Red Hat NETWORK 4.0.5 - CHANNEL MANAGEMENTT GUIDE Manual

Also see for NETWORK 4.0.5 -: Configuration guide Reference guide

Chapter 2.Introduction to RHN ChannelsA Red Hat Network channel is a collection of software packages. Channels help you seg-regate packages by sensible rules: a channel may contain packages from a specific RedHat distribution, for instance. A channel may contain packages for an application or familyof applications. Users may also define channels for their own particular needs; a companymay create a channel that contains packages for all of the organization’s laptops, for exam-ple.2.1. Base Channels and Child ChannelsThere are two types of channels: base channels and child channels. A base channel consistsof packages based on a specific architecture and Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. A childchannel is a channel associated with a base channel that contains extra packages.A system must be subscribed to only one base channel. A system can be subscribed tomultiple child channels of its base channel. A subscribed system can only install or updatepackages available through its Red Hat Network channels.When a system is registered with Red Hat Network, it is assigned to the base channel thatcorresponds to the system’s version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Once a system is regis-tered, its default base channel may be changed to a private base channel on a per-systembasis via the RHN website. Alternately, you can have activation keys associated with acustom channel so that systems registering with those keys are automatically associatedwith the custom channel.On the Red Hat Network website, the Channels page (located under the Channels tab onthe top navigation bar) provides a list of all base channels and their child channels. Clickingon the name of a channel displays the Channel Details page, which provides a list of allof the packages in that channel, its errata, and any associated systems.2.2. Subscribing to ChannelsSubscribe systems to channels in the following ways:• Registration through activation keys — Because of the simplicity and speed of activa-tion keys, this is the preferred method for registering systems as clients of either RHNProxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. Systems registered using an activation key aresubscribed to all channels associated with that activation key. For more information onactivation keys, consult the Red Hat Network Client Configuration Guide and the RedHat Network Reference Guide.