Follow-up to 1st response

> My guess is that you have duplicate repositories configured for yum. One from
> the default distro and the other from Spacewalk. I like do a "yum -v
> repolist | grep url" when investigating where / what my repos are pointing
> at.

yum -v repolist | grep url
Repo-baseurl : http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/linux/x86_64/
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/dropbox
Repo-baseurl : http://fedora.mirror.lstn.net/releases/18/Everything/x86_64/os/
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/fedora18-x86-64
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/fedorautils
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/google
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/livna-org
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/rpmfusion-free
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/rpmfusion-nonfree
Repo-baseurl : http://spacewalk.jeff.com/XMLRPC/GET-REQ/skype-f18
Repo-baseurl : http://yum.spacewalkproject.org/2.0-client/Fedora/18/x86_64/
Repo-baseurl : http://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/fedora/updates/18/x86_64/ (39

Nothing jumps out at me on duplicates.

The URLs that aren't my spacewalk server--are they simply ignored because the system is managed?  I don't quite understand that although I have read the documentation.  This is my 1st spacewalk server, FYI.

> As for the discrepancy between what is installed from a default DVD install
> vs. your kickstart, I suppose you *might* be able to find a sample package
> list on the DVD that is used but I'm completely speculating at this
> point. Instead, I would just focus on what you really want to have installed
> and just continue to update your own package list.
>
> --
> Jon Miller

I have started this process and looked at packages installed on the DVD--yes, there is a list and *in theory* there are several places you can get it including /root/anaconda-ks.cfg--but again this isn't exactly as described because it seems things are missing.  This I'm still researching and making progress--mostly through rtfm activities :-)

Additional Note:  The reason this really "jumped out" to me was I couldn't find libre-office installed.  So I just tried installing the group even though yum reported the group as installed and look:

yum groupinstall "Office/Productivity"
Loaded plugins: rhnplugin
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or Red Hat Satellite.
fedora18-x86-64/group                                    | 1.6 MB     00:00
fedora18-x86-64/group                                    | 1.6 MB     00:00
Failed to retrieve group file for repository: fedora18-x86-64
Warning: Group office does not have any packages to install.
No packages in any requested group available to install or update

I've tried looking in the Spacewalk docs for how groups are handled but without success.  What's going wrong that my client and/or my Spacewalk server can't find groups?

Again, from the client note:

yum grouplist installed
Loaded plugins: rhnplugin
This system is receiving updates from RHN Classic or Red Hat Satellite.
fedora18-x86-64/group                                    | 1.6 MB     00:00
fedora18-x86-64/group                                    | 1.6 MB     00:00
Failed to retrieve group file for repository: fedora18-x86-64
Installed Groups:
   Administration Tools
   Authoring and Publishing
   Cloud Infrastructure
   Design Suite
   Development Tools
   Electronic Lab
   Milkymist
   Network Servers
   Office/Productivity
   Robotics
   Sound and Video
   Spacewalk Client
   System Tools
   Text-based Internet
Done