Chapter 6. Common Deployment Scenarios
This section provides a brief overview of common deployment scenarios for Red Hat Satellite. Note that many variations and combinations of the following layouts are possible.
6.1. Single Location
An integrated Capsule is a virtual Capsule Server that is created by default in Satellite Server during the installation process. This means Satellite Server can be used to provision directly connected hosts for Satellite deployment in a single geographical location, therefore only one physical server is needed. The base systems of isolated Capsules can be directly managed by Satellite Server, however it is not recommended to use this layout to manage other hosts in remote locations.
6.2. Single Location with Segregated Subnets
Your infrastructure might require multiple isolated subnets even if Red Hat Satellite is deployed in a single geographic location. This can be achieved for example by deploying multiple Capsule Servers with DHCP and DNS services, but the recommended way is to create segregated subnets using a single Capsule. This Capsule is then used to manage hosts and compute resources in those segregated networks to ensure they only have to access the Capsule for provisioning, configuration, errata, and general management. For more information on configuring subnets see the Red Hat Satellite Host Configuration Guide.
6.3. Multiple Locations
It is recommended to create at least one Capsule Server per geographic location. This practice can save bandwidth since hosts obtain content from a local Capsule Server. Synchronization of content from remote repositories is done only by the Capsule, not by each host in a location. In addition, this layout makes the provisioning infrastructure more reliable and easier to configure. See Figure 1.1, “Red Hat Satellite 6 System Architecture” for an illustration of this approach.
6.4. Disconnected Satellite
In high security environments where hosts are required to function in a closed network disconnected from the Internet, Red Hat Satellite can provision systems with the latest security updates, errata, packages and other content. In such case, the Satellite Server does not have direct access to the Internet, but the layout of other infrastructure components is not affected. For information on how to install or upgrade a disconnected Satellite see the Red Hat Satellite Installation Guide.
There are two options for importing content to a disconnected Satellite Server:
- Disconnected Satellite with Content ISO – in this setup, you download ISO images with content from the Red Hat Customer Portal and extract them to the Satellite Server or a local web server. The content on Satellite Server is then synchronized locally. This allows for complete network isolation of the Satellite Server, however, the release frequency of content ISO images is around six weeks and not all product content is included (today only Red Hat Enterprise Linux and layered products such as RHEL-OSP7, RHDS, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time). For instructions on how to import content ISOs to a disconnected Satellite, see Importing Content ISOs into a Disconnected Satellite in the Red Hat Satellite Content Management Guide.
- Disconnected Satellite with Inter-Satellite Synchronization – in this setup, you install a connected Satellite Server and export content from it to populate a disconnected Satellite using some storage device. This allows for exporting both Red Hat provided and custom content at the frequency you choose, but requires deploying an additional server with a separate subscription. For instructions on how to configure Inter-Satellite synchronization, see Synchronizing Content Between Satellite Servers in the Red Hat Satellite Content Management Guide.
The above methods for importing content to a disconnected Satellite Server can also be used to speed up the initial population of a connected Satellite.
6.5. Capsule with External Services
You can configure a Capsule Server (integrated or standalone) to use external DNS, DHCP, or TFTP service. If you already have a server that provides these services in your environment, you can integrate it with your Satellite deployment. For information on how to configure a Capsule with external services, see Configuring External Services in the Red Hat Satellite Installation Guide.
