Subscriptions/Manifests for Disconnected Satellites

Latest response

Hi all!
I have a quick question about how to properly manage the subscriptions and manifests for our Satellite Servers.

Here's the setup we want to use:

2x Satellite Servers (v6.3.2)
- 1x Connected
- 1x Disconnected
4x RHEL Servers (v7.5)
- 2x Connected
- 2x Disconnected

Subscriptions and registrations:

  • 1x Satellite Server (Connected)

    • Registered and attached using subscription-manager
    • Consumes 1x Satellite Subscription
    • Upload a Manifest with the following subscription entitlements
      • 1x Satellite Server (to be used for disconnected Satellite)
      • 2x RHEL Sever (to be used for connected RHEL Servers)
    • Create 1x Activation Key for Satellite Server
    • Create 2x Activation Key for RHEL Server
  • 2x RHEL Server (Connected)
    • Registered to the connected Satellite Server via Activation Key
    • Consumes 2x RHEL Server subscriptions
  • 1x Satellite Server (Disconnected)
    • Air-gapped secure network
    • Registered with Activation Key from connected Satellite Server
    • Consumes 1x Satellite subscription
    • Upload manifest with 2x RHEL Server subscription entitlements
    • Create 2x Activation Key for RHEL Server
  • 2x RHEL Server (Disconnected)
    • Air-gapped secure network (same as disconnected Satellite)
    • Registered via Activation Key from disconnected Satellite
    • Consumes 2x RHEL Server subscriptions

Do I have that correct? I.e. the disconnected Satellite doesn't need a manifest with a Satellite entitlement because it's not going to register any further downstream Satellites, thus it only needs a manifest with 2x RHEL entitlements?

In total we'd have 2x Satellite and 4x RHEL subscriptions.

Thanks!

Edit: It looks like I cannot use an activation key to register the disconnected Satellites. Still looking for a solution to keep those up to date.

Responses

Hi Kevin,

I have multiple disconnected satellites, and I have to put a manifest on each one.

One important consideration that if it is in the documentation (probably, but not very apparent), is that never delete the manifest from access.redhat.com for any manifest you have ingested on a disconnected satellite or you will have to manually resubscribe all subscriptions back to every client system

There is a Red Hat Satellite subscription tool where you can slice/dice up your entitlements even as you describe above.

It might seem overwhelming, but the guy writing this has 8 disconnected satellites and had to do this for all of them.

RJ

Additionally, I seriously highly recommend considering this method (content view export) https://access.redhat.com/articles/2390791 because it is tremendously easier. It is written by Rich Jerrido of Red Hat who is one of the very most Satellite savvy people I've known. Please see my comments at the end of the article for tips I've learned along the way. I am able for instance to reduce the footprint of the 1.7TB export to 270GB BEFORE putting it to an external drive. The rsync method is specific so it does not expand. See the notes at that article at the very bottom.

Thanks for the help and links! I guess my primary question now is with these manifests you ingest into the disconnected Satellites, do they have to have a "Satellite Entitlement" even though there are no further downstream Satellite's from them?

The reason I ask, is that I tried this on a test network and that test disconnected Satellite shows, "0 of 1 Satellite Subscriptions" under Content >> Red Hat Subscriptions. Which leads me to believe the entitlements in the manifest are purely for "downstream hosts" and not the Satellite server itself. Do I have that correct?

Hello, you do not need a "Satellite Entitlement" in a Satellite's manifest if there are no systems that need packages from repos only provided by a Satellite subscription. That covers your case, "no further downstream Satellite's " that need to be provisioned from a Satellite's repos.

Hi Kevin,

My Red Hat Sales guy told me there were some significant satellite changes in terms of entitlements. I believe Stephen is now correct. That being said, I previously had to assign a satellite entitlement to each of the manifests (and I had no downstream satellites). My satellite would not properly be "entitled" without it the last time I did this earlier this year). However, with this change, -- if it lets you get away without it, that's great. I had do assign one however, and they've changed things.

Regards

RJ

Hi RJ,

The major change is in the payment model. You get at least 50 subscriptions for free. The application of the entitlements has not changed. With Satellite 5 it was possible to "self register" a Satellite server, this feature is dropped with Satellite 6. So you cannot patch a Satellite 6 via its own content, you have to use another Satellite or CDN.

Regards,

Jan Gerrit

Then is there an official way to register the disconnected Satellites so they receive updates? On my test disconnected Satellites, they cannot register to anything and thus always say, "This system is not registered with an entitlement, you can use subscription-manager to register."

However, I tried using an activation key generated on the connected Satellite, but that didn't work for obvious reasons. So I was mistaken about that part in my OP.

Is there any official solution? The only way I can think of is to have two disconnected Satellites on this air-gapped network. Then have each of those satellites register with eachother, however only one of them would provide the updates to the disconnected network content hosts. This seems a little sill though, as it's requiring any additional entitlement just to solve an implementation detail.

Thanks Much Jan

Interestingly, I patch/update my disconnected satellites from my disconnected satellites after I've ingested my content view I grabbed from Red Hat. I sneakernet it to my disconnected satellites and ingest and publish content views appropriate for my client systems/environments.

Regards

RJ

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