25.7 Mirroring Red Hat Updates from the NU Repository by Using a YUM Subscription

You can mirror Red Hat updates from the NU repository by using YUM subscriptions and updating the RHEL devices. These updates are available from the RES catalogs for 32-bit and 64-bit target platforms. You can list the RES catalogs, such as RES3, RES4, RES5 and RES6, by using an NU subscription with zlmmirror. However, to mirror the Update bundle for a specific RES catalog, you must configure a YUM subscription. You cannot use an NU subscription because of the limitation of the distro target information in the RES catalog metadata in the NU repository.

Each RES catalog is applicable to its corresponding supported version of RHEL Server devices. For example, a RES5 catalog bundle can be applied for updating the RHEL 5.x Server devices.

For more information on supported RES updates and usage, see Applying Red Hat Updates to RHEL Server Devices by Using SLES Expanded Support.

You can mirror Red Hat Updates from the NU Repository by using one of the following ways:

25.7.1 Using a YUM Subscription to Mirror the RES Catalogs

To use a YUM subscription to mirror the RES catalogs from the NU repository:

  1. Run the following command to verify if there are any RES or Red Hat catalogs on the remote NU server:

    zlmmirror slc -c  NU_mirror_configuration_file  -v

    This lists the catalogs on the remote NU server.

  2. In the NU mirror configuration file's <RemoteServer> section, edit the following configuration elements:

    Configuration Element

    Setting

    <Base></Base>

    Specify the path to the server you want to mirror, the catalog name, and the architecture.

    <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/catalog_name/architecture</Base>

    For example:

    The base URL for a RHEL 4 Server 32-bit target using a RES4 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES4/i386</Base>.

    The base URL for a RHEL 4 Server 64-bit target using a RES4 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES4/x86_64</Base>.

    The base URL for a RHEL 5 Server 32-bit target using a RES5 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES5/i386</Base>.

    The base URL for a RHEL 5 Server 64-bit target using a RES5 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES5/x86_64</Base>.

    The base URL for a RHEL 6 Server 32-bit target using a RES6 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES6/i386</Base>.

    The base URL for a RHEL 6 Server 64-bit target using a RES6 catalog is <Base>https://nu.novell.com/repo/$RCE/RES6/x86_64</Base>.

    <Type></Type>

    Type of server you want to mirror.

    <Type>yum</Type>

    <Platform></Platform>

    The platform of the device to which you want to mirror the packages.

    <Platform>platform</Platform>

    For example, if the target platform of the device is rhel-5-i386, edit the Platform tag to be:

    <Platform>rhel-5</Platform>.

    If the target platform of the device is rhel-4as-i386, edit the Platform tag to be:

    <Platform>rhel-4as</Platform>.

    The target platform must be defined in ZENworks Linux Management.

    <User></User>

    Username to log in to the remote NU server.

    <User>user</User>

    <Password></Password>

    Password for the username provided in the User element.

    <Password>password</Password>

  3. In the <Catalog> section, edit the following configuration element:

    Configuration Element

    Setting

    <Name></Name>

    Specify the name of the catalog you want to mirror from the remote server in the following format:

    <Name>platform-catalog</Name>

    For example, if the platform is rhel-5, the catalog name must be <Name>rhel-5-catalog</Name>.

    In the <Catalog> section, it is not necessary to provide a value for the <Target> tag, because the bundles of the catalog must be separately mirrored for each target. If you specify a value for the <Target> tag, you can only mirror those architecture packages that match the specified target.You must specify separate URLs for each target in the <Base> tag in the configuration file’s <Remote Server> section.

    To mirror catalog packages for 32-bit RHEL targets such as rhel-5-i386, the mirroring process automatically mirrors the packages of all compatible 32-bit architectures such as i386, i586, i686, and noarch.

    To mirror catalog packages for 64-bit RHEL targets such as rhel-5-x86_64 to a given bundle, the packages for 32-bit architecture are added as target rhel-5-i386 in the bundle. You must convert targets of all the 32-bit architecture packages in the mirrored bundle from 32-bit to the corresponding 64-bit target by using the zlman bap command.

    For example, to convert all the 32-bit architecture packages from rhel-5-i386 to the corresponding rhel-5-x86_64 target, you must run the zlman bap command as follows:

    zlman bap --freshen=true bundle_name rhel-5-x86_64 /var/opt/novell/zenworks/pkg-repo/bundles/first_two_letters_of_the_bundle_GUID/bundle_GUID/bundle_version/rhel-5-i386/*.rpm.

  4. Save the configuration file.

25.7.2 Creating the Mirror Configuration File

To create a mirror configuration file for downloading the RES updates:

  1. Launch xzlmmirror on the ZENworks Linux Management Server.

  2. Select the Remote Server Type as Yum Repository in the drop-down list.

  3. Provide the Base URL value based on the operation system target of the RHEL Server device.

  4. Specify the device platform, such as rhel-5 if it is RHEL 5 Server.

  5. Select the Authentication Required check box and specify the Novell Customer Center credentials.

  6. Under the Local Server Settings, specify the administrator’s name as the User Name and specify the Password for the ZENworks Linux Management Server.

  7. Click Connect.

  8. In the Add Catalog tab, specify the folder name, then click Save Catalog.

  9. To save the configuration file to the local disk from the menu, click File > Save As.

  10. Use the configured file to mirror the updates to the ZENworks Linux Management Server .