Creating and managing manifests for a connected Satellite Server
Abstract
Part I. Creating and managing manifests
A manifest is a set of encrypted files containing information about your subscriptions. You can use a manifest to import your subscriptions into Red Hat Satellite. After the manifest is imported, you can use it to manage RHEL systems and synchronize content.
An authorized Satellite user on a connected network can create, export, delete, and modify manifests from Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
Users on a connected network create and manage their subscription manifests on the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console, however, users on a disconnected network must use the Customer Portal. For more information, see Using manifests for a disconnected Satellite Server.
Chapter 1. Creating a manifest
Create a manifest to import subscriptions to your subscription management application, such as Red Hat Satellite 6 or later. A new manifest is required whenever you create a new Satellite Server or Satellite organization.
Prerequisites
- You are logged in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
- You are connected to a Red Hat Satellite Server.
- You have Red Hat Satellite 6 or later.
- You have the Subscriptions administrator role in the role-based access control (RBAC) system for the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
If you do not have an active Satellite subscription and you have at least one existing subscription manifest for your account, then you can view and export your existing manifests, but the Create new manifest button is inactive until you reactivate your Satellite subscription.
If you do not have an active Satellite subscription and you have no existing subscription manifests for your account, then you can click the Contact button to receive help from Red Hat.
Procedure
To create a subscription manifest, complete the following steps:
- From the Hybrid Cloud Console home page, click Services > System Configuration > Manifests.
- From the Manifests page, click Create new manifest.
- In the Name field, enter a unique name for the manifest.
- From the Type list, select the application type and version number that corresponds to your Red Hat Satellite Server.
- Click Create.
Additional resources
- For more information about using Satellite to manage your Red Hat subscriptions, see Managing Red Hat Subscriptions.
Chapter 2. Exporting and downloading a manifest
Export a manifest from the Hybrid Cloud Console to manage the subscriptions that it contains from within your Satellite instance. Exporting and downloading a new copy of the manifest is required whenever you add or remove subscriptions from the manifest.
Prerequisites
- You are logged in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
- You are connected to a Red Hat Satellite Server.
- You have Red Hat Satellite 6 or later.
- You have the Subscriptions administrator role in the role-based access control (RBAC) system for the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
Procedure
To export and download a manifest, complete the following steps:
- From the Hybrid Cloud Console home page, click Services > System Configuration > Manifests.
- From the Manifests page, click the name of the manifest that you want to export.
Click Export manifest.
ImportantDo not refresh the page while the manifest is exporting. Refreshing the page will disrupt the process.
When the manifest is exported successfully, a notification window opens.
From the notification window, click Download manifest.
NoteThe application encodes the selected subscription certificates and creates a compressed file in .zip format. This file is the subscription manifest that you can upload into Satellite Server. The file saves to your default downloads folder.
After you download the manifest, you can import it into your Satellite Server. You can then use the Satellite web UI to update the manifest and refresh it to reflect the changes. Alternatively, you can import an updated manifest that contains the changes.
Additional resources
- For more information about importing your manifest into Satellite, see Importing a Subscription Manifest into Satellite Server in the Red Hat Satellite Content Management Guide.
- For more information about using Satellite to manage your Red Hat subscriptions, see Managing Subscriptions.
Chapter 3. Setting the simple content access mode from the Hybrid Cloud Console
When you create a new manifest, simple content access is enabled by default. Simple content access gives you the ability to consume content on your systems without strict entitlement enforcement. However, if you have an environment where simple content access is not appropriate for all manifests, the Subscriptions administrator can change the simple content access mode for each manifest, as needed.
For Red Hat Satellite version 6.5 and later, you can set the simple content access mode for a particular manifest directly from the Manifests page on the Hybrid Cloud Console. You can check whether simple content access is enabled for a manifest from the setting that is displayed in the Simple Content Access column in the Manifests table. For Red Hat Satellite versions older than 6.5, the Simple Content Access column displays N/A because simple content access is not available for those versions of Satellite.
Prerequisites
- You are logged in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
- You are connected to a Red Hat Satellite Server.
- You have Red Hat Satellite 6 or later.
- You have the Subscriptions administrator role in the role-based access control (RBAC) system for the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
Procedure
To set the simple content access mode to Enabled or Disabled, complete the following steps:
- From the Hybrid Cloud Console home page, click Services > System Configuration > Manifests.
- From the Manifests page, locate the name of the manifest that you want to modify in the Manifests table.
- In the Simple Content Access column, set the simple content access switch to Enabled or Disabled, depending on the mode that you want to use for that manifest.
The ability to set the simple content access mode for manifests is only available in Satellite versions 6.5 and later.
In Satellite 6.13, the simple content access status is set on the Satellite organization, not on the manifest. Importing a manifest does not change your organization’s simple content access status.
Addtional resources
- For information about enabling simple content access on a Satellite organization, see Managing Organizations.
Chapter 4. Deleting a subscription manifest
You can remove unused manifests for maintenance purposes. However, deleting an active manifest on a connected Satellite Server is intended for debugging purposes only. Before deleting an active manifest, it is important to note the consequences:
- All subscriptions attached to running hosts will be deleted.
- All subscriptions attached to activation keys will be deleted.
- Red Hat Insights will be disabled due to a lost connection to Red Hat Satellite.
Prerequisites
- You are logged in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
- You are connected to a Red Hat Satellite Server.
- You have Red Hat Satellite 6 or later.
- You have the Subscriptions administrator role in the role-based access control (RBAC) system for the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
Procedure
To delete an unused manifest, complete the following steps:
- From the Hybrid Cloud Console home page, click Services > System Configuration > Manifests.
From the Manifests page, click the name of the manifest that you want to delete.
ImportantDeleting a manifest will remove all the subscriptions attached to running hosts and activation keys. Red Hat Insights will be disabled. This operation is permanent and cannot be undone.
From the Details panel, click Delete manifest.
- If you are sure that you want to delete the selected manifest, select the confirmation check box and then click Delete.
Providing feedback on Red Hat documentation
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Prerequisites
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Procedure
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- Click the following link: Create Issue.
- In the Summary text box, enter a brief description of the issue.
- In the Description text box, provide more details about the issue. Include the URL where you found the issue.
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