Chapter 11. Managing Errata
As a part of Red Hat’s quality control and release process, we provide customers with updates for each release of official Red Hat RPMs. Red Hat compiles groups of related packages into an erratum along with an advisory that provides a description of the update. There are three types of advisories (in order of importance):
- Security Advisory
- Describes fixed security issues found in the package. The security impact of the issue can be Low, Moderate, Important, or Critical.
- Bug Fix Advisory
- Describes bug fixes for the package.
- Product Enhancement Advisory
- Describes enhancements and new features added to the package.
Red Hat Satellite imports this errata information when synchronizing repositories with Red Hat’s Content Delivery Network (CDN). Red Hat Satellite also provides tools to inspect and filter errata, allowing for precise update management. This way, you can select relevant updates and propagate them through Content Views to selected content hosts.
Errata are labeled according to the most important advisory type they contain. Therefore, errata labeled as Product Enhancement Advisory can contain only enhancement updates, while Bug Fix Advisory errata can contain both bug fixes and enhancements, and Security Advisory can contain all three types.
In Red Hat Satellite, there are two keywords that describe an erratum’s relationship to the available content hosts:
- Applicable
- An erratum that applies to one or more content hosts, which means it updates packages present on the content host. Although these errata apply to content hosts, until their state changes to Installable, the errata are not ready to be installed. Installable errata are automatically applicable.
- Installable
- An erratum that applies to one or more content hosts and is available to install on the content host. Installable errata are available to a content host from lifecycle environment and the associated Content View, but are not yet installed.
This chapter shows how to manage errata and apply them to either a single host or multiple hosts.
11.1. Inspecting Available Errata
The following procedure describes how to view and filter the available errata and how to display metadata of the selected advisory. To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Errata to view the list of available errata.
Use the filtering tools at the top of the page to limit the number of displayed errata:
- Select the repository to be inspected from the list. All Repositories is selected by default.
- The Applicable checkbox is selected by default to view only applicable errata in the selected repository. Select the Installable checkbox to view only errata marked as installable.
To search the table of errata, type the query in the Search field in the form of:
parameter operator value
See Section 11.2, “Parameters Available for Errata Search” for the list of parameters available for search. Find the list of applicable operators in Supported Operators for Granular Search in Administering Red Hat Satellite. Automatic suggestion works as you type. You can also combine queries with the use of and and or operators. For example, to display only security advisories related to the kernel package, type:
type = security and package_name = kernel
Press Enter to start the search.
Click the Errata ID of the erratum you want to inspect:
- The Details tab contains the description of the updated package as well as documentation of important fixes and enhancements provided by the update.
- On the Content Hosts tab, you can apply the erratum to selected content hosts as described in Section 11.9, “Applying Errata to Multiple Hosts”.
- The Repositories tab lists repositories that already contain the erratum. You can filter repositories by the environment and Content View, and search for them by the repository name.
You can also use the new Host page to view to inspect available errata and select errata to install.
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the host you require.
- If there are errata associated with the host, an Installable Errata card on the new Host page displays an interactive pie chart showing a breakdown of the security advisories, bugfixes, and enhancements.
- On the new Host page, select the Content tab.
- On the Content page select the Errata tab.
- The page displays installable errata for the chosen host.
- Click the checkbox for any errata you wish to install.
- Using the vertical ellipsis icon next to the errata you want to add to the host, select Apply via Katello agent if you have no connectivity to the target host using SSH.
- Select Apply via Remote Execution to use Remote Execution, or Apply via customized remote execution if you want to customize the remote execution.
- Click Submit.
CLI procedure
To view errata that are available for all organizations, enter the following command:
# hammer erratum list
To view details of a specific erratum, enter the following command:
# hammer erratum info --id erratum_ID
You can search errata by entering the query with the
--search
option. For example, to view applicable errata for the selected product that contains the specified bugs ordered so that the security errata are displayed on top, enter the following command:# hammer erratum list \ --product-id 7 \ --search "bug = 1213000 or bug = 1207972" \ --errata-restrict-applicable 1 \ --order "type desc"
11.2. Parameters Available for Errata Search
Parameter | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
bug | Search by the Bugzilla number. | bug = 1172165 |
cve | Search by the CVE number. | cve = CVE-2015-0235 |
id | Search by the errata ID. The auto-suggest system displays a list of available IDs as you type. | id = RHBA-2014:2004 |
issued | Search by the issue date. You can specify the exact date, like "Feb16,2015", or use keywords, for example "Yesterday", or "1 hour ago". The time range can be specified with the use of the "<" and ">" operators. | issued < "Jan 12,2015" |
package | Search by the full package build name. The auto-suggest system displays a list of available packages as you type. | package = glib2-2.22.5-6.el6.i686 |
package_name | Search by the package name. The auto-suggest system displays a list of available packages as you type. | package_name = glib2 |
severity | Search by the severity of the issue fixed by the security update. Specify Critical, Important, or Moderate. | severity = Critical |
title | Search by the advisory title. | title ~ openssl |
type | Search by the advisory type. Specify security, bugfix, or enhancement. | type = bugfix |
updated |
Search by the date of the last update. You can use the same formats as with the | updated = "6 days ago" |
11.3. Applying Installable Errata
Use the following procedure to view a list of installable errata and select errata to install.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the host you require.
- If there are errata associated with the host, they are displayed in an Installable Errata card on the new Host page.
- On the Content tab, Errata displays installable errata for the chosen host.
- Click the checkbox for any errata you wish to install.
- Using the vertical ellipsis icon next to the errata you want to add to the host, select Apply via Remote Execution to use Remote Execution. Select Apply via customized remote execution if you want to customize the remote execution, or select Apply via Katello agent if you have no connectivity to the target host using SSH.
- Click Submit.
11.4. Subscribing to Errata Notifications
You can configure email notifications for Satellite users. Users receive a summary of applicable and installable errata, notifications on Content View promotion or after synchronizing a repository. For more information, see Configuring Email Notification Preferences in Administering Red Hat Satellite.
11.5. Limitations to Repository Dependency Resolution
With Satellite, using incremental updates to your Content Views solves some repository dependency problems. However, dependency resolution at a repository level still remains problematic on occasion.
When a repository update becomes available with a new dependency, Satellite retrieves the newest version of the package to solve the dependency, even if there are older versions available in the existing repository package. This can create further dependency resolution problems when installing packages.
Example scenario
A repository on your client has the package example_repository-1.0
with the dependency example_repository-libs-1.0
. The repository also has another package example_tools-1.0
.
A security erratum becomes available with the package example_tools-1.1
. The example_tools-1.1
package requires the example_repository-libs-1.1
package as a dependency.
After an incremental Content View update, the example_tools-1.1
, example_tools-1.0
, and example_repository-libs-1.1
are now in the repository. The repository also has the packages example_repository-1.0
and example_repository-libs-1.0
. Note that the incremental update to the Content View did not add the package example_repository-1.1
. Because you can install all these packages using yum, no potential problem is detected. However, when the client installs the example_tools-1.1
package, a dependency resolution problem occurs because both example_repository-libs-1.0
and example_repository-libs-1.1
cannot be installed.
There is currently no workaround for this problem. The larger the time frame, and minor Y releases between the base set of packages and the errata being applied, the higher the chance of a problem with dependency resolution.
11.6. Creating a Content View Filter for Errata
You can use content filters to limit errata. Such filters include:
- ID – Select specific erratum to allow into your resulting repositories.
- Date Range – Define a date range and include a set of errata released during that date range.
- Type – Select the type of errata to include such as bug fixes, enhancements, and security updates.
Create a content filter to exclude errata after a certain date. This ensures your production systems in the application lifecycle are kept up to date to a certain point. Then you can modify the filter’s start date to introduce new errata into your testing environment to test the compatibility of new packages into your application lifecycle.
To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Prerequisites
- A Content View with the repositories that contain required errata is created. For more information, see Section 8.1, “Creating a Content View”.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Content Views and select a Content View that you want to use for applying errata.
- Select Yum Content > Filters and click New Filter.
-
In the Name field, enter
Errata Filter
. - From the Content Type list, select Erratum – Date and Type.
- From the Inclusion Type list, select Exclude.
-
In the Description field, enter
Exclude errata items from YYYY-MM-DD
. - Click Save.
- For Errata Type, select the checkboxes of errata types you want to exclude. For example, select the Enhancement and Bugfix checkboxes and clear the Security checkbox to exclude enhancement and bugfix errata after certain date, but include all the security errata.
For Date Type, select one of two checkboxes:
- Issued On for the issued date of the erratum.
- Updated On for the date of the erratum’s last update.
- Select the Start Date to exclude all errata on or after the selected date.
- Leave the End Date field blank.
- Click Save.
- Click Publish New Version to publish the resulting repository.
-
Enter
Adding errata filter
in the Description field. Click Save.
When the Content View completes publication, notice the Content column reports a reduced number of packages and errata from the initial repository. This means the filter successfully excluded the all non-security errata from the last year.
- Click the Versions tab.
- Click Promote to the right of the published version.
- Select the environments you want to promote the Content View version to.
- In the Description field, enter the description for promoting.
- Click Promote Version to promote this Content View version across the required environments.
CLI procedure
Create a filter for the errata:
# hammer content-view filter create --name "Filter Name" \ --description "Exclude errata items from the YYYY-MM-DD" \ --content-view "CV Name" --organization "Default Organization" \ --type "erratum"
Create a filter rule to exclude all errata on or after the Start Date that you want to set:
# hammer content-view filter rule create --start-date "YYYY-MM-DD" \ --content-view "CV Name" --content-view-filter="Filter Name" \ --organization "Default Organization" --types=security,enhancement,bugfix
Publish the Content View:
# hammer content-view publish --name "CV Name" \ --organization "Default Organization"
Promote the Content View to the lifecycle environment so that the included errata are available to that lifecycle environment:
# hammer content-view version promote \ --content-view "CV Name" \ --organization "Default Organization" \ --to-lifecycle-environment "Lifecycle Environment Name"
11.7. Adding Errata to an Incremental Content View
If errata are available but not installable, you can create an incremental Content View version to add the errata to your content hosts. For example, if the Content View is version 1.0, it becomes Content View version 1.1, and when you publish, it becomes Content View version 2.0.
If your Content View version is old, you might encounter incompatibilities when incrementally adding enhancement errata. This is because enhancements are typically designed for the most current software in a repository.
To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Errata.
- From the Errata list, click the name of the errata that you want to apply.
- Select the content hosts that you want to apply the errata to, and click Apply to Hosts. This creates the incremental update to the Content View.
- If you want to apply the errata to the content host, select the Apply Errata to Content Hosts immediately after publishing checkbox.
- Click Confirm to apply the errata.
CLI procedure
List the errata and its corresponding IDs:
# hammer erratum list
List the different content-view versions and the corresponding IDs:
# hammer content-view version list
Apply a single erratum to content-view version. You can add more IDs in a comma-separated list.
# hammer content-view version incremental-update \ --content-view-version-id 319 --errata-ids 34068b
11.8. Applying Errata to Hosts
Use these procedures to review and apply errata to hosts.
Prerequisites
- Synchronize Red Hat Satellite repositories with the latest errata available from Red Hat. For more information, see Section 5.6, “Synchronizing Repositories”.
- Register the host to an environment and Content View on Satellite Server. For more information, see Registering Hosts in Managing Hosts.
- Configure the host for remote execution. For more information about running remote execution jobs, see Configuring and Setting Up Remote Jobs in Managing Hosts.
If the host is already configured to receive content updates with the deprecated Katello Agent, migrate to remote execution instead. For more information, see Migrating From Katello Agent to Remote Execution in Managing Hosts.
The procedure to apply an erratum to a managed host depends on its operating system.
11.8.1. Applying Errata to Hosts Running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Use this procedure to review and apply errata to a host running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Content Hosts and select the host you want to apply errata to.
- Navigate to the Errata tab to see the list of errata.
- Select the errata to apply and click Apply Selected. In the confirmation window, click Apply.
- After the task to update all packages associated with the selected errata completes, click the Details tab to view the updated packages.
CLI procedure
List all errata for the host:
# hammer host errata list \ --host client.example.com
Find the module stream an erratum belongs to:
# hammer erratum info --id ERRATUM_ID
On the host, update the module stream:
# dnf update Module_Stream_Name
11.8.2. Applying Errata to Hosts Running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Use this procedure to review and apply errata to a host running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Content Hosts and select the host you want to apply errata to.
- Navigate to the Errata tab to see the list of errata.
- Select the errata to apply and click Apply Selected. In the confirmation window, click Apply.
- After the task to update all packages associated with the selected errata completes, click the Details tab to view the updated packages.
CLI procedure
List all errata for the host:
# hammer host errata list \ --host client.example.com
Find the module stream an erratum belongs to:
# hammer erratum info --id ERRATUM_ID
On the host, update the module stream:
# dnf update Module_Stream_Name
11.8.3. Applying Errata to Hosts Running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Use this procedure to review and apply errata to a host running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
To use the CLI instead of the Satellite web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Content Hosts and select the host you want to apply errata to.
- Navigate to the Errata tab to see the list of errata.
- Select the errata to apply and click Apply Selected. In the confirmation window, click Apply.
- After the task to update all packages associated with the selected errata completes, click the Details tab to view the updated packages.
CLI procedure
List all errata for the host:
# hammer host errata list \ --host client.example.com
Apply the most recent erratum to the host. Identify the erratum to apply using the erratum ID.
Using
Remote Execution
# hammer job-invocation create \ --feature katello_errata_install \ --inputs errata=ERRATUM_ID1,ERRATUM_ID2 \ --search-query "name = client.example.com"
Using
Katello Agent
(deprecated)# hammer host errata apply \ --errata-ids ERRATUM_ID1,ERRATUM_ID2... \ --host "client.example.com"
11.9. Applying Errata to Multiple Hosts
Use these procedures to review and apply errata to multiple RHEL hosts.
Prerequisites
- Synchronize Red Hat Satellite repositories with the latest errata available from Red Hat. For more information, see Section 5.6, “Synchronizing Repositories”.
- Register the hosts to an environment and Content View on Satellite Server. For more information, see Registering Hosts in Managing Hosts.
- Configure the host for remote execution. For more information about running remote execution jobs, see Configuring and Setting Up Remote Jobs in Managing Hosts.
If the host is already configured to receive content updates with the deprecated Katello Agent, migrate to remote execution instead. For more information, see Migrating From Katello Agent to Remote Execution in Managing Hosts.
Procedure
- In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Errata.
- Click the name of an erratum you want to apply.
- Click to Content Hosts tab.
- Select the hosts you want to apply errata to and click Apply to Hosts.
- Click Confirm.
CLI procedure
List all installable errata:
# hammer erratum list \ --errata-restrict-installable true \ --organization "Default Organization"
Apply one of the errata to multiple hosts:
Using
Remote Execution
# hammer job-invocation create \ --feature katello_errata_install \ --inputs errata=ERRATUM_ID \ --search-query "applicable_errata = ERRATUM_ID"
Using
Katello Agent
(deprecated)Identify the erratum you want to use and list the hosts that this erratum is applicable to:
# hammer host list \ --search "applicable_errata = ERRATUM_ID" \ --organization "Default Organization"
The following Bash script applies an erratum to each host for which this erratum is available:
for HOST in
hammer --csv --csv-separator "|" host list --search "applicable_errata = ERRATUM_ID" --organization "Default Organization" | tail -n+2 | awk -F "|" '{ print $2 }'
; do echo "== Applying to $HOST ==" ; hammer host errata apply --host $HOST --errata-ids ERRATUM_ID1,ERRATUM_ID2 ; doneThis command identifies all hosts with erratum_IDs as an applicable erratum and then applies the erratum to each host.
To see if an erratum is applied successfully, find the corresponding task in the output of the following command:
# hammer task list
View the state of a selected task:
# hammer task progress --id task_ID
11.10. Applying Errata to a Host Collection
Using Remote Execution
# hammer job-invocation create \ --feature katello_errata_install \ --inputs errata=ERRATUM_ID1,ERRATUM_ID2,... \ --search-query "host_collection = HOST_COLLECTION_NAME"
Using Katello Agent
(deprecated)
# hammer host-collection erratum install \ --errata "erratum_ID1,erratum_ID2,..." \ --name "host_collection_name"\ --organization "My_Organization"