Chapter 3. Updating a disconnected Satellite Server


Update your air-gapped Satellite setup where the connected Satellite Server, which synchronizes content from CDN, is air gapped from a disconnected Satellite Server, to the next patch version. You can follow this process to update the underlying operating system between minor release versions.

Prerequisites

You can update your disconnected Satellite on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 by synchronizing the required repositories on the connected Satellite and syncing the content to the disconnected Satellite by using syncable exports.

Procedure on the connected Satellite Server

  1. Synchronize the following repositories on your connected Satellite Server:

    • rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
    • rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
    • satellite-6.17-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms
    • satellite-maintenance-6.17-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms

    Ensure that the download policy is set to Immediate for each repository.

  2. List the repositories to identify their IDs:

    $ hammer repository list \
    --organization-label My_Organization_Label
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  3. Export the repositories in the syncable format:

    $ hammer content-export complete repository \
    --format syncable \
    --id My_Repository_ID
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  4. Copy the exported directories to the disconnected Satellite Server.

Procedure on the disconnected Satellite Server

  1. Locate the copied exported directories.
  2. Create the /etc/yum.repos.d/update.repo file and update the baseurl values to point to the local file system:

    [rhel-9-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms]
    name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)
    enabled=1
    metadata_expire=-1
    gpgcheck=0
    baseurl=file:///BaseOS_Export_Location/content/dist/rhel9/9/x86_64/baseos/os
    
    [rhel-9-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms]
    name=Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
    enabled=1
    metadata_expire=-1
    gpgcheck=0
    baseurl=file:///AppStream_Export_Location/content/dist/rhel9/9/x86_64/appstream/os
    
    [satellite-6.17-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms]
    name=Red Hat Satellite 6.17 for RHEL 9 Server RPMs x86_64
    enabled=1
    metadata_expire=-1
    gpgcheck=0
    baseurl=file:///Satellite_Export_Location/content/dist/layered/rhel9/x86_64/satellite/6.17/os/
    
    [satellite-maintenance-6.17-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms]
    name=Red Hat Satellite Maintenance 6.17 for RHEL 9 Server RPMs x86_64
    enabled=1
    metadata_expire=-1
    gpgcheck=0
    baseurl=file:///Satellite_Maintenance_Export_Location/content/dist/layered/rhel9/x86_64/sat-maintenance/6.17/os/
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  3. Upgrade satellite-maintain to the next version:

    # satellite-maintain self-upgrade --maintenance-repo-label=satellite-maintenance-6.17-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms
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  4. Evaluate that the system is ready for update. The first time you run this command, satellite-maintain prompts you to enter the Hammer admin user credentials and saves them to /etc/foreman-maintain/foreman-maintain-hammer.yml.

    # satellite-maintain update check --whitelist="repositories-validate,repositories-setup"
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  5. Review the results and resolve any errors before proceeding with the update.
  6. Due to the lengthy update time, use a utility such as tmux to suspend and resume the session as needed. By using such utility, you can monitor progress without maintaining a continuous connection to the command shell.

    If you lose connection to the command shell where the update command is running, check the /var/log/foreman-installer/satellite.log file to confirm whether the process completed successfully.

  7. Perform the update:

    # satellite-maintain update run --whitelist="repositories-validate,repositories-setup"
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  8. If the satellite-maintain command told you to reboot, then reboot the system:

    # reboot
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