LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Server
User Name
Password
Linux - Server This forum is for the discussion of Linux Software used in a server related context.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 04-23-2015, 03:55 AM   #1
Rejik
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Apr 2015
Posts: 5

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
RHEL central proxy/subscription/repository server


Hi,

guys, probably easy question for you, but I still can not find simple answer :-)

I would like to have one of RHEL servers working as "proxy" for rest RHELs (6.5 and 6.6)

I would like to have there "mirror" of repository - so we save a bit of data transfer on network ... so only this one downloads rpms and then rest of servers are updated from it

and it would be great, if it can also manage subscriptions so the only one server is internet (redhat) facing :-)

Thank you,
Rej
 
Old 04-23-2015, 08:30 AM   #2
TB0ne
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Distribution: SuSE, RedHat, Slack,CentOS
Posts: 26,553

Rep: Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rejik View Post
Hi,
guys, probably easy question for you, but I still can not find simple answer :-)

I would like to have one of RHEL servers working as "proxy" for rest RHELs (6.5 and 6.6) I would like to have there "mirror" of repository - so we save a bit of data transfer on network ... so only this one downloads rpms and then rest of servers are updated from it and it would be great, if it can also manage subscriptions so the only one server is internet (redhat) facing :-)
Hard to believe that you can't find a simple answer...Red Hat Satellite Server is pretty well known:
https://access.redhat.com/products/red-hat-satellite

...and would have been the first thing that Red Hat support suggested to you if you contacted them. It does EXACTLY what you're after.
 
Old 04-24-2015, 05:01 AM   #3
Rejik
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Apr 2015
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Hi

yes I'm aware of satelite, I'm aware of its free simple version for centos - SPACEWALK , but that is not an answer because:

Spacewalk does not support RHEL .. only fedora + centos

and

Satelite costs 10000,- USD / year .. (http://www.redhat.com/en/technologie.../satellite/faq)


I agree, it is my fault I did not mention I'm looking for free solution ... or at least many times cheaper ...
 
Old 04-24-2015, 08:13 AM   #4
TB0ne
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Distribution: SuSE, RedHat, Slack,CentOS
Posts: 26,553

Rep: Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rejik View Post
Hi
yes I'm aware of satelite, I'm aware of its free simple version for centos - SPACEWALK , but that is not an answer because:

Spacewalk does not support RHEL .. only fedora + centos

and

Satelite costs 10000,- USD / year .. (http://www.redhat.com/en/technologie.../satellite/faq)

I agree, it is my fault I did not mention I'm looking for free solution ... or at least many times cheaper ...
If you're using rhel, then you need to be paying for it, period. Otherwise, you're just going to wind up with unstable, unpatched, and insecure servers, since you won't get any updates from red hat.

Pay for satellite, if you're already paying for rhel. otherwise, migrate your servers to centos, and use spacewalk. the two are different for a reason.
 
Old 04-27-2015, 06:46 AM   #5
voleg
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2013
Distribution: RedHat CentOS Fedora SuSE
Posts: 354

Rep: Reputation: 51
You can use yum-download to save RPMs. The rest is obvious. man createrepo.
 
Old 04-27-2015, 02:16 PM   #6
John VV
LQ Muse
 
Registered: Aug 2005
Location: A2 area Mi.
Posts: 17,622

Rep: Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651Reputation: 2651
Quote:
I agree, it is my fault I did not mention I'm looking for free solution ... or at least many times cheaper ...
there is NOT ONE
PERIOD!!!!

you are using redhat FOR!!!!!!! THE !!!!!! SOPPORT !!!! THAT !!! YOU !!!! BOUGHT!!!!!

the reasdon you are using rhel IS FOR THAT PAID FOR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!
buy the satellite service!!!!!!!!
or migrate to CentOS and use spacewalk

so
seeing as you are using RHEL -- you ARE ? paying for it ? right?

if not
install CentOS 7.1
 
Old 04-28-2015, 01:16 AM   #7
voleg
Member
 
Registered: Oct 2013
Distribution: RedHat CentOS Fedora SuSE
Posts: 354

Rep: Reputation: 51
Let me guess, Someone stole your sweetroll (Skyrim).

Please do not yell in public. Holly war about payments to RedHat is in another forum.
Here is a technical question and answer is "yes".

I do not like RHN satellite. Much more time I wasting on it's maintenance and resolving client/server problems. "yum update" is much more limited, but works. Therefore I've built repository similar to requested in subject and happy with it.

I pay for subscriptions, why should I pay for satellite that I hate to use ?
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 04-28-2015, 02:12 PM   #8
Rejik
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Apr 2015
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Hi,

personally I think with satelite software RedHat hurts linux community. It is very expensive for low level business, which at least finds resources to pay for RHEL and does not need any "advance" features of satelile like that monitoring (we have other solution) and global patch deployment (which I saw few such softwares and always made more problems compare time it saves).
Anyway there is no free subscription variant for RHEL. So we have big bunch of licenses, and it looks we will ignore some subscription until we will need support. And mirror I will do with createrepo ..

Rej
 
Old 04-28-2015, 03:03 PM   #9
TB0ne
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Distribution: SuSE, RedHat, Slack,CentOS
Posts: 26,553

Rep: Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rejik View Post
Hi,
personally I think with satelite software RedHat hurts linux community. It is very expensive for low level business, which at least finds resources to pay for RHEL and does not need any "advance" features of satelile like that monitoring (we have other solution) and global patch deployment (which I saw few such softwares and always made more problems compare time it saves).
So they should develop, test, certify, and deliver an enterprise ready Linux operating system, plus all the tools to go with it, and give it all away? How, exactly, do you think they'd stay in business to PERFORM those jobs? And $10,000 a year is less than $1,000 a month, and the tools you mention will pay for that with the time you save. And add to that the fact that you can put your OWN packages into Satellite and deploy them gives you more free time. Ever have to put a script onto 200 servers? How long did that take?
Quote:
Anyway there is no free subscription variant for RHEL. So we have big bunch of licenses, and it looks we will ignore some subscription until we will need support. And mirror I will do with createrepo ..
...and the 'createrepo' is great..only if ALL your RHEL systems are running the EXACT same version/patch level, etc. Otherwise, the one you're mirroring from may downgrade something. That's why you pay for such things.

Unless you're the company owner, don't worry about the price; this is a necessary tool. If you ARE the company owner and you're that concerned, they why are you using RHEL? Load CentOS instead, and use the free versions of things. Makes no sense to halfway do it.
 
Old 05-04-2015, 09:22 AM   #10
Rejik
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Apr 2015
Posts: 5

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Hi TB0ne,

as you wrote in your first post: we paid for RHEL. So I do not think RHEL is doing it for free.
So such basic features as system updates I would expect to be free and as user friendly as possible - and even it will save source RedHats servers load/bandwith. Does not look this way, luckily we have servers almost on same level (RHEL v6.5 & v6.6). Just possible updates or new servers on RHEL7 will be question in the future - luckily v7 is not yet considered as stable for production environment - yet.
Also registering systems are more profitable for RedHat, then its customers.

regarding satellite - I do not think it is bad software, just for that price it does not give much.
As I mentioned few lines up, repositories and subscriptions should be free, monitoring would be good only in case you have only redhat servers in environment (or you will finish paying twice for some solution monitoring all systems and satellite just for RHEL) and automatic deployment of patches - ufffff I'm working in linux and (mostly) unix environment almost 20 years and I haven't seen reasonable working application - it really usually make more work then save. But of course, depends on your environment ;-)
 
Old 05-04-2015, 02:52 PM   #11
TB0ne
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Distribution: SuSE, RedHat, Slack,CentOS
Posts: 26,553

Rep: Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946Reputation: 7946
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rejik View Post
Hi TB0ne,
as you wrote in your first post: we paid for RHEL. So I do not think RHEL is doing it for free
So such basic features as system updates I would expect to be free and as user friendly as possible - and even it will save source RedHats servers load/bandwith. Does not look this way, luckily we have servers almost on same level (RHEL v6.5 & v6.6). Just possible updates or new servers on RHEL7 will be question in the future - luckily v7 is not yet considered as stable for production environment - yet.
RHEL7 is very stable, and has been used for some time now. And they already provide RHEL for free use, including source code. What you pay for are support, patches, and services (like Satellite), which is what pays for them to give away RHEL. Your subscription is only part of how they make money.
Quote:
Also registering systems are more profitable for RedHat, then its customers.

regarding satellite - I do not think it is bad software, just for that price it does not give much.
...except for a centralized method of keeping MANY servers up to date, deploy patches, and do it all from a central point? To be able to mix/match versions of RHEL to boot? Yes...except for all that, it's useless.
Quote:
As I mentioned few lines up, repositories and subscriptions should be free, monitoring would be good only in case you have only redhat servers in environment (or you will finish paying twice for some solution monitoring all systems and satellite just for RHEL) and automatic deployment of patches - ufffff I'm working in linux and (mostly) unix environment almost 20 years and I haven't seen reasonable working application - it really usually make more work then save. But of course, depends on your environment ;-)
And they are...so use CentOS. If you use a commercial distro, then you pay for their tools...simple.
 
Old 05-04-2015, 03:22 PM   #12
T3RM1NVT0R
Senior Member
 
Registered: Dec 2010
Location: Internet
Distribution: Linux Mint, SLES, CentOS, Red Hat
Posts: 2,385

Rep: Reputation: 477Reputation: 477Reputation: 477Reputation: 477Reputation: 477
@ Rejik,

If I understand correctly you want to have your own centralized repository server and don't want to use Red Hat Satellite. As voleg suggested you can go with yumdownloader + create repo. Here is what you can do:

1. Have a centralized server with good amount of disk space(when I say good it really has to be good).
2. This centralized server will obviously have access to RHN, use yumdownloader to download all the packages as per your subcription.
3. Run createrepo to have repository created.
4. Configure apache or vsftp whatever way you prefer for allowing your clients to connect to this central repository over ftp or http.

Now comes the tricky part:

5. You should create a script which will make yumdownloader to download the diff (not all the packages), logic can be if package already in repository directory skip and move onto next download.
6. Once diffing part is sorted make sure you add createrepo as well in your script to run it everytime after yumdownloader.
7. Make all your clients to point to your central repository server.

I wouldn't say Red Hat is charging more for their satellite server that cost is justified by the features they provide like: provisioning, custom rpm upload, file deployment, cloning channels (you can have prod, dev, beta all set). I hope I have covered them all.

I do understand from small business or startups that price is huge. To be honest I have seen big companies too asking for alternatives just to save money if they can.

Here comes a bit of marketing part. Ever heard of RHUI? RHUI is Red Hat Update Infrastructure, it is purely for patching. It will not give you features like Red Hat Satellite but if patching is only what you want you might want to look into it. I am not sure what will be pricing in your area, it will be better to get in touch with Red Hat sales representative to get more information on pricing for RHUI.

Last edited by T3RM1NVT0R; 05-04-2015 at 03:26 PM. Reason: spelling mistake
 
2 members found this post helpful.
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Setting up Central Syslog Server Using RHEL 5.8 and rsyslog bkendall Linux - Server 3 07-12-2012 05:10 PM
Can i Use RHEL Server Enterprise Edition Free, My service subscription going to end. vamshi_krishv Red Hat 7 05-29-2012 10:30 AM
Configure Squid proxy to point to a central policy web server dwarka13 Linux - Server 1 11-10-2010 05:31 PM
Red Hat cluster suite subscription for RHEL 5 server ??? LinuxLover Linux - Enterprise 1 07-18-2008 08:33 AM
Central Email Repository shellcode Linux - Networking 4 12-18-2006 04:15 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Server

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:29 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration