You can use the Red Hat Network Web application,
referred to as Software manager, to manage
one or more Red Hat Linux systems simultaneously. The
Red Hat Network Software Manager runs in a Web browser,
unlike the standalone Red Hat Update Agent.
With the Red Hat Network Software Manager, you can
download additional packages, system enhancements and bug fixes, and the
latest security tools. You can upgrade some or all outdated packages,
manage your hardware profile, and more.
In a Web browser, go to http://rhn.redhat.com.
After logging into the Web interface of Red Hat Network, the first page you see is
the main page, or the Your Red Hat Network page. This page
displays important information about your systems including Recent
Errata Alerts for your systems under the title Recent
Errata. To view a complete list of applicable Errata Alerts
for a system, click View All Applicable Errata in
the bottom right-hand corner.
The first line of the Your Red Hat Network page shows how many
systems need attention and provides a link to quickly view those
systems. Clicking the here link displays the
System List page that lists the systems that need
attention. Refer to the Red Hat Network User Reference Guide for information on
using this page.
In the Statistics section, the number of total
systems refers to the number of total systems that you have registered.
You can return to this page by click Your RHN on the
left navigation bar.
The Your Account page under the Your
RHN category allows you to modify your personal information
as well as set some RHN preferences. To modify any information on the
Details tab or the Addresses
tab, change the information and click the
Update button on the page.
If you want to change your Red Hat Network password (the one used to log into
Software Manager and redhat.com) click the Details tab on the
Your Account page and replace the asterisks in the
Password and Password
Confirmation text fields with your new password. You will
not see your password as you type it for security reasons. Click
Update to change your password.
The email address on the Details tab is the one
Red Hat Network sends email notification to if you have selected to receive
Errata Alert email for your systems under the
Preferences tab. To change your preferred email
address, replace in on the Details page and click
Update.
The Preferences tab allows you to configure two
Red Hat Network options:
Email notifications — Determine whether you want to receive
email every time an Errata Alert is applicable to one or more
systems in your RHN account.
Don't clear selections — Determine whether you want to
remove selections the Current Selections list
after an action has been completed on the selection. For example,
if you select five packages and apply Errata Updates to them, the
five packages will be removed from the selection list after the
action is confirmed and is added to the scheduled actions list. If
you select Don't clear selection set when completing an
action in a wizard, the packages would not be removed
from the selection list until you remove them.
To use all of the features in Software Manager, your systems must be
entitled — they must be subscribed to the
Software Manager subscription service. Every user receives one free
entitlement slot.
The Entitlement Manager page displays the number of
total, used, and available entitlement slots for your account. To buy
more entitlement slots, enter the number to purchase and click the
Buy Now! button.
This page also allows you to change the entitlement of a system. The
systems that are currently entitled have a check under the
Entitled column. To entitle a system, check its
entitlement box. To unentitle a system, uncheck its entitlement box.
Click the Update Entitlements to apply the
changes.
The New RHN page explains the differences between
the previous Software Manager interface and the current interface.
Once you download packages, whether through the
Red Hat Network Web interface or the
Red Hat Update Agent, you have to install the packages
(unless you configured Red Hat Network to automatically
install updates). You can update at a shell prompt or with a GUI from
your GNOME or KDE desktop. Updating at a shell prompt is the easier
method.
To update downloaded packages at a shell prompt:
At a shell prompt, type cd /var/spool/up2date.
Type rpm -Fvh *.rpm.
Update your system profile (see the section called Synchronizing Your System Profile).
That's it. Downloaded packages are sent to the
/var/spool/up2date directory. The cd
/var/spool/up2date command puts you in that directory. The
rpm -Fvh *.rpm command tells your system
everything it needs to know to update all downloaded packages residing
in that directory.
 | If you download RPMs for packages you do not have installed on your
system, use -U instead of
-F. This will install the package on your
system, rather than update an existing package.
|
To update using a GUI:
Open Gnome-RPM (From a GNOME desktop, go to => => =>
; In KDE, go to
=> => =>
. In either desktop, you can use the
run tool (In GNOME, Main
Menu => Run.... In KDE, Main
Menu => Run command) and type
gnorpm.
Click on Install.
In the Install dialog box, click on
Add.
In the Add Packages dialog box, click on the
pulldown menu at the top of the page and select
/ (this indicates your home directory).
Under Directories, scroll down and double-click
on /var. This will display a new list of
directories in the Directories box.
Under Directories again, scroll down and
double-click on . This, too, will display a
new list of directories in the Directories box.
Once more, under Directories, scroll down and
double-click on .
Go back to the Install dialog box, highlight
the packages you want, and click on Upgrade
to upgrade the packages on your system.
