Red Hat SummitChapter 2. New features
This section describes new features and major enhancements introduced in Red Hat Satellite 6.17.
2.1. Host provisioning and management
Image mode host registration and management
You can now register image mode hosts, view their Bootc status information, and remotely execute Bootc commands in Red Hat Satellite. The Booted Container Images page provides an overview of the container images that hosts boot from, supporting management of image mode hosts.
Support for RHEL 10 hosts has been added
You can now manage RHEL 10 hosts with Satellite.
Remote execution in pull mode is now compatible with clients running yggdrasil versions 0.2.z and 0.4.z
The remote execution pull provider has been updated to be compatible with all versions of the yggdrasil package that can be installed on a host. As a result, remote execution jobs in pull mode work on Satellite hosts that run any of the currently supported versions of RHEL. This applies also to hosts with the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository enabled.
The pull-based transport mode relies on the Yggdrasil service and requires different Yggdrasil configuration based on the version of the yggdrasil package that is installed on the host. If weak dependencies are enabled on your hosts, the Yggdrasil client configuration is automatically updated and no further steps are required. If weak dependencies are disabled on your hosts, you must install the foreman_ygg_migration package manually to ensure that the Yggdrasil client configuration is updated. For detailed instructions, see Remote jobs timing out after yggdrasil update in Managing hosts.
The Template Sync plugin supports using an HTTP proxy to connect to a repository
You can now use an HTTP proxy to synchronize templates between your Satellite server and a git repository. Configuring an HTTP proxy for template synchronization ensures that Satellite routes the Template Sync request to the repository through the specified proxy server.
For more information, see Synchronizing template repositories in Administering Red Hat Satellite.
The auditing system now records adding and removing Ansible roles on a host
Audit logs have been expanded to include records on adding or removing Ansible roles on a host. To view the audit logs, navigate to Monitor > Audits in the Satellite web UI.
Secure Boot
You can now provision Secure Boot enabled hosts by using PXE booting and UEFI HTTP booting. You can use Secure Boot on bare metal, VMware, and KVM (Libvirt). Secure Boot is currently unsupported in Discovery and boot disks.
Invalidation of registration tokens
You can now invalidate registration JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) that are used to authenticate the registration call from a host to Satellite or Capsule. Once you invalidate the JWTs, users can no longer use their existing JWTs to register hosts.
Discovery image updated with RHEL 9
The Discovery image now uses the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5.0 base.
Select resources in global registration by title
You can select certain resources in the global registration API call by the resource title. The following resources are available:
- Organization
- Location
- Host group
- Operating system
The values must be URL encoded.
ansible_tower_api_url replaces ansible_tower_fqdn when configuring provisioning callback in Ansible Automation Platform
The ansible_tower_api_url parameter has been introduced to ensure compatibility with Ansible Automation Platform 2.5. The parameter defines the URL of your Ansible Automation Platform, including the required API path, for the purposes of configuring provisioning callback. It replaces the previously used ansible_tower_fqdn parameter.
By default, the API path is set to /api/controller/v2. Note that if you are using Ansible Automation Platform 2.4 or earlier, you must update the API path manually to /api/v2. To confirm which Ansible Automation Platform version you are using, check the API endpoints on your Ansible Automation Platform instance to verify the correct API path.
Virtual TPM option in VMware provisioning
When creating virtual machines in a VMware compute resource, you can now enable the Virtual Trusted Platform Module in the attributes of the virtual machine for enhanced security.
ELS option in Convert2RHEL job templates
You can now use the Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS) Add-On subscription during host conversion to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
2.2. Web UI
Red Hat Offline Knowledge Portal is now available
Satellite now offers Red Hat Offline Knowledge Portal, a lightweight, secure, offline version of the online Red Hat Customer Portal and Knowledgebase. This capability enables users in air-gapped or disconnected environments to access an offline version of Red Hat’s support knowledge and documentation alongside the existing content in Satellite. For more information, see the Red Hat Offline Knowledge Portal documentation.
Option to automatically update the default content HTTP proxy
When you create a new HTTP proxy, the Satellite web UI now provides an option to set this new HTTP proxy as default. If you select the option and save your new HTTP proxy, Satellite updates the Default HTTP Proxy global Content setting automatically.
Improved Capsule content counting
Capsule content counting is improved to increase efficient content counting and precision.
- You can now manually trigger the Capsule content counting task for a specific environment or content view directly from the Capsule content page.
- Automatic Capsule synchronizations now count content only for the relevant content view or environment instead of running a global content counting task.
These enhancements improve performance, reduce task sizes, and optimize content counting.
The Calculate content counts on smart proxies automatically setting remains available. You can disable content counting on Capsules if needed. If you disabled this feature in 6.16 for performance reasons, consider re-enabling it after upgrading to 6.17 to take advantage of these improvements.
2.3. Installation and upgrade
N-2 Capsule support
You can now use Capsules that are up to two minor versions older with your Satellite, for example Satellite 6.17 supports Capsule 6.16 and Capsule 6.15. This allows you to upgrade your Capsules of versions 6.16 and 6.15 separately from the Satellite. Note that N-2 Capsule support is only available with Satellite 6.17 and later versions.
Jira:SAT-21968[1]
Red Hat Satellite Installation Helper app is now available on the Red Hat Customer Portal
With the Red Hat Satellite Installation Helper application, you can generate interactive customized instructions for installing a Satellite Server or Capsule Server. For more information, see Red Hat Satellite Installation Helper on Red Hat Customer Portal.
satellite-installer now verifies that CA does not use SHA-1 certificates
The certificate authority (CA) that signs the Satellite API certificates can no longer use SHA-1 as the signature algorithm. The satellite-installer utility has been enhanced with a check to verify whether the CA used by Satellite uses SHA-1 certificates. If your internal CAs or custom certificates use SHA-1, attempting to install or upgrade now fails with the following message:
Server CA certificate /etc/pki/katello/certs/katello-default-ca.crt signed with sha1 which will break on upgrade. Update the server CA certificate with one signed with sha256 or stronger then proceed with the upgrade.
Server CA certificate /etc/pki/katello/certs/katello-default-ca.crt signed with sha1 which will break on upgrade.
Update the server CA certificate with one signed with sha256 or stronger then proceed with the upgrade.IPv6 support
Satellite deployment and operation in IPv6-only networks are now fully supported. Dual-stack deployments have not been tested and are not supported.
Provisioning over IPv6 is supported on bare metal hosts. Satellite communication with compute resources over IPv6 has not been tested and is not supported. For compute resources, you can define the machine outside Satellite on the compute resource and then you can provision the machine as a bare-metal host in Satellite. Defining hosts with IPv6 support directly on compute resources is not supported.
For more information about known issues, see Section 5.4, “IPv6”.
2.4. Content management
Flatpak support for applications
Satellite now supports Flatpak, enabling users to install, manage, and run portable applications, primarily for desktop environments. Flatpak repositories function similarly to other content repositories in Satellite allowing you to synchronize them, manage access permissions, and assign repositories to specific lifecycle environments to control application availability. Managing Flatpak repositories is done using Hammer CLI. After you mirror a repository, you can manage it in the web UI like any other repository. Remote execution (REX) jobs are available to help automate the setup and installation of Flatpak applications on hosts. Capsule support is limited in this release and lifecycle environment isolation is not enforced for Flatpak repositories served from Capsules.
2.5. Server administration
Collecting usage metrics to understand how customers use Satellite
Satellite now collects information on product usage to improve how Red Hat prioritizes future development and to help with debugging. The collected usage metrics include information such as which Satellite features are used and the number of objects in the database.
A systemd timer runs weekly to collect the usage metrics by executing the satellite-maintain report generate command on your Satellite Server and storing the data in the /var/lib/foreman-maintain/satellite_metrics.yml file. When you use the sos report command to generate a report for Red Hat Technical Support, the report now includes satellite_metrics.yml along with the other configuration, diagnostics, and troubleshooting data that sos collects.
Note that with the exception of sos reports, the collected metrics remain only in /var/lib/foreman-maintain/satellite_metrics.yml and are not shared automatically. In addition, you can review the metrics by running the satellite-maintain report generate command manually, which displays the complete set of information that is being collected.
To opt out of the usage metrics collection, use the systemctl mask satellite-usage-metrics-generate.timer command on your Satellite Server.
Jira:SAT-24116[1]
Documentation has been added on preparing for disaster recovery and recovering from data loss
New documentation is available on preparing a disaster recovery plan to ensure the continuity of Satellite services in case of a disruptive event. These guidelines help ensure that you can restore your Satellite deployment to an operational state after an incident. See Preparing for disaster recovery and recovering from data loss in Administering Red Hat Satellite.
2.6. Users and roles
External authentication with Red Hat build of Keycloak
You can now configure Satellite to use Red Hat build of Keycloak as an external authentication source. For more information, see Configuring SSO and 2FA with Red Hat build of Keycloak in Satellite.
Jira:SAT-29434[1]
2.7. Localization and internationalization
Enhanced web UI and Hammer CLI localization
The Satellite web UI and Hammer command-line interface are now available in Korean. Additionally, the French, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese translations have been updated.
'%20d='M201.5%20305.5c-13.8%200-24.9-11.1-24.9-24.6%200-13.8%2011.1-24.9%2024.9-24.9%2013.6%200%2024.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.9%200%2013.6-11.1%2024.6-24.6%2024.6zM504%20256c0%20137-111%20248-248%20248S8%20393%208%20256%20119%208%20256%208s248%20111%20248%20248zm-132.3-41.2c-9.4%200-17.7%203.9-23.8%2010-22.4-15.5-52.6-25.5-86.1-26.6l17.4-78.3%2055.4%2012.5c0%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.3%2024.9-24.9s-11.1-24.9-24.9-24.9c-9.7%200-18%205.8-22.1%2013.8l-61.2-13.6c-3-.8-6.1%201.4-6.9%204.4l-19.1%2086.4c-33.2%201.4-63.1%2011.3-85.5%2026.8-6.1-6.4-14.7-10.2-24.1-10.2-34.9%200-46.3%2046.9-14.4%2062.8-1.1%205-1.7%2010.2-1.7%2015.5%200%2052.6%2059.2%2095.2%20132%2095.2%2073.1%200%20132.3-42.6%20132.3-95.2%200-5.3-.6-10.8-1.9-15.8%2031.3-16%2019.8-62.5-14.9-62.5zM302.8%20331c-18.2%2018.2-76.1%2017.9-93.6%200-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200-2.5%202.5-2.5%206.4%200%208.6%2022.8%2022.8%2087.3%2022.8%20110.2%200%202.5-2.2%202.5-6.1%200-8.6-2.2-2.2-6.1-2.2-8.3%200zm7.7-75c-13.6%200-24.6%2011.1-24.6%2024.9%200%2013.6%2011.1%2024.6%2024.6%2024.6%2013.8%200%2024.9-11.1%2024.9-24.6%200-13.8-11-24.9-24.9-24.9z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}