Offline updates

Tim356 · 08-04-2008, 08:04 PM

Here's the situation:

We have a RHEL server running in an environment with no internet access. I would like to keep this server updated but am obviously unable to connect it to RHN.

What is the best practice for performing remote/offline updates? Do I just build another server that has internet access and download all required updates? And how can I determine what updates I need without connecting the server to RHN?

And how will this work with subsriptions? I mean, I have 1 subsription, but building another RHEL server to download the updates would require another subscription right?

What have other people done? Thanks for the advice in advance.

chrism01 · 08-04-2008, 09:14 PM

TBH, if you've got a subscription, then you've paid for support, so just ring them and get the official answer.

Tim356 · 08-04-2008, 11:20 PM

Did just that, this is the response, which I found quite helpful:

Quote:

To update packages to a system without Internet connectivity, you need to download the ISO and then mount it locally. To download iso's, please check below given steps:

1. Log into your RHN account.

2. select your desired channel under the "Channels" tab.

3. then click "Easy ISOs" on the left or the "Download" link inside your selected channel.

4. For details, please follow the below kbase, http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_1500.shtm
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_80_594.shtm

Once you download the iso's, follow the below given steps:

1. Create directories to mount the iso file.
#mkdir -p /cdrom/iso

2. Mount the iso as loopback device.
#mount -o loop <iso-name> /cdrom/iso
Replace <iso-name> with the iso file.

3. Create a repository. The createrepo package needs to be installed on the system in order to run the following commands. createrepo is an optional package and is not installed by default.
#cd /cdrom
#createrepo .
#yum clean all

4. Create a file /etc/yum.repos.d/file.repo as follows:

#cat /etc/yum.repos.d/file.repo
[RHEL 5 Repository]
baseurl=file:///cdrom
enabled=1

Running yum should now work with the iso file as the source.

For details, please check following kbase, http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_103_10415.shtm

Let us know if you have any further queries.

Very happy with RH's support so far. Fast response and answered my question completely.

chrism01 · 08-05-2008, 01:54 AM

Great. Maybe you should ask the mods to move the this to the 'Success Stories' section, even sticky it in RH forum. Just use the 'Report' button in your post.
That way everybody benefits.