Non-secure, syslog-only options added to netdump

Updated netdump packages that add new features to netdump are now available.

Netdump makes it possible to save system crash dumps to another
network-connected system.

In order to provide client authentication, netdump implements a mechanism
for propagating cookies to the netdump server in a secure manner (using
ssh). In order to perform this in unattended mode, system administrators
are required to set up and propagate a netdump client host key for each
system that will be producing network crash dumps.

This becomes difficult to maintain and manage with large numbers of
servers. For organizations with many servers, it would be better if
netdump could allow dumps to occur with no such setup required.

It is now possible to use netdump in a non-secure fashion, for those
organizations with so many servers that host key management becomes a problem.

See the netdump and netdump-server man pages for complete documentation on
how to disable this feature.

NOTE: This method of operating netdump results in no authentication
between client and server, allowing a rogue system to possibly launch a
denial of service attack against the server by filling the server's disks
with netdump data. You must determine if your organization's potential
exposure is such that disabling this feature s a viable alternative or not.

You can now configure syslog functionality without netdump, as described in
/etc/sysconfig/netdump.

/etc/sysconfig/netdump documents the capability to use remote syslog
without having to configure netdump. This was not implemented properly,
and required both netdump and remote syslog to be configured, even if
the client only wanted the remote syslog capability. By following the
examples in /etc/sysconfig/netdump, the system administrator can configure
only remote syslog.

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

104258 - RHEL 2.1 U3: Netdump with no encryption.
109943 - netdump does not work without crashdumps

netdump, netdump-server