Registering a User Account

Before you create a System Profile, you must create a user account. Red Hat recommends that you do so through the website at https://rhn.redhat.com/newlogin/, but you may also do so via Red Hat Update Agent (up2date).

Important

Users may access and read Red Hat's privacy statement from this screen. Click the Read our Privacy Statem ent button to do so. Red Hat is committed to protecting your privacy. The information gathered during the registration process is used to create a System Profile, which is essential to receiving update notifications about your system. When finished, click OK

Those users that have created a Red Hat login previously may enter their username and password and click the Forward button to continue.

Users that have registered at least one system with Red Hat Network can add new machines to the same account. To do so, run the Red Hat Update Agent on the new machine and enter the existing Red Hat username and password at this screen.

Figure 4 .4 . Red Hat Login Screen

New users must select the I don't have a Red Hat login. I need to create one. radio button and click the Forward button. Add details about yourself and your business to the screen shown in Figure 4.5, “Create a User Account”, and identify the methods by which you may be reached.

Cannot contain any spaces

Cannot contain the characters & +, %, or '

Is not case-sensitive, thereby eliminating the possibility of duplicate usernames differing only by capitalization

In addition, the following restrictions apply to both your username and password: Must be at least four characters long

Cannot contain any tabs Cannot contain any line feeds

Passwords are case-sensitive for obvious reasons.

Note

You must choose a unique username. If you enter one already in use, you will see an error message. Try different usernames until you find one that has not been used.

Complete all fields marked by an asterisk (*). The address and email addresses are required so that Red Hat may communicate with you regarding your account. You may select to receive monthly copies of Red Hat Magazine, a valuable source of tips, insights, and Red Hat news.

When finished, click Forward.

4.2.2. Activate

The Activation screen allows you to select various details of your registration. If you have a subscription number, enter it in the appropriate field. If not, select the Use one of m y existing, active

subscriptions radio button.

In the Connect Your System option group, select whether to send a hardware or software profile. After creating a username and password for your Red Hat Network account, the Red Hat Update

Agent probes your system for the following information:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux version Hostname IP address CPU model CPU speed Amount of RAM PCI devices Disk sizes Mount points

The software System Profile consists of a list of RPM packages for which you wish to receive notifications. The Red Hat Update Agent displays 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.

To see the details of the information gathered from your system, click the Details button next to the profile. When finished, click OK. If you uncheck the box to the left of the profile, that information is not sent to RHN.

Note

If you do not send a Software Profile, this system will receive no Errata Updates. Click Forward to send the information to RHN.

Figure 4 .6. Activate

Figure 4.7, “Sending System Profile to Red Hat Network” shows the progress bar displayed as the System Profile is sent.

Figure 4 .7. Sending System Profile to Red Hat Network

4.2.3. Channels

Red Hat Update Agent next displays all package channels to which you have access. The channels you select from this screen must match the base operating system of the system you are registering. if any child channels are available, such as the RHEL AS (v.4 for x86) Extras channel in the figure, you may select them as well. Additional information regarding the selected channel is displayed in the

Channel Inform ation pane. When finished, click Forward to continue.

Figure 4 .8. Channels

Red Hat Update Agent now compares the packages in your RPM database with those available from the Channel you selected. The progress bar shown in Figure 4.9, “Fetching package list” is displayed during this process.

Note

If the version of up2date on your system is older than the one in your selected channel, the Red Hat Update Agent asks whether you would like to update it. If you agree, the only package that will be updated is the up2date package. This is equivalent to executing the up2date up2date command from a shell prompt. Once the updated process has completed, the Red Hat Update Agent restarts and completes the initial update of the system.