Chapter 15. Maintaining Satellite Server

This chapter provides information on how to maintain a Satellite Server, including information on how to work with audit records, how to clean unused tasks, and how to recover Pulp from a full disk.

15.1. Deleting Audit Records Manually

You can use the foreman-rake audits:expire command to remove audit records at any time.

Procedure

  • Delete the audit records using the foreman-rake audits:expire command: 

    # foreman-rake audits:expire days=Number_Of_Days

    This command deletes all audit records older than Number_Of_Days.

15.2. Deleting Audit Records Automatically

You can automatically delete audit records using the Saved audits interval setting. This setting is empty by default, meaning Satellite does not automatically delete the audit records.

Procedure

  1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.
  2. On the General tab, find the Saved audits interval setting.
  3. Set the value of the setting to the number of days after which you want Satellite to delete the audit records.

15.3. Anonymizing Audit Records

You can use the foreman-rake audits:anonymize command to remove any user account or IP information while maintaining the audit records in the database. You can also use a cron job to schedule anonymizing the audit records at the set interval that you want.

By default, using the foreman-rake audits:anonymize command anonymizes audit records that are older than 90 days. You can specify the number of days to keep the audit records by adding the days option and add the number of days.

For example, if you want to anonymize audit records that are older than seven days, enter the following command: 

# foreman-rake audits:anonymize days=7

15.4. Deleting Report Records

Report records are created automatically in Satellite. You can use the foreman-rake reports:expire command to remove reports at any time. You can also use a cron job to schedule report record deletions at the set interval that you want.

By default, using the foreman-rake reports:expire command removes report records that are older than 90 days. You can specify the number of days to keep the report records by adding the days option and add the number of days.

For example, if you want to delete report records that are older than seven days, enter the following command: 

# foreman-rake reports:expire days=7

15.5. Configuring the Cleaning Unused Tasks Feature

Satellite performs regular cleaning to reduce disc space in the database and limit the rate of disk growth. As a result, Satellite backup completes faster and overall performance is higher.

By default, Satellite executes a cron job that cleans tasks every day at 19:45. Satellite removes the following tasks during the cleaning:

  • Tasks that have run successfully and are older than thirty days
  • All tasks that are older than a year

You can configure the cleaning unused tasks feature using these options:

  • To configure the time at which Satellite runs the cron job, set the --foreman-plugin-tasks-cron-line parameter to the time you want in cron format. For example, to schedule the cron job to run every day at 15:00, enter the following command: 

    # satellite-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-cron-line "00 15 * * *"
  • To configure the period after which Satellite deletes the tasks, edit the :rules: section in the /etc/foreman/plugins/foreman-tasks.yaml file.

  • To disable regular task cleanup on Satellite, enter the following command: 

    # satellite-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-automatic-cleanup false

  • To reenable regular task cleanup on Satellite, enter the following command: 

    # satellite-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-automatic-cleanup true

15.6. Deleting Task Records

Task records are created automatically in Satellite. You can use the foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup command to remove tasks at any time. You can also use a cron job to schedule Task record deletions at the set interval that you want.

For example, if you want to delete task records from successful repository synchronizations, enter the following command: 

# foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup TASK_SEARCH='label = Actions::Katello::Repository::Sync' STATES='stopped'

15.7. Deleting a Task by ID

You can delete tasks by ID, for example if you have submitted confidential data by mistake.

Procedure

  1. Connect to your Satellite Server using SSH: 

    # ssh root@satellite.example.com

  2. Optional: View the task: 

    # hammer task info --id My_Task_ID

  3. Delete the task: 

    # foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup TASK_SEARCH="id=My_Task_ID"

  4. Optional: Ensure the task has been removed from Satellite Server: 

    # hammer task info --id My_Task_ID

    Note that because the task is deleted, this command returns a non-zero exit code.

15.8. Recovering from a Full Disk

The following procedure describes how to resolve the situation when a logical volume (LV) with the Pulp database on it has no free space.

Procedure

  1. Let running Pulp tasks finish but do not trigger any new ones as they can fail due to the full disk.

  2. Ensure that the LV with the /var/lib/pulp directory on it has sufficient free space. Here are some ways to achieve that:

    1. Remove orphaned content: 

      # foreman-rake katello:delete_orphaned_content RAILS_ENV=production

      This is run weekly so it will not free much space.

    2. Change the download policy from Immediate to On Demand for as many repositories as possible and remove already downloaded packages. See the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution How to change syncing policy for Repositories on Satellite from "Immediate" to "On-Demand" on the Red Hat Customer Portal for instructions.

    3. Grow the file system on the LV with the /var/lib/pulp directory on it. For more information, see Growing a logical volume and file system in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Configuring and managing logical volumes.

      Note

      If you use an untypical file system (other than for example ext3, ext4, or xfs), you might need to unmount the file system so that it is not in use. In that case, complete the following steps:

      1. Stop Satellite services: 

        # satellite-maintain service stop
      2. Grow the file system on the LV.

      3. Start Satellite services: 

        # satellite-maintain service start
  3. If some Pulp tasks failed due to the full disk, run them again.

15.9. Managing Packages on the Base Operating System of Satellite Server or Capsule Server

To install and update packages on the Satellite Server or Capsule Server base operating system, you must enter the satellite-maintain packages command. Satellite prevents users from installing and updating packages with yum because yum might also update the packages related to Satellite Server or Capsule Server and result in system inconsistency.

Important

The satellite-maintain packages command restarts some services on the operating system where you run it because it runs the satellite-installer command after installing packages.

You can manage packages using the satellite-maintain packages command as follows:

  • To install packages on Satellite Server or Capsule Server: 

    # satellite-maintain packages install package_1 package_2

  • To check for available package updates on Satellite Server or Capsule Server: 

    # satellite-maintain packages check-update

  • To update all packages on Satellite Server or Capsule Server: 

    # satellite-maintain packages update

  • To update specific packages on Satellite Server or Capsule Server: 

    # satellite-maintain packages update package_1 package_2

Updating packages individually can lead to package inconsistencies on Satellite Server or Capsule Server. For more information about updating packages on Satellite Server, see Updating Satellite Server to the Next Minor Version in Upgrading and Updating Red Hat Satellite.

15.10. Reclaiming PostgreSQL Space

The PostgreSQL database can use a large amount of disk space especially in heavily loaded deployments. Use this procedure to reclaim some of this disk space on Satellite.

Procedure

  1. Stop all services, except for the postgresql service: 

    # satellite-maintain service stop --exclude postgresql

  2. Switch to the postgres user and reclaim space on the database: 

    # su - postgres -c 'vacuumdb --full --all'

  3. Start the other services when the vacuum completes: 

    # satellite-maintain service start

15.11. Reclaiming Space From On Demand Repositories

If you set the download policy to on demand, Satellite downloads packages only when the clients request them. You can clean up these packages to reclaim space.

For a single repository

  • In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Products.
  • Select a product.
  • On the Repositories tab, click the repository name.
  • From the Select Actions list, select Reclaim Space.

For multiple repositories

  • In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Products.
  • Select the product name.
  • On the Repositories tab, select the checkbox of the repositories.
  • Click Reclaim Space at the top right corner.

For Capsules

  • In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Capsules.
  • Select the Capsule Server.
  • Click Reclaim space.