RHBA-2014:0541 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated spacewalk-java, spacewalk-web, spacewalk-reports and cobbler packages
that fix several bugs are now available for Red Hat Satellite 5.6.

Description

Red Hat Satellite is a systems management tool for Linux-based infrastructures.
It allows for provisioning, remote management and monitoring of multiple Linux
deployments with a single, centralized tool.

Bug fixes:

• A previous change that improved the speed of package search operations

introduced a bug causing the package search API to return only the first
matching result. This update corrects the related package queries, and the
package search API now correctly returns all the matching results. (BZ#1074083)

• The Satellite API previously did not consider a possibility having installed

different architecture versions of the same package on the system, and the
related API method thus returned only the first matching package. This update
ensures that the API handles this situation correctly and returns all packages
as expected. (BZ#1064625)

• Satellite always added a "set -x" line to non-chroot kickstart scripts.

However, this command is not valid for non-shell interpreters, such as Python,
and the script thus failed with a syntax error in such a case. This update
ensures that "set -x" is added only to a Bash kickstart script. (BZ#676828)

• Satellite was using a different default partition layout for provisioned

systems than is used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. This could confuse system
administrators who would expect a default partition layout on machines with this
operating system. To avoid confusion, Satellite now uses the default partition
layout of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. (BZ#1075161)

• Satellite encrypted the root password for all provisioned systems with the MD5

algorithm. This cryptographic function is, however, no longer considered
sufficiently secure. Satellite has been thus updated to use the SHA-256
algorithm in kickstart profiles for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and higher.
Kickstart profiles for Red Hat Enterprise 5 and lower still use MD5 due to a
lack of SHA-256 support in some earlier versions. (BZ#1075127)

• When provisioning virtual guests on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, the

Satellite implementation of Cobbler provided the koan tool with incorrect
information about the operating system. Consequently, provisioned guests were
running without any performance enhancements. This update fixes the problem and
ensures that the provisioned guests run with expected efficiency in this case.
(BZ#1051160)

• If an arbitrary command was scheduled along with package installation to be

run before or after the installation, the administrator was unable to cancel
actions that had been scheduled in this manner. This update ensures that
Satellite handles canceling of the scheduled actions properly, enabling
administrators to cancel scheduled actions as needed. (BZ#1066479)

• Satellite counted the systems subscribed to several channels from the given

channel family multiple times, and the channel family pages in the Satellite
WebUI thus displayed incorrect number of the subscribed systems. This update
ensures that the systems in this scenario are counted only once so the family
pages now display the correct number of the subscribed systems. (BZ#1002912)

• When changing the channel subscriptions for multiple systems at once using the

System Set Manager (SSM), Satellite did not update the scheduled action after
the successful change, and the action remained in the "In Progress" state. This
update modifies SSM to ensure that Satellite updates the action state properly
in this case. (BZ#1013833)

• A request to display past actions in the Satellite WebUI could fail with a "503

Service Temporarily Unavailable" error if the Satellite database had stored a
very large number of that type of action (more than 35 thousands). This update
fixes the problem by limiting the Satellite WebUI to display only last 25
thousands actions; older actions can be retrieved by using a new
spacewalk-report utility. (BZ#1030798)

All users of Red Hat Satellite are advised to upgrade to these updated packages,
which fix these bugs.

Solution

Application of this errata involves updating the database schema.

For general instructions on database schema upgrade, consult the following
document first: https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/273633

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata relevant
to your system have been applied. To apply this erratum, take the following
steps:

• Shut down Red Hat Satellite by running the following as root:

# rhn-satellite stop

• Backup the database. For embedded or managed database variants, please consult

Red Hat Satellite documentation.

For an external database, consult your database administrator.

• Upgrade the errata packages available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to

use Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/11258

• Restart Red Hat Satellite by running the following as root:

# rhn-satellite start

Affected Products

• Red Hat Satellite 5.6 for RHEL 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Satellite 5.6 for RHEL 6 s390x
• Red Hat Satellite 5.6 for RHEL 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Satellite 5 Managed DB 5.6 for RHEL 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Satellite 5 Managed DB 5.6 for RHEL 6 s390x
• Red Hat Satellite 5 Managed DB 5.6 for RHEL 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Satellite 5 Managed DB 5.6 for RHEL 5 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 1051160 - Provisioning on RHEL 7 VHost creates slow guests
• BZ - 1066479 - When scheduling package installs with added command after install (reboot/yum check-update) unable to cancel.

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)