Prerequisites

Prerequisites

The following section outline the prerequisites for installing Red Hat Network Satellite.

Base Operation System

Red Hat Network Satellite runs on either Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating systems. The first phase is to install the base operating system, either from disc, ISO image, or kickstart.

During and after operating system installation, make sure you:

Allocate plenty of space to the partitions storing data. The default location for channel packages is /var/satellite/. For Red Hat Network Satellite with Embedded Database, remember the database RPMs go in the /opt/ partition, while the database itself is built in /rhnsat/.

Enable Network Time Protocol (NTP) on the Satellite and separate database, if it exists, and select the appropriate time zone. All client systems should already be running the ntpd daemon and be set to the correct time zone.

It is strongly advised that the /home/ partition is locally mounted.

Register to Red Hat Network Classic. Once installation of the base operating system is complete, run the following command to register your system:

# rhn_register

Mounting the Installation Media

The following section describes the process for mounting either the CD or ISO image containing installation media for Red Hat Network Satellite.

Mounting from a CD

Log into the machine as root.

Insert the Red Hat Network Satellite Server CD containing the installation files.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux might automount the CD. If so, it mounts the CD to the /media/cdrom/ directory. If Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not automount the CD, manually mount it to the /media/cdrom/ directory with the following command:

# mkdir /media/cdrom

   # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

Mounting from an ISO image

Log into the machine as root.

Download the ISO image from the Red Hat Network website.

Mount the ISO image from within the directory containing it using the command:

# mkdir /media/cdrom

# mount -o loop iso_filename /media/cdrom

The installation media is mounted at /media/cdrom/. Use this location to access the Red Hat Network Satellite installation script.

Obtaining an Entitlement Certificate

Red Hat Network Satellite requires a copy of your Red Hat Network Entitlement Certificate in order to active it. This Entitlement Certificate is included with your subscription to Red Hat Network Satellite and is available from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Ensure to download the Entitlement Certificate from the Red Hat Customer Portal and copy it to the Satellite server's file system in any directory. The installation program asks you for its location.