6.4. Systems

6.4.2.8.1. System Details ⇒ Details

This page is not accessible from any of the standard navigation bars. However, clicking on the name of a system anywhere in the web interface brings you to this page. The default tab displayed on this page is the Details ⇒ Overview subtab. Other tabs are available, depending on the current entitlement level of the system.

6.4.2.8.1.1. System Details ⇒ Details ⇒ Overview

This system summary page displays the system status message and the following key information about the system:

System Info

System Status Message

This message indicates the current state of your system in relation to RHN.

	Note
	If updates are available for any entitled system, the message Critical updates available appears. To apply these updates, click the update now link.

system ID

A unique identifier generated each time a system registers with RHN.

Note

The system ID can be used to eliminate duplicate profiles from RHN. Compare the system ID listed on this page with the information stored on the client system in the /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid file. In that file, the system's current ID is listed under "system_id". The value starts after the characters "ID-" If the value stored in the file does not match the value listed in the profile, the profile is not the most recent one and may be removed.

Hostname

The hostname as defined by the client system. This information is often found in /etc/hostname for Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems.

IP Address

The IP address of the client.

Kernel

The kernel that is installed and operating on the client system.

Registered

The date and time at which the system registered with RHN and created this profile.

Checked In

The date and time at which the system last checked in with RHN.

Last Booted

The date and time at which the system was last started or restarted.

	Note
	Systems with a Management entitlement can be rebooted from this screen. Select Schedule system reboot Provide the earliest date and time at which the reboot may take place. Click the Schedule Reboot button in the lower right. When the client checks in after the scheduled start time, RHN will instruct the system to restart itself.

Locked

Indicates whether a system has been locked.

Actions cannot be scheduled for locked systems through the web interface until the lock is removed manually. This does not include preventing auto-errata updates scheduled through the web interface. To prevent the application of auto-errata updates, de-select Auto Errata Update from the System Details ⇒ Details ⇒ Properties subtab.

Locking a system can help to prevent you from accidentally making any changes to a system until you are ready to do so. For example, the system may be a production system that you do not wish to receive updates or new packages until you decide to unlock it.

Important

Locking a system in the web interface will not prevent any actions that originate from the client system. For example, if a user logs into the client directly and runs up2date, up2date will install available errata whether or not the system is locked in the web interface. Further, locking a system does not restrict the number of users who can access the system via the web interface. If you wish to restrict access to the system, associate that system with a System Group and assign it a System Group Administrator. Refer to Section 6.4.3 System Groups — for more information about System Groups.

It is also possible to lock multiple systems via the System Set Manager. Refer to Section 6.4.4.11.4 System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Lock Systems — to learn how to do so.

— OSA status is also displayed for client systems registered to a Satellite that have a Provisioning entitlement and have enabled OSA.

Push enables Satellite customers to immediately initiate tasks on Provisioning-entitled system rather than wait for those systems to check in with RHN. Scheduling actions through push is identical to the process of scheduling any other action, except that the task begins immediately instead of waiting the set interval.

In addition to the configuration of the Satellite, each client system to receive pushed actions must have the osad package installed and its service started. Refer to the Enabling Push to Clients section of the RHN Satellite Server 4.1.0 Installation Guide for details.

Subscribed Channels

Base Channel

The first line indicates the base channel to which this client is subscribed. The base channel should match the operating system of the system.

Child Channels

The subsequent lines of text, which depend from the base channel, are child channels. Examples are the Red Hat Network Tools channel and the RHEL AS Extras channel.

	Note
	The final link under Subscribed Channels is the Alter Channel subscriptions link. Click on this link to select from the available base and child channels for this system. When finished making selections, click the Change Subscriptions button to confirm the changes.

System Properties

Profile Name

This editable name for the system profile is set to the system's hostname by default. It serves to distinguish this system profile from others.

Entitlement

The base entitlement currently applied to this system.

Notifications

Indicates the the notification options for this system. You can choose whether you wish to receive email notifying you of available errata updates for this system. In addition, you may choose to include Management-entitled systems in the daily summary email.

Auto Errata Update

Indicates whether this system is configured to accept updates automatically.

Description

This information is automatically generated at registration. You can edit this to include any information you wish.

Location

If entered, this field displays the physical address of the system.

The final link on the page is Edit these properties. Clicking this link opens the System Details ⇒ Properties subtab. On this page, edit any text you choose, then click the Update Properties button to confirm.

6.4.2.8.1.2. System Details ⇒ Details ⇒ Properties

This subtab allows you to alter the following basic properties of your system:

Profile Name

By default, this is the hostname of the system. You can however alter the profile name to anything that allows you to distinguish this profile from others.

Base Entitlement

Select a base channel for the system from the available base entitlements.

Add-on entitlements

If available, apply a Monitoring or Provisioning entitlement to the system.

Notifications

Toggle whether notifications about this system are sent and whether this system is included in the daily summary. (By default, all Management and Provisioning systems are included in the summary.) This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories pertaining to the system. Anytime an update is produced and released for the system, a notification is sent via email.

The daily summary reports system events that affect packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, system reboots, or failures to check in. In addition to including the system here, you must choose to receive email notification sin the Your Preferences page of the Your RHN category.

Auto-errata update

If this box is checked, available errata are automatically applied to the system when it checks in. This action takes place without user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the auto-update feature for production systems because conflicts between packages and environments can cause system failures. The Red Hat Network Daemon must be enabled on the system for this feature to work.

Description

By default, this text box records the operating system, release, and architecture of the system when it first registers. You may edit this information to include anything you like.

The remaining fields record the physical address at which the system is stored. To confirm any changes to these fields, click the Update Properties button.

	Note
	Many of these properties can be set for multiple systems at once through the System Set Manager interface. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — for details.

6.4.2.8.1.4. System Details ⇒ Details ⇒ Reactivation —

An activation key specific to this System Profile. Reactivation keys, available only for systems that have a Provisioning entitlement, include this system's ID, history, groups, and channels. This key can then be used only once with the rhnreg_ks command line utility to re-register this system and regain all Red Hat Network settings. Refer to Section 2.5 Registering with Activation Keys for instructions. Unlike typical activation keys, which are not associated with a specific system ID, keys created here do not show up within the Activation Keys page.

	Warning
	When kickstarting a system with its existing RHN profile, the kickstart profile uses the system-specific activation key created here to re-register the system and return its other RHN settings. For this reason, you should not regenerate, delete, or use this key (with rhnreg_ks) while a profile-based kickstart is in progress. If you do, the kickstart will fail.

6.4.2.8.2. System Details ⇒ Software

This tab and its accompanying subtabs allow you to manage the software of the system: errata, packages and package profiles, and software channel memberships.

6.4.2.8.3. System Details ⇒ Configuration —

This tab and its subtabs, which do not appear without a Provisioning entitlement, assist in managing the configuration files associated with the system. These configuration files may be managed solely for the current system, or may be distributed widely via a Configuration Channel. The following section describe these and other available options on the System Details ⇒ Configuration subtabs.

	Note
	To manage the configuration of a system, it must have the latest rhncfg* packages installed. Refer to Section 6.6.6.1 Preparing Systems for Config Management for instructions on enabling and disabling scheduled actions for a system.

This section is available to normal users with access to systems that have configuration management enabled. Like software channels, configuration channels store files to be installed on systems. While software updates are provided by RHN, configuration files are managed solely by you. Also unlike software packages, various versions of configuration files may prove useful to a system at any given time. Remember, only the latest version can be deployed.

6.4.2.8.3.2. System Details ⇒ Configuration ⇒ Managed Files

This subtab lists all configuration files currently associated with the system.

Filename

This column shows both the name and the deployment path for this file.

Revision

This column increments any time you make a change to the managed file.

From Config Channel

This column indicates the name of the channel that contains the file, or displays (system override) for files available to this system only.

Overrides

If this configuration file overrides another, the overridden file is listed in this column along with its host channel.

If you wish to deploy any of these files to the client system, overwriting any changes that have been made locally, check the box to the left of the file and click the Deploy Configuration button. On the following screen, choose a deployment time and click the Schedule Deploy button to confirm.

	Note
	If you click on the Filename of a (system override) file, you can edit its contents.

The Overrides column identifies the config file from which channel will apply if the system is unsubscribed from the config channel that provides the file now. For instance, if a system has '/etc/foo' from channel 'bar' and '/etc/foo' from channel 'baz' is in the Overrides column, then unsubscribing from channel 'bar' will mean that the file from channel 'baz' will be applicable. Also, if nothing is in the 'Overrides' column for a given file path, then unsubscribing from the channel providing the file will mean that the file is no longer managed (though it will not remove the file from the system).

6.4.2.8.4. System Details ⇒ Provisioning —

This tab and its subtabs allow you to schedule and monitor kickstarts and to return your system to a previous state. Kickstart is a Red Hat utility that allows you to automate the reinstallation of a system. Snapshots keep a record of every change to a Provisioning system and allow you to "undo" those changes at will. Both features are described in the sections that follow.

6.4.2.8.5. System Details ⇒ Monitoring —

This tab is only visible for systems registered to a RHN Satellite Server with Monitoring enabled and that are Monitoring entitled. It displays all of the probes monitoring the system. The State column shows icons representing the status of each probe. Refer to Section 6.9 Monitoring — for descriptions of these states. Clicking the Probe Description takes you to its Current State page. The Status String column displays the last message received from the probe.

To add a probe to the system, click the create new probe link at the top-right corner of the page and complete the fields on the following page. Refer to Section 7.5.1 Managing Probes for detailed instructions.

Once the probe has been added, you must reconfigure your Monitoring infrastructure to recognize it. Refer to Section 6.9.4 Scout Config Push — for details. After the probe has run, its results become available on the Current State page. Refer to Section 6.9.1.7 Current State — for details.

To remove a probe from a system, click on the name of the probe, then click the delete probe link in the upper right corner. Finally, click the Delete Probe button to complete the process.

6.4.2.8.6. System Details ⇒ Groups —

This tab and its subtabs allow you to manage the system's group memberships.

6.4.2.8.7. System Details ⇒ Events

Displays past, current, and scheduled actions on the system. You may cancel pending events here. The following sections describe the Events sub-tabs and the features they offer.

6.4.3.3.1. System Group Details ⇒ Details —

Provides the group name and group description. To change this information, click Edit Group Properties, make your changes in the appropriate fields, and click the Modify Details button.

6.4.3.3.2. System Group Details ⇒ Systems —

Lists systems that are members of the system group. Clicking links within the table takes you to corresponding tabs within the System Details page for the associated system. To remove systems from the group, select the appropriate checkboxes and click the Remove from group button on the bottom of the page. Clicking it does not delete systems from RHN entirely. This is done through the System Set Manager or System Details pages. Refer to Section 6.4.4 System Set Manager — or Section 6.4.2.8 System Details, respectively.

6.4.3.3.3. System Group Details ⇒ Target Systems —

Target Systems — Lists all systems in your organization. This tab enables you to add systems to the specified system group. Select the systems using the checkboxes to the left and click the Add Systems button on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

6.4.3.3.4. System Group Details ⇒ Errata —

List of relevant Errata for systems in the system group. Clicking the Advisory takes you to the Details tab of the Errata Details page. (Refer to Section 6.5.2.2 Errata Details for more information.) Clicking the Affected Systems number lists all of the systems addressed by the Errata. To apply the Errata Updates in this list, select the systems and click the Apply Errata button.

6.4.3.3.5. System Group Details ⇒ Admins —

List of all organization users that have the ability to manage the system group. Organization Administrators are clearly identified. System Group Administrators are marked with an asterisk (*). To change the system group's users, select and unselect the appropriate checkboxes and click the Update button.

6.4.4.4.1. System Set Manager ⇒ Packages ⇒ Upgrade —

A list of all the packages installed on the selected systems that might be upgraded. Systems must be subscribed to a channel providing the package for the system to be able to upgrade the package. If multiple versions of a package appear, note that only the latest version available to each system is upgraded on that system. Select the packages to be upgraded, then click the Upgrade Packages button.

6.4.4.4.2. System Set Manager ⇒ Packages ⇒ Install —

A list of channels from which you may retrieve packages. This list includes all channels to which systems in the set are subscribed; a package is installed on a system only if the system is subscribed to the channel from which the package originates. Click on the channel name and select the packages from the list. Then click the Install Packages button.

6.4.4.4.3. System Set Manager ⇒ Packages ⇒ Remove —

A list of all the packages installed on the selected systems that might be removed. Multiple versions appear if systems in the System Set Manager have more than one version installed. Select the packages to be deleted, then click the Remove Packages button.

6.4.4.9.1. System Set Manager ⇒ Channels ⇒ Channel Subscriptions —

To subscribe or unsubscribe the selected systems in any of the channels, toggle the appropriate radio buttons and click the Alter Subscriptions button. Keep in mind that subscribing to a channel uses a channel entitlement for each system in the selected group. If too few entitlements are available, some systems fail to subscribe. Systems must subscribe to a base channel before subscribing to a child channel.

6.4.4.9.2. System Set Manager ⇒ Channels ⇒ Config Channels —

Like the options within the System Details ⇒ Channels ⇒ Configuration tab, the subtabs here can be used to subscribe the selected systems to configuration channels and deploy and compare the configuration files on the systems. The channels are created in the Manage Config Channels interface within the Channels category. Refer to Section 6.6.6 Manage Config Channels — for channel creation instructions.

To manage the configuration of a system, install the latest rhncfg* packages. Refer to Section 6.6.6.1 Preparing Systems for Config Management for instructions on enabling and disabling scheduled actions for a system.

6.4.4.9.3. System Set Manager ⇒ Channels ⇒ Base Channel Alteration —

Channel Administrators may change the base channels to which the selected systems are subscribed via this subtab. The default Red Hat base channel selection in the pulldown menu subscribes the system to whichever Red Hat-provided base channel represents the operating system installed on the system. Systems are unsubscribed from all channels and subscribed to the new base channels. For this reason, this should be done with caution. Select the new base channel from the pulldown menus and click the Change Base Channels button.

6.4.4.10.1. System Set Manager ⇒ Provisioning ⇒ Kickstart —

Use this subtab to re-install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the selected Provisioning-entitled systems. To schedule kickstarts for these systems, select a distribution, identify the type (IP address or manual), and click Continue. Finish choosing from the options available on the subsequent screen. If any of the systems connect to RHN via a RHN Proxy Server, choose either the Preserve Existing Configuration radio button or the Use RHN Proxy radio button. If you choose to kickstart through a RHN Proxy Server, select from the available Proxies listed in the drop-down box beside the Use RHN Proxy radio button. All of the selected systems will kickstart through the selected Proxy. Click the Schedule Kickstart button to confirm your selections. When the kickstarts for the selected systems are successfully scheduled, the web interface returns you to the System Set Manager page.

6.4.4.10.2. System Set Manager ⇒ Provisioning ⇒ Tag Systems —

Use this subtab to add meaningful descriptions to the most recent snapshots of your selected systems. To tag the most recent system snapshots, enter a descriptive term in the Tag name field and click the Tag Current Snapshots button.

6.4.4.10.3. System Set Manager ⇒ Provisioning ⇒ Rollback —

Use this subtab to rollback selected Provisioning-entitled systems to previous snapshots marked with a tag. Click the name of the tag, verify the systems to be reverted, and click the Rollback Systems button.

6.4.4.10.4. System Set Manager ⇒ Provisioning ⇒ Remote Command —

Use this subtab to issue remote commands on selected Provisioning-entitled systems. First create a run file on the client systems to allow this function to operate. Refer to the description of the Configuration subtab of the Channels tab for instructions. You may then identify a specific user, group, timeout period, and the script on this page. Select a date and time to perform the command, and click Schedule Remote Command.

6.4.4.11.1. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ System Profile Updates —

Click Update Hardware Profile followed by the Confirm Refresh button to schedule a hardware profile update. Clicking Update Package Profile,followed by the Confirm Refresh button schedules a package profile update.

6.4.4.11.2. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Custom System Information —

Click Set a custom value for selected systems followed by the name of a key to allow you to provide values for all selected systems. Enter the information and click the Set Values button. Click Remove a custom value from selected systems followed by the name of a key to allow you to remove values for all selected systems. Click the Remove Values button to finalize the deletion.

6.4.4.11.3. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Reboot Systems —

Select the appropriate systems and click the Reboot Systems link to set those systems for reboot. To immediately cancel this action, click the list of systems link that appears within the confirmation message at the top of the page, select the systems, and click Unschedule Action.

6.4.4.11.4. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Lock Systems —

Select the appropriate systems and click the Lock Systems link to prevent the scheduling of any action through RHN that affects the selected systems. This can be reversed by clicking the Unlock Systems link.

6.4.4.11.5. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Delete Systems —

Click Delete System Profiles, then click the Confirm Deletions button to remove the selected profiles permanently.

6.4.4.11.6. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ Add or Remove Add-On Entitlements —

Select, via the radio button, whether to Add, Remove, or make No Change in the entitlements of the selected systems. Click the Change Entitlements button to confirm your selection.

6.4.4.11.7. System Set Manager ⇒ Misc ⇒ System Preferences —

Toggle the Yes and No radio buttons and click the Change Preferences button to alter your notification preferences for the selected systems. You may apply these preferences to individual systems through the Properties subtab of the System Details page. Refer to Section 6.4.2.8.1.2 System Details ⇒ Details ⇒ Properties for instructions.

• Receive Notifications of Updates/Errata — This setting keeps you abreast of all advisories pertaining to your systems. Any time an update is produced and released for a system under your supervision, a notification is sent via email.

• Include system in Daily Summary — This setting includes the selected systems in a daily summary of system events. (By default, all Management and Provisioning systems are included in the summary.) These system events are actions that affect packages, such as scheduled Errata Updates, system reboots, or failures to check in. In addition to including the systems here, you must choose to receive email notifications in the Your Preferences page of Your RHN. Refer to Section 6.3.2 Your Preferences for instructions. Note that RHN sends these summaries only to verified email addresses.

• Automatic application of relevant Errata — This setting enables the automatic application of Errata Updates to the selected systems. This means packages associated with Errata are updated without any user intervention. Customers should note that Red Hat does not recommend the use of the auto-update feature for production systems because conflicts between packages and environments can cause system failures.

6.4.9.1.1. Kickstart Explained

When a machine is to receive a network-based kickstart, the following events must occur in this order:

1. After being placed on the network and turned on, the machine's PXE logic broadcasts its MAC address and a request to be discovered.

2. If a static IP address is not being used, the DHCP server recognizes the discovery request and extends an offer of network information needed for the new machine to boot. This includes an IP address, the default gateway to be used, the netmask of the network, the IP address of the TFTP or HTTP server holding the bootloader program, and the full path and file name of that program (relative to the server's root).

3. The machine applies the networking information and initiates a session with the server to request the bootloader program.

4. The bootloader, once loaded, searches for its configuration file on the server from which it was itself loaded. This file dictates which kernel and kernel options, such as the initial RAM disk (initrd) image, should be executed on the booting machine. Assuming the bootloader program is SYSLINUX, this file is located in the pxelinux.cfg directory on the server and named the hexadecimal equivalent of the new machine's IP address. For example, a bootloader configuration file for Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1 should contain:

   port 0 prompt 0 timeout 1 default My_Label label My_Label kernel vmlinuz append ks=http://myrhnsatellite/ initrd=initrd.img network apic

5. The machine accepts and uncompresses the init image and kernel, boots the kernel, and initiates a kickstart installation with the options supplied in the bootloader configuration file, including the server containing the kickstart configuration file.

6. This kickstart configuration file in turn directs the machine to the location of the installation files.

7. The new machine is built based upon the parameters established within the kickstart configuration file.

6.4.9.1.2. Kickstart Prerequisites

Although Red Hat Network has taken great pains to ease the provisioning of systems, some preparation is still required for your infrastructure to handle kickstarts. For instance, before creating kickstart profiles, you may consider:

• A DHCP server is not required for kickstarting, but it can make things easier. If you are using static IP addresses, you should select static IP while developing your kickstart profile.

• An FTP server can be used in place of hosting the kickstart distribution trees via HTTP.

• If conducting a bare metal kickstart, you should 1)Configure DHCP to assign required networking parameters and the bootloader program location. 2)Specify within the bootloader configuration file the kernel to be used and appropriate kernel options.

6.4.9.1.3. Building Bootable Kickstart ISOs

While you can schedule a registered system to be kickstarted to a new operating system and package profile, it is also useful to be able to kickstart a system that is not registered with RHN, or does not yet have an operating system installed. One common method of doing this is to create a bootable CD-ROM that is inserted into the target system. When the system is rebooted, it boots from the CD-ROM, loads the kickstart configuration from the RHN Servers or your Satellite, and proceeds to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux according to the kickstart profile you have created.

To do this, copy the contents of /isolinux from the first CD-ROM of the target distribution. Then edit the isolinux.cfg file to default to 'ks'. Change the 'ks' section to the following template:

 
label ks 
kernel vmlinuz 
   append text ks={url} initrd=initrd.img lang= devfs=nomount ramdisk_size=16438 \
   {ksdevice} 

IP addressed-based kickstart URLs will look something like this:

http://my.sat.server/kickstart/ks/mode/ip_range

The kickstart distribution selected by the IP range should match the distribution from which you are building, or errors will occur. {ksdevice} is optional, but looks like:

ksdevice=eth0

It is possible to change the distribution for a kickstart profile within a family, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 4 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES 4, by specifying the new distribution label. Note that you cannot move between versions (2.1 to 3) or between updates (U1 to U2).

Next, you may customize isolinux.cfg further for your needs, such as by adding multiple kickstart options, different boot messages, shorter timeout periods, etc.

Next, create the ISO as described in the Making an Installation Boot CD-ROM section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Installation Guide. Alternatively, issue the command:

 
mkisofs -o file.iso -b isolinux.bin -c boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 \ 
-boot-info-table -R -J -v -T isolinux/ 

Note that isolinux/ is the relative path to the directory containing the isolinux files from the distribution CD, while file.iso is the output ISO file, which is placed into the current directory.

You may then burn the ISO to CD-ROM. To use the disc (assuming you left the label for the kickstart boot as 'ks'), boot the system and type "ks" at the prompt. When you press [Enter], the kickstart should begin.

6.4.9.1.4. Integrating Kickstart with PXE

In addition to CD-ROM-based installs, RHN supports kickstarts through a Pre-Boot Execution Environment (PXE). This is less error-prone than CDs, enables kickstarting from bare metal, and integrates with existing PXE/DHCP environments.

To use this method, make sure your systems have network interface cards (NIC) that support PXE, install and configure a PXE server, ensure DHCP is running, and then place the appropriate files on an HTTP server for deployment. Once the kickstart profile has been created, use the URL from the Kickstart Details page, as for CD-ROM-based installs.

To obtain specific instructions for conducting PXE kickstarts, refer to the PXE Network Installations chapter of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 System Administration Guide.

	Tip
	Upon running the Network Booting Tool as described in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4: System Administration Guide, ensure that you select "HTTP" as the protocol and include the domain name of the RHN Satellite Server in the Server field if you intend to use it to distribute the installation files.

The following sections describe the kickstart options available from the Systems ⇒ Kickstart page.

6.4.9.3.1. Kickstart Details ⇒ Details —

The figure above shows the sub-tabs that are available from the Kickstart Details tab.

From the Kickstart Details ⇒ Details sub-tab, you can:

• Rename the profile

• Change the operating system it installs by clicking (Change)

• Deactivate the profile so that it cannot be used to schedule a kickstart by removing the Active checkmark

• Select whether this profile is the default for all of your organization's kickstarts by checking or unchecking the box.

• Enter comments that are useful to you in distinguishing this profile from others

6.4.9.3.2. Kickstart Details ⇒ Operating System —

From this page, you can make the following changes to the operating system that the kickstart profile installs:

6.4.9.3.3. Kickstart Details ⇒ Advanced Options —

From this page, you can toggle several installation options on and off by checking and unchecking the boxes to the left of the option. For most installations, the default options are correct. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Administration Guide discusses each of these options in detail.

6.4.9.3.4. Kickstart Details ⇒ Bare Metal Kickstart —

This sub-tab provides the information necessary to kickstart systems that are not currently registered with RHN. Using the on-screen instructions, you may either kickstart systems using boot media (CD-ROM) or by IP address.

6.4.9.3.5. System Details ⇒ Details —

The figure above shows the sub-tabs that are available from the System Details tab.

From the System Details ⇒ Details sub-tab, you can:

• Select from DHCP and static IP, depending on your network

• Choose the level of SELinux that is configured on kickstarted systems

• Enable configuration management or remote command execution on kickstarted systems

• Change the root password associated with this profile

6.4.9.3.6. System Details ⇒ Locale —

From this sub-tab, you can change the timezone associated with kickstarted systems.

6.4.9.3.7. System Details ⇒ Partitioning —

From this sub-tab, you can indicate the partitions that you wish to be created during installation. For example:

 
partition /boot --fstype=ext3 --size=200 
partition swap --size=2000 
partition pv.01 --size=1000 --grow 
volgroup myvg pv.01 logvol / --vgname=myvg --name=rootvol --size=1000 --grow 

6.4.9.3.8. System Details ⇒ File Preservation —

If you have previously created a file preservation list, you may include that list as part of the kickstart. This will prevent the files in that list from being over-written during the installation process. Refer to Section 6.4.9.7 Kickstart ⇒ File Preservation — for information on how to create a file preservation list.

6.4.9.3.9. System Details ⇒ GPG and SSL —

From this sub-tab, select the GPG keys and/or SSL certificates to be imported to the kickstarted system during the %post section of the kickstart. For Satellite customers, this list includes the SSL Certificate used during the installation of the Satellite.

	Note
	Any GPG key you wish to import to the kickstarted system must be in ASCII rather than binary format.

6.4.9.3.10. System Details ⇒ Troubleshooting —

From this sub-tab, you can change information that may help with troubleshooting hardware problems:

6.4.9.3.11. Software ⇒ Package Groups —

The figure above shows the sub-tabs that are available from the Software tab.

Enter the package groups, such at @office or @admin-tools you would like to install on the kickstarted system in the large text box on this page. If you would like to know what package groups are available, and what packages they contain, refer to the RedHat/base/ file of your kickstart tree. Satellite customers will most likely locate this file here: /var/www/satellite/rhn/kickstart/<kickstart label>/RedHat/base/comps.xml.

6.4.9.3.12. Software ⇒ Package Profiles —

If you have previously created a Package Profile from one of your registered systems, you can use that profile as a template for the files to be installed on a kickstarted system. Refer to Section 6.4.2.8.2.2 System Details ⇒ Software ⇒ Packages for more information about package profiles.

6.4.9.3.13. Activation Keys —

The Activation Keys tab, which has no sub-tabs, allows you select Activation Keys to include as part of the kickstart profile. These keys, which must have been created previous to creating the kickstart profile, will be used when re-registering kickstarted systems.

6.4.9.3.14. Scripts —

The Scripts tab, which has no sub-tabs, is where %pre and %post scripts are created. This page lists any scripts that have already been created for this kickstart profile. To create a new kickstart script:

1. Click the add new kickstart script link in the upper right

2. Enter the path to the scripting language used to create the script, such as /usr/bin/perl

3. Enter the full script in the large text box

4. Indicate whether this script is to be executed in the %pre or %post section of the kickstart process

5. Indicate whether this script is to run outside of the chroot environment. Refer to the Post-installation Script section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Admin Guide for further explanation of the nochroot option

Note

RHN supports the inclusion of separate files within the Partition Details section of the kickstart profile. For instance, you may dynamically generate a partition file based on the machine type and number of disks at kickstart time. This file can be created via %pre script and placed on the system, such as /tmp/part-include. Then you can call for that file by including the following line within the Partition Details field of the System Details ⇒ Partitioning tab: %include /tmp/part-include

6.4.9.3.15. Kickstart File —

The Kickstart File tab, which has no sub-tabs, allows you to view or download the kickstart profile that has been generated from the options chosen in the previous tabs.