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Red Hat provides support and maintenance over stated time periods for the major versions of RHN Satellite and Proxy Server (i.e. versions 3, 4, or 5) "Life Cycle". The Life Cycle allows customers and partners to effectively plan, deploy and support Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The Life Cycle identifies the various levels of maintenance for each major release of RHN Satellite and Proxy Server over a total period of five years from the initial release date, which is often referred to as the general availability date.
Software updates to RHN Satellite and Proxy Server are delivered via errata advisories. Errata can be released individually on an as-needed basis or aggregated as a minor release (e.g. version 5.1). Errata may contain security and bug fixes, as well as feature enhancements that have been qualified on the appropriate RHN Satellite and Proxy Server release and architecture. Security errata and urgent bug fix errata will be the only errata released independent of errata advisories.
The RHN Satellite and Proxy Server 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 published this Life Cycle in an effort to provide as much transparency as possibly and may make exceptions from these policies as conflicts may arise.
Support will be provided for use according to the published scope of coverage for RHN Satellite and Proxy Server: https://www.redhat.com/support/service/sla/. For a period of five years following the initial release of the major version of the products, Red Hat will provide errata maintenance for each RHN Satellite and Proxy Server. To facilitate the rapid adoption of new enterprise hardware and software yet retain the high standard of stability inherent in the Red Hat enterprise products, the five years are divided into two phases of maintenance.
| Support Phase | Duration | Phase Details |
|---|---|---|
| Production 1 | 3 years | Enhancements and maintenance: see Scope of Coverage |
| Production 2 | 2 years | Maintenance only: Security errata and mission-critical bug fixes |
The Production 1 phase begins on the date that the first major version of the product is released as Generally Available (GA) and ends three years from that date. The Production 2 phase begins on the end date of the Production 1 phase and continues for a period of two years from that date.
The following table details what type of software maintenance is performed during each phase of the five year life cycle:
| Description | Production 1 | Production 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Years after GA | 0 - 3 years | 3 - 5 years |
| Unlimited Incident Technical Support1 | Yes | Yes |
| Asynchronous Security Errata | Yes | Yes |
| Asynchronous Bug Fix Errata2 | Yes | No |
| Software Enhancements | Yes | No |
Additional hardware support will be provided at the discretion of Red Hat via product releases. All available and qualified errata will be applied to the products via errata advisories or on an as needed basis for required for Security level errata. Updated ISO images will only be provided during the Production 1 phase.
During the Production 2 life cycle phase, at a minimum, qualified security errata of important or critical impact (definition at http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/), may be released independent of minor releases.
Urgent priority bug-fix errata may be released during the Production 2 life cycle period at Red Hat's discretion.
Red Hat supports versions of RHN Satellite and Proxy Server, that are still within their five year 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.
If supporting software (e.g. Oracle embedded database or the underlying operating system) has ended its product life cycle before the end of the Production 2 phase, customers may be required to upgrade to a more recent version of RHN Satellite and Proxy Server.
RHN Satellite and Proxy Server is a systems management platform for extant, supported products. Client systems that have extended beyond their individual support life cycles will not be supported. For example, Red Hat Linux 9 is no longer supported by Red Hat, therefore RHN Satellite 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 review the RHN Satellite Server Reference Manual (http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/satellite/).
| General Availability: | June 26, 2007 |
| End of Production 1 phase: | June 26, 2007 - June 26, 2010 |
| End of Production 2 phase: | June 26, 2010 - June 26, 2012 |
| General Availability: | August 31, 2005 |
| End of Production 1 phase: | August 31, 2005 - August 31, 2008 |
| End of Production 2 phase: | August 31, 2008 - August 31, 2010 |
| General Availability: | March 23, 2004 |
| End of Production 1 phase: | March 23, 2004 - March 23, 2007 |
| End of Production 2 phase: | March 23, 2007 - March 23, 2009 |
Customers using a RHN Satellite and Proxy Server major release versions earlier than version 3 will need to migrate to a version that is currently in it Production 1 or Production 2 Life Cycle phase to ensure adequate levels of support. These versions are currently beyond the Production 2 life cycle phase and will continue to be supported until March 23, 2009.