Walkthrough: Setting up and managing an offline patch catalog for Linux
This topic is intended for system administrators or patch administrators in charge of performing patching for Linux servers in an environment that does not have access to the internet.
Introduction
This topic is intended for system and patch administrators. The goal of this topic is to demonstrate how to organize patch information by setting up a central location for storing metadata about a type of patch. TrueSight Server Automation calls these locations patch catalogs. By creating patch catalogs customized to your needs, it becomes easier to select the patches you want to evaluate on servers.
What is a patch catalog?
A patch catalog provides a place to store metadata about patches and the patch payloads themselves. Patch catalogs can be designed for specific needs. For example, a patch catalog can used for a particular operating system, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). With well designed patch catalogs, it is easier to select the patches that should be used when evaluating the patch configuration of a particular server.
What does this walkthrough show?
This walkthrough shows how to download RHEL patches from the Red Hat website to any server having internet access, using the offline downloader utility shipped with TrueSight Server Automation. After downloading the RHEL patches, you can perform patching operations by transferring the metadata and payload information, using a removable storage, to the patch repository within the air-gapped environment.
- Download the payload and metadata information from Red Hat website to any server having internet access. In this walkthrough, we will download the patch payload and metadata to a Linux server.
- Use filters to limit the amount of information added to the catalog.
Schedule the catalog update job to run at a particular time in future and set up notifications for the patch administrator in charge of Linux patching.
From TrueSight Server Automation 8.9.02 and later, certificates are mandatory to create RHEL patch catalog because now all the catalogs use CDN.
What do I need to do before I get started?
For this walkthrough, you must have the following:
- An air-gapped environment that uses TrueSight Server Automation 8.6 or later to manage its Red Hat servers.
Any server with access to the internet. In this walkthrough we will be using a Linux server to download the patch payload from the Red Hat website.
- From the BMC Software Electronic Product Distribution (EPD) website, download and extract the installer package (BSA<version>-<platform>64) to the Linux machine on which you want to download the payload and metadata. For steps on downloading installer package files from the EPD website, see Downloading the installation files.
- After extracting the BSA<version>-<platform>64 installer package that you have downloaded from the EPD, navigate to either of the following directories:
Note
In this walkthrough we will use the offline downloader utilities in the first directory path as we are downloading the patch payload on a Linux server.
Ensure that TrueSight Server Automation supports the operating system running on server that you plan to store the Red Hat patch repository.
The server that houses the patch repository must have the createrepo and pythonurl-grabber packages pre-installed before download begins.
Note
You do not require createrepo and pythonurl-grabber if you are using a Microsoft Windows server to run the Patch Downloader utility.
If you are using a Microsoft Windows server in TrueSight Server Automation 8.9.02, you cannot download the patches.
- Ensure that your Linux machine has the glibc.i686 or glibc.i386 library installed. Alternatively, you can ensure that the JRE version is upgraded to 1.8 or later.
Step 1: How to add configuration settings and filter information to sample XML file
The first step is to prepare the configuration file, which contains XML information that is used by the Patch Downloader utility. The configuration file must contain the download settings and patch filter information as show in the image below. You can also enter proxy server information if you are using one.
TrueSight Server Automation provides sample configuration files in the installer package at <installer-path>/Disk1/files/installers/other_files/All-OS-Patch-Downloaders-linux-build-8.7.00/sample-downloader-config-files/. Edit the sample XML configuration file (sample-redhat-downloader-config.xml) provided by BMC, and add the following XML tags based on your requirements:
(Optional) Add proxy information using the following XML tags:
Tag | Description |
---|---|
<port></port> | Port number used to communicate with the proxy server |
<host></host> | IP address or host name of the proxy server |
<username></username> | User name required for authentication prior to communication with the proxy server |
<password></password> | Encrypted password for the specified user |
<domain-name></domain-name> | Domain name of the proxy server |
<proxy-type></proxy-type> | Type of proxy server used
|
Define download settings using the following XML tags:
Tag
Description
<temporary-location>
</temporary-location>>Location where files can be stored temporarily during the download process
<payload-repository-location>
</payload-repository-location>Local location of the patch repository where metadata and payload are stored
<download-request-retries>
</download-request-retries>Number of times the download utility attempts to download if the first attempt at downloading a payload fails
<download-request-timeout>
</download-request-timeout>Number of milliseconds that the utility waits for a response before considering the attempt as failed
This parameter is useful if the http response is slow.<downloader-parallel-threads>
</downloader-parallel-threads>Number of downloads that can be performed in parallel
Example of download settings in configuration file<temporary-location>/tmp</temporary-location> <validate-payload-certificate>true</validate-payload-certificate> <payload-repository-location>/home/Payload_location</payload-repository-location> <download-request-retries>10</download-request-retries> <download-request-timeout>180000</download-request-timeout> <downloader-parallel-threads>10</downloader-parallel-threads>
- If you are downloading rpms from CDN (reposync), you must add tags to specify the location of Red Hat certificates required for downloading the rpms.
The syntax for the tags are as follows:
<redhat-cert cert-arch="<arch>">
<caCert></caCert>
<clientCert></clientCert>
<clientKey></clientKey>
</redhat-cert>
Tag Description
<redhat-cert cert-arch="<arch>">
</redhat-cert>
The variable
<arch>
can be x86, x86_64, s390x, or ppc64.<caCert> </caCert>
Holds the location of the CA certificate file (redhat-uep.pem) that is copied from the
/etc/rhsm/ca/
directory of the RHEL 7 server, see the Before you begin section of Creating a patch catalog.<clientCert> </clientCert>
Holds the location of the subscription certificate file (client-cert.pem) that is downloaded from the Red Hat subscription management service, see the Before you begin section of Creating a patch catalog.
<clientKey> </clientKey>
Holds the location of the system ID file (client-key.pem) that is downloaded from the Red Hat subscription management service, see the Before you begin section of Creating a patch catalog. Example of tags<redhat-cert cert-arch="x86_64"> <caCert>/home/certs/rh-sslcacert.pem</caCert> <clientCert>/home/certs/rh-sslclientcert.pem</clientCert> <clientKey>/home/certs/rh-sslclientkey.pem</clientKey> </redhat-cert>
Specify filters to limit the patches downloaded in the catalog. The same filters entered here must also be entered during catalog creation in the console.
For example, to create a filter that downloads the latest RPMs by errata type, use the following XML tags:
Parameter
Description
<os></os>
Operating system for the channel label
<arch></arch>
Architecture for the channel label
<channel-label>
</channel-label>Label of the channel or child channel to download from
Example of a channel label:rhel-i386-server-5
Example of a child channel label:rhel-i386-server-supplementary-5
<channel-url>
</channel-url>Url of the channel to download from. NEW IN 8.9.02CDN is supported for all the filters of Red Hat. This is mandatory for <
errata-ids-filter
> and <errata-type-filter
>.You can get the command URL by using the following command:
[root@clm-pun-srtffq All-OS-Patch-Downloaders-linux-build-8.9.02]# ./redhat_downloader.sh -listChannels
<errata-severity>
</errata-severity>Configure filter for metadata download of security advisory errata patches. For each classification, enter
True
to include patches of that type orFalse
to exclude patches of that type.- <critical>
<important>
<moderate>
- <low>
<errata-type>
</errata-type>Configure filter for metadata download of errata according to type. For each classification, enter
True
to include patches of that type orFalse
to exclude patches of that type.- <security></security>
- <bugfix></bugfix>
- <enhancement></enhancement>
Note
If you want to add child channels for errata filters, use the same tags and add the child channel details in the
<os></os>
,<arch></arch>
,<channel-label></channel-label>
and<channel-url></channel-url>
parameters.<errata-type-filter> <os>RHES7</os> <arch>x86_64</arch> <channel-label>rhel-7-server-rpms</channel-label> <channel-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/server/7/7Server/x86_64/os</channel-url> <errata-severity> <critical>true</critical> <important>true</important> <moderate>true</moderate> <low>true</low> </errata-severity> <errata-type> <security>true</security> <bugfix>true</bugfix> <enhancement>true</enhancement> </errata-type> </errata-type-filter>
- To create a filter that downloads a specific errata by errata id. This filter should be used only if the downloader is executed on a Linux machine. Use the following syntax:
<errata-ids-filter>
<os>RHAS4</os>
<arch>x86</arch>
<channel-label>rhel-i386-as-4</channel-label>
<channel-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/as/4/4AS/i386/os</channel-url>
<errata-ids>
<errata-id>RHSA-2009:0429</errata-id>
<errata-id>RHSA-2009:0430</errata-id>
<errata-id>RHEA-2009:0422</errata-id>
<errata-id>RHBA-2009:0407</errata-id>
<errata-id>RHSA-2009:0397</errata-id>
<errata-id>RHBA-2009:0388</errata-id>
</errata-ids>
</errata-ids-filter>
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
<os> </os> | OS for the channel label |
<arch> </arch> | Architecture for the channel label |
<channel-label> | Channel label that you want to download |
<errata-id> | A valid Errata ID for the channel label specified in the filter |
To create a filter that downloads a specific update level, use the following syntax:
<update-level-filter>
<os>RHES7</os>
<arch>x86_64</arch>
<channel-label>rhel-7-server-rpms</channel-label>
<iso-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/server/7/7.1/x86_64/iso/rhel-server-7.1-x86_64-dvd.iso</iso-url>
<update-level>1</update-level>
</update-level-filter>
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
<os></os> | Operating system for the channel label |
<arch></arch> | Architecture for the channel label |
<channel-label></channel-label> | Channel label you want to download |
<update-level></update-level> | A valid update level for the channel label specified in the filter Note: The update-level filter works only on Linux computers. It does not work on windows computers. |
<iso-url> </iso-url> | NEW IN 8.9.02< |
Save the configuration file. Use the sample configuration file below as a reference:
<redhat-downloader-config> <config> <!--<proxy-settings> <port>8080</port> <host>127.0.0.1</host> <username>user</username> <password></password> <domain-name></domain-name> <proxy-type>ntlm-v2</proxy-type> <protocol>http</protocol> </proxy-settings>--> <temporary-location>/tmp</temporary-location> <payload-repository-location>/home/repo/</payload-repository-location> <!-- The default value for download-request-retries will be 10 if no value is specified --> <download-request-retries>10</download-request-retries> <download-request-timeout>180000</download-request-timeout> <downloader-parallel-threads>10</downloader-parallel-threads> </config> <subscription> <redhat-cert cert-arch="x86_64"> <caCert>/home/certs/rh-sslcacert.pem</caCert> <clientCert>/home/certs/rh-sslclientcert.pem</clientCert> <clientKey>/home/certs/rh-sslclientkey.pem</clientKey> </redhat-cert> <errata-ids-filter> <os>RHAS4</os> <arch>x86</arch> <channel-label>rhel-i386-as-4</channel-label> <channel-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/as/4/4AS/i386/os</channel-url> <errata-ids> <errata-id>RHSA-2009:0429</errata-id> <errata-id>RHSA-2009:0430</errata-id> <errata-id>RHEA-2009:0422</errata-id> <errata-id>RHBA-2009:0407</errata-id> <errata-id>RHSA-2009:0397</errata-id> <errata-id>RHBA-2009:0388</errata-id> </errata-ids> </errata-ids-filter> <errata-type-filter> <os>RHES7</os> <arch>x86_64</arch> <channel-label>rhel-7-server-rpms</channel-label> <channel-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/server/7/7Server/x86_64/os</channel-url> <errata-severity> <critical>true</critical> <important>true</important> <moderate>true</moderate> <low>true</low> </errata-severity> <errata-type> <security>true</security> <bugfix>true</bugfix> <enhancement>true</enhancement> </errata-type> </errata-type-filter> <update-level-filter> <os>RHES7</os> <arch>x86_64</arch> <channel-label>rhel-7-server-rpms</channel-label> <iso-url>https://cdn.redhat.com/content/dist/rhel/server/7/7.1/x86_64/iso/rhel-server-7.1-x86_64-dvd.iso</iso-url> <update-level>1</update-level> </update-level-filter> </subscription> </redhat-downloader-config>
Step 2: How to create a Red Hat Linux patch catalog
Step | Example screen |
---|---|
Navigate to the Windows offline downloader utility located in the installer package at the following location: <installer-path>/Disk1/files/installers/other_files/All-OS-Patch-Downloaders-linux-build-8.7.00 Replace <installer-path> with the path to the extracted installer package on the Linux payload machine. From TrueSight Server Automation 8.9.02, Windows offline downloader utility is not supported. Only Linux offline downloader utility is supported. |
|
Run the offline downloader utility and pass the the location of the the configuration file as a parameter.
| |
The RHEL patch payload is downloaded to the payload repository location that you defined while creating the configuration file. (Optional) Transfer the metadata and payload information, using a removable storage, to the patch repository server within your air-gapped environment. However in this walkthrough we will use the same Linux server to host the repository location. | |
Perform the following:
| |
The New Patch Catalog wizard opens. On the General panel perform the following:
| |
On the Red Hat Linux Catalog panel, select Source From Disk Repository (Offline Mode). | |
In the Repository Options section, provide information in the following required fields:
Note: The payload source location and the repository location can be the same. | |
Define the types of patches that you want to include in the catalog by selecting the same filters you have entered in the configuration file.
|
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The Default Notifications panel appears.
| |
The Schedules panel allows you to schedule a job to execute immediately, schedule a job at a specific time in the future, schedule a job on a recurring basis, and define notifications that are issued when a job runs. Select the Execute job now option in the top-left corner of the Schedules panel to execute the catalog update job immediately after the wizard exits. Click Next.
| |
The Properties panel provides a list of properties automatically assigned to a Catalog Job. For any property that has a check in the Editable column, select the property and click in the Value column. Click Next. |
|
The Permissions list is an access control list (ACL) granting roles access to any objects created in the system, such as jobs, servers, or depot objects. ACLs control access to all objects, including the sharing of objects between roles. Using the Permissions panel, you can add individual permissions to an object. You can also set permissions by adding ACL templates or ACL policies. For more information, see Patch catalog - Permissions. Click Finish. |
Wrapping it up
Congratulations. You have downloaded Red Hat patch payload and metadata on a Linux machine. You have also set up a job that creates a patch catalog for RHEL that will run at a specific time in the future.
Where to go from here
Now that you have a serviceable patch catalog it is time to use it to measure your RHEL servers for patch compliance. See Walkthrough: Basic Red Hat Linux patch analysis.
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