The Red Hat Network is an Internet solution for managing a single Red Hat Enterprise Linux system or a network of Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. All Security Alerts, Bug Fix Alerts, and Enhancement Alerts (collectively known as Errata Alerts) can be downloaded directly from Red Hat or your own custom collection. You can even schedule updates for delivery to your system immediately after release.

The Red Hat Update Agent provides your initial connection to Red Hat Network. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and newer systems use the Red Hat Update Agent to register with RHN. Registration involves creating a unique RHN username and password, probing the hardware on your system to create a Hardware Profile, and probing the software packages installed on your system to create a Package Profile. This information is sent to RHN and RHN returns a unique System ID to your system. Once registered, the Red Hat Update Agent enables channel subscription, package installs, and management of System Profiles.

The Red Hat Update Agent, as the base component of RHN, is designed to manage a single system. It allows the system's superuser to view and apply Errata to the system. The RHN web interface facilitates the management, monitoring, and provisioning of a large deployment of systems, including the configuration of the Red Hat Update Agent for each system. More information about the RHN can be viewed on https://www.redhat.com/rhn/.