5.4. Registering a System Profile
Now that you have a user account, you can create a System Profile that consists of hardware and software information about your Red Hat Linux system. The software System Profile information is used by Red Hat Network to determine what software update notifications you receive.
5.4.1. Hardware System Profile
After creating a username and password for your Red Hat Network account, the Red Hat Network Registration Client probes your system for the following information:
Red Hat Linux version
Hostname
IP address
CPU model
CPU speed
Amount of RAM
PCI devices
Disk sizes
Mount points
The next step is choosing a profile name for your system as shown in Figure 5-8. The default value is the hostname for the system. You may modify this to be a more descriptive string, such as Email Server for Support Team, if you find it more helpful. Optionally, you can enter a computer serial or identification number for the system.
If you do not wish to include information about your hardware or network in your System Profile, deselect Include information about hardware and network (see Figure 5-8).
Click Next to continue with the registration process.
5.4.2. Software System Profile
The software System Profile consists of a list of RPM packages for which you wish to receive notifications. The Red Hat Network Registration Client shows you a list of all RPM packages listed in the RPM database on your system and then allows you to customize the list by deselecting packages.
5.4.2.1. Gathering RPM Database Information
Only those packages you choose during this part of the registration will be included in your System Profile, and you will only receive notifications about the packages in your System Profile. Thus, if you use an older version of a package and deselect it from the list, it will not be replaced with a newer version. This RPM list can be modified through the Red Hat Network website or by using the Red Hat Update Agent. Figure 5-9 shows the progress bar you will see while the Red Hat Network Registration Client gathers a list of the RPM packages installed on your system. This operation may take some time depending on your system.
Once the RPM package list is built, the list will be displayed as shown in Figure 5-10. Deselecting Include RPM Packages installed on this system in my System Profile will omit this information from your System Profile.
5.4.2.2. Choosing RPM Packages to Exclude from the System Profile
By default, all RPM packages in your RPM database are included in your System Profile to be updated by Red Hat Network. To exclude a package, uncheck the package from the list by clicking the checkbox beside the package name. For example, Figure 5-11 shows that the procmail, procps, and psgml packages have been omitted from the package list.
Choose which packages to exclude, if any, from the System Profile, and click Next to continue with the registration process.
