Chapter 5. Updating Satellite Server, Capsule Server, and Content Hosts

Use this chapter to update your existing Satellite Server, Capsule Server, and Content Hosts to a new minor version, for example, from 6.7.0 to 6.7.1.

Updates patch security vulnerabilities and minor issues discovered after code is released, and are often fast and non-disruptive to your operating environment.

Before updating, back up your Satellite Server and all Capsule Servers. For more information, see Backing Up Satellite Server and Capsule Server in the Administering Red Hat Satellite guide.

5.1. Updating Satellite Server

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that you have synchronized Satellite Server repositories for Satellite, Capsule, and Satellite Tools 6.7.
  • Ensure each external Capsule and Content Host can be updated by promoting the updated repositories to all relevant Content Views.
Warning

If you customize configuration files, manually or use a tool such as Hiera, these customizations are overwritten when the installation script runs during upgrading or updating. You can use the --noop option with the satellite-installer script to test for changes. For more information, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution How to use the noop option to check for changes in Satellite config files during an upgrade.

Updating Satellite Server to the Next Minor Version

To Update Satellite Server:

  1. Ensure the Satellite Maintenance repository is enabled: 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable \
rhel-7-server-satellite-maintenance-6-rpms

  2. Clean yum cache: 

    # yum clean all

  3. Ensure that the rubygem-foreman_maintain package that provides satellite-maintain is installed and up to date: 

    # yum install rubygem-foreman_maintain

  4. Check the available versions to confirm the next minor version is listed: 

    # satellite-maintain upgrade list-versions

  5. Use the health check option to determine if the system is ready for upgrade. On first use of this command, satellite-maintain prompts you to enter the hammer admin user credentials and saves them in the /etc/foreman-maintain/foreman-maintain-hammer.yml file. 

    # satellite-maintain upgrade check --target-version 6.7.z

    Review the results and address any highlighted error conditions before performing the upgrade.

  6. Because of the lengthy update time, use a utility such as screen to suspend and reattach a communication session. You can then check the upgrade progress without staying connected to the command shell continuously. For more information about using the screen command, see How do I use the screen command? article in the Red Hat Knowledge Base.

    If you lose connection to the command shell where the upgrade command is running, you can see the logged messages in the /var/log/foreman-installer/satellite.log file to check if the process completed successfully.

  7. Perform the upgrade: 

    # satellite-maintain upgrade run --target-version 6.7.z

  8. Check when the kernel packages were last updated: 

    # rpm -qa --last | grep kernel

  9. Optional: If a kernel update occurred since the last reboot, stop the satellite-maintain services and reboot the system: 

    # satellite-maintain service stop
# reboot

5.2. Updating Capsule Server

Updating Capsule Servers to the Next Minor Version

Procedure

To update Capsule Server, complete the following steps:

  1. On Capsule Server, list the enabled repositories: 

    # subscription-manager repos --list-enabled

  2. Ensure that only the following repositories are enabled: 

    rhel-7-server-rpms
rhel-7-server-satellite-capsule-6.7-rpms
rhel-server-rhscl-7-rpms
rhel-7-server-satellite-tools-6.7-rpms
rhel-7-server-satellite-maintenance-6-rpms
rhel-7-server-ansible-2.8-rpms

    For more information about disabling and enabling repositories, see Configuring Repositories in Installing Capsule Server. The rhel-7-server-satellite-tools-6.7-rpms repository provides katello-host-tools and Katello Agent. For more information, see Installing the katello Agent in Installing Capsule Server. The Red Hat Software Collections repository is optional, it is required for the Remote Execution feature.

  3. Stop the satellite-maintain services: 

    # satellite-maintain service stop

  4. Until BZ#1649764 is resolved, update the gofer package: 

    # yum update gofer

  5. Restart goferd. 

    # systemctl restart goferd

  6. Update all packages: 

    # yum update

    If a kernel update occurs, make a note to reboot after the upgrade is complete. Do not reboot at this point.

  7. Perform the update by running the installer script with the --upgrade option. 

    # satellite-installer --scenario capsule --upgrade

  8. Optional: If a kernel update occurred during the yum update step, stop the satellite-maintain services and reboot the system: 

    # satellite-maintain service stop
# reboot

5.3. Updating Content Hosts

Updating Content Hosts to the Next Minor Version

To Update a Content Host, enter the following commands:

  1. Until BZ#1649764 is resolved, update the gofer package: 

    # yum update gofer

  2. Restart goferd: 

    # systemctl restart goferd

  3. Update all packages: 

    # yum update

  4. Optional: If a kernel update occurred since the last reboot, reboot the system: 

    # reboot