Failed. This column identifies only the latest action related to an Errata. For instance, if an action fails and you reschedule it, this column will show the status of the Errata as Pending only (with no mention of the previous failure). Clicking a status other than None takes you to the Action Details page. This column corresponds to one on the Affected Systems tab of the Errata Details page.
Packages — Manages the packages on the system.
Packages — The default display of the Packages tab describes the options available to you and provides the means to update your package list. If after exploring the packages, you believe the list is outdated or incomplete (or you installed the packages manually and did not have RHN install them), click the Update Package List button on the bottom right-hand corner of this page. The next time the RHN Daemon connects to RHN, it will update your System Profile with the latest list of installed packages.
List/Remove — Lists installed packages from the system's software System Profile and enables you to remove them. Click on a package name to view its Package Details page. (Refer to Section 4.6.5.3 Package Details.) To delete packages from the system, select their checkboxes and click the Remove Packages button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. A confirmation page will appear with the packages listed. Click the Confirm button to remove the packages.
 | Note |
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If you are using up2date version 3.1 or higher, any dependency-related errors generated by the attempted package removal are displayed on the page. |
Upgrade — Displays a list of packages that have a new version available based on the package versions in the channel for the system. Click on the latest package name to view its Package Details page. To upgrade packages immediately, select them and click the Upgrade Packages button. To download the packages as .tar files, select them and click the Download Packages button. Refer to Section 4.6.5.2 Package Download for details.
Install — Enables you to install new packages on the system from the available channels. Click on the package name to view its Package Details page. To install packages, select them and click the Install Selected Packages button.
Verify — Validates the installed packages against the RPM database. Specifically, this tab allows you to compare the metadata of the system's packages with information from the database, such as MD5 sum, filesize, permissions, owner, group and file size and type. To verify a package or packages, select them and click the Verify Selected Packages button and then confirm this action. Once finished, you can view the results within the History subtab under Events.
Profiles — Gives you the ability to compare the packages on this system with the packages of stored profiles and other Management systems. To make the comparison with a stored profile, select that profile from the pulldown menu and click the Compare button. To make the comparison with another system, select it from the associated pulldown menu and click the Compare button. To create a stored profile based upon the existing system, click the Create System Profile button, enter any additional information you desire, and click the Create Profile button. These profiles are kept within the Stored Profiles page linked from the left navigation bar.
Channels — Manage the channels associated with the system.
Software — Provides a predetermined method for systems to obtain regular updates, based upon their operating systems, packages and, functionality. Click a channel name to view its Channel Details page. To modify the child channels associated with this system, use the checkboxes next to the channels and click the Change Subscriptions button. You will receive a success message or be notified of any errors. To change the system's base channel, select the new one from the pulldown menu and click the Modify Base Channel button. Refer to Section 4.6.1 Software Channels for more information.
Groups — Lists the system's associated groups and enables you to change these associations. To modify the system's groups, select or unselect their checkboxes and click the Update Membership button. Click on a group's name to go to its System Group Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.
Events — Displays past, current, and scheduled actions on the system. You may cancel pending events here. These are the tabs available and the icons denoting action types.
History — The default display of the Events tab lists the type and status of events that have failed, occurred or are occurring. This list is automatically generated. To view details of an event, click its summary in the System History table. To again view the table, click Return to history list at the bottom of the page.
Pending — Lists events that are scheduled but have not begun. To unschedule a pending event, select the event and click the Cancel Events button at the bottom of the page.
— Package Event
— Errata Event
— Preferences Event
— System Event
The System Groups page allows all RHN Management users to view the System Groups list. Only Organization Administrators may perform the following additional tasks:
Create system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.3.1 Creating Groups.)
Add systems to system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.3.2 Adding and Removing Systems in Groups.)
Remove systems from system groups. (Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details.)
Assign system group permissions to users. (Refer to Section 4.8 Users.)
As shown in Figure 4-4, the System Groups list displays all of your system groups.
The System Groups list contains several columns for each group:
Select — Enables you to add groups to the System Set Manager. To select groups, mark the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button below the column. Selected groups are added to the System Set Manager. After adding groups to the System Set Manager, you can use it to perform actions on them simultaneously. To add an intersection of groups, select them and click the Work with Intersection button. To add a union of groups, select them and click the Work with Union button. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for details.
Status — Shows which type of Errata Alerts are applicable to the group or confirms that it is up-to-date. Clicking on a group's status icon takes you to the Errata tab of its System Group Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.
The status icons call for differing degrees of attention:
— All systems within group are up-to-date
— Critical Errata available, update
strongly recommended
— Updates available and recommended
Group Name — The name of the group as configured during its creation. The name should be explicit enough to easily differentiate between it and other groups. Clicking on the name of a group takes you to Details tab of its System Group Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.
Systems — Total number of systems contained by the group. Clicking on the number takes you to the Systems tab of the System Group Details page for the group. Refer to Section 4.4.3.3 System Group Details for more information.
Use in SSM — Clicking the Use Group button in this column loads the group from that row and launches the System Set Manager immediately. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for more information.
To add a new system group, click the create new group button on the top-left corner. Type a name and description and click the Create Group button. Make sure you use a name that clearly sets this group apart from others. The new group will appear in the System Groups list.
In the System Groups list, click the name of the group to receive the systems. This will take you to the System Group Details page. Once there, click the Target Systems tab and select the systems to be added to this group. Although all entitled systems should be listed, only systems entitled to Management can be selected for addition. After selecting all of the systems to be added, click the Add Systems button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. The new systems will then be shown on the group's Systems tab.
To remove systems from groups, use the Groups tab of the System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for instructions.
At the top of each System Group Details page are two links: work with group and delete group. Clicking delete group does just that and should be used with caution. Clicking Work with Group functions similarly to the Use Group button from the System Groups list in that it loads the group's systems and launches the System Set Manager immediately. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager for more information.
The System Group Details page contains five tabs:
Details — Basic information about the system group: the group name and group description. To change this information, click Edit Group Properties, make your changes in the appropriate fields, and click the Modify Details button.
Systems — List of systems that are members of the system group. Clicking links within the table takes you to corresponding tabs within the System Details page for the associated system. To remove systems from the group, select the appropriate checkboxes and click the Remove from group button on the bottom of the page. Clicking it does not delete systems from RHN entirely. This is done through the System Set Manager or System Details pages. Refer to Section 4.4.4 System Set Manager or Section 4.4.2.6 System Details, respectively.
Target Systems — List of all systems in your organization. This tab enables you to add systems to the specified system group. Merely select the systems using the checkboxes to the left and click the Add Systems button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
Errata — List of relevant Errata for systems in the system group. Clicking the Advisory takes you to the Details tab of the Errata Details page. (Refer to Section 4.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.) Clicking the Affected Systems number lists all of the systems addressed by the Errata. To apply the Errata Updates in this list, select the systems and click the Apply Errata button.
Admins — List of all organization users that potentially have permission to manage the system group. Organization Administrators are clearly identified. To change the system group's users, select and unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button.
The System Set Manager allows you to perform many actions possible individually through the System Details page on multiple systems at once, including:
Apply Errata updates
Upgrade packages to the most recent versions available
Add/remove systems to/from system groups
Subscribe/unsubscribe systems to/from channels
Update system profiles
Modify system preferences such as scheduled download and installation of packages
Before performing actions on multiple systems, you must select systems you wish to modify. Note that Update-level systems cannot be selected. Pages including Systems list, System Search, and System Groups list have a column of checkboxes under the Select heading. Mark the checkboxes beside the systems or groups you want to select, and click the Update List button below the column to add them to the System Set Manager.
You can access the System Set Manager page in two ways: 1)Add systems and groups from their respective lists to the System Set Manager and click System Set Manager in the left navigation bar. 2)Click Use Group in the System Groups list or Work with Group on the System Group Details page to work with a predefined system group.
The System Set Manager page contains a set of tabs:
Overview — Description of the various options available to you in the remaining tabs.
Systems — List of systems now selected. To delete systems from this particular set, select them and click the Remove button.
Errata — List of Errata Updates applicable to the current system set. To apply updates, select the Errata and click the Apply Errata button.
Packages — Options to modify packages on the system set:
Install new packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of channels from which you may retrieve packages. Click on the channel name and select the packages from the list. Then click the Install Packages button.
Upgrade existing packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of all the packages installed on the selected systems. Select the packages to be upgraded, then click the Upgrade Packages button.
Remove existing packages — Clicking this link takes you to a list of all the packages installed on the selected systems. Select the packages to be deleted, then click the Remove Packages button.
Groups — Tools to create groups and manage group membership. These functions are limited to Organization Administrators. To add a new group, click create new group on the top-right corner. In the resulting page, type its name and description in the identified fields and click the Create Group button. To add or remove the selected systems in any of the system groups, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Membership button.
Channels — Options to manage channel associations.
Channel Subscriptions — To subscribe or unsubscribe the selected systems in any of the channels, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Subscriptions button.
Base Channel Alteration — Channel Administrators may use this tab to change the base channels the selected systems are subscribed to. Systems will be unsubscribed from all channels and subscribed to the new base channels. For this reason, this should be done with caution. Select the new base channel from the pulldown menus and click the Change Base Channels button.
Misc — Links to update System Profiles and preferences for the system set:
System Profile Updates — Clicking Update Hardware Profile, then the Confirm Refresh button schedules a hardware profile update. Clicking Update Package Profile, then the Confirm Refresh button schedules a package profile update.
Reboot Systems — Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Reboot Systems link sets those systems for reboot. To immediately cancel this action, click the list of systems link that appears within the confirmation message at the top of the page, select the systems, and click Unschedule Action.
Lock Systems — Selecting the appropriate systems and then clicking the Lock Systems link prevents the scheduling of any action through RHN that would affect the systems. This can be reversed by clicking the Unlock Systems link.
Delete Systems — Clicking Delete System Profiles, then the Confirm Deletions button removes the selected profiles permanently.
Upgrade System Entitlements — Clicking Upgrade to * Entitlement increases the service level for as many selected systems as possible.
System Preferences — Toggling the Yes and No radio buttons and then clicking the Change Preferences button alters your notification preferences for the selected systems. All of these preferences may also be applied to systems individually through the Properties subtab of the System Details page. Refer to Section 4.4.2.6 System Details for instructions.
Receive Notifications of Updates/Errata — This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories pertaining to your systems. Anytime an update is produced and released for a system under your supervision, a notification is sent via email.
Include system in Daily Summary — This setting includes the selected systems in a daily summary of system events. (By default, all Management systems are included in the summary.) These are actions affecting packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, and system reboots or failures to check in. In addition to including the systems here, you must choose to receive email notifications in the Your Preferences page of the Your RHN category. Refer to Section 4.3.2 Your Preferences for instructions. Note that RHN will send these summaries only to verified email addresses.
Automatic application of relevant errata — This setting allows you have all Errata Updates automatically applied to systems. This means packages associated with Errata will be updated without any user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the auto-update feature for production systems because conflicts between packages and environments can cause system failures. The Red Hat Network Daemon must be enabled on the systems for this feature to work.
To use all of the features of RHN, your systems must be entitled — subscribed to an RHN service level. Use the System Entitlements page to configure which systems are entitled to which service offerings. There are three primary types of entitlements:
Update — should be used to manage a single Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. It includes Errata Alerts, Scheduled Errata Updates, Package Installation, and the Red Hat Update Agent.
Management — should be used to manage multiple systems with multiple system administrators. In addition to the features of the Update offering, it includes system group management, user management, and the System Set Manager interface to quickly perform actions on multiple systems.
Provisioning — offers the highest level of functionality. It should be used to provision multiple systems that will need to be re-installed and reconfigured regularly. The Provisioning offering provides tools for kickstarting machines, managing their configuration files, conducting snapshot rollbacks, and inputting searchable custom system information, as well as all of the functionality included in the Management service level.
The System Entitlements page allows you to view and promote the entitlements for your registered systems. Only increases in entitlement levels are allowed. Systems cannot be re-entitled to a lower entitlement level. For instance, a system entitled to the Update service level can be promoted to the Management level, but this action cannot be reversed.
To change an individual entitlement, select the entitlement from the system's pulldown menu and click the Update Entitlements button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. Click the name of a system to see details about it. If no drop-down menu exists for your Update-level system, you may need to purchase a Management entitlement. Do this through the Buy Now page under Your RHN.
 | Warning |
|---|---|
Changing a system's entitlement is an irreversible action. You may be unable to change the entitlement levels of some systems. For more information, refer to the RHN entitlement policy linked from the System Entitlements page. |
In addition, you may entitle all newly registered systems to the Managements service level at once by clicking the Auto-Entitle Newest Servers Now link at the bottom of the page. To use this link, which appears only when new, unentitled systems exist, first make sure you have enough Management entitlements available. If you need to purchase additional entitlements, click the Buy them now link at the top of the page. After auto-entitling, a message appears at the top of the System Entitlements page indicating the number of systems successfully entitled to the Management service level.
The System Search page allows you to search through your systems according to specific criteria. These criteria include custom system information, system details, hardware, devices, interface, networking, packages, and location. The activity selections (Days Since Last Checkin, for instance) can be especially useful in finding and removing outdated System Profiles. Type the keyword, select the criterion to search by, use the radio buttons to identify whether you wish to query all systems or only those loaded in the System Set Manager, and click the Search button. Yo may also select the Invert Result checkbox to reverse your results list.
The results appear at the bottom of the page. For details about using the resulting system list, refer to Section 4.4.2 Systems.
RHN Management customers can generate activation keys through the RHN website. These keys can then be used to register the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system, entitle the system to an RHN service level and subscribe the system to specific channels and system groups through the command line utility rhnreg_ks. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions on use.
To generate an activation key:
Select Systems => Activation Keys from the top and left navigation bars.
Click the create new key link at the top-left corner.
Provide the following information:
Description — User-defined description to identify the generated activation key.
Usage Limit — The number of times the key can be used to register a system before the activation key is disabled. Leave blank for unlimited use.
Base Channel — The primary channel for the key. Selecting nothing will enable you to select from all child channels, although systems can be subscribed to only those that are applicable.
Click Create Key.
After creating the unique key, it appears in the list of activation keys along with the number of times it has been used. At this point, you may associate child channels and groups with the key so systems registered with it will automatically be subscribed to them.
To change information about a key, such as the channels or groups, click its description in the key list, make your modifications in the appropriate tabs, and click the Update Key button. To remove a key entirely, click the delete key link in the top-right corner of the edit page.
If you do not want a key to be used to activate a system, you can disable it by unselecting the corresponding checkbox under the Enabled column in the key list. The key can be re-enabled by selecting the checkbox. After making these changes, click the Update Keys button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
RHN Provisioning customers can create package profiles through the Profiles subtab of the Packages tab within the System Details page. Those profiles end up here, on the Stored Profiles page, where they may be edited and even deleted.
To edit a profile, click its name in the list, alter its name and description, and click the Update Profile. To view software associated with the profile, click the Packages subtab. To remove the profile entirely, click delete stored profile at the upper-right corner of the page.
