Before understanding RHN Proxy Server, it is important to become familiar with the following Red Hat Network terms:
A channel is a list of software packages. There are two types of channels: base channels and child channels. A base channel consists of a list of packages based on a specific architecture and Red Hat release. A child channel is a channel associated with a base channel that contains extra packages.
An Organization Administrator is a user role with the highest level of control over an organization's Red Hat Network account. Members with this role can add other users, other systems, and system groups to the organization, as well as remove them. A Red Hat Network organization must have at least one Organization Administrator.
A Channel Administrator is a user role with full access to channel management capabilities. Users with this role are capable of creating channels and assigning packages to channels. This role can be assigned by an Organization Administrator through the Users tab of the RHN website.
The Red Hat Update Agent is the Red Hat Network client application (up2date) that allows users to retrieve and install new or updated packages for the client system on which the application is run.
A traceback is a detailed description of "what went wrong" that is useful for troubleshooting the RHN Proxy Server. Tracebacks are automatically generated when a critical error occurs and are emailed to the individual(s) designated in the RHN Proxy Server's configuration file.
For more detailed explanations of these terms and others, refer to the Red Hat Network Reference Guide available at http://www.redhat.com/docs/ and http://rhn.redhat.com/help.