• Installing and Registering your system
• Bootstrap scripts for your RHEL system
• Access to ISO images from IU systems
• UUG RHEL meeting video stream

Summary

Indiana University has signed a site license agreement with Red Hat. This deal covers the use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) by university students, faculty and staff during this period. We have access to the following steppings and versions of RHEL: steppings 2.1, 3, 4 and 5 - versions Desktop, WS, ES and AS. IU personnel can use RHEL on a variety of systems for a variety of purposes under the terms of the license. Media will be available for checkout from the USSG (10 day time limit, please), as well as in ISO file format for download to university systems and subsequent burning to CD-R.

Required Versions

This procedure will work with a fully installed Red Hat system of the following versions: Desktop3 - Desktop4 - WS2.1 - WS3 - WS4 - ES2.1 - ES3 - ES4 - AS2.1 - AS3 - AS4 - Client 5 - Server 5. You cannot register with the IU RHN Satellite with versions of Red Hat 9 or earlier. There is no upgrade path from pre RHEL systems (7.3, 8.0, 9, etc) to RHEL systems (Desktop, WS, ES, AS). If you wish to use the IU RHN Satellite, you must install (or already have installed) one of the RHEL versions of linux. We have versions of WS, ES and AS that will run on i386/x86, ia64 (itanium) and x86_64 (AMD64 version 2 only).

Personal, Workstation and Server Definitions

The site license allows for the use of RHEL in three basic categories: personal, workstation and server. The definitions of these categories are as follows:

• Personal = IU students, faculty and staff are allowed to install any version of RHEL on their personal computers for their personal use. If for some reason you leave IU (graduation, termination, etc), you will no longer be entitled to this personal use license.
• Workstation = Workstations are machines used at the university for IU related work while on the job.
• Server = servers are machines used at IU as internal or external servers (file, web, mail, etc.).

General Install Procedure

First you will need to install your system from media. You can checkout this media from the USSG media library, or you can download the ISO images to an IU workstation and burn your own media discs. The ISO images are available in the internal ftp server here: ftp://iu-only.ussg.iu.edu/rhel/

note: At the end of the install process, anaconda will ask you if you want to register your system with the Red Hat Network, select NO.

For RHEL 5 you will want to skip the installation number AND Red Hat Network registration.

You will use the bootstrapping process below to register your system with our satellite server. Als note; up2date and yum work over TCP ports 80 and 443, make sure that these ports are open for outgoing traffic through your firewall.

Registering with the RHN Satellite

After you have your RHEL system installed, you can now bootstrap it over to the RHN Satellite server we maintain for IU personnel and departments. This will work with a new or previous install of RHEL; Desktop, WS, ES or AS versions 2.1, 3, 4, or 5. Pre RHEL installs will not work with the Satellite service. There is no upgrade path from pre-RHEL to RHEL, you must perform a clean install to gain access to the RHN Satellite.

1. Download the appropriate bootstrap script from https://www.ussg.iu.edu/keys/rhel/ (the scripts are divided by purpose and stepping: personal, workstation and server - version 2.1,3/4, or 5)
2. Become root on your computer; use su - to fully become root
3. Make sure the script is executable; chmod 700 scriptname.sh
4. Run the script; ./scriptname.sh
5. You will now be registered with the RHN Satellite

After running this script, you'll be able to use up2date(yum for RHEL 5) or the RHN application and pull your packages from the satellite. These scripts are to be used after you have installed your RHEL box from CDs. The scripts are also divided as to purpose of the system; personal, workstation or server. Please choose the appropriate bootstrap script for your system.

This script is used to get the public GPG key of the satellite server and register your machine with the satellite. After registering with the satellite, you can use up2date or the RHN application to update your computer and download and install packages. For example, if you want to install and run a MySQL server on your workstation, you can issue the following command: up2date mysql-server. up2date will then go to the satellite and grab the needed packages to get a MySQL server running on your workstation. If you are using RHEL 5 you would use yum install mysql-server.

By default, your machine will check in with the satellite every 4 hours (240 minutes) to see if there are any errata or patches. If new errata show up, you'll be notified via the RHN applet in the bottom right corner of your screen when running a GUI. You can launch this applet or use the up2date command to see what errata are out there and decide if you want to install them.

Group Administrator Procedure

If you administer more than 6 machines (any combination of workstations or servers), you have the opportunity to use then RHN Satellite web based services to manage all of your machines from a central location. You will need to contact the USSG to receive an administrative account on the satellite. You will receive a bootstrap script, specifically for your workstations and servers, that has been tailored for your group. The bootstrapping procedure will be the same for your boxes as it is for the general use boxes.

Please note; personal workstations are not eligable for group management.

General Notes

The satellite syncs with Red Hat twice a day; new patches and errata will be brought down at that time. If an important security errata is delivered during the day, we may be able to sync the satellite at that time and have the errata available sooner than the scheduled syncs; this may not always be possible. However, the satellite will always be younger than 12 hours with regard to having recent errata or patches.

The site license is indefinite. The USSG expects to maintain the satellite service for several years. If at some point in the future the USSG decides that it needs to terminate the contract, admins will be notified well in advance so that they can arrange to use the standard RHN service.

The satellite has a maintenance window between 08:00 and 12:00 on Sunday mornings. Most maintenance will only take about 30 minutes to perform. While the satellite is being maintained, no services will be available.