Simple content access is failing because date/time is incorrectly set

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Simple Content Access(SCA)
  • Red Hat Subscription Manager(RHSM)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Issue

  • Unable to enable any repositories with SCA enabled.

     # subscription-manager identity
 system identity: 3b0834b8-b9da-40a9-baf5-ee0cfb834e07
 name: host.example.com
 org name: xxxxxx
 org ID: xxxxxx

     # subscription-manager status
 +-------------------------------------------+
    System Status Details
 +-------------------------------------------+
 Overall Status: Disabled
 Content Access Mode is set to Simple Content Access. This host has access to content, regardless of subscription status.
 
 System Purpose Status: Disabled

     # subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-7-server-rpms
 This system has no repositories available through subscriptions.

     # subscription-manager attach --auto
 Ignoring request to auto-attach. It is disabled for org "xxxxxx" because of the content access mode setting.

  • The system is not able to fetch the repositories and yum repolist is throwing below messages:-

     # yum repolist
 Updating Subscription Management repositories.
 
 This system is registered with an entitlement server, but is not receiving updates. You can use subscription-manager to assign subscriptions.
 
 No repositories available

Resolution

  • Ensure the correct date/time is set on the system and system clock should be synchronized. It is recommended to use a NTP solution in order to achieve a stable system clock. Please see the following for more details:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

* [Chapter 15. Configuring time synchronization](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html/configuring_basic_system_settings/configuring-time-synchronization_configuring-basic-system-settings#doc-wrapper)

Red hat Enterprise Linux 9

* [Chapter 13. Configuring time synchronization](https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/9/html/configuring_basic_system_settings/configuring-time-synchronization_configuring-basic-system-settings#doc-wrapper)

Red hat Enterprise Linux 10

* [Configuring time synchronization](https://docs.redhat.com/en/documentation/red_hat_enterprise_linux/10/html/configuring_time_synchronization/index)
  • An internal ticket is raised for subscription-manager command to display exact error message if date/time is not properly synchronized on the system in SCA mode.

Root Cause

  • When the date/time is incorrectly set SCA will not work properly.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Check /var/log/rhsm/rhsm.log file:-

     2021-06-22 12:05:05,126 [WARNING] rhsmcertd-worker:4026:MainThread @connection.py:556 - Clock skew detected, please check your system time

  • Check if the system clock is synchronized:-

     # timedatectl
 Local time: Mon 2024-12-30 09:16:51 IST
 Universal time: Mon 2024-12-30 03:46:51 UTC
 RTC time: Mon 2024-12-30 03:46:59
 Time zone: Asia/Kolkata (IST, +0530)
 System clock synchronized: no    <<----------------------------------------
 NTP service: inactive   <<-----------------------------------
 RTC in local TZ: no
SBR
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