Chapter 4. New Features and Enhancements

This chapter introduces new features in Red Hat Satellite 6.5.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Provisioning and Patching

Satellite 6.5 supports the same provisioning and patch support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 that is currently available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Previous versions of Red Hat Satellite do not support Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Application Streams
Satellite 6.5 introduces support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Application Stream (AppStreams). This is referred to as module streams in Satellite. With AppStream’s additional options, you can reduce the complexity of your work flows. For example, you can select PostgreSQL 10 or PostgreSQL 9.6, depending on your needs, without having to configure additional repositories or consider RPM dependency conflicts.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 System Purpose

You can now state the intended use of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 host by setting the system purpose attribute. System purpose attributes define which subscriptions to attach automatically on host creation. Benefits include:

  • In-depth system-level information for system administrators and business operations
  • Reduced overhead when determining why a system was provisioned and its intended purpose
  • Improved customer experience of Subscription Manager auto-attach as well as automated discovery and reconciliation of system usage
Red Hat Enterprise Linux System Roles
Satellite 6.5 provides support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux system roles. These are Ansible playbooks that can be run on the hosts managed by Satellite. This includes roles for setting SELinux, setting the system time, and deploying the Red Hat Insights client.
Install Satellite 6.5 on a FIPS-enabled Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Host

You can now install Satellite Server and Capsule Server on a FIPS-enabled Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 host. With this feature, Satellite 6.5 inherits the FIPS level of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Note

You must perform a new installation of Satellite 6.5 on a FIPS-enabled Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 host. You cannot enable FIPS on an existing host with Satellite installed; therefore, you also cannot upgrade an existing system to Satellite 6.5 and enable FIPS. If you enable FIPS on Satellite Server, you must enable FIPS on all Capsule Servers connected to that Satellite.

OpenSCAP Enhancements
In Satellite 6.5 you can view all hosts that fail a specific OpenSCAP rule.
Satellite Admin Role
Satellite 6.5 includes a new Satellite Admin role. This user type can manage the Satellite infrastructure and create new organizations, but cannot manage the hosts.
Export Content Views

You can now export a Content View from one Satellite and import that Content View into another Satellite using the Hammer CLI tool. You can use the Hammer CLI to export, import, publish, and create Content View versions. This also simplifies the process for disconnected Satellites.

Changes to the hammer content-view version export command

The new hammer content-view version export and hammer content-view version import commands work differently from the commands in the previous versions of Satellite. The old feature is still available with the hammer content-view version export-legacy command.

Enhancements to Container Functionality

Satellite 6.5 has new container image management enhancements. New functionality includes:

  • Repository enhancements
  • Docker repository discovery, where you can search a registry for image names and create a local repository from the search results
  • A new authenticated registry
  • Customized image naming
Run Satellite or Capsules in Major Cloud Providers

Customers who are using Cloud Access can now deploy Satellite or Capsules without a support exception on the following cloud providers:

  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Google
  • Alibaba
  • IBM

    Note

    Other providers require a support exception. Host provisioning is currently only supported on AWS and Google.

Infoblox IPAM Support
Satellite 6.5 now provides support for Infoblox IPAM. You can use Infoblox applications to manage DNS and DHCP.
Reporting Engine

Satellite 6.5 now has a reporting engine with reporting templates for:

  • Host status
  • Subscriptions
  • Registered Hosts
  • Applicable Errata

    You can copy the templates and customize them to suit your needs, or create your own reports.

MongoDB Storage Engine

Satellite 6.5 supports the new MongoDB WiredTiger storage engine. For more information about the WiredTiger storage engine, see WiredTiger Storage Engine in MongoDB Manual.

On new installations, Satellite version 6.4 and later uses WiredTiger as a MongoDB storage engine by default. On earlier installations, you must upgrade to Satellite 6.5 or later to upgrade the MongoDB storage engine to WiredTiger. For more information, see Upgrading the MongoDB Storage Engine in Upgrading and Updating Red Hat Satellite.

satellite-maintain alias added
The satellite-maintain alias has been added for the foreman-maintain command.