Chapter 9. Synchronizing Content Between Satellite Servers

There are multiple approaches for synchronizing content using the export and import workflow:

When using Inter-Satellite Synchronization Network Sync, Red Hat repositories are configured automatically, but custom repositories are not. Use this procedure to synchronize content from a custom repository on a connected Satellite Server to a disconnected Satellite Server through Inter-Satellite Synchronization (ISS) Network Sync.

Follow the procedure for the connected Satellite Server before completing the procedure for the disconnected Satellite Server.

After completing these steps, the custom repository is properly configured on the disconnected Satellite Server.

You can export contents of all Yum repositories in the Library environment of an organization to an archive file from Satellite Server and use this archive file to create the same repositories in another Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization. The exported archive file contains the following data:

Satellite Server exports only RPM, kickstart files, and Docker Content included in the Library environment.

# hammer content-export complete library \
--chunk-size-gb=2 \
--organization="My_Organization"

Generated /var/lib/pulp/exports/My_Organization/Export-Library/2.0/2021-03-02T04-01-25-00-00/metadata.json

# ls -lh /var/lib/pulp/exports/My_Organization/Export-Library/2.0/2021-03-02T04-01-25-00-00/

You can export contents of all yum repositories, Kickstart repositories and file repositories in the Library environment of an organization to a syncable format that you can use to create your custom CDN and synchronize the content from the custom CDN over HTTP/HTTPS.

You can then serve the generated content on a local web server and synchronize it on the importing Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization.

You can use the generated content to create the same repository in another Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization by using content import. On import of the exported archive, a regular content view is created or updated on your importing Satellite Server. For more information, see Section 9.19, “Importing a Content View Version”.

You can export the following content in the syncable format from Satellite Server:

You cannot export Ansible, Deb, or Docker content.

The export contains directories with the packages, listing files, and metadata of the repository in Yum format that can be used to synchronize in the importing Satellite Server.

Exporting Library content can be a very expensive operation in terms of system resources. Organizations that have multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux trees can occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can use Incremental Export to export only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than the full exports.

The example below shows incremental export of all repositories in the organization’s Library.

Exporting Library content can be a very costly operation in terms of system resources. Organizations that have multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux trees can occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can use Incremental Export to export only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than full exports.

The procedure below shows incremental export of all repositories in the organization’s Library.

You can export a version of a Content View to an archive file from Satellite Server and use this archive file to create the same Content View version on another Satellite Server or on another Satellite Server organization. Satellite exports composite Content Views as normal Content Views. The composite nature is not retained. On importing the exported archive, a regular Content View is created or updated on your downstream Satellite Server. The exported archive file contains the following data:

Satellite Server exports only RPM, kickstart files, and Docker content added to a version of a Content View. Satellite does not export the following content:

You require all three files, for example, the tar.gz archive file, the toc.json and metadata.json to import the content successfully.

# hammer content-export complete version \
--chunk-size-gb=2 \
--content-view="Content_View_Name" \
--organization="My_Organization" \
--version=1.0
# ls -lh /var/lib/pulp/exports/My_Organization/view/1.0/2021-02-25T21-15-22-00-00/

You can export a version of a Content View to a syncable format that you can use to create your custom CDN. After you have exported the Content View, you can do either of the following:

You can then serve the generated content using a local web server on the importing Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization.

You cannot directly import Syncable Format exports. Instead, on the importing Satellite Server you must:

You can export the following content in a syncable format from Satellite Server:

You cannot export Ansible, DEB, and Docker content.

The export contains directories with the packages, listing files, and metadata of the repository in Yum format that can be used to synchronize in the importing Satellite Server.

Exporting complete versions can be a very expensive operation in terms of system resources. Content View versions that have multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux trees can occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can create an incremental export which contains only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than the full exports.

The example below targets the version 2.0 for export because the version 1.0 was exported previously.

Exporting complete Content View versions can be a very costly operation in terms of system resources. Content View versions that have multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux trees can occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can use Incremental Export to export only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than the full exports.

The example below targets the version 2.0 for export because the version 1.0 was exported previously.

You can export the content of a repository in the Library environment of an organization from Satellite Server. You can use this archive file to create the same repository in another Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization.

You can export the following content from Satellite Server:

The export contains the following data:

You need all the files, tar.gz, toc.json and metadata.json, to be able to import.

You can export the content of a repository in the Library environment of an organization to a syncable format that you can use to create your custom CDN and synchronize the content from the custom CDN over HTTP/HTTPS.

You can then serve the generated content using a local web server on the importing Satellite Server or in another Satellite Server organization.

You cannot directly import Syncable Format exports. Instead, on the importing Satellite Server you must:

You can export the following content in a syncable format from Satellite Server:

You cannot export Ansible, DEB, and Docker content.

The export contains directories with the packages, listing files, and metadata of the repository in Yum format that can be used to synchronize in the importing Satellite Server.

Exporting a repository can be a very expensive operation in terms of system resources. A typical Red Hat Enterprise Linux tree may occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can use Incremental Export to export only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than the full exports.

The example below shows incremental export of a repository in the Library lifecycle environment.

Exporting a repository can be a very costly operation in terms of system resources. A typical Red Hat Enterprise Linux tree may occupy several gigabytes of space on Satellite Server.

In such cases, you can use Incremental Export to export only pieces of content that changed since the previous export. Incremental exports typically result in smaller archive files than full exports.

The procedure below shows an incremental export of a repository in the Library lifecycle environment.

Satellite keeps records of all exports. Each time you export content on the upstream Satellite Server, the export is recorded and maintained for future querying. You can use the records to organize and manage your exports, which is useful especially when exporting incrementally.

When exporting content from the upstream Satellite Server for several downstream Satellite Servers, you can also keep track of content exported for specific servers. This helps you track which content was exported and to where.

Use the --destination-server argument during export to indicate the target server. This option is available for all content-export operations.

You can import exported Library content into the Library lifecycle environment of an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting contents from the Library environment, see Section 9.3, “Exporting the Library Environment”.

# ls -lh /var/lib/pulp/imports/2021-03-02T03-35-24-00-00
total 68M
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 68M Mar  2 04:29 export-1e25417c-6d09-49d4-b9a5-23df4db3d52a-20210302_0335.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 333 Mar  2 04:29 export-1e25417c-6d09-49d4-b9a5-23df4db3d52a-20210302_0335-toc.json
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 443 Mar  2 04:29 metadata.json

You can import exported Library content directly from a web server into the Library lifecycle environment of an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting contents from the Library environment, see Section 9.3, “Exporting the Library Environment”.

You can import an exported Content View version to create a version with the same content in an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting a Content View version, see Section 9.8, “Exporting a Content View Version”.

When you import a Content View version, it has the same major and minor version numbers and contains the same repositories with the same packages and errata. Custom Repositories, Products and Content Views are automatically created if they do not exist in the importing organization.

You can import an exported Content View version directly from a web server to create a version with the same content in an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting a Content View version, see Section 9.8, “Exporting a Content View Version”.

When you import a Content View version, it has the same major and minor version numbers and contains the same repositories with the same packages and errata. Custom repositories, products, and Content Views are automatically created if they do not exist in the importing organization.

You can import an exported repository into an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting content of a repository, see Section 9.12, “Exporting a Repository”.

# ls -lh /var/lib/pulp/imports/2021-03-02T03-35-24-00-00
total 68M
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 68M Mar  2 04:29 export-1e25417c-6d09-49d4-b9a5-23df4db3d52a-20210302_0335.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 333 Mar  2 04:29 export-1e25417c-6d09-49d4-b9a5-23df4db3d52a-20210302_0335-toc.json
-rw-r--r--. 1 pulp pulp 443 Mar  2 04:29 metadata.json

You can import an exported repository directly from a web server into an organization on another Satellite Server. For more information about exporting the content of a repository, see Section 9.12, “Exporting a Repository”.