I want to upgrade RHEL 8 to 9, but RHEL 9 repositories are not listed in RHEL 8

Solution Unverified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.6
  • Red Hat Satellite 6.X
  • Leapp

Issue

  • I've a created a Content View with the required RHEL 8 and RHEL 9 repositories, but I can't see the RHEL 9 repositories in the host:

    [root@satellite ~]# hammer content-view info --id 3 | grep Name | grep "Red Hat"
    Name:  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS RPMs x86_64 8.1
    Name:  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream RPMs x86_64 8.1
    Name:  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - BaseOS RPMs x86_64 9.1
    Name:  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 for x86_64 - AppStream RPMs x86_64 9.1

    [root@server ~]# subscription-manager repos --list | grep Name
Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)
Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
[root@server ~]# yum repolist
rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms              Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)    0
rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms                 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)       0

Resolution

  • In a RHEL 8 system, a product certificate of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 is installed, so RHEL 9 repositories are not listed. Check the product certificate installed with subscription-manager list --installed

    [root@server ~]# subscription-manager list --installed
+-------------------------------------------+
    Installed Product Status
+-------------------------------------------+
Product Name:   Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64
Product ID:     479
Version:        8.0
Arch:           x86_64
Status:         Subscribed
Status Details: 
Starts:         09/30/2019
Ends:           09/29/2024

  • You can see your host has access to RHEL 9 repositories checking the RHSM cache files content_overrides.json and written_overrides.json in /var/lib/rhsm/cache/:

    [root@server ~]# grep -R "rhel-9" /var/lib/rhsm/cache/*
/var/lib/rhsm/cache/content_overrides.json:[{"created": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "updated": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "contentLabel": "rhel-9-server-rpms", "name": "enabled", "value": "1"}, {"created": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "updated": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "contentLabel": "rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms", "name": "enabled", "value": "1"}, {"created": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "updated": "2022-09-21T16:28:19+0000", "contentLabel": "rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms", "name": "enabled", "value": "1"}]
/var/lib/rhsm/cache/written_overrides.json:{"rhel-9-server-rpms": {"enabled": "1"}, "rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms": {"enabled": "1"}, "rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms": {"enabled": "1"}}

  • In the upgrade process, Leapp has it's own way to detect and enable the target release repos when you do preupgrade or upgrade.

Root Cause

  • Subscription certificates are stored in the /etc/pki/ directory and its subdirectories. Red Hat products certificates that are installed on the system are stored in /etc/pki/product or /etc/pki/product-default. This product certificate identifies the release version, architecture and name of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux system installed on the computer.

    [user@server ~]$ rct cat-cert /etc/pki/product-default/479.pem 
+-------------------------------------------+
	Product Certificate
+-------------------------------------------+
Certificate:
	Path: /etc/pki/product-default/479.pem
	Version: 1.0
	Serial: 12750047592154751339
	Start Date: 2019-02-13 13:06:23+00:00
	End Date: 2039-02-08 13:06:23+00:00
Subject:
	CN: Red Hat Product ID [5e46b602-95fb-46c2-b916-c8f82759f4be]
Issuer:
	C: US
	CN: Red Hat Entitlement Product Authority
	O: Red Hat, Inc.
	OU: Red Hat Network
	ST: North Carolina
	emailAddress: ca-support@redhat.com
Product:
	ID: 479
	Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64
	Version: 8.0
	Arch: x86_64
	Tags: rhel-8,rhel-8-x86_64
	Brand Type: 
	Brand Name:

  • Repositories with a product certificate different than the one installed, are not listed.

  • Check the article Get Started with Red Hat Subscription Management for a more detailed explanation about the Entitlements and Product Certificates.

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