Red Hat NETWORK 3.1 - MANAGEMENT Reference Manual

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60 Chapter 4. Red Hat Network Website4.6. ChannelsIf you click the Channels tab on the top navigation bar, the Channels category and links appear. Thepages in the Channels category enable you to view and manage the channels and packages associatedwith your systems. In addition, you can obtain ISO images here.4.6.1. Software ChannelsThe Software Channels page is the first to appear in the Channels category. A software channel is alist of Red Hat Linux packages grouped by use. Channels are used to choose packages to be installedon a system.There are two types of software channels: base channels and child channels. A base channel consistsof a list of packages based on a specific architecture and Red Hat Linux release. For example, all thepackages in Red Hat Linux 7.1 for the x86 architecture is a base channel. The list of packages in RedHat Linux 7.1 for the Itanium architecture is a different base channel. A child channel is a channelassociated with a base channel but contains extra packages. For example, an organization can create achild channel associated with Red Hat Linux 7.1 for the x86 architecture that contains extra packagesneeded only for the organization, such as a custom engineering application.A system must be subscribed to one base channel only. This base channel is assigned automaticallyduring registration based upon the Red Hat Linux release and system architecture selected. In the caseof public free channels (RHL 6.2, 7.x, 8.0), the action will succeed. In the case of Red Hat EnterpriseLinux AS and other paid base channels, this action will fail if an associated entitlement doesn’t exist.A system can be subscribed to multiple child channels of its base channel. Only packages included ina system’s subscribed channels can be installed or updated on that system. Some customers, such asthose using RHN Satellite and Proxy, have channel management authority. This authority, granted byRHN as a separate role to certain customers, gives them the ability to create and manage their owncustom channels.Channels can be further broken down by their relevance to your systems. Two such lists emerge:Relevant and All.4.6.1.1. Relevant ChannelsAs shown in Figure 4-6, the Relevant Channels page is shown by default when you click SoftwareChannels in the left navigation bar. It displays a list of channels now associated with your systems.Links within this list go to different tabs of the Software Channel Details page. Clicking on a channelname takes you to the Details tab. Clicking on the packages number takes you to the Packages tab.And clicking on the systems number takes you to the Subscribed Systems tab. Refer to Section4.6.1.3 Software Channel Details for details.