Red Hat Satellite Certificate / Manifest FAQ

Updated -

Q: When/why do I need a new Satellite 5 Certificate or Satellite 6 Manifest?

A:

  • For Satellite 5, you need to activate a new certificate (v5.6 or 5.7) or manifest (v5.8) if you are installing Satellite for the first time, upgrading an existing Satellite, replacing an expiring or expired certificate, or have made changes to your Satellite entitlements and need Satellite to reflect those changes.
  • For Satellite 6, you need to import a new manifest if you are installing Satellite for the first time, replacing a manifest with expiring or expired subscriptions, or have made changes to your subscription allocations and need Satellite to reflect those changes. You can watch a short video for creating a Satellite 6 Manifest here

Also see How and when does a Red Hat Satellite Certificate expire? and Can Satellite Certificates be generated before the start of new contract?.

Q: How to generate or request a Satellite Certificate or Manifest?

A: Single-Satellite, Multi-Satellite and Starter Pack Satellite customers can generate Satellite certificates and manifests using the Customer Portal self-service tool under Subscriptions tab → Subscription Allocation → New Subscription Allocation, following these steps after logging into the Customer Portal using an user with sufficient rights (Organizational Administrator or account with View/Renew Subscription Information and Manage Your Subscriptions rights).

Q: Why do I not see the Satellite Certificate Tool on the Red Hat Customer Portal?

A: The link to the tool will not be visible if your Organization does not have any active Red Hat Satellite subscriptions.

Q: Why is the Satellite 5 certificate expiration date earlier than my Satellite subscription end date?

A: Do you have any Evaluation subscriptions? The Satellite 5 Certificate expiration date is set to either the end date of the Satellite subscription, or that of the earliest-ending Evaluation subscription on the account, whichever comes first. This is so that Satellite 5 Certificates are not issued for longer than the duration of the Evaluation(s). If that does not explain the difference in expiration date on your Satellite 5 Certificate, please contact Red Hat support to report the issue.

Q: Does the Certificate version have to match my Satellite server version?

A: For Satellite 5, yes. If you are attempting to upgrade the Red Hat Satellite 5 server to a new major release - for example, from 5.6 to 5.8 - please ensure you have the newest Satellite 5 installer ISO and rhn-upgrade package, and read through all of the documentation included in rhn-upgrade (starting with /etc/sysconfig/rhn/satellite-upgrade/README) before proceeding.

Q: How do I activate the Satellite 5 Certificate or import the Satellite 6 Manifest?

A:

Q: What's in a Satellite Certificate or Manifest?

A: Red Hat Satellite provides all services to customers through subscriptions and entitlements, which are purchased as needed and contractually agreed-upon beforehand.

Q: Where do I get more information?

A: More information can be found here:

You can also contact Red Hat support.

For more KB articles/solutions related to Red Hat Satellite 6.x Manifest Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Red Hat Satellite 6.x Manifest Issues

2 Comments

After installing an expired Manifest in Satellite 6 - Do we need to re register every content host to the Satellite? Surely not right? It looks like once the new manifest is uploaded it does not bring anything to life. We have a tone of hosts and re registering every hosts is a tedious task. Do we need to restart some service to make it all work without having to re register each host?

Pranesh,

There should be no need for manual intervention. At some time within 4 hours from when you uploaded the new manifest, the hosts' subscriptions will be updated.

You can either wait for the subscription to be reattached automatically, or manually reattach a host's subscription with the command "subscription-manager attach --auto". I recommend waiting for the hosts' subscriptions to "autoheal".

If the subscriptions are not reattached after 4 hours has passed, or you have any further questions, please raise a Support Request.