ERROR:nextval: reached maximum value of sequence "container_blobmanifest_id_seq" while synchronizing the container images in Red Hat Satellite 6

Environment

• Red Hat Satellite
  • 6.15
  • 6.16
  • 6.17

Issue

• Synchronizing the large number of container images fails with the following error:

      2025-09-29T05:45:04 [I|app|82d35371] ForemanWebhooks::EventSubscriber: actions.katello.repository.sync_failed.event.foreman event received
  2025-09-29T05:45:09 [E|bac|82d35371] nextval: reached maximum value of sequence "container_blobmanifest_id_seq" (2147483647) (Katello::Errors::Pulp3Error)
  

Resolution

• This issue has been reported to the Red Hat Satellite Engineering team via This content is not included.SAT-38887 bug and is being actively investigated.

• To fix the issue manually on the affected Red Hat Satellite server, proceed with the following steps:

  1. Ensure that a backup or VM snapshot exists for the affected Red Hat Satellite server, before proceeding further.

  2. Clear any paused tasks that might be present:

     # foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup TASK_SEARCH='label ~ *' STATES='paused' VERBOSE=true
     

  3. Check the max_value and last_value of container_blobmanifest_id_seq sequence in pulpcore database. They are expected to be the same at this point:

     # echo "select * from pg_sequences where sequencename='container_blobmanifest_id_seq';" | su - postgres -c "psql -x pulpcore"
     

  4. Fix the issue:

             # echo "ALTER SEQUENCE container_blobmanifest_id_seq AS bigint;" | su - postgres -c "psql pulpcore"
     
             # echo "ALTER TABLE container_blobmanifest ALTER COLUMN id TYPE BIGINT;" | su - postgres -c "psql pulpcore"
     

  5. Verify that max_value is now much higher than last_value for container_blobmanifest_id_seq sequence and its data_type is set as bigint:

     # echo "select * from pg_sequences where sequencename='container_blobmanifest_id_seq';" | su - postgres -c "psql -x pulpcore"
     

  6. Restart the services.

     # satellite-maintain service restart
     # sleep 20 & hammer ping
     

• Once done with all the steps try to synchronize the container images and observed the progress.

• Reach out to Red Hat Technical Support in case of any further questions or concerns.

For more KB articles/solutions related to Red Hat Satellite 6.x PostgreSQL-related Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Red Hat Satellite 6.x PostgreSQL-related Issues

Root Cause

• The container_blobmanifest_id_seq itself also has the data type set to integer due to which the value of the max_value field is limited to 2147483647 and the last_value field has reached that specific limit.

Diagnostic Steps

• The following logs observed in the /var/log/foreman/production.log:

   2025-09-29T05:43:43 [I|bac|82d35371] Task {label: Actions::Katello::Repository::Sync, id: 8e0c75ce-d5e2-4556-9420-6df613a7aec5, execution_plan_id: 8da9dbc1-8af2-4fbc-aafb-994472f87532} state changed: stopped  result: warning
   2025-09-29T05:43:43 [I|app|82d35371] ForemanWebhooks::EventSubscriber: actions.katello.repository.sync_failed.event.foreman event received
   2025-09-29T05:43:46 [E|bac|82d35371] nextval: reached maximum value of sequence "container_blobmanifest_id_seq" (2147483647) (Katello::Errors::Pulp3Error)
   82d35371 | /usr/share/gems/gems/katello-4.11.0.16/app/lib/actions/pulp3/abstract_async_task.rb:108:in `block in check_for_errors'
   82d35371 | /usr/share/gems/gems/katello-4.11.0.16/app/lib/actions/pulp3/abstract_async_task.rb:106:in `each'
   82d35371 | /usr/share/gems/gems/katello-4.11.0.16/app/lib/actions/pulp3/abstract_async_task.rb:106:in `check_for_errors'
   82d35371 | /usr/share/gems/gems/katello-4.11.0.16/app/lib/actions/pulp3/abstract_async_task.rb:162:in `poll_external_task'
  

• Inspecting the sequence and table in concern, the following can be found in the pulpcore database.

  # echo "select * from pg_sequences where sequencename='container_blobmanifest_id_seq';" | su - postgres -c "psql -x pulpcore"
  -[ RECORD 1 ]-+------------------------------
  schemaname    | public
  sequencename  | container_blobmanifest_id_seq
  sequenceowner | pulp
  data_type     | integer
  start_value   | 1
  min_value     | 1
  max_value     | 2147483647   ------------------> Not large enough value
  increment_by  | 1
  cycle         | f
  cache_size    | 1
  last_value    | 2147483647   ------------------> same as max_value which means it had reached its limit
  

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