Chapter 8. Restoring Satellite Server or Capsule Server from a Backup

You can restore Red Hat Satellite Server or Red Hat Capsule Server from the backup data that you create as part of Section 7.1, “Backing up Satellite Server or Capsule Server”. This process outlines how to restore the backup on the same server that generated the backup, and all data covered by the backup is deleted on the target system. If the original system is unavailable, provision a system with the same configuration settings and host name.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that you are restoring to the correct instance. The Red Hat Satellite instance must have the same host name, configuration, and be the same major version as the original system.
  • Ensure that you have an existing target directory. The target directory is read from the configuration files contained within the archive. If the target directory does not exist when trying to restore, an error occurs.

  • Ensure that you have enough space to store this data on the base system of Satellite Server or Capsule Server as well as enough space after the restoration to contain all the data in the /etc/ and /var/ directories contained within the backup.

    To check the space used by a directory, enter the following command: 

    # du -sh /var/backup_directory

    To check for free space, enter the following command: 

    # df -h /var/backup_directory

    Add the --total option to get a total of the results from more than one directory.

  • Ensure that you run the foreman-maintain restore script as root.

  • Ensure that all SELinux contexts are correct. Enter the following command to restore the correct SELinux contexts: 

    # restorecon -Rnv /

To Restore Satellite Server or Capsule Server from a Full Backup:

  1. Choose the appropriate method to install Satellite 6:

  2. Copy the backup data to Satellite Server’s local file system. Use /var/ or /var/tmp/.

  3. Run the restoration script: 

    # foreman-maintain restore /var/backup_directory

    Where backup_directory is the time-stamped directory or subdirectory containing the backed-up data.

The restore process can take a long time to complete, because of the amount of data to copy. Where incremental backups exist, see To Restore Satellite Server or Capsule Server from an Incremental Backup:.

When the restore process completes, all processes are online, and all databases and system configuration revert to the state at the time of the backup.

For troubleshooting, you can check /var/log/foreman/production.log and /var/log/messages.

To Restore Satellite Server or Capsule Server from an Incremental Backup:

Use this procedure to restore Satellite or Capsule Server from incremental backups. If you have multiple branches of incremental backups, select your full backup and each incremental backup for the “branch” you want to restore, in chronological order.

  1. Restore the last full backup using the instructions in Chapter 8, Restoring Satellite Server or Capsule Server from a Backup.
  2. Remove the full backup data from Satellite Server’s local file system, for example, /var/ or /var/tmp/.
  3. Copy the incremental backup data to Satellite Server’s local file system, for example, /var/ or /var/tmp/.

  4. Restore the incremental backups in the same sequence that they are made: 

    # foreman-maintain restore -i /var/backup_directory/FIRST_INCREMENTAL
# foreman-maintain restore -i /var/backup_directory/SECOND_INCREMENTAL

    If you create the backup using the foreman-maintain backup command, you do not need to use -i option in the command.

When the restore process completes, all processes are online, and all databases and system configuration revert to the state at the time of the backup.

For troubleshooting, you can check /var/log/foreman/production.log and /var/log/messages.

8.1. Backing up and Restoring Capsule Server Using a Virtual Machine Snapshot

If your Capsule Server is a virtual machine, you can restore it from a snapshot. Creating weekly snapshots to restore from is recommended. In the event of failure, you can install, or configure a new Capsule Server, and then synchronize the database content from Satellite Server.

If required, deploy a new Capsule Server, ensuring the host name is the same as before, and then install the Capsule certificates. You may still have them on Satellite Server, the package name ends in -certs.tar, alternately create new ones. Follow the procedures in Installing Capsule Server until you can confirm, in the web UI, that Capsule Server is connected to Satellite Server. Then use the following procedure to synchronize from Satellite.

Synchronizing an External Capsule

  1. To synchronize an external Capsule, select the relevant organization and location in the web UI, or choose Any Organization and Any Location.
  2. Navigate to Infrastructure > Capsules and click the name of the Capsule to synchronize.
  3. On the Overview tab, select Synchronize.