Red Hat Satellite 5 customers: Important updates on RHN and ISOs

As Red Hat phases out its Red Hat Network (RHN), customers on Red Hat Satellite 5.6 and 5.7 will need to upgrade now to continue receiving content and updates. Read on for details and steps to move to the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Red Hat has been notifying customers since early 2017 that Red Hat Satellite 5.7 and Satellite 5.6 would be at end of life on January 31, 2019.  We encourage customers on those releases to move to Satellite 5.8 as soon as possible, then start planning your migration to Satellite 6. As a reminder, Satellite 5.8 is planned to be at end of life May 31, 2020.

The end of life of earlier Satellite versions was just one of the reasons to move to Satellite 5.8. Another reason is that Satellite 5.8 is the only Satellite 5 version that uses Red Hat CDN instead of RHN.  

RHN is in the process of shutting down, and if you are using one of these older Satellite versions you will lose access to Satellite content on March 14, 2019. Access to content was originally planned to shut down on January 31, 2019, Red Hat waited a few extra weeks before shutting off the content delivery of RHN.  On March 14, 2019 the content will no longer be synced on Satellite 5.7 and earlier versions.

For the rest of this article, I’m going to assume you have updated your Satellite 5.7 or older environment to Satellite 5.8. Thank you! Satellite 5.8 is connected to the CDN and you are able to use the same content that Satellite 6 is using today.

Satellite and ISO content

If your Satellite environment is not connected to the internet (disconnected) or if you prefer to import the content ISOs, then there is a big difference we want to make sure that you are aware of. In Satellite 5.7 and earlier versions you would download and mount content ISOs to your Satellite host.

With Satellite 5.8 you download the content ISOs and instead use the cdn-sync tool to list and sync a channel.  You must also take a few additional steps to take to utilize a kickstart repository. We have documented the steps for Satellite 5.8 in an article called: How to populate content on a disconnected Red Hat Satellite 5.8 using cdn-sync.

Check out the article and feel free to post questions if you need additional information.

If you are only using Satellite 5 in your environment, start planning your transition to Satellite 6 - Satellite 5.8 goes end of life May 31, 2020.  We have a lot of information about transitioning available including a transitioning guide, a FAQ and a consulting offering.

If you are already a Satellite 6 customer, please be aware that Satellite 6.2 has already reached end of regular support and will go end of life when Satellite 6.5 is released. Please start planning an upgrade to the latest version of Satellite.  Refer to the Red Hat Satellite Product Life Cycle document for information about your specific version of Satellite.