第2章 Comparing Satellite 5 and Satellite 6

Red Hat Satellite 5 is life cycle management tool that includes the ability to deploy, manage and monitor a large number of systems. Satellite 5 can be set up in a connected or disconnected mode in which Red Hat software is distributed to client systems using the original pooled subscription approach. The pooled subscription concept is similar to the way in which clients consume entitlements from Red Hat Network Classic.

Features and Functionality

The popular functionality of Satellite 5 includes the ability to provision a large number of systems using kickstart files and activation keys to install and configure systems to a predictable state. This provisioning process associates systems to designated organizations, software and configuration channels, as well as placing systems in predefined system groups. The Satellite 5 provisioning functionality enables administrators to provision thousands of systems in a consistent manner.

Another popular feature is the ability to manage software and configuration files across large numbers of systems in local or remote environments after those systems have been provisioned. One of the well understood concepts of managing software and configuration files in Satellite 5 is the concept of channels. All software and configuration is managed and distributed through channels, and any client needing access to software or configuration content needs to be associated with one or more relevant channels. Further, the ability to clone channels enabled administrators to create the much needed development-production environments required by most enterprises.

Red Hat Satellite 5 provides organizations with the benefits of Red Hat Network without the need for public Internet access for servers or client systems. This brings together the tools, services, and information repositories needed to maximize the reliability, security, and performance of your systems.

Red Hat Satellite 6 is the evolution of Red Hat’s life cycle management platform. It provides the capabilities that administrators have come to expect in a tool focused on managing systems and content for a global enterprise. Satellite 6 covers the use cases requested by Satellite 5 customers, but also includes functionality that enables larger scale, federation of content, better control of systems during the provisioning process, and a much more simplified approach to life cycle management. Satellite 6 also further evolves the inherent approach to certificate-based entitlements and integrated subscription management.

The following table outlines some key concepts and their respective implementation in both Satellite 5 and Satellite 6.