Installation guide

Chapter 2. Configuring Client Applications
In order to use most enterprise-class features of Red Hat Network, such as registering with Red Hat
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 Red Hat Proxy Server or Red Hat
Satellite Server be running the latest update of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to ensure proper
connectivity.
Additionally, if client firewalls are configured, ports 80 and 443 should be open for proper
functionality with Red Hat Network.
Not every customer must connect securely to a Red Hat Satellite or Red Hat Proxy within their
organization, nor build and deploy a GPG key for custom packages, but every customer who uses
these products must reconfigure the following:
Red Hat Up d ate Ag ent - This is the update mechanism for Red Hat channels. Use of the Update
Agent differs for certain operating systems:
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, and 7 - As a yum plugin (yum-rhn-pl ug i n)
On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 - As a standalone application (up2d ate)
Red Hat Netwo rk Regist rat ion Client ( rh n _reg ist er) - This is the mechanism to register
clients. By default, rhn_reg i ster registers to the main Red Hat Network servers. You need to
reconfigure client systems to register to Red Hat Satellite or Red Hat Proxy.
Important
By default, the yum command on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, and 7 uses SSL for
communication with remote repositories. Consequently, you should ensure that firewalls allow
connections over port 443.
To bypass SSL, change the value of serverUR L from https to http in the
/etc/sysco nfi g /rhn/up2d ate file. Similarly, to use Red Hat Network's Monitoring feature
and probes requiring the Red Hat Network Monitoring Daemon, client systems must allow
connections on port 4545 (or port 22, if it is using sshd instead).
The latest versions of R ed Hat Up d ate Agent can be configured to accommodate several Red Hat
Satellite servers, which provides failover protection in case the primary server is inaccessible. See
Section 2.4, “Implementing Server Failover” for instructions on enabling this feature.
The following sections describe different methods of configuring the client systems to access your
Red Hat Satellite or Proxy. See the Red Hat Satellite Getting Started Guide for information about
scripting configuration commands.
⁠Chapt er 2 . Configuring Client Applicat ions
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