Red Hat Satellite Certificate / Manifest FAQ
- When/why do I need a new Satellite 5 Certificate or Satellite 6 Manifest?
- How to generate or request a Satellite 5 Certificate or Satellite 6 Manifest?
- Why do I not see the Satellite Certificate Tool on the Red Hat Customer Portal?
- Why is the certificate expiration date earlier than my Satellite subscription end date?
- Does the Certificate version have to match my Satellite server version?
- How to activate the Satellite 5 Certificate or import the Satellite 6 Manifest?
- What's in a Satellite 5 Certificate or Satellite 6 Manifest?
- Where do I get more information?
Q: When/why do I need a new Satellite 5 Certificate or Satellite 6 Manifest?
A:
- For Satellite 5, you need to activate a new certificate (v5.6 or 5.7) or manifest (v5.8) if you are installing Satellite for the first time, upgrading an existing Satellite, replacing an expiring or expired certificate, or have made changes to your Satellite entitlements and need Satellite to reflect those changes.
- For Satellite 6, you need to import a new manifest if you are installing Satellite for the first time, replacing a manifest with expiring or expired subscriptions, or have made changes to your subscription allocations and need Satellite to reflect those changes. You can watch a short video for creating a Satellite 6 Manifest here
Also see How and when does a Red Hat Satellite Certificate expire? and Can Satellite Certificates be generated before the start of new contract?.
Q: How to generate or request a Satellite Certificate or Manifest?
A: Single-Satellite, Multi-Satellite and Starter Pack Satellite customers can generate Satellite certificates and manifests using the Customer Portal self-service tool under Subscriptions tab → Subscription Allocation → New Subscription Allocation, following these steps after logging into the Customer Portal using an user with sufficient rights (Organizational Administrator or account with View/Renew Subscription Information and Manage Your Subscriptions rights).
Q: Why do I not see the Satellite Certificate Tool on the Red Hat Customer Portal?
A: The link to the tool will not be visible if your Organization does not have any active Red Hat Satellite subscriptions.
Q: Why is the Satellite 5 certificate expiration date earlier than my Satellite subscription end date?
A: Do you have any Evaluation subscriptions? The Satellite 5 Certificate expiration date is set to either the end date of the Satellite subscription, or that of the earliest-ending Evaluation subscription on the account, whichever comes first. This is so that Satellite 5 Certificates are not issued for longer than the duration of the Evaluation(s). If that does not explain the difference in expiration date on your Satellite 5 Certificate, please contact Red Hat support to report the issue.
Q: Does the Certificate version have to match my Satellite server version?
A: For Satellite 5, yes. If you are attempting to upgrade the Red Hat Satellite 5 server to a new major release - for example, from 5.6 to 5.8 - please ensure you have the newest Satellite 5 installer ISO and rhn-upgrade package, and read through all of the documentation included in rhn-upgrade (starting with /etc/sysconfig/rhn/satellite-upgrade/README) before proceeding.
Q: How do I activate the Satellite 5 Certificate or import the Satellite 6 Manifest?
A:
- For Satellite 5, see How to activate a Satellite certificate for a Red Hat Satellite 5 Server?.
- For Satellite 6, see Section "Importing a Subscription Manifest into the Satellite Server" in Content Management Guide.
Q: What's in a Satellite Certificate or Manifest?
A: Red Hat Satellite provides all services to customers through subscriptions and entitlements, which are purchased as needed and contractually agreed-upon beforehand.
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For Satellite 5.7 or earlier versions, all public channels are automatically available and private channels are determined by the Satellite Certificate (also known as Red Hat Network Entitlement Certificate), which contains a precise set of entitlements attributed to your organization. See What is a Satellite Certificate? What do the fields in the certificate mean?.
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For Satellite 5.8 or 6.x, the list of attached subscriptions is defined in a manifest, which outlines all of the subscriptions, products, and content repositories for that organization (and, therefore, for all of the systems it manages). See Satellite 5 Installation Guide or Satellite 6 Content Management Guide - Importing Red Hat Content.
Q: Where do I get more information?
A: More information can be found here:
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Red Hat Satellite 5.7 Documentation - Installation Guide - Entitlement Certificate
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Red Hat Satellite 6 Documentation - Content Management Guide
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Red Hat Subscription Management Documentation - What We Mean by "Managing Subscriptions"
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a walkthrough of generating a Satellite Certificate using the self-service tool on Customer Portal
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Red Hat Network Satellite 5 Certificate (3-part video series): Overview, Activation, Troubleshooting
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Overview - How to migrate RHEL systems to new RHEL 6 Flex Entitlement Model using Red Hat Satellite
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Satellite 5 returns activation error: "You do not have enough entitlements in the base org."
You can also contact Red Hat support.
For more KB articles/solutions related to Red Hat Satellite 6.x Manifest Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Red Hat Satellite 6.x Manifest Issues
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