Red Hat Training

A Red Hat training course is available for Red Hat Satellite

Chapter 4. Installation

This chapter describes the initial installation of the Red Hat Satellite. It presumes the prerequisites listed in Chapter 2, Requirements have been met. If you are instead upgrading to a newer version of Red Hat Satellite, see Chapter 7, Upgrades or contact your Red Hat representative for assistance.

4.1. Prerequisites

The following section outlines the prerequisites for installing Red Hat Satellite.

4.1.1. Base Operating System

Red Hat Satellite runs on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system. The first phase is to install the base operating system, either from disc, ISO image, or kickstart.
Ensure the following prerequisites are met by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation.
  • Allocate plenty of space to the partitions storing data. The default location for channel packages is /var/satellite/. For Red Hat Satellite with Embedded Database, remember the database itself is within the /var/lib/pgsql/ directory.
  • Enable Network Time Protocol (NTP) on Red Hat Satellite and, if it exists, the database server then select the appropriate time zone. Make sure all client have the ntpd daemon running and set it to the correct time zone.
  • It is strongly advised that the /home/ partition is locally mounted.
  • Register to Red Hat Subscription Management. Once installation of the base operating system is complete, run the following command to register your system, entering your Customer Portal user name and password when prompted:
    # subscription-manager register
    
    The command displays output similar to the following:
    Registering to: subscription.rhsm.redhat.com:443/subscription
    Username: user_name
    Password: password
    The system has been registered with ID: aa2e5c34-b8d0-4388-b912-6be761c632b1
    
  • Identify and attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Satellite subscriptions.
    List all available subscriptions.
    # subscription-manager list --all --available
    
    Attach the subscriptions. If there are multiple subscriptions to be attached, repeat the --pool=pool_id parameter.
    # subscription-manager attach --pool=pool_id
  • Enable the Red Hat Enterprise Linux repository appropriate to your version and architecture.
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (on ⁠AMD64 or Intel 64)
    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-6-server-rpms
    
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (on⁠ AMD64 or Intel 64)
    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-5-server-rpms
    
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (On System Z architecture)
    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-6-for-system-z-rpms
    
    For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (On System Z architecture)
    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-5-for-system-z-rpms
    

4.1.2. Mounting the Installation Media

The following section describes the process for mounting either the disc or ISO image containing installation media for Red Hat Satellite.

Procedure 4.1. Mounting from a disc

  1. Log into the machine as root.
  2. Insert the Red Hat Satellite Server CD or DVD containing the installation files.
  3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux might automount the disc. If so, it mounts the disc to the /media/cdrom/ directory. If Red Hat Enterprise Linux does not automount the disc, manually mount it to the /media/cdrom/ directory with the following commands:
    # mkdir /media/cdrom
    # mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
    

Procedure 4.2. Mounting from an ISO image

  1. Log into the machine as root.
  2. Download the ISO image from the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  3. Mount the ISO image to a location on your filesystem:
    # mkdir /media/cdrom
    # mount -o loop iso_filename /media/cdrom
    
The installation media is mounted at /media/cdrom/. Use this location to access the Red Hat Satellite Installation Script.

4.1.3. Obtaining an Entitlement Certificate

Red Hat Satellite requires a copy of your Red Hat Network Entitlement Certificate in order to activate it. This Entitlement Certificate is included with your subscription to Red Hat Satellite and is available from the Red Hat Customer Portal. See Chapter 3, Entitlement Certificate for more information.
Download the Entitlement Certificate from the Red Hat Customer Portal and copy it to the Satellite server's file system in any directory. The installation program asks you for its location.

Important

Ensure your Red Hat Network account has been granted the necessary entitlements to conduct the installation.