Official backup/restore for content hosts

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We are refreshing about 7,000 workstations all connected to satellite for content delivery right now, Satellite 6.1.8

[1] Are there official instructions on what to do prior, during, after an existing content host is replaced with new hardware due to a refresh or parts replacement that wipes the harddrive? Is it only remove and re-register?

[2] If it is remove/reregister, while I understand that the facts about the new system will differ, I'd like an RFE that somehow can re-register if the existing hostname doesn't change and you simply want to reuse the previous UUID and registration of that content host in satellite.

Doing a manual uninstall reinstall of 7,000 content hosts one at a time has proven very cumbersome, and at times has caused hung tasks in foreman and gotten our elasticsearch indicies all mucked up requires various reindexes and slowness in our satellite.

b.scalio's picture
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Rich Jerrido's picture Red Hat Guru 2300 points
27 April 2016 11:29 PM

Try:

subscription-manager register --consumerid

From the manual:

--consumerid=CONSUMERID
              References an existing system inventory ID to resume using a previous registration for this system. The ID is used as an inventory number for the system in the subscription management service database. If the system's identity is lost or corrupted, this option allows it to resume using its previous identity and subscriptions.

As you remove/replace the content hosts, I'd expect the workflow to be:

  • note the content hosts original consumerid via subscription-manager identity

  • do NOT remove the content host entry from Satellite.

  • Replace the system with the new hardware.

  • Install Satellite CA RPM (katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm)

  • register to the existing content host record subscription-manager register --consumerid <uuid>

  • update your facts subscription-manager facts --update

  • refresh your subscriptions to ensure your subs match (i.e if you went from a 2 socket system to a 4 socket system) subscription-manager refresh

b.scalio's picture Expert 1058 points
30 April 2016 12:45 AM

We used activation keys originally to register the systems to avoid entering passwords, etc ... if you re-register with consumerid option you get prompted for a login to hammer, it would be nice to be able to avoid having to enter credentials to re-register, although I understand the usefulness in such as it maintains separation of duties and least functionality.

Second, we had to force run an auto-attach as well, otherwise the subscription shows invalid. I am not sure if some quartz driven event or cronjob would've gone out and performed this automagically eventually, however to get 'er done immediately this step was also needed.

Thanks

b.scalio's picture Expert 1058 points
9 May 2016 11:59 AM

Also you should reinstall katello-agent assuming you've setup things for that, also recommend setting the baseurl in the subscription-manger register --consumerid line if you are point to different content source than the satellite, e.g. a capsule.

Also -- see above comment on needing a hammer username to register ...

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