Can Satellite Certificates be generated before the start of new contract?

Environment

• Red Hat Satellite 5.x

Issue

• The current Satellite Certificate will expire in few days. User has just renewed all of the Red Hat subscriptions and needs a new Satellite certificate to keep the Satellite server running.
• Before the old Red Hat Satellite certificates expire I would like to obtain a new set of certificates.

Resolution

• The new Red Hat Satellite certificate can be created only on or after the start date of the contract period.
• For example, if the new contract starts from March 1, 2010, then new Satellite certificate can only be created on or after March 1, 2010.
• Red Hat provides a grace period of 7 days after a Satellite certificate expires. This means that even if the certificate expires, the Satellite will remain active for 7 more days, during which time a new certificate must be activated. In addition to this grace period, for Red Hat Satellite versions 5.4 and above there is a 24-day "restricted" period to provide additional time and Web UI access to resolve activation issues and improve Satellite renewal/activation experience - please see this solution for details.

Root Cause

Red Hat Satellite certificate is generated by an automated tool that will allow the creation of new certificates only after the start date of the contract period.

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