IBM PureApplication System: How to set up Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 or migrate from v5.6 to v6.2

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Abstract

This technote provides how-to details for IBM PureApplication System customers setting up Red Hat Satellite Server and transitioning from v5.6 to v6.2. It is imperative that you review each section of this technote in order to fully understand each step in the process and to properly configure and setup your Red Hat Satellite Server. Failure to do this may result in failed deployments or registering of your Red Hat Satellite Server.

Note: Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 deployment is no longer supported by IBM PureApplication System. For further support, migrate to v6.4.

Content

IMPORTANT: IBM PureApplication System no longer supports Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 deployment. Users must deploy v6.4 for further support.

For more information, see https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10886841.

Key Dates and Information:

End of service for Satellite v5.6: January 31, 2019
If no action is taken as specified below, after January 31, 2019 Satellite v5.6 will no longer receive content updates from Red Hat RHN.
There will not be any technical support for Satellite v5.6 from Red Hat or IBM PureApplication.
PureApplication System customers who are currently using Red Hat Satellite Server v5.6, must migrate to RHSM v6.2 Satellite Server before January 31, 2019.
Important: Do not upgrade to RHSM v5.8. PureApplication System does not support RHSM v5.8. You must migrate from v5.6 RHSM to v6.2 directly to be in support.

The how-to process order of this technote should be as follows:

Install Red Hat Satellite Server Pattern on PureApplication System. All other non-RHSS PureApplication Systems will also need to have the Red Hat Shared Services deployed in order to communicate with the RHSS PureApplication System.
Migrate RHSS v5.6 or deploy the Red Hat Satellite Server 6.2 pattern. RHSS v5.6 will need to be migrated before the end of service for Satellite v5.6: January 31, 2019.
Request subscription codes. See section below - Requesting new (or renewal) Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 subscription codes.
Deploying the Red Hat Satellite Server.
Post-Satellite v6.2 installation virt-who configuration
Deploy the Red Hat Shared Service pattern at the end.

Install Satellite Server 6.2 Pattern on PureApplication System

Click Patterns > Virtual System Patterns and verify that the Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 Pattern is listed.

Note: If the pattern is not on your system then complete the following steps: Use the following link to download the Satellite Server 6.2 pattern as a .tgz file from IBM Fix Central (Note: If you try the link and get a failure, you might need to clear your web browser cookies and try again): https://ibm.biz/BdzZvR

Click Catalog > Pattern Types to upload the pattern directly to PureApplication System.

After the upload completes, the pattern is available in Patterns > Virtual System Patterns.

Migrating Red Hat Satellite Server v5.6 to v6.2

Install Satellite Server v6.2 Pattern on PureApplication System by using the steps above.

Delete the Satellite Shared Service v5.6 to un-register all Satellite client virtual machines from Satellite Server v5.6. Go to the PureSystems Manager (PSM) user interface (UI), click on Patterns > Shared Service instances. Select Red Hat satellite v5.6 shared service instance and click the delete icon.
Deploy a new Satellite Server v6.2 by using the PureApplication System Satellite Server v6.2 pattern.
Deploy a new Satellite Shared Service v6.2 in the same cloud group as the virtual machines in step 2. For details, go to the section in this technote 'Deploying Satellite Server 6.2 Shared Service.'

NOTE: Ensure that the Shared Service is pointing to the Satellite Server v6.2 deployed in step 1. All of the virtual machines in the cloud group are automatically registered to the new server, completing the migration. Ensure that the new server has enough subscription codes for the client virtual machines. Reference the PDF 'How do I create NEW RedHat manifest file and deploy RedHat Satellite Server 6.2' and below technote section on 'Requesting new (or renewal) Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 subscription codes.'

Requesting new (or renewal) Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 subscription codes

Step 1: Requesting the Red Hat subscription Codes for Satellite Server v6.2 installation.

Determine how and where you will be using the Red Hat subscription files.

If registering a SINGLE Red Hat Satellite server on PureApplication System: Open a single Problem Management Report (PMR) with the PureApplication support team requesting Red Hat subscription files. You must provide the following before the PureApplication System support team can process your request.

Open one PMR for each Red Hat Satellite Server you will be running on PureApplication System and if the Red Hat Satellite Server PureApplication System is separate and does not have network connections to each other.

PureApplication System machine serial number and Machine Type (M/T). Click System Console > Hardware > Infrastructure Map to find the M/T on the hardware map images. You will see 82*/ on the top left side of the image. The 82 is the M/T.
- M/T 8283/8558 represents W1500/W2500/W3500 systems.
- M/T 8278/8536 represents W1700/W2700/W3700 systems.
- The * is the serial number of the system, which starts with a "1" or a "2".
For the system being addressed in the current PMR, provide the total number of compute nodes that are in the PureApplication System. From the PureApplication System console, click Hardware > Compute Nodes to obtain the compute node details. Alternatively, click Hardware > Infrastructure map.
Important: Provide the PureApplication System serial number where the Red Hat Satellite server will be running.

If registering MULTIPLE Red Hat Satellite servers on PureApplication Systems:

Use the following guidelines if you have more than one PureApplication System, but are using only one Red Hat Satellite Server.

Open one PMR and list ALL the PureApplication Systems which will be a part of the Red Hat Satellite infrastructure. List the serial numbers for each PureApplication system, and provide the details outlined below.

If you have multiple PureApplication Systems and will be using one Red Hat Satellite server for all of the PureApplication Systems you must provide the following before the PureApplication System support team can process your request:

PureApplication System machine serial number and Machine Type (M/T). Click System Console > Hardware > Infrastructure Map to find the M/T on the hardware map images. You will see 82*/ on the top left side of the image. The 82 is the M/T.
- M/T 8283/8558 represents W1500/W2500/W3500 systems.
- M/T 8278/8536 represents W1700/W2700/W3700 systems.
- The * is the serial number of the system, which starts with a "1" or a "2".
The total number of compute nodes for all of the PureApplication Systems using the single server. From the PureApplication System console, click Hardware > Compute Nodes to obtain the compute node details. Alternatively, click Hardware > Infrastructure map.
Important: List which PureApplication System serial number will serve as the Red Hat Satellite server. This will be the PureApplication system where the RHSS will be running.

Step 2: Reviewing the prerequisites

While PureApplication System support is working to obtain the subscription codes on your behalf from Red Hat, use the following link to review prerequisites and to ensure that they are met in your environment to allow the Satellite Server to successfully setup. https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_satellite/6.2/html/installation_guide/preparing_your_environment_for_installation
Use the following link to set up a Red Hat account so that you can input your subscription codes that PureApplication System support will provide to you into this account: http://access.redhat.com

Step 3: Activate subscription codes

See link for reference 'How do I create NEW RedHat manifest file and deploy RedHat Satellite Server 6.2'
Use the following link to activate the subscription codes after you receive the subscription code files from PureApplication System support: www.redhat.com/activate
Use the following link to generate a manifest file. The manifest file will be used later when deploying the Red Hat Satellite Server 6.2 pattern. How to activate a Satellite Certificate for a Red Hat Satellite 5 Server? See https://access.redhat.com/solutions/11061

Deploying Satellite Server 6.2 Pattern pre PureApplication System v2.2.3

PureApplication System Software lifecycle (End of Support)

NOTE: PureApplication System versions prior to v2.2.3.0 do not provide VMware vCenter access. You must upgrade to v2.2.3.0 or later to have secure access to vCenter and complete functionality.

Deploying Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 Pattern

Complete the technote steps in 'Install Satellite Server 6.2 Pattern on PureApplication System' and 'Requesting new (or renewal) Red Hat Satellite Server v6.2 subscription codes'
Deploy the Red Hat Satellite Server 6.2 Pattern to install Satellite Server v6.2.
- Input field notes:
- Satellite Server Organization Name: It could be any name, but this will be the default satellite organization and used in the next section of virt-who configuration.
- The manifest is a file that defines the number and type of client virtual machines that the Satellite Server can support.
- Red Hat Customer Portal Username and Password are the credentials to log into the Red Hat Customer Portal at https://access.redhat.com/
- Specify the proxy information if the network does not have access to the Internet.
- Satellite Server administrator user name and password are the ones which we will use to log in to the Satellite Server UI.
While deploying Satellite v6.2 pattern, choose RHEL 7 instead of RHEL 6, because Red Hat plans to support only RHEL 7 for Satellite v6.3 and future versions.
Once the Satellite Server is deployed, we can access the Satellite Server UI on browser: https://<Satellite Server IP address>.
After you have confirmed that the deployment is complete, configure the Satellite Server.
- Note: All the following steps are done on the Satellite Server.
  a. Click Content > Content Views to create a new content view.
  b. Click Yum Content > Repositories to add all required repositories to the content.
  c. Click Content > Activation Keys to create a new activation key and associate it with the newly created content view.
  d. Click the Subscriptions tab and add sufficient subscriptions to the activation key entry.
  e. Enable the repositories. Click Product Content and click Override to Yes for the Red Hat Satellite Tools v6.2 (for RHEL 7 Server) (RPMs) and Red Hat Satellite Tools v6.2 (for RHEL 6 Server) (RPMs) repositories.
Configure external vCenter access and virt-who for host-guests mappings, so that the Red Hat subscriptions can be attached to the correct hypervisors. For more information, see the technote sections:
- 'Post-Satellite installation virt-who configuration.'
- For new system setups only, continue with 'Deploying Satellite Server v6.2 Shared Service.'
- For existing systems, continue with 'Migrating Satellite Server v5.6 to v6.2.'

Post-Satellite v6.2 installation virt-who configuration

After Satellite Server v6.2 is installed by using the PureApplication pattern, you must complete the following steps for it to be fully functional.

Step 1: Configuring the Red Hat subscription

A new subscription system that verifies the number of hypervisors has been introduced by Red Hat. The new system explicitly uses a tool to access VMware vCenter to verify the information. Due to this new subscription system, the Satellite virtual machine must have access to vCenter.

PureApplication System v2.2.3.0 or higher enabled external VMware vCenter access from PureApplication. If your PureApplication System version is 2.2.3.0 or higher, complete Enabling VMware vCenter external access for the Satellite Server virtual machine and Configuring virt-who and host-guests mappings.

ATTENTION:PureApplication System versions prior to v2.2.3.0 do not provide VMware vCenter access. You must upgrade to v2.2.3.0 or later to have secure access to vCenter.

Note: Install Satellite v6.2 on RHEL 7 instead of RHEL 6, because Red Hat plans to support only RHEL 7 for Satellite v6.3 and future versions.

Step 2: Enabling VMware vCenter external access for the Satellite Server virtual machine

This step is required to enable access to the VMware vCenter from the Satellite Server virtual machine. This allows the satellite server agent virt-who to obtain a mapping of ESXi hypervisors and guest virtual machines from the VMware vCenter in later steps.

Enable VMware vCenter IP Address.
a. From the PureApplication System console, click System > Network Configuration.
b. Expand Virtual Manager external IP address under the Optional entries.
c. Select the Configure IPv4 addresses check box.
d. In the Virtual manager IP address field, specify an IP address that is on the same subnet as the gateway listed.
Note: Select an IP address that is not currently in use and pingable.
e. Click Save.
f. Make note that this is your purevc IP address. The IP address should become pingable after a few minutes.
Add external access to VMware vCenter.
a. From the PureApplication System console, click System > System Settings.
b. Expand External Application Access Settings.
c. Click Create to create a new entry.
d. Specify any value in the Name field.
e. Select Everything for the access scope.
f. Select the cloud group, if the cloud group cannot be selected, skip this step and continue to the next step.
g. Select Read Only for the Virtual Manager Privilege Set field.
h. Do not select the storage and compute node access fields.
i. Click OK. A new entry is created in the table.
j. In the row for the entry that was just created, select the Details icon in the Actions column. A dialog showing multiple user IDs and passwords is displayed. Take note of the Virtual Manager ID and passwords.
Modify the local hosts file to resolve the purevc name.
a. Use the following file paths to locate the host file for your local operating system: Windows: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
Note: Right-click the file and select Run as Administrator to launch the editor in administrator mode in order to save changes made to the host file. UNIX/Linux: /etc/hosts
b. Add the virtual manager IP address to the host file. You must create a new row to associate your virtual manager IP address with the purevc hostname. For example: 172.26.120.122 purevc
c. Open the VMware vSphere web client to test the VMware vCenter connection. Find the credential in the external access created in the previous step: https://purevc/vsphere-client/

Note: You must use purevc for the hostname. Attempting to connect by using an IP address or another name will be rejected.

Step 3: Configuring virt-who and host-guests mappings

This step is required so that the subscription manager on the Satellite Server knows how to properly entitle client virtual machines based on the host and guest mappings.

Install virt-who.
a. Run the following command to subscribe to the Satellite Tools repository for v6.2.
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-satellite-tools-6.2-rpms
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-6-server-satellite-tools-6.2-rpms
b. Run the following command to verify that the server is subscribed to the Satellite Tools repository for 6.2: # subscription-manager repos --list-enabled
c. Run the following command to install the virt-who package: # yum install virt-who.
Configure virt-who to connect to VMware vCenter and Satellite
a. Copy the template configuration file to a new file.
Note: Use the VMware vCenter host’s name as the new file’s name to identify the configuration file for each vCenter. In the following example, the host name is vCenterhost1. # cp /etc/virt-who.d/template.conf /etc/virt-who.d/vcenterhost1.conf
b. Edit the configuration file you just created ensuring to change the example values with those specific to your configuration.
This configuration file has two sections:
I. VMware vCenter configuration and
II. Red Hat satellite server configuration.

I. VMware vCenter configuration:
Use the following requirements along with the figure to understand the input parameter requirements:
Parameter 1: Provide a unique name for each virt-who instance. Use the VMware vCenter’s host name to make it easy to identify the configuration file.
Parameter 2: Specifies that this virt-who connection is to a VMware vCenter. Always “esx”.
Parameter 3: You must use the "uuid" word string.
Parameter 4: Organization Name used while deploying satellite server pattern. Alternatively, we can also see the Organization Name in the Satellite UI.

In this example, IBM is the Organization Name.

Parameter 5: Specifies the environment in which the host is placed. You must use "Library".
Parameter 6: Specifies the VMware vCenter server’s fully qualified host name or IP address. << We got this IP from the step Enabling VMware vCenter external access for the Satellite Server virtual machine >>
Parameter 7: Specifies the account name by which virt-who is to connect to the hypervisor. In this case, vCenter. You must use the [username=administrator@vsphere.local → change ] See below example under Step II: Red Hat Satellite Server Configuration. << We can get this username from the sub-option 2 of step Enabling VMware vCenter external access for the Satellite Server virtual machine >>
Note: This is only used in case external Active Directory is used. You must use the "domain_name/account_name" format. A single backslash separates the two values. If you are using a domain account and the global configuration /etc/sysconfig/virt-who file, then two backslashes are required.

Parameter 8: Specifies the encrypted password for the account specified by the username(parameter 7). Password must be encrypted by using the virt-who-password command.

II: Red Hat Satellite Server configuration.
d. Add the following configuration lines also to previously created /etc/virt-who.d/vcenterhost1.conf file to configure virt-who to report to the Satellite Server, ensuring to replace example values with those specific to your environment. Use the following requirements along with the figure to understand the input parameter requirements:
Parameter 1: Specifies the Satellite Server’s fully-qualified host name. For example: satellite.example.com
Parameter 2: Specifies the Satellite user used by the virt-who daemon to connect to the Satellite Server. Satellite Server admin username from previous steps.

Parameter 3: Specifies the encrypted password for the user specified by rhsm_username. Satellite Server admin user password from previous steps.
Parameter 4: You must use "/rhsm". This is how the configuration file /etc/virt-who.d/vcenterhost1.conf looks once all the field updated.

                [vcentert host1]
                type=esx → Remains same
                hypervisor_id=uuid → Remains same
                owner=IBM → change
                env=Library → Remains same
                server=10.11.12.13 → change
                username=administrator@vsphere.local → change
                encrypted_password=813873a394a9c1f2ca442e1dfa6da3e3 → change
                rhsm_hostname=satellite_server.local → change
                rhsm_username=satellite_admin → change
                rhsm_encrypted_password=3→ change
                rhsm_prefix=/rhsm → Remains same

Configure the virt-who service for Satellite.
a. Edit the global /etc/sysconfig/virt-who configuration file to set the following parameter to specify that virt-who is to communicate with a Satellite host. For example, VIRTWHO_SATELLITE6=1.
b. Allow an HTTP proxy between virt-who and guest virtual machines. If there is an HTTP proxy between the server on which virt-who is running and the hypervisors or virtualization managers, edit the global /etc/sysconfig/virt-who configuration file and set the following parameter:
http_proxy=http://proxy-ip-or-hostname:port-number. If there is no proxy then add "NO_PROXY=*" to the file.
c. Start and enable the virt-who service.
Run the following commands on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:
# systemctl start virt-who.service
# systemctl enable virt-who.service
Run the following commands on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:
# service virt-who start
# chkconfig virt-who on
d. Verify that the virt-who service started successfully.
Run the following command on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: # systemctl status virt-who.service
Run the following command on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: # service virt-who status
Logs can be viewed at /var/log/rhsm/rhsm.log
Add no_proxy parameter entry to the file /etc/rhsm/rhsm.conf.
no_proxy = satellite_server.local
Where, satellite_server.local is the RHUS hostname.
Restart the virt-who service.
You must restart the virt-who service if one or more of the virt-who configuration files is changed, or the environment in the Satellite configuration changes. For example, you must restart virt-who after changing the virt-who account’s password or moving a hypervisor to a new organization.
Run the following command on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: # systemctl restart virt-who.service
Run the following command on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: # service virt-who restart

Step 4: Attaching host-based subscriptions to the newly created hypervisors

All hypervisors are displayed in the Red Hat Satellite Server user interface, distinguished by their universally unique identifiers.
1. Log in to the server user interface.
Navigate to Hosts => Content Hosts => search for virt-who
This event will list all the compute nodes (ESXi).

2. Click on the virt-who hypervisor instance and add the necessary subscriptions to it.
Note: Obtain the subscriptions from IBM Support.

a. Click the Subscriptions tab.
b. Click the Add tab.
c. Select the subscription to add.
Mandatory to have: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server, Premium (8 sockets) (Unlimited guests)
Optional: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server, Premium (8 sockets) (Unlimited guests)
Optional: Smart Management for Unlimited Guests - 1 Year
d. Repeat for all virt-who hypervisors.

3. From the Satellite Server, click Content > Activation Key to create a new activation key that contains only the hypervisor subscriptions.
Note: Select only the activation keys labeled with "x out of Unlimited" in the Attached column. Do not select any keys with the "Physical" subscription type.

4. Use the newly created activation key to register client virtual machines.
Once virtual machines are now able to get yum updates from their hypervisor hosts. The following figure displays the working state of Satellite Server.

Note:
• All physical subscriptions are attached only to hypervisor hosts.
• The "x out of Unlimited" virtual guest subscriptions are used by the client virtual machines that are registered to those hypervisor hosts.

Deploying Satellite Server 6.2 Shared Service

Deploy the Red Hat OS Update Services (For Satellite v6.*) shared server that points to the newly deployed Satellite Server v6.2.
Note: Ensure that the Satellite Server activation key and the Organization Name fields are the same as defined earlier in this procedure.
Deploy the client virtual machines in the same cloud group in which the Shared Service was deployed. The newly deployed virtual machines can now register and receive updates from the Satellite Server.
Mandatory fields: URL to connect to Satellite Server (Host name should be FQDN) => Use the IP or FQDN address of the satellite server just deployed.
Satellite Server activation key ==> It is the same key that we see at Satellite Server UI in step, Post-Satellite v6.2 installation virt-who configuration > Step 4: Attaching host-based subscriptions to the newly created hypervisors, sub section 2. <> (Content > Activation Key)
Organization Name (as used in Satellite) ==> This is Satellite Server Organization Name that is used while deploying the Satellite Server pattern. It was earlier used in, Post-Satellite v6.2 installation virt-who configuration >> Step 3: Configuring virt-who and host-guests mappings >> i. VMware vCenter configuration.

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