Red Hat NETWORK 4.1.0

Red Hat Network 4.1.0

Client Conﬁguration Guide

Red Hat Network 4.1.0: Client Conﬁguration Guide

Red Hat, Inc.

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RHNclient-conﬁg(EN)-4.1.0-RHI (2005-04-20T13:40)

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction....................................................................................................................1

2. Client Applications.........................................................................................................3

2.1. Deploying the Latest Red Hat Network Client RPMs ......................................3

2.2. Conﬁguring the Client Applications .................................................................4

2.2.1. Registering with Activation Keys ......................................................5

2.2.2. Using the --configure Option .......................................................5

2.2.3. Updating the Conﬁguration Files Manually ......................................8

2.2.4. Implementing Server Failover............................................................9

2.3. Conﬁguring the Red Hat Network Alert Notiﬁcation Tool with Satellite...10

3. SSL Infrastructure .......................................................................................................13

3.1. A Brief Introduction To SSL...........................................................................13

3.2. The RHN SSL Maintenance Tool.................................................................14

3.2.1. SSL Generation Explained...............................................................15

3.2.2. RHN SSL Maintenance Tool Options ...........................................16

3.2.3. Generating the Certiﬁcate Authority SSL Key Pair .........................21

3.2.4. Generating Web Server SSL Key Sets .............................................22

3.3. Deploying the CA SSL Public Certiﬁcate to Clients ......................................23

3.4. Conﬁguring Client Systems ............................................................................23

4. Importing Custom GPG Keys.....................................................................................25

5. Using RHN Bootstrap ..................................................................................................27

5.1. Preparation ......................................................................................................27

5.2. Generation .......................................................................................................28

5.3. Script Use........................................................................................................29

5.4. RHN Bootstrap Options ................................................................................30

6. Manually Scripting the Conﬁguration .......................................................................33

7. Implementing Kickstart ..............................................................................................35

A. Sample Bootstrap Script.............................................................................................37

Index..................................................................................................................................43

Chapter 1.

Introduction

This best practices guide is intended to help customers of RHN Satellite Server and RHN

Proxy Server conﬁgure their client systems more easily.

By default, all Red Hat Network client applications are conﬁgured to communicate with

central Red Hat Network Servers. When connecting clients to RHN Satellite Server or

RHN Proxy Server instead, many of these settings must be altered. Altering client settings

for a system or two may be relatively simple. A large enterprise environment, containing

hundreds or thousands of systems, will likely beneﬁt from the mass reconﬁguration steps

described here.

Due to the complexity of this undertaking, customers may utilize a pre-populated script

that automates many of the tasks necessary to access their Satellite or Proxy server; refer

to Chapter 5 Using RHN Bootstrap for details. Red Hat believes that understanding the

implications fo these changes is helpful and therefore describes the manual steps for re-

conﬁguration in the opening chapters. Use your best judgement in determining the ideal

solution for your organization.

Although many of the commands provided within this guide can be applied as they ap-

pear, it is impossible to predict all potential network conﬁgurations adopted by customers.

Therefore, Red Hat encourages you to use these commands as references that must take

into account your organization’s individual settings.

Note

Unix client conﬁguration information may be found in the RHN 4.0 Reference Guide in the

Unix Support chapter.

2 Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2.

Client Applications

In order to utilize most enterprise-class features of Red Hat Network, such as registering

with a RHN Satellite, conﬁguration of the latest client applications is required. Obtaining

these applications before the client has registered with Red Hat Network can be difﬁcult.

This paradox is especially problematic for customers migrating large numbers of older

systems to Red Hat Network. This chapter identiﬁes techniques to resolve this dilemma.

Important

Red Hat strongly recommends that clients connected to a RHN Proxy Server or RHN

Satellite Server be running the latest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure proper

connectivity.

2.1. Deploying the Latest Red Hat Network Client RPMs

Red Hat Update Agent (up2date) and Red Hat Network Registration Client

(rhn_register) are prerequisites for using much of Red Hat Network’s enterprise

functionality. It is crucial to install them on client systems before attempting to use RHN

Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server in your environment.

There are several sensible approaches to accomplish this update of the RHN client soft-

ware. One of which involves storing the RPMs in a location that is accessible by all client

systems and deploying the packages with the simplest command possible. In nearly all

cases, a manual deployment of up2date and rhn_register (if RHEL 2.1) do not need

to be performed. Those client tools should have no issues connecting to your RHN Satellite

or Proxy environment. These discussion below assumes that the "out of box" up2date and

rhn_register are not the latest and do not work for your environment.

Remember, only systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 must use the Red Hat

Network Registration Client to register with RHN. Systems running Red Hat Enterprise

Linux 3 and later can use the registration functionality built into the Red Hat Update

Agent.

This document presumes that the customer has installed at least one RHN Satellite Server

and/or RHN Proxy Server on their network. The example below demonstrates a simple ap-

proach of deploying up2date and rhn_register for the ﬁrst time by an administrator as-

suming the machines don’t already have a working RHN. The administrator has populated

the /var/www/html/pub/ directory with a copy of the up2date and rhn_register

(for RHEL 2.1 systems) RPMs that his client systems need, and then has simply deployed

4 Chapter 2. Client Applications

those RPMs onto his client systems with a simple rpm -Uvh command. Run from a client,

this command installs the RPMs to that client, assuming the domain name, paths, and RPM

versions are correct:

rpm -Uvh \

http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/rhn_register-2.9.12-1.2.1AS.i386.rpm \

http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/rhn_register-gnome-2.9.12-1.2.1AS.i386.rpm \

http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/up2date-2.9.14-1.2.1AS.i386.rpm \

http://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/pub/up2date-gnome-2.9.14-1.2.1AS.i386.rpm

Note the inclusion of the associated gnome RPMs. Keep in mind, the architecture (in this

case, i386) may need to be altered depending on the systems to be served.

2.2. Conﬁguring the Client Applications

Not every customer must connect securely to a RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server

within their organization. Not every customer needs to build and deploy a GPG key for cus-

tom packages. (Both of these topics are explained in detail later.) Every customer who uses

RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server must reconﬁgure the Red Hat Update Agent

(up2date) and possibly the Red Hat Network Registration Client (rhn_register) to

redirect it from Red Hat Network to their RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server.

Important

Although this is not conﬁgurable, note that the port used by the Red Hat Update Agent

is 443 for SSL (HTTPS) and 80 for non-SSL (HTTP). By default, up2date uses SSL

only. For this reason, users should ensure that their ﬁrewalls allow connections over

port 443. To bypass SSL, change the protocol for serverURL from https to http in

/etc/sysconfig/rhn/up2date. Similarly, to use RHN’s Monitoring feature and probes

requiring the Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon, note that client systems must allow

connections on port 4545 (or port 22, if using sshd instead).

By default, the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the Red Hat Update Agent

refer to the main Red Hat Network Servers. Users must reconﬁgure client systems to refer

to their RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server.

Note that the latest versions of the Red Hat Update Agent can be conﬁgured to accommo-

date several RHN Servers, thereby providing failover protection in case the primary server

is inaccessible. Refer to Section 2.2.4 Implementing Server Failover for instructions on en-

abling this feature.

The next sections describe three methods of conﬁguring the client systems to access

your RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server: using an Activation Key, up2date

Chapter 2. Client Applications 5

--configure, and manually updating the conﬁguration ﬁles.( To see how virtually all

reconﬁguration can be scripted, see Chapter 6 Manually Scripting the Conﬁguration.)

2.2.1. Registering with Activation Keys

Red Hat recommends using activation keys for registering and conﬁguring client systems

that access RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. Activation keys can be used to

the Red Hat Update Agent chapter within the RHN Management Reference Guide for

instructions on use.

Registering with an activation key has four basic steps:

1. Generate an Activation Key as described in the Activation Keys section of the Red

Hat Update Agent chapter within the RHN Management Reference Guide

2. Import custom GPG keys.

3. Download and install the SSL Certiﬁcate RPM from the /pub/ directory of the RHN

Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. The command for this step could look some-

thing like this:

rpm -Uvh\

http://your-satellite.com/pub/rhn-org-trusted-ssl-cert-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

4. Register the system with your RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. The com-

mand for this step could look something like:

rhnreg_ks --activationkey mykey --serverUrl https://your-satellite.com/XMLRPC

Alternatively, most of the above steps can be combined in a shell script that includes the

following lines:

wget -0 - http://your-satellite-DQDN/pub/bootstrap.sh | bash \

&& rhnreg_ks --activation-key my_key --serverUrl \

https://your-satellite-FQDN/XMLRPC

The bootstrap script, generated at installation and available for both RHN Satellite Server

and RHN Proxy Server, is such a script. The script and the RHN Bootstrap that generates

it are discussed in detail in Chapter 5 Using RHN Bootstrap.

Warning

Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 and versions of Red Hat Linux prior to 8.0

may experience problems using Activation Keys to migrate SSL certiﬁcate settings from

rhn_register to up2date. Therefore, the SSL certiﬁcate information on those systems

must be set manually. All other settings, such as the server URL, transfer properly.

6 Chapter 2. Client Applications

2.2.2. Using the --configure Option

Both the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the Red Hat Update Agent that ship

with Red Hat Enterprise Linux provide interfaces for conﬁguring various settings. For full

listings of these settings, refer to the chapters dedicated to the applications in the RHN

Management Reference Guide.

Each application offers a graphical user interface (GUI) for conﬁguration that enables you

to change the settings required by RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. The GUI

requires that the client system run the X Window System. The command to launch the GUI

conﬁguration interface will look like:

application_filename --configure

To reconﬁgure the Red Hat Update Agent, issue the following command as root:

up2date --configure

You are presented with a dialog box offering various settings that may be

reconﬁgured. In the General tab, under Select a Red Hat Network

Server to use replace the default value with the fully qualiﬁed domain

name (FQDN) of the RHN Satellite Server or RHN Proxy Server, such as

https://your_proxy_or_sat.your_domain.com/XMLRPC. Retain the

/XMLRPC at the end. When ﬁnished, click OK.

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