How to install or update packages in Red Hat Satellite 6?

Environment

• Red Hat Satellite 6
  • Optionally also Red Hat Capsule 6

Issue

• Unable to update and install packages in Red Hat Satellite 6.

• Command yum update and yum install is not working.

• Installing or upgrading a package fails with below error:

  WARNING: Excluding 11567 updates due to foreman-protector. 
  Use foreman-maintain packages install/update <package> 
  to safely install packages without restrictions.
  

• Is yum update or yum install command blocked on Red Hat Satellite 6?

Resolution

The below procedure is applicable both to Satellite (with foreman-protector enabled by default) and also to Capsule (where foreman-protector is disabled by default, but can be enabled manually).

• Run the below command to install or update the packages:

   # satellite-maintain packages install package_name
   or
   # satellite-maintain packages update package_name
   
   e.g. 
  # satellite-maintain packages install virt-who
  

• Please note, every time you run the above command to update or install packages, satellite-installer will run and it will make sure that there is no package inconsistency after installation or upgrade.

• Commands yum update and yum install are blocked by the new feature foreman-protector. This will save the Red Hat Satellite 6 server to update or install any packages that can break the services.

  In order to do a full update such as yum update would do, you must unlock packages, do the update, and then lock the packages. You will then need to also run the satellite-installer manually.

      # satellite-maintain packages unlock
      # yum update
      # satellite-maintain packages lock
  
      or 
  
      # yum update --disableplugin=foreman-protector
  
      For Satellite < 6.9 run the installer using --upgrade:
      # satellite-installer --upgrade 
  
      For Satellite >= 6.9  the option --upgrade was removed:
      # satellite-installer
  

  OR simply run:

  # satellite-maintain packages update
  

  Make sure that the package user wants to install or update does not interfere with the Red Hat Satellite 6 services (like vim, pulp-admin) it is not necessary to install it via satellite-maintain (because satellite installer will run and it takes time). It is also not advised to install pulp-admin or any packages for debugging purposes with satellite-maintain if the Red Hat Satellite 6 is not working correctly unless being specifically told so by support.

  # satellite-maintain packages unlock
  # yum update mypackage 
  or 
  # yum install mypackage
  # satellite-maintain packages lock
  

Root Cause

• Previously, when using yum to update or install packages on the Satellite base operating system might also update the packages related to Red Hat Satellite and resulted in system inconsistency. With this release, Red Hat Satellite prevents users from installing and updating packages with yum. Instead, use foreman-maintain packages install, satellite-maintain packages install, foreman-maintain packages update and satellite-maintain packages update commands. Note that foreman-maintain and satellite-maintain runs the satellite-installer --upgrade script after installing packages and therefore some services are restarted. You can disable this feature and control the stability of the system yourself if you want. This feature is not enabled on Red Hat Capsule Server.
• Click here to know more about the new features and enhancements.

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