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diff --git a/website/new/docs/cobbler-repos.html b/website/new/docs/cobbler-repos.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000..bfd7464a --- /dev/null +++ b/website/new/docs/cobbler-repos.html @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +<a name="toc"> +<h2>Cobbler Repository Management</h2> +</a> + +<a name="about"> +<h2>About</h2> +<p> +This is a walkthrough of how to set up cobbler to be a full fledged mirror of everything install and update related that you might ever be interested in. +</p> +<p> +Why would you be interested in this? +</p> +<p> +Suppose you manage a large number of machines and are (A) not allowed to get to the outside world, (B) bandwidth constrained, or (C) wanting to get access to 3rd party packages including custom yum repositories. +</p> +<p> +All of these are good reasons to want a mirror server for all things kickstart and yum related. Cobbler can do that for you. +</p> + +<a name="howto"> +<h2>How To</h2> +</a> +<p> +he following instructions require Cobbler 0.4.6 or later and walk through an example of setting up a mirror of Fedora Core 6's install tree, extras, and updates. This will require a good bit of hard disk space, so be prepared :). These same commands work for all varieties of RHEL, Fedora, or Centos. +</p> +<p> +First, follow the setup for a DVD import here using the Fedora Core 6 install media. http://et.redhat.com/page/Cobbler_Import. If you did your import with Cobbler 0.4.5 or earlier, please do it again -- import now collects more data about the install trees that will be useful to cobbler. +</p> +<p> +Once the import is complete, we'll add the mirrors... +</p> +<blockquote> +cobbler repo add --mirror=http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/updates/6/i386/ --name=fc6i386updates --local-filename=fedora-updates +</blockquote> +<blockquote> +cobbler repo add --mirror=http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras/6/i386/ --name=fc6i386extras --local-filename=fedora-extras +</blockquote> +<p> +These are just a few common examples. Say you have a RHEL5 or Centos4 machine? Perhaps you would want to add something from freshrpms, or someplace else? It works the same way. +</p> +<p> +Now that we've added the mirrors, let's pull down the content. This will take a little while, but subsequent updates won't take nearly as long. +</p> +<blockquote> +cobbler reposync +</blockquote> +<p> +Now, that the repositories are mirrored locally, let's create a cobbler profile that will be able to automatically install from the above repositories and also configure clients to use the new mirror. +</p> +<blockquote> +cobbler profile add --name=fc6i386special --repos="fc6i386updates fc6i386extras" --distro=FC6-i386 --kickstart=/etc/cobbler/kickstart_fc6.ks +</blockquote> +<p> +Now, any machines installed from this mirror won't have to hit the outside world for any content they may need during install or with yum. They'll ask for content from the cobbler server instead. Cool. +</p> + +<a name="#rhn"> +<h2>RHN</h2> +</a> +<p> +This is rather experimental, but if you have a provisioning need for fast local installs without hitting an outside server repeatedly (say you have a slow pipe), you can try: +</p> +<blockquote> +cobbler repo-add --name=insertnamehere --mirror=rhn://rhn-channel-name +</blockquote> +<p> +That's just the channel-name, no server. This only works on RHEL5+ and you'll need entitlements for the channel in question. +</p> + +<a name="#updates"> +<h2>Updates</h2> +</a> +<p> +As you're mirroring repositories that change (and probably even include some security updates from time to time), putting "cobbler reposync" on crontab would be a good idea. Cobbler reposync will update the content in all of your repositories. +</p> +<p> +You can disable updating of certain repos that you've already pulled down and don't wish to contact again by flipping a bit in /var/lib/cobbler/repos if you really want to. +</p> + +<a name="#review"> +<h2>To Review</h2> +</a> +<p> +The above steps have set up your cobbler server as a full fledged mirror, not just for install trees, but also for future package installs and updates with yum. +</p> +<p> +Installation content during anaconda and afterwards will be pulled from your cobbler mirror, not the outside world. You should see faster installs and won't have to worry about whether your client machines have outside internet connectivity. +</p> +<p> +Cobbler handles all of the yum, reposync, and createrepo magic for you, so you don't have to know how they work. Plus, the kickstarts are automatically aware of the configuration and built themselves out based on what repos are defined. Bottom line: you don't need to know how any of this stuff works. Cool. +</p> +<p> +If you have questions or want to clear up something in this document, ask on et-mgmt-tools@redhat.com or stop by #cobbler on irc.freenode.net. +</p> |