The hosted RHN service module is the most common--and the one we've all grown to hate. For some time, Red Hat offered this module free for one system, albeit with limited availability due to its overwhelming popularity. Red Hat then discontinued this tack, turned the free service into demonstration mode and required demo users to complete surveys every 60 days to continue using the service. Of course, only those who were trying to use the service for free experienced these issues; paying customers enjoyed priority service and access to software updates. Ain't that always the way!
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NWC Project: Linux A-List NWC Project: Linux A-List If you're looking for the perfect Open-Source application for your data-center-centric Linux server, check out our Linux A-List, compiled and maintained with recommendations by Contributing Editor Don MacVittie. |
If you were a victim of this situation, fear not: When purchasing and enabling a RHEL offering, this mode works great. After installing RHEL AS, we immediately connected to the RHN hosted server using the update module to grab the five or so software patches that were available at the time. The update module, called "up2date" on RHEL, is integrated into the desktop environment and checks in with the service regularly; it notified us when software updates or security patches were available.
For small installations of RHEL and those users who do not have bandwidth-restricted Internet connections, the hosted service will be sufficient. But because hosted mode requires that each computer make a direct connection to RHN over the Internet to check for and download updates, some sites will need an alternate plan.
Enter the proxy and satellite service offerings, which have many advantages for large RHEL customers. Both products bring the software inside the corporate firewall: One computer contacts Red Hat RHN servers, and your other servers contact that proxy or satellite server. The RHN database--and to a large extent the application server--still reside on the Red Hat RHN servers for the proxy offering, but the Web content and server are moved to the LAN. Updates can be pulled only with the proxy server from the client using the up2date software, though Red Hat says it is working on push capabilities.
Satellite mode provides the most flexibility by bringing the database, application and Web server to the LAN. Satellite can be run disconnected from the Internet, and you can load software updates via CD or DVD. The satellite service requires customers to have a separate license for Oracle, which RHN uses as its database back end; however, Red Hat says it is working to deliver an embedded version of the database in future releases.
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