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Chapter 9. Scheduling Red Hat Satellite Administrative Tasks

Red Hat Satellite allows organization administrators to regularly perform long-term operations using the taskomatic service. These operations are segregated into individual tasks and grouped logically into a bunch that is defined by schedules. You can modify these schedules to execute at specific time intervals. Satellite schedules are used to:
  • Remove the administrative burden from the organizational administrator by automating tasks.
  • Schedule operational tasks for time frames that will not tax the organization's daily network traffic.
Red Hat Satellite provides default schedules that trigger specific task bunches.

Table 9.1. Default Schedules in Red Hat Satellite 5.6

Schedule Name Bunch Name Bunch Function
channel-repodata-default channel-repodata-bunch Generates channel repository data.
cleanup-data-default cleanup-data-bunch Cleans up orphaned and outdated data.
clear-taskologs-default clear-taskologs-bunch Clears taskomatic run log history.
cobbler-sync-default cobbler-sync-bunch Applies any cobbler configuration changes.
compare-configs-default compare-configs-bunch Schedules a comparison of configuration files on all systems.
daily-status-queue daily-status-bunch Sends daily report.
errata-cache-default errata-cache-bunch Recalculates errata cache for a given server or channel.
errata-queue-default errata-queue-bunch Processes errata.
kickstart-cleanup-default kickstart-cleanup-bunch Cleans up stale kickstart files.
kickstartfile-sync-default kickstartfile-sync-bunch Synchronizes kickstart profiles that were generated using the wizard.
package-cleanup-default package-cleanup-bunch Cleans up orphaned packages.
sandbox-cleanup-default sandbox-cleanup-bunch Cleans up sandbox.
satcert-check-default satcert-check-bunch Determines expiration status of Satellite certificate.
session-cleanup-default session-cleanup-bunch Deletes expired rows from the PXTSessions table to prevent it from growing too large.
sync-probe-default sync-probe-bunch Synchronizes probe state.

9.1. Scheduling a Run

A run is a single execution of a bunch according to a configured schedule. You can schedule a run based on the default template provided by Red Hat Satellite, or you can create an entirely new schedule.

Procedure 9.1. Creating a Schedule Template

  1. Log in to Satellite as the Organization Administrator.
  2. Click Admin → Task Schedules → Create Schedule.
  3. Complete the following fields:
    • Schedule Name: must begin with a letter and contain only lowercase characters, hyphens, periods, underscores, or numerals.
    • Bunch: the default bunch of administrative tasks the administrator can choose from.
    • Frequency
      The following frequency options are available:
      • Disable Schedule: only recommended for administrators who have advanced knowledge of the scheduled tasks and their consequences. Disabling schedules can change Satellite behavior.
      • Daily: creates a daily schedule for a specific time of day.
      • Weekly: creates a weekly schedule for a specific day and time of day.
      • Monthly: creates a monthly schedule for a specific day and time of day.
      • Custom Quartz Format: this format relies on cron expressions to define the schedule. For more information about this format, see the crontab man page (man 5 crontab.)
  4. Click Create Schedule.

Procedure 9.2. Editing Schedule Templates

As an alternative to creating a new schedule, you can edit the default templates. To edit one of the existing templates:
  1. Log in to Satellite as the Organization Administrator.
  2. Click Admin → Task Schedules.
  3. Click the schedule that you want to modify.
  4. Change the Frequency type as required.
  5. Click Edit Schedule.