13.2. Performing Critical Updates to the Server

Procedure 13.1. Perform Critical Updates to an Online Server

1. Stop the Satellite services, except for the Satellite database.

   # rhn-satellite stop --exclude postgresql
   

2. Take a backup of the Satellite's database in a working state. Run the following command and replace the [FILENAME] option with the full path to the backup file that you want to create. This location needs to be writable by the PostgreSQL user:

   # db-control online-backup FILENAME
   

3. Apply the updates:

   # yum update
   

   Apply all Satellite updates. Updating the schema without updating the rest of the Satellite components can cause issues with the Satellite database.
4. Update the database schema using spacewalk-schema-upgrade command.

   # spacewalk-schema-upgrade
   

   This process will update your database schema to latest version. The spacewalk-schema-upgrade command will inform you with the results of the upgrade and the locations of schema upgrade log files. To double-check if the schema update completed successfully, run the following commands:

   # rpm -q satellite-schema
   # rhn-schema-version
   

   If the output versions match, continue with the process. Otherwise restore the database with db-control restore /path/to/backup.
5. Restart Red Hat Satellite:

   # rhn-satellite start --exclude postgresql
   

6. Clear the search index:

   # service rhn-search cleanindex
   

   It is recommended to clean the search index. The above command triggers the creation of a new one, which in most cases completes within thirty minutes to an hour. You might experience issues with the search features of Satellite 5 if you do not clean the index.