FAQ: Satellite 5.8 after End Of Life

Solution Verified - Updated 24 May 2021

Environment

Red Hat Satellite 5.8
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Issue

Which steps I need to take before Satellite 5 End Of Life?
How things will work post End Of Life?
The Satellite login page displays "Your Satellite Certificate has expired". Is it possible to generate a new Satellite entitlement certificate/manifest after End Of Life?
Will Satellite receive updates?
Will I be able to sync existing repositories on Satellite 5.8?
Can I add new products into my Satellite?
My Satellite suddenly stopped downloading packages from CDN. The error message says "ERROR: these channels either do not exist or are not available for synchronization".
Due to hardware failure or for some other reasons I'd like to completely reinstall my currently running Satellite 5.8, is it possible?

Resolution

After May 31, 2020, as per the life-cycle support policy for Red Hat Satellite , Red Hat will discontinue technical support services as well as software maintenance services for all Red Hat Satellite and Proxy versions 5.8 or older. The mentioned versions will exit the existing Limited Maintenance Release phase. This means that new bug fixes, security updates, and product enhancements will no longer be provided.

Which steps I need to take before Satellite 5 End Of Life?

   - Download latest Satellite 5.8 manifest from customer portal.
   - Keep the downloaded manifest safe, in case of hardware failure you can reuse the same.
   - Apply the erratum [RHEA-2020:0651](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2020:0651) before End Of Life.
   - Activate the latest downloaded manifest.

How things will work post End Of Life?

   - You will be able to sync repositories for products which are released before Satellite 5.8 End Of Life.
   - You will be able to install/update updates released in Satellite 5.8. repository before End Of Life.
   - You will be able to download the Satellite installation ISO.

No, we can no longer generate new Satellite certificates/manifests. You need to download the Satellite 5.8 manifest before   May 31, 2020. Afterwards Red Hat will not be able to generate and provide the manifest.

Will Satellite receive updates?

The Red Hat Satellite and Proxy Products will not receive any new updates. However, you will still receive updates for an underlying operating system until the OS reaches its End Of Life as well. You can also still use Satellite to download and distribute updates for clients connected to Satellite.

##Will I be able to sync existing repositories on Satellite 5.8?

You will still be able to sync the repositories provided by the subscriptions which you have purchased prior to Satellite 5.8 End Of Life, but there will be no support or updates provided for Satellite 5.8 after End Of Life even though content will still be accessible beyond the End Of Life date.

If you encounter any issues with syncing kickstart repositories please apply this patch
##Can I add new products into my Satellite?

No, there is no possibility to update Satellite certificate thus you can not add any new product to it. Existing products will still receive updates.
##How can I refresh manifest on Satellite after EOL?

To refresh the manifest you should download a fresh Satellite 6 manifest from the customer portal and import it, do not use --manifest-refresh option.
##My Satellite suddenly stopped downloading packages from CDN. The error message says "ERROR: these channels either do not exist or are not available for synchronization".

Satellite uses client certificates to access content on CDN. Run
```
 # cdn-sync --cdn-certs
```
to review CDN client certificates and their validity. If some of them expired you can renew them by reactivating an updated manifest. Because after End Of Life it is not possible to create renewed Satellite 5 manifest you have to reactivate it with Satellite 6.6 manifest. To be able to do so make sure you have packages from the latest bugfix erratum RHEA-2020:0651 applied.
I.e. login to This content is not included.This content is not included.https://access.redhat.com/management/subscription_allocations, lookup your allocation, change its type to Satelite 6.6 and click Update. Then export Manifest and use it for satellite reactivation

Make sure the latest spacewalk-backend package is installed
```
 # rpm -q spacewalk-backend-2.5.3-180.el6sat 
 # rhn-satellite-activate --manifest downloaded_satellite_6_manifest.zip
```

Due to hardware failure or for some other reasons I'd like to completely reinstall my currently running Satellite 5.8, is it possible?

Reinstallation also includes activation of newly installed Satellite. Because it is not possible to download new Satellite 5 manifest after End Of Life so you need to preserve a copy of a manifest from the existing Satellite 5.8. Backup file `/etc/sysconfig/rhn/rhsm-manifest.zip` outside of the server to use it later to activate it after reinstallation. Without a Satellite 5.8 manifest (even an expired one) there's no way to rebuild your Satellite 5.8.

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