Installation guide

4.2. Configuring Proxy Precaching

Your Proxy server can precache or mirror custom RPM files. This means that RPM files are delivered

directly from the Proxy server to the clients; the clients do not have to wait for the files to download

from the Satellite server to the Proxy server, and then be delivered to the client. The Proxy server

recognizes RPM requests from yum as well as anaco nd a (for kickstart installations and

provisioning). See the rhn_packag e_manag er manual page for more information.

Proxy precaching is especially useful if the network connection to the Satellite server is slow or if

bandwidth is at a premium. You can use the rhn_packag e_manag er command to manually load

RPM files into the Proxy server's cache, or you can create a cro n job that uses the rsync command

to perform the task automatically.

Note

Using the Proxy server precache feature requires that disk space be available at all times for

the required RPM files. Unlike a non-precached Proxy server, where only requested RPM files

exist, and only until they expire, precached RPM files remain indefinitely on the Proxy server

whether they are used or not.

4 .2.1. Manually Loading RPM Files int o t he Proxy Cache

Satellite Proxy and rhn_packag e_manag er have been updated to avoid unwanted cache

collisions. You can use the existing rhn_packag e_manag er --co pyo nl y command to populate

the cache; (an alias to that option has been added with the more user-friendly name --cache-

l o cal l y). Another significant change to rhn_packag e_manag er is that it can now read and

import packages from a channel export, which could for example be created on the Satellite server

using the rhn-satel l i te-expo rter utility. This is in addition to the other methods that

rhn_packag e_manag er can use to import RPM files, such as the --d i r option for importing all

RPM files in a directory, or a list of RPM files supplied on the command line.

The following example demonstrates how to cache only the RPM files that exist in the my-channel-l

channel, using a channel export from the Satellite server. This export contains all the channels from

the Satellite server, and is mounted on /mnt/expo rt:

# rhn_package_manager --cache-locally --from-export /mnt/export --

channel my-channel-1

To import all the RPM files from all channels that the export contains, omit the --channel option:

# rhn_package_manager --cache-locally --from-export /mnt/export

If the channel export is spread across multiple ISO images it is not necessary to combine them locally

on the Proxy before running the rhn_packag e_manag er command. Mount the images one at a time

and run the same command on each.

4 .2.2. Aut omatically Loading RPM Files int o t he Proxy Cache

Populating the initial clone may be convenient and fast through a channel export or directory that

contains RPM files, but it is inconvenient to have to create a new channel export or directory

containing new RPM files every time the Satellite server is updated with new content. You can set up a

Red Hat Sat ellit e 5.7 Proxy In st allat ion G uide