Red Hat Network - Does It Need More Improvement?

irregular_hero asks: "I'm curious as to the experiences of other users about Redhat's much-publicized Red Jat Network support offering. I was initially impressed by the product, which seemed to offer a central console for application of updates. However, in recent weeks, I have become somewhat disillusioned with the service. This morning marked the 12th time I have been unable to even log on to the service in the past 2 months I have used it. I get various errors: 500 Server Errors, pauses of interminable length, and even empty pages. This morning, a new error occurred. Once logged in, all of my painstakingly prepared system profiles had disappeared. I can only hope that they will reappear soon." Sounds like there might still be a few bugs. Irregular_hero's bug-list continues, below. Have any of you found workarounds to these problems? Do you have others to add to the list?

"Still other things annoy me about the service:

• The RPM Update 'wait' screen that appears after you press the form button for the update does not work in Internet Explorer 5. (Yes, I know -- but there are administrators who are forced to use Windows desktops by the PHB types)
• Viewing package profiles seems to work when the managed machine is version 7.0, but not when it's 7.1. All fields in the 'package details' screen are blank.
• When manually adding a system profile, there is no option to select Redhat Linux 7.1 -- only 6.2 and 7.0. This is especially surprising since RHN is supposed to be a big plus to the 7.1 package.
• here is no way to view what update packages have been queued for delivery to each system. Conversely, there is no way to view a history of updates applied through the service.
• There is no way to apply a group of errata updates to all machines without navigating through multiple screens. This would be a big boon to admins who have to take care of a number of machines.
• You cannot group machines by function, geographical location, or ownership. This makes the update process difficult for administrators who have to update customers one at a time after first informing them.

Has anyone else experienced difficulty both accessing and using Red Hat Network? I certainly expect more from the service for my $19.95/month/machine subscription. Do you?"