Chapter 1. Preparing your environment for installation Before you install Satellite, ensure that your environment meets the following requirements. 1.1. System requirements The following requirements apply to the networked base operating system: x86_64 architecture The latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 4-core 2.0 GHz CPU at a minimum A minimum of 20 GB RAM is required for Satellite Server to function. In addition, a minimum of 4 GB RAM of swap space is also recommended. Satellite running with less RAM than the minimum value might not operate correctly. A unique host name, which can contain lower-case letters, numbers, dots (.) and hyphens (-) A current Red Hat Satellite subscription Administrative user (root) access Full forward and reverse DNS resolution using a fully-qualified domain name Satellite only supports UTF-8 encoding. If your territory is USA and your language is English, set en_US.utf-8 as the system-wide locale settings. For more information about configuring system locale in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, see Configuring the system locale in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Configuring basic system settings . Your Satellite must have the Red Hat Satellite Infrastructure Subscription manifest in your Customer Portal. Satellite must have satellite-capsule-6.x repository enabled and synced. To create, manage, and export a Red Hat Subscription Manifest in the Customer Portal, see Creating and managing manifests for a connected Satellite Server in Subscription Central . Satellite Server and Capsule Server do not support shortnames in the hostnames. When using custom certificates, the Common Name (CN) of the custom certificate must be a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) instead of a shortname. This does not apply to the clients of a Satellite. Before you install Satellite Server, ensure that your environment meets the requirements for installation. Satellite Server must be installed on a freshly provisioned system that serves no other function except to run Satellite Server. The freshly provisioned system must not have the following users provided by external identity providers to avoid conflicts with the local users that Satellite Server creates: apache foreman foreman-proxy postgres pulp puppet redis tomcat Certified hypervisors Satellite Server is fully supported on both physical systems and virtual machines that run on hypervisors that are supported to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For more information about certified hypervisors, see Certified Guest Operating Systems in Red Hat OpenStack Platform, Red Hat Virtualization, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and Red Hat Enterprise Linux with KVM . SELinux mode SELinux must be enabled, either in enforcing or permissive mode. Installation with disabled SELinux is not supported. Synchronized system clock The system clock on the base operating system where you are installing your Satellite Server must be synchronized across the network. If the system clock is not synchronized, SSL certificate verification might fail. For example, you can use the Chrony suite for timekeeping. For more information, see the following documents: Configuring time synchronization in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Configuring basic system settings Configuring time synchronization in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Configuring basic system settings FIPS mode You can install Satellite on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system that is operating in FIPS mode. You cannot enable FIPS mode after the installation of Satellite. For more information, see Switching RHEL to FIPS mode in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security hardening or Switching RHEL to FIPS mode in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Security hardening . Note Satellite supports DEFAULT and FIPS crypto-policies. The FUTURE crypto-policy is not supported for Satellite and Capsule installations. The FUTURE policy is a stricter forward-looking security level intended for testing a possible future policy. For more information, see Using system-wide cryptographic policies in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security hardening . Inter-Satellite Synchronization (ISS) In a scenario with air-gapped Satellite Servers, all your Satellite Servers must be on the same Satellite version for ISS Export Sync to work. ISS Network Sync works across all Satellite versions that support it. For more information, see Synchronizing Content Between Satellite Servers in Managing content . 1.2. Storage requirements The following table details storage requirements for specific directories. These values are based on expected use case scenarios and can vary according to individual environments. The runtime size was measured with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, and 9 repositories synchronized. Table 1.1. Storage requirements for a Satellite Server installation Directory Installation Size Runtime Size /var/log 10 MB 10 GB /var/lib/pgsql 100 MB 20 GB /usr 10 GB Not Applicable /opt/puppetlabs 500 MB Not Applicable /var/lib/pulp 1 MB 300 GB For external database servers: /var/lib/pgsql with installation size of 100 MB and runtime size of 20 GB. For detailed information on partitioning and size, see Disk partitions in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Managing storage devices . 1.3. Storage guidelines Consider the following guidelines when installing Satellite Server to increase efficiency. If you mount the /tmp directory as a separate file system, you must use the exec mount option in the /etc/fstab file. If /tmp is already mounted with the noexec option, you must change the option to exec and re-mount the file system. This is a requirement for the puppetserver service to work. Because most Satellite Server data is stored in the /var directory, mounting /var on LVM storage can help the system to scale. Use high-bandwidth, low-latency storage for the /var/lib/pulp/ and PostgreSQL /var/lib/pgsql directories. As Red Hat Satellite has many operations that are I/O intensive, using high latency, low-bandwidth storage causes performance degradation. You can use the storage-benchmark script to get this data. For more information on using the storage-benchmark script, see Impact of Disk Speed on Satellite Operations . File system guidelines Do not use the GFS2 file system as the input-output latency is too high. Log file storage Log files are written to /var/log/messages/, /var/log/httpd/ , and /var/lib/foreman-proxy/openscap/content/ . You can manage the size of these files using logrotate . For more information, see How to use logrotate utility to rotate log files . The exact amount of storage you require for log messages depends on your installation and setup. SELinux considerations for NFS mount When the /var/lib/pulp directory is mounted using an NFS share, SELinux blocks the synchronization process. To avoid this, specify the SELinux context of the /var/lib/pulp directory in the file system table by adding the following lines to /etc/fstab : If NFS share is already mounted, remount it using the above configuration and enter the following command: Duplicated packages Packages that are duplicated in different repositories are only stored once on the disk. Additional repositories containing duplicate packages require less additional storage. The bulk of storage resides in the /var/lib/pulp/ directory. These end points are not manually configurable. Ensure that storage is available on the /var file system to prevent storage problems. Symbolic links You cannot use symbolic links for /var/lib/pulp/ . 1.4. Supported operating systems You can install the operating system from a disc, local ISO image, Kickstart, or any other method that Red Hat supports. Red Hat Satellite Server is supported on the latest versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 that are available at the time when Satellite Server is installed. versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux including EUS or z-stream are not supported. The following operating systems are supported by the installer, have packages, and are tested for deploying Satellite: Table 1.2. Operating systems supported by satellite-installer Operating System Architecture Notes Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 x86_64 only Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 x86_64 only Red Hat advises against using an existing system because the Satellite installer will affect the configuration of several components. Red Hat Satellite Server requires a Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation with the @Base package group with no other package-set modifications, and without third-party configurations or software not directly necessary for the direct operation of the server. This restriction includes hardening and other non-Red Hat security software. If you require such software in your infrastructure, install and verify a complete working Satellite Server first, then create a backup of the system before adding any non-Red Hat software. Red Hat does not support using the system for anything other than running Satellite Server. 1.5. Supported browsers Satellite supports recent versions of Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. The Satellite web UI and command-line interface support English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, French. 1.6. Port and firewall requirements For the components of Satellite architecture to communicate, ensure that the required network ports are open and free on the base operating system. You must also ensure that the required network ports are open on any network-based firewalls. Use this information to configure any network-based firewalls. Note that some cloud solutions must be specifically configured to allow communications between machines because they isolate machines similarly to network-based firewalls. If you use an application-based firewall, ensure that the application-based firewall permits all applications that are listed in the tables and known to your firewall. If possible, disable the application checking and allow open port communication based on the protocol. Integrated Capsule Satellite Server has an integrated Capsule and any host that is directly connected to Satellite Server is a Client of Satellite in the context of this section. This includes the base operating system on which Capsule Server is running. Clients of Capsule Hosts which are clients of Capsules, other than Satellite's integrated Capsule, do not need access to Satellite Server. For more information on Satellite Topology and an illustration of port connections, see Capsule Networking in Overview, concepts, and deployment considerations . Required ports can change based on your configuration. The following tables indicate the destination port and the direction of network traffic: Table 1.3. Satellite Server incoming traffic Destination Port Protocol Service Source Required For Description 53 TCP and UDP DNS DNS Servers and clients Name resolution DNS (optional) 67 UDP DHCP Client Dynamic IP DHCP (optional) 69 UDP TFTP Client TFTP Server (optional) 443 TCP HTTPS Capsule Red Hat Satellite API Communication from Capsule 443, 80 TCP HTTPS, HTTP Client Global Registration Registering hosts to Satellite Port 443 is required for registration initiation, uploading facts, and sending installed packages and traces Port 80 notifies Satellite on the /unattended/built endpoint that registration has finished 443 TCP HTTPS Red Hat Satellite Content Mirroring Management 443 TCP HTTPS Red Hat Satellite Capsule API Smart Proxy functionality 443, 80 TCP HTTPS, HTTP Capsule Content Retrieval Content 443, 80 TCP HTTPS, HTTP Client Content Retrieval Content 1883 TCP MQTT Client Pull based REX (optional) Content hosts for REX job notification (optional) 5910 - 5930 TCP HTTPS Browsers Compute Resource's virtual console 8000 TCP HTTP Client Provisioning templates Template retrieval for client installers, iPXE or UEFI HTTP Boot 8000 TCP HTTPS Client PXE Boot Installation 8140 TCP HTTPS Client Puppet agent Client updates (optional) 9090 TCP HTTPS Red Hat Satellite Capsule API Smart Proxy functionality 9090 TCP HTTPS Client OpenSCAP Configure Client (if the OpenSCAP plugin is installed) 9090 TCP HTTPS Discovered Node Discovery Host discovery and provisioning (if the discovery plugin is installed) Any host that is directly connected to Satellite Server is a client in this context because it is a client of the integrated Capsule. This includes the base operating system on which a Capsule Server is running. A DHCP Capsule performs ICMP ping or TCP echo connection attempts to hosts in subnets with DHCP IPAM set to find out if an IP address considered for use is free. This behavior can be turned off using satellite-installer --foreman-proxy-dhcp-ping-free-ip=false . Note Some outgoing traffic returns to Satellite to enable internal communication and security operations. Table 1.4. Satellite Server outgoing traffic Destination Port Protocol Service Destination Required For Description ICMP ping Client DHCP Free IP checking (optional) 7 TCP echo Client DHCP Free IP checking (optional) 22 TCP SSH Target host Remote execution Run jobs 22, 16514 TCP SSH SSH/TLS Compute Resource Satellite originated communications, for compute resources in libvirt 53 TCP and UDP DNS DNS Servers on the Internet DNS Server Resolve DNS records (optional) 53 TCP and UDP DNS DNS Server Capsule DNS Validation of DNS conflicts (optional) 53 TCP and UDP DNS DNS Server Orchestration Validation of DNS conflicts 68 UDP DHCP Client Dynamic IP DHCP (optional) 80 TCP HTTP Remote repository Content Sync Remote repositories 389, 636 TCP LDAP, LDAPS External LDAP Server LDAP LDAP authentication, necessary only if external authentication is enabled. The port can be customized when LDAPAuthSource is defined 443 TCP HTTPS Satellite Capsule Capsule Configuration management Template retrieval OpenSCAP Remote Execution result upload 443 TCP HTTPS Amazon EC2, Azure, Google GCE Compute resources Virtual machine interactions (query/create/destroy) (optional) 443 TCP HTTPS Capsule Content mirroring Initiation 443 TCP HTTPS Infoblox DHCP Server DHCP management When using Infoblox for DHCP, management of the DHCP leases (optional) 623 Client Power management BMC On/Off/Cycle/Status 5000 TCP HTTPS OpenStack Compute Resource Compute resources Virtual machine interactions (query/create/destroy) (optional) 5900 - 5930 TCP SSL/TLS Hypervisor noVNC console Launch noVNC console 7911 TCP DHCP, OMAPI DHCP Server DHCP The DHCP target is configured using --foreman-proxy-dhcp-server and defaults to localhost ISC and remote_isc use a configurable port that defaults to 7911 and uses OMAPI 8443 TCP HTTPS Client Discovery Capsule sends reboot command to the discovered host (optional) 9090 TCP HTTPS Capsule Capsule API Management of Capsules 1.7. Enabling connections from a client to Satellite Server Capsules and Content Hosts that are clients of a Satellite Server's internal Capsule require access through Satellite's host-based firewall and any network-based firewalls. Use this procedure to configure the host-based firewall on the system that Satellite is installed on, to enable incoming connections from Clients, and to make the configuration persistent across system reboots. For more information on the ports used, see Port and firewall requirements in Installing Satellite Server in a connected network environment . Procedure Open the ports for clients on Satellite Server: Allow access to services on Satellite Server: Make the changes persistent: Verification Enter the following command: For more information, see Using and configuring firewalld in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Configuring firewalls and packet filters or Using and configuring firewalld in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Configuring and managing networking . 1.8. Verifying DNS resolution Verify the full forward and reverse DNS resolution using a fully-qualified domain name to prevent issues while installing Satellite. Procedure Ensure that the host name and local host resolve correctly: Successful name resolution results in output similar to the following: To avoid discrepancies with static and transient host names, set all the host names on the system by entering the following command: For more information, see Changing a hostname using hostnamectl in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Configuring and managing networking . Warning Name resolution is critical to the operation of Satellite. If Satellite cannot properly resolve its fully qualified domain name, tasks such as content management, subscription management, and provisioning will fail. 1.9. Tuning Satellite Server with predefined profiles If your Satellite deployment includes more than 5000 hosts, you can use predefined tuning profiles to improve performance of Satellite. Note that you cannot use tuning profiles on Capsules. You can choose one of the profiles depending on the number of hosts your Satellite manages and available hardware resources. The tuning profiles are available in the /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/sizes directory. When you run the satellite-installer command with the --tuning option, deployment configuration settings are applied to Satellite in the following order: The default tuning profile defined in the /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/common.yaml file The tuning profile that you want to apply to your deployment and is defined in the /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/sizes/ directory Optional: If you have configured a /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file, Satellite applies these configuration settings. Note that the configuration settings that are defined in the /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file override the configuration settings that are defined in the tuning profiles. Therefore, before applying a tuning profile, you must compare the configuration settings that are defined in the default tuning profile in /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/common.yaml , the tuning profile that you want to apply and your /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file, and remove any duplicated configuration from the /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file. default Number of hosts: 0 - 5000 RAM: 20G Number of CPU cores: 4 medium Number of hosts: 5001 - 10000 RAM: 32G Number of CPU cores: 8 large Number of hosts: 10001 - 20000 RAM: 64G Number of CPU cores: 16 extra-large Number of hosts: 20001 - 60000 RAM: 128G Number of CPU cores: 32 extra-extra-large Number of hosts: 60000+ RAM: 256G Number of CPU cores: 48+ Procedure Optional: If you have configured the custom-hiera.yaml file on Satellite Server, back up the /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file to custom-hiera.original . You can use the backup file to restore the /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file to its original state if it becomes corrupted: Optional: If you have configured the custom-hiera.yaml file on Satellite Server, review the definitions of the default tuning profile in /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/common.yaml and the tuning profile that you want to apply in /usr/share/foreman-installer/config/foreman.hiera/tuning/sizes/ . Compare the configuration entries against the entries in your /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file and remove any duplicated configuration settings in your /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml file. Enter the satellite-installer command with the --tuning option for the profile that you want to apply. For example, to apply the medium tuning profile settings, enter the following command:

Commands:
nfs.example.com:/nfsshare /var/lib/pulp nfs context="system_u:object_r:var_lib_t:s0" 1 2
restorecon -R /var/lib/pulp
firewall-cmd --add-port="8000/tcp" --add-port="9090/tcp"
firewall-cmd --add-service=dns --add-service=dhcp --add-service=tftp --add-service=http --add-service=https --add-service=puppetmaster
firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent
firewall-cmd --list-all
ping -c1 localhost ping -c1 `hostname -f` # my_system.domain.com
ping -c1 localhost PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.043 ms --- localhost ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.043/0.043/0.043/0.000 ms ping -c1 `hostname -f` PING hostname.gateway (XX.XX.XX.XX) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from hostname.gateway (XX.XX.XX.XX): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.019 ms --- localhost.gateway ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.019/0.019/0.019/0.000 ms
hostnamectl set-hostname name
cp /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.yaml /etc/foreman-installer/custom-hiera.original
satellite-installer --tuning medium