Discussion:
[Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers
P***@bham.ac.uk
2018-11-26 12:20:45 UTC
Permalink
Good afternoon

I'm currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I'm starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I've added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can't seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I've seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using "mrepo" but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
Irwin, Jeffrey
2018-11-26 19:57:47 UTC
Permalink
I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk <***@bham.ac.uk>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I'm currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I'm starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I've added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can't seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I've seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using "mrepo" but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
Waldirio Manhães Pinheiro
2018-11-27 01:18:25 UTC
Permalink
Hello Phil

Yeap, this is the diff between the Product (Red Hat Satellite) and Upstream
(Spacewalk), basically, on Satellite everything will be automatically and
will sync packages and erratas. When using SW you have to do this work
manually *implementing some way to download/push to your SW server*.

There are diff ways to do this implementation, and I really recommend you
to take a look in the list archives [1]. I wrote this book [2] with all SW
workflow, unfortunately, I didn't add a way to sync Red Hat repos.

Hope this helps.
______________
Best
Waldirio
Skype: waldirio
Site: www.waldirio.com.br
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldirio

[1]. https://www.redhat.com/archives/spacewalk-list/
[2].
https://www.amazon.com/Spacewalk-Satellite-Project-solution-management-ebook/dp/B071DDQ4W2

On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 11:58 AM Irwin, Jeffrey <
***@rivertechllc.com> wrote:

> I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a
> local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That
> way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up
> the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6
> was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7
> patches into spacewalk.
> ------------------------------
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk <
> ***@bham.ac.uk>
> *Sent:* Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7
> Servers
>
>
> Good afternoon
>
>
>
> I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised
> patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are
> about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the
> Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by
> installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added
> channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of
> test client systems.
>
> However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL
> 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat
> Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect
> directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been
> disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as
> well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over
> complicated really.
>
>
>
> Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7
> servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?
>
>
>
> In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning
> capabilities too.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Phil
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Spacewalk-list mailing list
> Spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/spacewalk-list
P***@bham.ac.uk
2018-11-27 09:23:14 UTC
Permalink
Hi Waldirio

Thanks for your response and I’ll take a look at those links. I didn’t think there would be any problem patching RHEL servers with Satellite, as that was exactly what it was designed to do, but have you had any success with using the same system to patch Oracle 6/7 systems as well – as I’m trying to establish a single centralised system capable of doing both? I’m thinking that it probably can but Red Hat just wouldn’t support that element?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of ***@gmail.com
Sent: 27 November 2018 01:18
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hello Phil

Yeap, this is the diff between the Product (Red Hat Satellite) and Upstream (Spacewalk), basically, on Satellite everything will be automatically and will sync packages and erratas. When using SW you have to do this work manually *implementing some way to download/push to your SW server*.

There are diff ways to do this implementation, and I really recommend you to take a look in the list archives [1]. I wrote this book [2] with all SW workflow, unfortunately, I didn't add a way to sync Red Hat repos.

Hope this helps.
______________
Best
Waldirio
Skype: waldirio
Site: www.waldirio.com.br<http://www.waldirio.com.br>
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldirio

[1]. https://www.redhat.com/archives/spacewalk-list/
[2]. https://www.amazon.com/Spacewalk-Satellite-Project-solution-management-ebook/dp/B071DDQ4W2

On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 11:58 AM Irwin, Jeffrey <***@rivertechllc.com<mailto:***@rivertechllc.com>> wrote:

I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil

_______________________________________________
Spacewalk-list mailing list
Spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:Spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/spacewalk-list
P***@bham.ac.uk
2018-11-27 09:16:38 UTC
Permalink
Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL's you've configured for the RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take out any sensitive information)?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of ***@rivertechllc.com
Sent: 26 November 2018 19:58
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I'm currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I'm starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I've added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can't seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I've seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using "mrepo" but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
William Hongach
2018-11-27 14:03:14 UTC
Permalink
Hi Phil,

I use Spacewalk to centrally manage multiple distributions and different major releases within each distribution, as you are seeking to accomplish. Understanding that the Linux server running Spacewalk would not have access to all of the different proprietary subscriptions, this was achieved by setting up repository download servers for each distribution/release that required a separate subscription. Updates are downloaded by a scripted cron job on each local repo server and pushed to the central Spacewalk server using rhnpush.

To script update downloads on a local repo server, the reposync command can be used for RHEL, the smt-mirror command can be used for SUSE, etc. With this method, you do not need to worry about URLs. You can download repositories by their ID/name.

HTH.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of ***@bham.ac.uk
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 4:17 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL's you've configured for the RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take out any sensitive information)?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@rivertechllc.com<mailto:***@rivertechllc.com>
Sent: 26 November 2018 19:58
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I'm currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I'm starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I've added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can't seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I've seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using "mrepo" but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
Irwin, Jeffrey
2018-11-27 14:08:53 UTC
Permalink
​HTH,

That sounds better than my solution by far. Well, same solution but more streamlined. So you do a reposync using a script, then use rhnpush to push to satellite? Is that right?


Jeff


________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> on behalf of William Hongach <***@marist.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:03 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Phil,

I use Spacewalk to centrally manage multiple distributions and different major releases within each distribution, as you are seeking to accomplish. Understanding that the Linux server running Spacewalk would not have access to all of the different proprietary subscriptions, this was achieved by setting up repository download servers for each distribution/release that required a separate subscription. Updates are downloaded by a scripted cron job on each local repo server and pushed to the central Spacewalk server using rhnpush.

To script update downloads on a local repo server, the reposync command can be used for RHEL, the smt-mirror command can be used for SUSE, etc. With this method, you do not need to worry about URLs. You can download repositories by their ID/name.

HTH.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of ***@bham.ac.uk
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 4:17 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL’s you’ve configured for the RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take out any sensitive information)?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@rivertechllc.com<mailto:***@rivertechllc.com>
Sent: 26 November 2018 19:58
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
William Hongach
2018-11-27 14:22:36 UTC
Permalink
Hi Jeff,

Yes, it is a two-step process but it is a workaround to the Spacewalk server not having the subscription to other distributions (or even major releases). For example, if your Spacewalk server is RHEL 7, and you want to download/push RHEL 6 packages using a local machine you can script the following:

Download:
Create a local directory
reposync –n –repoid=rhel-6-server-rpms
reposync –n –repod=rhel-6-server-optional-rpms

Push:
rhnpush –v –channel=$CHANNEL –server=http://$SERVER/APP –dir=./local-dir

My cron job runs this monthly since that is the anticipated patch frequencey for our test and dev servers. While our software channels are created ahead of time, you can script creation of these channels before the push as well, using the “spacecmd softwarechannel_create” command.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of Irwin, Jeffrey
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:09 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


​HTH,

That sounds better than my solution by far. Well, same solution but more streamlined. So you do a reposync using a script, then use rhnpush to push to satellite? Is that right?



Jeff



________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of William Hongach <***@marist.edu<mailto:***@marist.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:03 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Phil,

I use Spacewalk to centrally manage multiple distributions and different major releases within each distribution, as you are seeking to accomplish. Understanding that the Linux server running Spacewalk would not have access to all of the different proprietary subscriptions, this was achieved by setting up repository download servers for each distribution/release that required a separate subscription. Updates are downloaded by a scripted cron job on each local repo server and pushed to the central Spacewalk server using rhnpush.

To script update downloads on a local repo server, the reposync command can be used for RHEL, the smt-mirror command can be used for SUSE, etc. With this method, you do not need to worry about URLs. You can download repositories by their ID/name.

HTH.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 4:17 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL’s you’ve configured for the RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take out any sensitive information)?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@rivertechllc.com<mailto:***@rivertechllc.com>
Sent: 26 November 2018 19:58
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil
Waldirio Manhães Pinheiro
2018-11-27 14:39:41 UTC
Permalink
Yay

A lot of great information to you! :-)

I believe now you are good to go.

______________
Best
Waldirio
Skype: waldirio
Site: www.waldirio.com.br
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldirio


On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 6:28 AM William Hongach <***@marist.edu>
wrote:

> Hi Jeff,
>
>
>
> Yes, it is a two-step process but it is a workaround to the Spacewalk
> server not having the subscription to other distributions (or even major
> releases). For example, if your Spacewalk server is RHEL 7, and you want
> to download/push RHEL 6 packages using a local machine you can script the
> following:
>
>
>
> Download:
>
> Create a local directory
>
> reposync –n –repoid=rhel-6-server-rpms
>
> reposync –n –repod=rhel-6-server-optional-rpms
>
>
>
> Push:
>
> rhnpush –v –channel=$CHANNEL –server=http://$SERVER/APP –dir=./local-dir
>
>
>
> My cron job runs this monthly since that is the anticipated patch
> frequencey for our test and dev servers. While our software channels are
> created ahead of time, you can script creation of these channels before the
> push as well, using the “spacecmd softwarechannel_create” command.
>
>
>
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> *On Behalf Of *Irwin, Jeffrey
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:09 AM
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL
> 6/7 Servers
>
>
>
> ​HTH,
>
> That sounds better than my solution by far. Well, same solution but more
> streamlined. So you do a reposync using a script, then use rhnpush to push
> to satellite? Is that right?
>
>
>
> Jeff
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> on behalf of William Hongach <
> ***@marist.edu>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:03 AM
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL
> 6/7 Servers
>
>
>
> Hi Phil,
>
>
>
> I use Spacewalk to centrally manage multiple distributions and different
> major releases within each distribution, as you are seeking to accomplish.
> Understanding that the Linux server running Spacewalk would not have access
> to all of the different proprietary subscriptions, this was achieved by
> setting up repository download servers for each distribution/release that
> required a separate subscription. Updates are downloaded by a scripted
> cron job on each local repo server and pushed to the central Spacewalk
> server using rhnpush.
>
>
>
> To script update downloads on a local repo server, the reposync command
> can be used for RHEL, the smt-mirror command can be used for SUSE, etc.
> With this method, you do not need to worry about URLs. You can download
> repositories by their ID/name.
>
>
>
> HTH.
>
>
>
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> *On Behalf Of ****@bham.ac.uk
> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 27, 2018 4:17 AM
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL
> 6/7 Servers
>
>
>
> Hi Jeffrey
>
>
>
> Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting
> with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server
> then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL’s you’ve configured for the
> RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take
> out any sensitive information)?
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Phil
>
>
>
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> *On Behalf Of *
> ***@rivertechllc.com
> *Sent:* 26 November 2018 19:58
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL
> 6/7 Servers
>
>
>
> I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a
> local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That
> way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up
> the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6
> was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7
> patches into spacewalk.
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <
> spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk <
> ***@bham.ac.uk>
> *Sent:* Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
> *To:* spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7
> Servers
>
>
>
> Good afternoon
>
>
>
> I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised
> patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are
> about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the
> Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by
> installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added
> channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of
> test client systems.
>
> However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL
> 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat
> Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect
> directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been
> disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as
> well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over
> complicated really.
>
>
>
> Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7
> servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?
>
>
>
> In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning
> capabilities too.
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Phil
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Spacewalk-list mailing list
> Spacewalk-***@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/spacewalk-list
P***@bham.ac.uk
2018-11-27 14:53:54 UTC
Permalink
Yes, it’s certainly given me something to think about.

Thanks everyone.

Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> On Behalf Of ***@gmail.com
Sent: 27 November 2018 14:40
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Yay

A lot of great information to you! :-)

I believe now you are good to go.

______________
Best
Waldirio
Skype: waldirio
Site: www.waldirio.com.br<http://www.waldirio.com.br>
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waldirio


On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 6:28 AM William Hongach <***@marist.edu<mailto:***@marist.edu>> wrote:
Hi Jeff,

Yes, it is a two-step process but it is a workaround to the Spacewalk server not having the subscription to other distributions (or even major releases). For example, if your Spacewalk server is RHEL 7, and you want to download/push RHEL 6 packages using a local machine you can script the following:

Download:
Create a local directory
reposync –n –repoid=rhel-6-server-rpms
reposync –n –repod=rhel-6-server-optional-rpms

Push:
rhnpush –v –channel=$CHANNEL –server=http://$SERVER/APP –dir=./local-dir

My cron job runs this monthly since that is the anticipated patch frequencey for our test and dev servers. While our software channels are created ahead of time, you can script creation of these channels before the push as well, using the “spacecmd softwarechannel_create” command.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of Irwin, Jeffrey
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:09 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


​HTH,

That sounds better than my solution by far. Well, same solution but more streamlined. So you do a reposync using a script, then use rhnpush to push to satellite? Is that right?



Jeff



________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of William Hongach <***@marist.edu<mailto:***@marist.edu>>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 9:03 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Phil,

I use Spacewalk to centrally manage multiple distributions and different major releases within each distribution, as you are seeking to accomplish. Understanding that the Linux server running Spacewalk would not have access to all of the different proprietary subscriptions, this was achieved by setting up repository download servers for each distribution/release that required a separate subscription. Updates are downloaded by a scripted cron job on each local repo server and pushed to the central Spacewalk server using rhnpush.

To script update downloads on a local repo server, the reposync command can be used for RHEL, the smt-mirror command can be used for SUSE, etc. With this method, you do not need to worry about URLs. You can download repositories by their ID/name.

HTH.

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 4:17 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Hi Jeffrey

Thanks for your reply. It seems I would have been better off by starting with installing Spacewalk on a RHEL 7 server rather than an OL 7 server then? Can you just clarify/confirm what URL’s you’ve configured for the RHEL 6/7 repositories please (obviously, for the RHEL 6 local, just take out any sensitive information)?

Regards
Phil

From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> On Behalf Of ***@rivertechllc.com<mailto:***@rivertechllc.com>
Sent: 26 November 2018 19:58
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] [EXTERNAL] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers


I have been able to do this by building a rhel 6 server and creating a local repo mirror. I then created a rhel 7 and installed spacewalk. That way i have the entitlements for rhel 6 and 7 covered. From there, I set up the channels and pointed the rhel 7 to the redhat network, and the rhel 6 was pointed to my local repo server. I can now get all the rhel 6 and 7 patches into spacewalk.

________________________________
From: spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com> <spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-list-***@redhat.com>> on behalf of ***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk> <***@bham.ac.uk<mailto:***@bham.ac.uk>>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 7:20 AM
To: spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk 2.8 - Patching RHEL 6/7 Servers

Good afternoon

I’m currently looking in to options for introducing a single centralised patching solution for both Oracle Linux 6/7 and RHEL 6/7 systems. There are about 100 Oracle Linux servers and 50 RHEL servers. I’m starting with the Spacewalk product and therefore, built a proof of concept environment by installing Spacewalk 2.8 on an Oracle 7 system. Subsequently, I’ve added channels/repositories for Oracle 6/7 and successfully patched a number of test client systems.
However, I can’t seem to obtain clear instructions for how to patch RHEL 6/7 systems using Spacewalk. I believe the functionality of Red Hat Satellite and Spacewalk is basically the same but the ability to connect directly to RHN to synchronize software repositories and errata's has been disabled. I’ve seen some tentative clues that this can be circumvented as well as some reference to using “mrepo” but the latter just seems over complicated really.

Alternatively, if Red Hat Satellite is purchased to patch the RHEL 6/7 servers, has anyone had success with using it to patch Oracle 6/7 servers?

In addition to patching, I also need to investigate their provisioning capabilities too.

Regards
Phil

_______________________________________________
Spacewalk-list mailing list
Spacewalk-***@redhat.com<mailto:Spacewalk-***@redhat.com>
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/spacewalk-list
Irwin, Jeffrey
2018-11-27 14:21:02 UTC
Permalink
This post might be inappropriate. Click to display it.
Loading...