Full Access

Client systems need full network access to the RHN Satellite solution's services and ports.

Firewall Rules

RHN strongly recommends firewalling the RHN Satellite solution from the Internet. However, various TCP ports must be opened on the Satellite, depending on your implementation of RHN Satellite:

Synchronized System Times

There is great time sensitivity when connecting to a Web server running SSL (Secure Sockets Layer); it is imperative that the time settings on the clients and server be reasonably close together so the SSL certificate does not expire before or during use. For this reason, Red Hat requires the Satellite and all client systems to use Network Time Protocol (NTP). This also applies to the separate database machine in RHN Satellite with Stand-Alone Database, which must also be set to the same time zone as the Satellite.

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

The system upon which the RHN Satellite will be installed must resolve its own FQDN properly. If this is not the case, cookies will not work properly on the website.

Functioning Domain Name Service (DNS)

For the RHN Satellite's domain name to be resolved by its clients, it and they must all be linked to a working DNS server in the customer environment.

An Entitlement Certificate

The customer will receive, via email from the sales representative, a signed Entitlement Certificate explaining the services provided by Red Hat through RHN Satellite. This certificate will be required during the installation process.

If you do not have an Entitlement Certificate at installation time, contact Red Hat Global Support Services at:

https://www.redhat.com/apps/support/

A Red Hat Network Account

Customers who connect to the central Red Hat Network Servers to receive incremental updates must have an external account with Red Hat Network. This account should be set up at the time of purchase with the sales representative.

Backups of Login Information

It is imperative that customers keep track of all primary login information. For RHN Satellite, this includes usernames and passwords for the Organization Administrator account on rhn.redhat.com, the primary administrator account on the Satellite itself, SSL certificate generation, and database connection (which also requires a SID, or net service name). Red Hat strongly recommends this information be copied onto two separate floppy disks, printed out on paper, and stored in a fireproof safe.

The entire RHN Satellite solution should be protected by a firewall if the Satellite accesses or is accessed via the Internet. An Internet connection is not required for RHN Satellites running in completely disconnected environments. This feature instead uses Channel Content ISOs that can be downloaded to a separate system to synchronize the Satellite with the central Red Hat Network Servers. All other RHN Satellites should be synchronized directly over the Internet.

All unnecessary ports should be firewalled off. Client systems connect to RHN Satellite over ports 80, 443, and 4545 (if Monitoring is enabled). In addition, if you plan to enable the pushing of actions from the Satellite to client systems, as described in Section 8.10, “Enabling Push to Clients”, you must allow inbound connections on port 5222. Finally, if the Satellite will also push to an RHN Proxy Server, you must also allow inbound connections on port 5269.

No system components should be directly, publicly available. No user other than the system administrators should have shell access to these machines.

All unnecessary services should be disabled using ntsysv or chkconfig.

The httpd service should be enabled.

If the Satellite serves Monitoring-entitled systems and you wish to acknowledge via email the alert notifications you receive, you must configure sendmail to properly handle incoming mail as described in Section 4.4, “Sendmail Configuration”.