Red Hat Satellite Product Life Cycle

Overview

Red Hat provides a published product life cycle for the Red Hat Satellite server (“Satellite”) and its associated federation enablement component, the Red Hat Satellite Capsule Server ("Capsule"), in order for customers and partners to effectively plan, deploy and support their management of Red Hat infrastructure.

The life cycle associated with Red Hat Satellite, which encompasses stated time periods for each major version, identifies the various levels of maintenance, split into production phases, from the initial release date - or General Availability (GA) to the End of Life (EOL).

The production phases reference an X.Y version of Satellite, though multiple X.Y versions of the product may be supported simultaneously, see the N-2 Support Policy image below. Customers are expected to upgrade their Satellite and Capsule(s) servers to the most current supported version of the product in a timely fashion as older “.Y” versions of the products may be phased out of service according to the Red Hat Satellite Support Policy. Bug fixes and feature-work will target only the latest major versions of the product, though some allowance may be given for high-security risk items.

Red Hat Satellite Support Policy

Satellite N-2 Support Policy Notes:
  1. The support policy is defined as N-2, where N is the latest ".Y" (minor) release of Satellite, effectively meaning that the current and the 2 previous versions will be concurrently supported within the same time frame.
  2. While upgrading, the N-1 Support Policy is applied for Capsules, meaning that Capsules running the immediate previous (.Y) version along with the current version of the Satellite server will be supported.
  3. When a version hits the End of Life (EOL) while still able to sync repositories, no technical support will be provided other than for a Satellite upgrade issues to a fully supported version.
  4. Please, note that the Red Hat Satellite lifecycle and releases are independent of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Product Life Cycle.

Software updates to Satellite are delivered via errata advisories. Errata can be released individually or aggregated in the form of a Z-Stream (X.Y.Z) on an as-needed basis or yet aggregated as a minor release. Errata may contain security and bug fixes, as well as feature enhancements that have been verified for the appropriate Satellite release and architecture. Security errata and urgent bug-fix errata may be released independently of errata advisories.

Z-streams are targeted to be delivered during the Full Support phase of any given Satellite minor release, from GA to the Full Support Ends as listed on the Red Hat Satellite Life-Cycle Dates table below.

Red Hat Satellite Life Cycle Dates

The Satellite product life cycle is designed to reduce the level of change within each major release over time, increasing predictability and decreasing maintenance costs. All released errata will remain accessible to active subscribers across the entire life cycle. Red Hat publishes this life cycle in an effort to provide as much transparency as possible and may make exceptions from these policies as conflicts may arise.

Life-Cycle Dates Table

Red Hat Satellite 6 Scope of Coverage

Support will be provided for use according to the published Scope of Coverage for Satellite. To encourage the rapid adoption of new enterprise hardware and software while keeping the high standard of stability inherent in the Red Hat enterprise products, the Red Hat Satellite 6 product life cycle is divided into three phases of maintenance, described below.

Red Hat Satellite 6 Production Phases

Full Support Phase

Whenever a Satellite version reaches General Availability (GA) it enters the Full Support Phase. During the Full Support Phase, Red Hat defined Critical and Important Security errata advisories (RHSAs) and Urgent and Selected (at Red Hat discretion) High Priority Bug Fix errata advisories (RHBAs) will be released as they become available. Other low priority errata advisories may be delivered as appropriate. Additionally, new or improved hardware support and select enhanced software functionality may be provided at the discretion of Red Hat. Satellite Z-Streams releases are available only during the Full Support phase.

Maintenance Support Phase

During the Maintenance Support phase, qualified Critical and Important Security errata advisories (RHSAs) and Urgent and Selected High Priority Bug Fix errata advisories (RHBAs) will be released as they become available. Other bug fixes (RHBA) and enhancement (RHEA) errata advisories may be released at Red Hat’s discretion, but should not be expected.

End of Life (EOL) Phase

Whenever a version hits the End of the Maintenance Support Phase it automatically enters the End of Life (EOL) milestone, where no Errata or software updates will be provided for these versions, and while still able to sync repositories, no technical support will be provided other than for satellite upgrade issues to a fully supported version. To continue receiving the appropriate technical support, customers are requested to upgrade to a fully supported Red Hat Satellite and Capsule version.

For more information on how to upgrade your Satellite 6 system, please refer to the tool Red Hat Satellite Upgrade Helper. Or for assistance in planning your upgrade, please contact Red Hat Technical Support.

Historical Product Life Cycle Information

Red Hat Satellite 5 Life Cycle Dates

General Availability End of Full Support End of Maintenance Support End of Maintenance Support 2
Satellite and Proxy 51 June 26, 2007 June 26, 2010 Satellite 5.6 & 5.7:
May 29, 2015		 Satellite 5.6 & 5.7:
Jan 31, 2019
Satellite 5.8 ONLY:
May 31, 20202
Satellite Proxy 5 Stand-Alone3 June 26, 2007 June 26, 2010 May 29, 2015 Oct 31, 2017

  1. Satellite and Proxy 5 versions running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ended Maintenance Support 2 on March 31st, 2017. Satellite and Proxy 5.6 servers running on RHEL 5 are therefore no longer supported, per the ‘Dependent Software’ policy listed at the bottom of this page. The underlying OS should be upgraded to RHEL 6 immediately to ensure full support.

  2. Red Hat Satellite 5.8: Please note that upgrading to 5.8 assures you will continue to get all critical and security fixes in the product. Satellite 5.7 and versions prior are not guaranteed additional fixes or updates. As a result, Red Hat supports direct upgrades to Satellite 5.8 from any version of Satellite 5, including unsupported versions.

  3. Red Hat Satellite Proxy server ‘Stand-Alone’ references a component of a Red Hat Satellite deployment which is used as a stand-alone (Satellite-less) offering, and as of October 31, 2017 is now end-of-life

Red Hat Satellite 5 Scope of Coverage

Support will be provided for use according to the published Scope of Coverage for Satellite 5. For a period of at least seven years immediately following the initial release of the major version of the products, Red Hat will provide errata maintenance for that major version of Satellite 5. To encourage the rapid adoption of new enterprise hardware and software while keeping the high standard of stability inherent in the Red Hat enterprise products, the product life cycle is divided into three phases of maintenance, described below.

Red Hat has transitioned from the Red Hat Network (RHN) hosted interface to the Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM) interface. The transition began with the end of the RHN user interface in July 2017.

Reference the following article Prepare Satellite 5 systems for Red Hat Network’s End of Life which walks you through the steps of required actions, in order to learn more about the transition from RHN to RHSM.

If you wish to continue using Red Hat Satellite 5, we highly recommend upgrading to the recently released Satellite 5.8 version as soon as possible. Satellite 5.8 has the ability to both register via Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) and retrieve content from the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Note: Changes planned for RHN subscription services will not impact Red Hat Satellite 6 users so no action is needed for those customers.

Satellite 5 Production Phases

Red Hat Satellite 5 Full Support

During the Full Support Phase, qualified Critical and Important Security errata advisories (RHSAs) and Urgent and Selected High Priority Bug Fix errata advisories (RHBAs) may be released as they become available. Other errata advisories may be delivered as appropriate.

New or improved hardware support and select enhanced software functionality may be provided at the discretion of Red Hat. Minor (point) releases will also include available and qualified errata advisories (RHSAs, RHBAs, and RHEAs). Minor releases are cumulative and include the contents of previously released updates. The focus for minor releases during this phase is resolving defects of medium or higher priority.

Updated installation images will be provided for minor releases during the Full Support Phase.

Red Hat Satellite 5 Maintenance Support

During the Maintenance Support Phase, qualified Critical and Important Security errata advisories (RHSAs) and Urgent Priority Bug Fix errata advisories (RHBAs) may be released as they become available. Other bug fixes (RHBA) and enhancement (RHEA) errata advisories may be released at Red Hat’s discretion, but should not be expected.

Expanded hardware support that does not require substantial software changes may be provided at the discretion of Red Hat. Minor releases will also include all available and qualified errata. Minor releases are cumulative and thus include the contents of previously released minor releases and errata advisories, including those from Maintenance Support.

Updated installation images may be provided at Red Hat's discretion for minor releases during the Maintenance Support Phase.

Red Hat Satellite 5 Maintenance Support 2

During the Maintenance Support 2 Phase, Critical Impact Security Advisories (RHSAs) and selected Urgent Priority Bug Fix Advisories (RHBAs) may be released as they become available. Other errata advisories may be delivered at Red Hat's discretion.

New functionality, new hardware support, and/or updated installation images are not planned for availability in the Maintenance Support 2. Minor releases and new installation ISOs are unlikely to be delivered during this phase. Support is focused on stability and migration to next major version.

Red Hat Satellite 5 Production Phase Notes

  • For a definition of security severity impact classifications, see Severity Ratings.
  • Full details of support services are provided as part of the subscription agreement.
  • Red Hat may address catastrophic issues with significant business impact for the customer through a hotfix, as a temporary measure while the bug-fix errata is being created.

Virtualization

Applies to both Satellite 5 and Satellite 6

Red Hat supports versions of Red Hat Satellite server that are still within their supported product life cycle running as virtualized guests on later versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, to qualify as supported, Red Hat may require that both the guest and host versions have the latest available errata applied.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization Support Matrix provides details on the supported combinations of operating systems, versions, and hardware architectures.

Dependent Software

Applies to both Satellite 5 and Satellite 6

Red Hat Satellite server may be dependent on software that enables functionality or serves as part of the underlying platform. This software (e.g., Oracle, Red Hat Enterprise Linux) may include asynchronous product support life cycles. If such software has ended its standard production life cycle (e.g., the end of Maintenance Support 2 for Red Hat Enterprise Linux), customers may be required to upgrade to a more recent version of Satellite. For example, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Life Phase and/or Extended Lifecycle Support are not considered standard production life cycle phases and will not be a supported platform for either Satellite or Satellite Proxy.

The satellite maintenance repository delivers Red Hat Ansible packages for use in the satellite-clone tool. These packages are supported for use in the satellite-clone tool only. Any other use of these packages from this repository are not supported by a Satellite Subscription.

Client Systems

Applies to both Satellite 5 and Satellite 6

Red Hat Satellite server is a systems-management platform for currently supported products. Client systems that have extended beyond their individual support life cycles will not be supported. For example, Red Hat Linux 9 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 are no longer supported by Red Hat, and therefore Red Hat Satellite (and Satellite 5 Proxy) server's ability to manage those systems is also no longer supported. Customers are advised to migrate away from unsupported client platforms promptly. For specific information about supported client systems, please see the Red Hat Satellite Server Reference Manual and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Product Life Cycle guidance page.

Red Hat Satellite Server and Proxy 5.5 and Earlier1, 2

General Availability End of Full Support End of Maintenance Support End of Maintenance Support 2
June 26, 2007 June 26, 2010 October 1, 2014 N/A3
  1. Satellite 5 versions running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 are no longer supported as outlined in the Dependent Software section. For more information about upgrading to a more current version of Satellite, see Security Advisory RHSA-2012:1546.
  2. Again referencing the Dependent Software section, all versions of Satellite that natively use Oracle for database operations will no longer be supported as of May 29, 2015. Affected are all versions through 5.5. New installations of these versions may be restricted sooner at Red Hat’s discretion.
  3. For Satellite 5.5 and earlier versions, there will be no Maintenance Support 2 Phase. The life cycle will transition from Maintenance Support to the Limited Maintenance Phase.

Red Hat Satellite Server 4

General Availability End of Full Support End of Maintenance Support
August 31, 2005 August 31, 2008 December 31, 2010

Red Hat Satellite Server 3

General Availability End of Full Support End of Maintenance Support
March 23, 2004 March 23, 2007 March 23, 2009