Get Ready for RHEL 10: A Guide to Configuring Repositories in Red Hat Satellite
With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 on the horizon, proactive system administrators are already planning for a smooth integration into their managed environments. If you use Red Hat Satellite for infrastructure management, now is the perfect time to prepare your server to distribute, patch, and manage the next major version of RHEL.
Setting up your Satellite server correctly ensures that you can begin deploying and managing RHEL 10 hosts from day one. This guide provides a clear, step-by-step process for configuring the necessary products, repositories, content views, and activation keys in your Red Hat Satellite instance.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have the following:
- Administrative access to your Red Hat Satellite server.
- An active Red Hat subscription that includes entitlements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
- A basic understanding of Satellite concepts like Products, Content Views, and Lifecycle Environments.
Step 1: Establishing the RHEL 10 Product in Satellite
The first step is to create a logical container for all RHEL 10 content. In Satellite, this container is called a Product.
- Navigate to Content > Products in your Satellite web UI.
- Click Create Product.
- Enter a descriptive name, such as “Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10” or “RHEL 10 x86_64“.
- You can leave the GPG Key, Sync Plan, and other fields blank for now; we will configure them at the repository level.
- Click Save.
This product will now serve as the central hub for all RHEL 10 repositories and packages you synchronize.
Step 2: Adding and Configuring RHEL 10 Repositories
With the product created, you must now add the specific repositories that contain the RHEL 10 packages. The two most critical repositories for any RHEL installation are BaseOS and AppStream.
- Within your newly created RHEL 10 product, click Create Repository.
- Add the BaseOS Repository:
- Name: RHEL 10 BaseOS (x86_64)
- Type:
yum - Upstream URL: You will need to obtain the official Red Hat CDN URL for the RHEL 10 BaseOS repository. This URL is typically found in your Red Hat customer portal.
- Ensure you select the correct GPG key for Red Hat content to verify package integrity.
- Click Save.
- Add the AppStream Repository:
- Repeat the process by clicking Create Repository again.
- Name: RHEL 10 AppStream (x86_64)
- Type:
yum - Upstream URL: Enter the official CDN URL for the RHEL 10 AppStream repository.
- Select the appropriate Red Hat GPG key.
- Click Save.
You have now defined the sources for your RHEL 10 content. Your Satellite server knows where to find the packages, but it hasn’t downloaded them yet.
Step 3: Syncing Content to Your Satellite Server
The next crucial step is to synchronize the repositories. This process downloads all the package metadata and the packages themselves from the Red Hat CDN to your Satellite server’s local storage.
- Navigate to your RHEL 10 product page.
- Select the repositories you just created (e.g., BaseOS and AppStream).
- From the Select Action dropdown menu, choose Sync Now.
This initial sync can take a significant amount of time and consume considerable disk space, depending on the size of the repositories. You can monitor the progress from the sync status page. For ongoing updates, it’s highly recommended to create a Sync Plan to automatically fetch new packages on a daily or weekly schedule.
Step 4: Managing Content with Content Views
A Content View is a snapshot of your repositories at a specific point in time. It allows you to manage which package versions are available to your hosts, providing stable and predictable environments.
- Navigate to Content > Content Views and either Create a new Content View for RHEL 10 or add the new repositories to an existing one.
- If creating a new view, give it a descriptive name like “CV – RHEL 10“.
- In the Yum Content tab, select Add Repositories.
- Find and add your newly synchronized RHEL 10 BaseOS and AppStream repositories.
- Once added, you must publish a new version of the Content View. Click Publish New Version, add a description (e.g., “Initial import of RHEL 10 content”), and publish.
- After publishing, you must promote the new version to your Lifecycle Environments (e.g., Development, Testing, Production). This makes the content available to hosts registered in those environments.
Step 5: Creating an Activation Key for Automated Registration
An Activation Key streamlines the process of registering new hosts to your Satellite server. It pre-configures systems with the correct subscription, Content View, and other settings.
- Navigate to Content > Activation Keys.
- Click Create Activation Key.
- Give it a name, such as “AK – RHEL 10“.
- Select the Lifecycle Environment you promoted your Content View to.
- Select your RHEL 10 Content View.
- In the Subscriptions tab, attach the necessary Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription.
- In the Repository Sets tab, ensure that the RHEL 10 repositories are enabled.
Now, when you register a new RHEL 10 host using this activation key, it will automatically be configured with the correct content and subscriptions.
Best Practices and Security Tips
- Test in a Non-Production Environment: Always publish and promote new OS content to a Development or Testing lifecycle environment first. Test deployments and updates on non-critical systems before promoting the content to Production.
- Use Dedicated Content Views: Avoid mixing major OS versions in the same Content View. Create a separate Content View for RHEL 10 to prevent accidental cross-version package installations.
- Verify GPG Key Integrity: Always ensure you are using the correct and official Red Hat GPG key for your repositories. This is a critical security step to prevent package tampering.
- Monitor Sync Status: Regularly check your repository synchronization status to ensure your Satellite server has the latest security patches and updates from Red Hat.
By following these steps, your Red Hat Satellite server is now fully prepared to support, manage, and patch your future fleet of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 systems, ensuring a consistent and secure enterprise environment.
Source: https://kifarunix.com/enable-rhel-10-repositories-in-red-hat-satellite/
