Figure 2-1 Repositories Page

Go to Channels, select Manage Software Channels, and then select Manage Repositories:

• To create a repository:

  1. Click + Create Repository.

  2. On the Create New Repository page, enter the following repository settings:

     Repository Label

     Name for the repository, for example, Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64).

     Repository URL

     URL of the source for the repository's packages, for example, uln:///ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest or https://yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL8/baseos/latest/x86_64.

     Repository Type

     Source of the repositories depending on the Repository URL setting, which is either uln or yum.

     Leave the remaining fields unset for Oracle Linux.

  3. Click Create Repository to create the repository.

• To view a repository, select its entry to display its details.

• To modify a repository:

  1. Select the repository that you want to edit.

  2. On the Repository Details page, modify the repository settings and click Update Repository to save your changes.

• To delete a repository:

  1. Go to Channels, select Manage Software Channels, and then select Manage Repositories.

  2. Select the repository that you want to delete.

  3. On the Repository Details page, click Delete repository, and then confirm the deletion.

To associate a software channel with a repository, see Using the Oracle Linux Manager Web Interface.

Create a repository by using the repo_create command as follows. The information you need to provide is in bold:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_create

Name: Oracle Linux 8 x86_64
URL: uln:///ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest
Type: uln
...

To list all repositories, use the repo_list command:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_list

To list the details of a repository, use the repo_details command:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_details "repository"

For example, listing the details of the Oracle Linux 8 x86_64 repository would display the following:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_details "Oracle Linux 8 x86_64"

Repository Label:                  Oracle Linux 8 x86_64
Repository URL:                    uln:///ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest
Repository Type:                   uln
Repository SSL Ca Certificate:     None
Repository SSL Client Certificate: None
Repository SSL Client Key:         None

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_details "Oracle Linux 8 \(x86_64\)"

To delete a repository, use the repo_delete command. Ensure that you confirm the command as prompted.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> repo_delete "repository"

To associate a software channel with a repository, see Using the softwarechannel_create Command.

Figure 2-2 Software Channel Management Page

Go to Channels and select Manage Software Channels:

• To create a software channel:

  1. Click + Create Channel.

  2. On the Create Software Channel page, enter channel settings in the following fields, which are the most important for the initial configuration of a channel:

     Channel Name

     Descriptive short name for the channel, for example, Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) Base.

     Channel Label

     Unique label for the channel that is used by the software, for example, oraclelinux8-x86_64.

     Note:

     Channel labels must be unique across the entire Oracle Linux Manager installation. If you have multiple child channels that use the same upstream repository, for example, if you have multiple parents, then each child channel must have its own unique label. A recommended practice is to specify the update level for each hierarchy in the label, such as oraclelinux8-u1-x86_64.

     Parent Channel

     Channel of which the channel you are configuring is a child. If this is a base channel, select None.

     Architecture

     Architecture of the systems the channel serves. If necessary, select the architecture from the pull-down list. For i386 repositories, the option is IA-32.

     Yum Repository Checksum Type

     For Oracle Linux, select sha256.

     Channel Summary

     Short, descriptive summary of the channel, for example the channel name.

     This field cannot be left blank.

     Channel Description

     Long description of the channel or leave the field blank.

     GPG key URL

     URL of the local GPG key.

     For releases of Oracle Linux before Oracle Linux 9, the URL is file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY.

     For Oracle Linux 9, the URL is file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-oracle.

     The key must be stored locally. Thus, for third-party repositories, you must import the GPG key into the local file system and deploy it by using provisioning or another method that is appropriate for your site.

     GPG key ID

     GPG key Fingerprint

     Key ID and fingerprint for the Oracle Linux release.

     Consult the following table:

     Release	Key ID	Key Fingerprint
     Oracle Linux 7	EC551F03	4214 4123 FECF C55B 9086 313D 72F9 7B74 EC55 1F03
     Oracle Linux 8	AD986DA3	76FD 3DB1 3AB6 7410 B89D B10E 8256 2EA9 AD98 6DA3
     Oracle Linux 9	8D8B756F	3E6D 826D 3FBA B389 C2F3 8E34 BC4D 06A0 8D8B 756F

  3. Click Create Channel.

• To associate a software channel with a repository:

  1. Select the channel that you want to associate with a repository.

  2. On the Basic Channel Details page, select Repositories, select the check box of the repository, and click Update Repositories.

• To view a software channel, select its entry to display its details.

  Alternatively, go to Channels, select Software Channels and click a channel name to view its details. You can also select a specific channel and click Show All Child Channels to display its child channels.

• To modify a software channel:

  1. Select the channel that you want to edit.

  2. On the Basic Channel Details page, modify the channel settings and click Update Channel to save your changes.

     Note:

     You cannot change the channel label after you have created the channel.

• To delete a software channel:

  1. Select the channel that you want to delete.

  2. On the Basic Channel Details page, click delete software channel and then click Delete Channel to confirm.

Create a software channel by using the following interactive command:

softwarechannel_create

In the interactive mode, manual input of specific information is required, as shown in bold in the following example:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_create

Channel Name: Ksplice for Oracle Linux 7
Channel Label: oraclelinux7-x86_64-ksplice
Base Channels
-------------
oraclelinux7-x86_64
oraclelinux8-x86_64

Select Parent [blank to create a base channel]: oraclelinux7-x86_64

Architecture
------------
i386-sun-solaris
ia32
ia64
ppc
sparc-sun-solaris
x86_64

Select: x86_64

Checksum type
------------
sha256
sha384
sha512

Select: sha256

GPG URL
------------

GPG URL: file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

GPG ID
------------

GPG ID: EC551F03

GPG Fingerprint
---------------

GPG Fingerprint: 4214 4123 FECF C55B 9086 313D 72F9 7B74 EC55 1F03

To associate a software channel with a repository, use the softwarechannel_addrepo command, as shown in the following example:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_addrepo ksplice-ol7-x86_64 "Ksplice for Oracle Linux 7"

To list all software channels, use the softwarechannel_list command.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_list oraclelinux7*

To list all base (parent) software channels, use the softwarechannel_listbasechannels command.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_listbasechannels

To list the children of a base software channel, use the softwarechannel_listchildchannels command.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_listchildchannels base-channel

To list the systems that subscribe to a software channel, use the softwarechannel_listsystems command:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_listsystems base-channel

To display the details of a software channel, use the softwarechannel_details command.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_details channel-name

The following output is displayed:

The following example shows how to list the details of the ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest channel:

softwarechannel_details ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest

Label:              ol8_x86_64_baseos_latest
Name:               Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64)
Architecture:       x86_64
Parent:             
Systems Subscribed: 0
Number of Packages: 0

Summary
-------
Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64)

GPG Key:            AD986DA3
GPG Fingerprint:    76FD 3DB1 3AB6 7410 B89D B10E 8256 2EA9 AD98 6DA3
GPG URL:            file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY

Repos
-----
Oracle Linux 8 x86_64 BaseOS Latest

To delete a software channel, use the softwarechannel_delete command. Ensure that you confirm the command as prompted.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_delete channel-name

When building repository metadata, Oracle Linux Manager can fail with insufficient memory issues. This failure is caused by the default Java memory settings for the Taskomatic daemon, which are set to 512 MB of minimum RAM and 1024 MB of maximum RAM. These settings are defined in the global Oracle Linux Manager configuration file /etc/rhn/rhn.conf.

If this type of failure occurs, increase the maximum memory to 4096 MB by setting the following property in the configuration file:

taskomatic.java.maxmemory=4096

However, to assign a value greater than 4096 MB, follow these steps:

1. Disable the automatic memory property settings.

2. Manually add the minimum and maximum Java memory values (-Xms and -Xmx, respectively) to the taskomatic.java.additional.1 and taskomatic.java.additional.2 properties.

   The configuration file would resemble the following example:

   taskomatic.java.initmemory=0
   taskomatic.java.maxmemory=0
   taskomatic.java.additional.1=-Xms1024m
   taskomatic.java.additional.2=-Xmx8192m

Similar memory issues can also occur in the web interface if you have big data sets, such as a large number of servers or packages. To resolve these issues, increase the Tomcat memory limits in the /etc/sysconfig/tomcat file. Specifically, edit the JAVA_OPTS environment variable and increase -Xmx, which is the parameter for the maximum amount of memory.

For example, -Xmx1024m increases the maximum size of the heap to 1 GB.

After making changes to the memory settings, restart the Oracle Linux Manager services.

sudo /usr/sbin/spacewalk-service restart

Figure 2-3 Channel Repositories Page

To synchronize software channels:

1. Go to Channels, select Manage Software Channels and then select the required channel.

2. On the Channel Details page, select Repositories.

3. On the Channel Repositories page, select the Sync tab.

   1. Select the following check boxes as required:

      Do not sync errata

      Select if you do not want to synchronize any errata that are available for the channel.

      Sync only latest packages

      Select if you want to synchronizes only the latest packages from the repositories.

      Caution:

      DO NOT select this check box when synchronizing module-enabled channels such as ol8_AppStream. The mechanism that underlies this option is not module-aware and if used, will skip required packages.

      Create kickstartable tree

      Select if you want to associate a kickstart profile with the channel.

      However, note that ULN and the Oracle Linux yum server do not host the boot image files that you require to create a kickstartable tree. Instead, you can obtain the files from a Oracle Linux Media Pack DVD image and make them available on a local file system. See Provisioning Client Systems.

      Terminate upon any error

      Select to stop synchronization if an error occurs.

   2. Synchronize the software channel:

      • To perform an immediate manual synchronization, click Sync Now.

      • To schedule a recurring synchronization job, select the preferred schedule and times, and then click Schedule.

        You can specify a schedule by using Quartz format. For example, 0 30 22 ? * *, would specify that Oracle Linux Manager should resynchronize the channel every day at 10:30 PM. Using Quartz format is the only way to schedule a synchronization several times a day. For example, 0 0 0,2,22 ? * *, would specify that synchronization should take place at 10 PM, midnight, and 2 AM. For more information, see https://www.quartz-scheduler.org/overview/.

The softwarechannel_syncrepos command is used within a spacecmd session as follows:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_syncrepos oraclelinux7-x86_64-ksplice

Note that the command returns immediately and does not show the status of the synchronization.

Use the tail -f command to view the log file, /var/logs/rhn/reposync/channel_label.log.

To set up a schedule for channel synchronization, use the softwarechannel_setsyncschedule command, for example:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_setsyncschedule oraclelinux7-x86_64-ksplice 0 30 2 ? * *

The previous command configures the oraclelinux7-x86_64-ksplice channel to be resynchronized once every day at 2:30 AM. Specify the schedule in Quartz format. For more information, see https://www.quartz-scheduler.org/overview/.

To list scheduled channel synchronizations, use the softwarechannel_listsyncschedule.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_listsyncschedule

To remove a scheduled channel synchronization, use the softwarechannel_removesyncschedule command, for example:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_removesyncschedule oraclelinux7-x86_64-uek-r3

The spacewalk-repo-sync command is issued outside of a spacecmd session.

The command can be run manually or in a cron job. If you run the command in a cron job, include the -q or --quiet options to prevent large email messages from being sent to root.

To display the channel label and the URL of the repository, use the spacewalk-repo-sync -l together with grep.

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync -l | grep repo-keyword

This example applies to the Ksplice repository.

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync -l | grep ksplice

ksplice-ol7-x86_64 | uln:///ol7_x86_64_ksplice
ksplice-ol6-i386 | uln:///ol6_i386_ksplice
ksplice-ol6-x86_64 | uln:///ol6_x86_64_ksplice

This example applies to the addons repository:

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync -l | grep addons

oraclelinux7-x86_64-addons | https://yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL7/addons/x86_64/
ol8_x86_64_addons          | https://yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL8/addons/x86_64/

To synchronize a channel with either a Yum or a ULN repository, use the -c option.

sudo spacwalk-repo-sync -c channel

For the Ksplice channel, you would type:

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync -c ol7_x86_64_ksplice

To synchronize a parent channel and all of its children in one operation, Use the -p option.

For the Oracle Linux 7 x86_64 base channel, you would type:

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync -p oraclelinux7-x86_64 [--latest]

If you include --latest, the server synchronizes only the latest packages that are available:

The --latest option downloads the latest packages that are available at the time of synchronization. Running the command does not remove older packages from the channel. If the time interval between synchronizations is large, you might miss a particular version of a package, which can have implications for errata handling because errata are associated with specific package versions. If errata consistency is important to you, Oracle recommends that you do not use --latest, except when synchornizing a Ksplice channel, where packages are always cumulative.

For more information, see the spacewalk-repo-sync(8) manual page.

To reduce the overall space consumed by Ksplice Offline packages, Oracle strongly recommends using repository filters to limit downloaded packages to only those required by your client systems. You can apply a filter either on the Repository configuration in the Manage Repositories page in the web UI or by providing the -i or --include parameter with the spacewalk-repo-sync command line, for example:

sudo spacewalk-repo-sync --channel ol6_x86_64_ksplice -t uln -i uptrack-updates-installed kernel base version,...

Use the web interface especially to clone one channel at a time.

Figure 2-4 Clone Channel Page

Clone a software channel as follows:

1. Go to Channels and select Manage Software Channels.

2. Click Clone Channel.

3. On the Clone Channel page, select the source channel that you want to clone from the pull-down menu, and select the clone type:

   Current state of the channel (all errata)

   The cloned channel includes all packages and errata from the source channel.

   Original state of the channel (no errata)

   The cloned channel includes all of the packages that were originally in the source channel, but no associated errata.

   Select errata

   The cloned channel includes all of the packages that were originally in the source channel and any errata that you select. Selecting all errata is equivalent to cloning the current state of the channel. Selecting no errata is equivalent to cloning the original state of the channel.

4. Click Clone Channel.

5. On the Edit Software Channel page, you can change the channel details. The default label is the source channel label prefixed with clone-.

6. Click Clone Channel again.

7. If you specified Select errata as the clone type, the Clone Errata page displays the available errata.

   The following choices are available for each erratum:

   • Merge it with the source erratum.

     This defaultt option means that the source erratum is used instead of creating a cloned copy.

   • Use it to create a separate cloned erratum.

   • Exclude the erratum.

   Click Clone Errata when you have finished cloning errata.

8. On the Details page for the channel, you can also edit the channel details other than the channel label.

   If you select the Errata tab, you can add errata from other channels or clone errata from the source channel.

   If you select the Packages tab, you can add or remove packages from the channel.

In a spacecmd session, the softwarechannel_clone command clones a base channel and all of its child channels at the same time. Use the command as follows:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_clone -s ol8u1-x86_64 -x "s/$/-clone/" -o
spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_details ol8u1-x86_64-clone

The -x option appends -clone to the new channel's name and label. The -o option excludes all errata from the cloned channel.

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_diff ol8u1-x86_64-clone ol8u1-x86_64

To clone a base channel and all of its child channels, use the softwarechannel_clonetree command as follows:

spacecmd {SSM:0}> softwarechannel_clonetree -s ol8u1-x86_64 -p "clone-"

You use the spacewalk-clone-by-date command to clone Oracle Linux channels for a given date, which preserves the state of the channel's errata and their associated packages from its original release up to and including that date. If required, you can blocklist or remove packages, and choose which types of errata to include or exclude. The command likewise clones a base channel and all of its child channels at the same time.

The command is used outtside of a spacecmd session.

For example, the following command clones only security errata from the ol7-x86_64-latest channel up to November 30, 2019 to ol7-x86_64-latest-sec-20191130:

sudo spacewalk-clone-by-date --username=swadmin --password=swpasswd --to_date=2019-11-30 --channels=ol7-x86_64-latest ol7-x86_64-latest-sec-20191130 --security_only --background --assumeyes 

The command runs uninterrupted in the background. The specified spacewalk user must have Organizational Administrator or Channel Administrator privileges.

The following example clones both a base channel and a patch child channel up to November 30, 2019, excluding all versions of the ntp package and packages that start with fuse:

sudo spacewalk-clone-by-date --username=swadmin --password=swpasswd --channels=ol7-x86_64-base ol7-x86_64-base-2019113 --channels=ol7-x86_64-patch ol7-x86_64-patch-2019113 --to_date=2019-11-30 --blacklist=ntp,fuse*

You can run spacewalk-clone-by-date remotely by using the -s option to specify the Oracle Linux Manager server's URL for XML/RPC API connections, for example -s https://olmsvr_FQDN/rpc/api.

A common use case is to run spacewalk-clone-by-date at regular intervals to keep cloned channels up to date. To generate a sample configuration file, use the following command:

sudo spacewalk-clone-by-date --sample-config

For more information, see the spacewalk-clone-by-date(8) manual page.