2. The Web Management Interface

Now that the machine information is added to your Mandrakeonline account, you must activate the services associated to it. To do that, first identify yourself with your login information at the Mandrakeonline web administration interface. You can open it by right clicking on the Mandrakeonline applet on the panel, and choosing the Online WebSite entry.

2.1. Subscribing New Machines

Figure 20.6. Mandrakeonline hosts list

Mandrakeonline hosts list

We note here that the host we just added (mailserver) is not activated. To do that, press the This host is not activated on Mandrakeonline! button.

A form with various subscription options show, and once you have completed the subscription process, the host is activated. You will now benefit from all available update services for this machine.

2.2. Hosts Management

Once a host is activated it is possible to get to its management interface by clicking on the details icon.

Figure 20.7. Up To Date Mandrakeonline Host

Up To Date Mandrakeonline Host

The available actions differ slightly according to whether the machine packages are up to date or not, but basically these are the actions one can perform:

Control email alerts

Simply click on the yes or no link to change the status of mail sending. Those alerts are particularly useful if you choose not to benefit from automatic updates: if activated, an e-mail will be sent to you when there are updates available.

Control automatic scheduled updates

Simply click on the yes or no link to activate or stop automatic updates. If yes is displayed, updates available for your machine will be automatically installed by the applet (see Section 3, “Mandrakeonline Applet”) which regularly connects to the Internet to check for such updates.

Check current and outdated packages

By clicking on the See link in front of the Installed RPMs or Errata(s) label.

2.3. Scheduling Updates

If you have chosen to perform package updates manually, you can also do it from the applet (see Section 3, “Mandrakeonline Applet”). From the web interface, you can check which updates are available for your machine, and choose which to install.

Figure 20.8. Outdated Mandrakeonline Host

Outdated Mandrakeonline Host

You must now select the packages to be updated. You can do this blindly by clicking on the Schedule all packages to be updated button, or selecting them one by one, by clicking on the See link by the Errata(s) option.

Figure 20.9. Select Packages to be Updated

Select Packages to be Updated

Here you can click on the advisory number (MDKSA-2004:033 in the example) to get full details about this update. Check the box for each package you want to be updated on your machine. When this is done, click on the Schedule Packages button.

When updates have been selected, they will be automatically installed next time the applet connects to the Mandrakeonline server, which occurs several times a day.