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Chapter 3. Installing Satellite Server

When you install Satellite Server from a connected network, you can obtain packages and receive updates directly from the Red Hat Content Delivery Network.

Note

You cannot register Satellite Server to itself.

Use the following procedures to install Satellite Server, perform the initial configuration, and import subscription manifests. For more information on subscription manifests, see Managing Red Hat Subscriptions in the Content Management Guide.

Note that the Satellite installation script is based on Puppet, which means that if you run the installation script more than once, it might overwrite any manual configuration changes. ⁠ To avoid this and determine which future changes apply, use the --noop argument when you run the installation script. This argument ensures that no actual changes are made. Potential changes are written to /var/log/foreman-installer/satellite.log.

Files are always backed up and so you can revert any unwanted changes. For example, in the foreman-installer logs, you can see an entry similar to the following about Filebucket: 

/Stage[main]/Dhcp/File[/etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf]: Filebucketed /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf to puppet with sum 622d9820b8e764ab124367c68f5fa3a1
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You can restore the previous file as follows: 

# puppet filebucket -l \
restore /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf 622d9820b8e764ab124367c68f5fa3a1
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Prerequisites

Your network gateway and the HTTP proxy must allow access to the following hosts:

Expand
Host namePortProtocol

subscription.rhsm.redhat.com

443

HTTPS

cdn.redhat.com

443

HTTPS

*.akamaiedge.net

443

HTTPS

cert.console.redhat.com (if using Red Hat Insights)

443

HTTPS

api.access.redhat.com (if using Red Hat Insights)

443

HTTPS

cert-api.access.redhat.com (if using Red Hat Insights)

443

HTTPS

Satellite Server uses SSL to communicate with the Red Hat CDN securely. Use of an SSL interception proxy interferes with this communication. These hosts must be whitelisted on the proxy.

For a list of IP addresses used by the Red Hat CDN (cdn.redhat.com), see the Knowledgebase article Public CIDR Lists for Red Hat on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

To configure the subscription-manager with the HTTP proxy, follow the procedure below.

Procedure

  1. On Satellite Server, complete the following details in the /etc/rhsm/rhsm.conf file: 

    # an http proxy server to use (enter server FQDN)
proxy_hostname = myproxy.example.com

# port for http proxy server
proxy_port = 8080

# user name for authenticating to an http proxy, if needed
proxy_user =

# password for basic http proxy auth, if needed
proxy_password =
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Registering the host to Red Hat Subscription Management enables the host to subscribe to and consume content for any subscriptions available to the user. This includes content such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Satellite. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, it also provides access to Red Hat Software Collections (RHSCL).

Procedure

  • Register your system with the Red Hat Content Delivery Network, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted: 

    # subscription-manager register
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    The command displays output similar to the following: 

    # subscription-manager register
Username: user_name
Password:
The system has been registered with ID: 541084ff2-44cab-4eb1-9fa1-7683431bcf9a
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Note

Skip this step if you have SCA enabled on Red Hat Customer Portal. There is no requirement of attaching the Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure Subscription to the Satellite Server using subscription-manager. For more information about SCA, see Simple Content Access.

After you have registered Satellite Server, you must identify your subscription Pool ID and attach an available subscription. The Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure subscription provides access to the Red Hat Satellite and Red Hat Enterprise Linux content. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, it also provides access to Red Hat Software Collections (RHSCL). This is the only subscription required.

Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure is included with all subscriptions that include Satellite, formerly known as Smart Management. For more information, see Satellite Infrastructure Subscriptions MCT3718 MCT3719 in the Red Hat Knowledgebase.

Subscriptions are classified as available if they are not already attached to a system. If you are unable to find an available Satellite subscription, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution How do I figure out which subscriptions have been consumed by clients registered under Red Hat Subscription Manager? to run a script to see if another system is consuming your subscription.

Procedure

  1. Identify the Pool ID of the Satellite Infrastructure subscription: 

    # subscription-manager list --all --available --matches 'Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure Subscription'
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    The command displays output similar to the following: 

    Subscription Name:   Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure Subscription
Provides:            Red Hat Satellite
                      Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server)
                      Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder for x86_64
                      Red Hat Ansible Engine
                      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Load Balancer (for RHEL Server)
                      Red Hat
                      Red Hat Software Collections (for RHEL Server)
                      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
                      Red Hat Satellite Capsule
                      Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64
                      Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability for x86_64
                      Red Hat Satellite
                      Red Hat Satellite 5 Managed DB
                      Red Hat Satellite 6
                      Red Hat Discovery
SKU:                 MCT3719
Contract:            11878983
Pool ID:             8a85f99968b92c3701694ee998cf03b8
Provides Management: No
Available:           1
Suggested:           1
Service Level:       Premium
Service Type:        L1-L3
Subscription Type:   Standard
Ends:                03/04/2020
System Type:         Physical
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  2. Make a note of the subscription Pool ID. Your subscription Pool ID is different from the example provided.

  3. Attach the Satellite Infrastructure subscription to the base operating system that your Satellite Server is running on. If SCA is enabled on Satellite Server, you can skip this step: 

    # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
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    The command displays output similar to the following: 

    Successfully attached a subscription for: Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure Subscription
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  4. Optional: Verify that the Satellite Infrastructure subscription is attached: 

    # subscription-manager list --consumed
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3.4. Configuring Repositories
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Use this procedure to enable the repositories that are required to install Satellite Server. Choose from the available list which operating system and version you are installing on:

3.4.1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
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  1. Disable all repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --disable "*"
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  2. Enable the following repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms \
--enable=rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms \
--enable=satellite-6.11-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms \
--enable=satellite-maintenance-6.11-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms
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  3. Enable the module: 

    # dnf module enable satellite:el8
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    Note

    Enablement of the module satellite:el8 warns about a conflict with postgresql:10 and ruby:2.5 as these modules are set to the default module versions on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8. The module satellite:el8 has a dependency for the modules postgresql:12 and ruby:2.7 that will be enabled with the satellite:el8 module. These warnings do not cause installation process failure, hence can be ignored safely. For more information about modules and lifecycle streams on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux Application Streams Life Cycle.

3.4.2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
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  1. Disable all repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --disable "*"
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  2. Enable the following repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-rpms \
--enable=rhel-server-rhscl-7-rpms \
--enable=rhel-7-server-ansible-2.9-rpms \
--enable=rhel-7-server-satellite-6.11-rpms \
--enable=rhel-7-server-satellite-maintenance-6.11-rpms
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Note

If you are installing Satellite Server as a virtual machine hosted on Red Hat Virtualization, you must also enable the Red Hat Common repository, and install Red Hat Virtualization guest agents and drivers. For more information, see Installing the Guest Agents and Drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux in the Virtual Machine Management Guide.

3.5. Installing Satellite Server Packages
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3.5.1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
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Procedure

  1. Update all packages: 

    # dnf update
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  2. Install Satellite Server packages: 

    # dnf install satellite
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3.5.2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
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  1. Update all packages: 

    # yum update
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  2. Install Satellite Server packages: 

    # yum install satellite
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3.6. Synchronizing the System Clock With chronyd
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To minimize the effects of time drift, you must synchronize the system clock on the base operating system on which you want to install Satellite Server with Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers. If the base operating system clock is configured incorrectly, certificate verification might fail.

For more information about the chrony suite, see Using the Chrony suite to configure NTP in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Configuring basic system settings, and Configuring NTP Using the chrony Suite in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System Administrator’s Guide.

Procedure

  1. Install the chrony package: 

    # yum install chrony
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  2. Start and enable the chronyd service: 

    # systemctl start chronyd
# systemctl enable chronyd
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Install the sos package on the base operating system so that you can collect configuration and diagnostic information from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system. You can also use it to provide the initial system analysis, which is required when opening a service request with Red Hat Technical Support. For more information on using sos, see the Knowledgebase solution What is a sosreport and how to create one in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6 and later? on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Procedure

  1. Install the sos package: 

    # yum install sos
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3.8. Configuring Satellite Server
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Install Satellite Server using the satellite-installer installation script.

This method is performed by running the installation script with one or more command options. The command options override the corresponding default initial configuration options and are recorded in the Satellite answer file. You can run the script as often as needed to configure any necessary options.

Note

Depending on the options that you use when running the Satellite installer, the configuration can take several minutes to complete.

3.8.1. Configuring Satellite Installation
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This initial configuration procedure creates an organization, location, user name, and password. After the initial configuration, you can create additional organizations and locations if required. The initial configuration also installs PostgreSQL databases on the same server.

The installation process can take tens of minutes to complete. If you are connecting remotely to the system, use a utility such as tmux that allows suspending and reattaching a communication session so that you can check the installation progress in case you become disconnected from the remote system. If you lose connection to the shell where the installation command is running, see the log at /var/log/foreman-installer/satellite.log to determine if the process completed successfully.

Considerations

  • Use the satellite-installer --scenario satellite --help command to display the available options and any default values. If you do not specify any values, the default values are used.
  • Specify a meaningful value for the option: --foreman-initial-organization. This can be your company name. An internal label that matches the value is also created and cannot be changed afterwards. If you do not specify a value, an organization called Default Organization with the label Default_Organization is created. You can rename the organization name but not the label.
  • Remote Execution is the primary method of managing packages on Content Hosts. If you want to use the deprecated Katello Agent instead of Remote Execution SSH, use the --foreman-proxy-content-enable-katello-agent=true option to enable it. The same option should be given on any Capsule Server as well as Satellite Server.
  • By default, all configuration files configured by the installer are managed by Puppet. When satellite-installer runs, it overwrites any manual changes to the Puppet managed files with the initial values.
  • If you want to manage DNS files and DHCP files manually, use the --foreman-proxy-dns-managed=false and --foreman-proxy-dhcp-managed=false options so that Puppet does not manage the files related to the respective services. For more information on how to apply custom configuration on other services, see Applying Custom Configuration to Satellite.

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command with any additional options that you want to use: 

    # satellite-installer --scenario satellite \
--foreman-initial-organization "My_Organization" \
--foreman-initial-location "My_Location" \
--foreman-initial-admin-username admin_user_name \
--foreman-initial-admin-password admin_password
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    The script displays its progress and writes logs to /var/log/foreman-installer/satellite.log.

Use the following procedure to import a Red Hat subscription manifest into Satellite Server.

Prerequisites

  • You must have a Red Hat subscription manifest file exported from the Customer Portal. For more information, see Creating and Managing Manifests in Using Red Hat Subscription Management.

Procedure

  1. In the Satellite web UI, ensure the context is set to the organization you want to use.
  2. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Subscriptions and click Manage Manifest.
  3. In the Manage Manifest window, click Browse.
  4. Navigate to the location that contains the Red Hat subscription manifest file, then click Open. If the Manage Manifest window does not close automatically, click Close to return to the Subscriptions window.

CLI procedure

  1. Copy the Red Hat subscription manifest file from your client to Satellite Server: 

    $ scp ~/manifest_file.zip root@satellite.example.com:~/.
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  2. Log in to Satellite Server as the root user and import the Red Hat subscription manifest file: 

    # hammer subscription upload \
--file ~/manifest_file.zip \
--organization "My_Organization"
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You can now enable repositories and import Red Hat content. For more information, see Importing Content in the Content Management guide.

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