Managing CentOS Migrations and RHEL Upgrades

Instructions

In this activity, you convert the servera.lab.example.com machine, which currently runs CentOS Linux 7, to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. This activity guides you through a conversion process that requires you to manually register the system to Satellite Server. You can use this method to convert disconnected systems. The Satellite repository configuration and activation keys that are required for registering and converting the system are created by the grading scripts, and are ready for you to use in this activity.

In a future activity, you will verify that the machine and the application that runs on the machine still function after the conversion.

1. Register the servera machine to the local Satellite Server (satellite.lab.example.com). Use Operations as the organization and CentOS7 as the activation key for the registration.

   1. Log in to the servera machine as the student user. Switch to the root user. Use student as the password.

      [student@workstation ~]$ ssh servera
      student@servera's password: student
      [student@servera ~]$ sudo -i
      [sudo] password for student: student
      [root@servera ~]#

   2. Install the subscription-manager package.

      [root@servera ~]# yum install subscription-manager
      ...output omitted...
      Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
      ...output omitted...
      Complete!

   3. Download the katello-ca-consumer package from the local Satellite Server.

      [root@servera ~]# curl --insecure --output katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm \
      https://satellite.lab.example.com/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
      ...output omitted...

   4. Install the katello-ca-consumer package.

      [root@servera ~]# yum install katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
      ...output omitted...
      Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
      ...output omitted...
      Complete!

   5. Register the servera machine. Use Operations as the organization and the CentOS7 activation key.

      [root@servera ~]# subscription-manager register \
      --org Operations --activationkey CentOS7
      The system has been registered with ID: 17e9dbe4-2929-4630-8806-c3be77691b3d
      The registered system name is: servera

2. On the servera host, perform a pre-conversion analysis with the convert2rhel analyze command.

   1. Run the convert2rhel analyze command to perform the pre-conversion analysis. Provide the RHEL7 activation key and the Operations organization for the analysis.

      When prompted to continue with the system conversion, input y to continue with the system analysis. Confirming this action performs the system analysis, not the conversion.

      [root@servera ~]# convert2rhel analyze --org Operations --activationkey RHEL7
      ...output omitted...
      Continue with the system conversion? [y/n]: y
      ...output omitted...
      
      ========== Success (No changes needed) ==========
      (SUCCESS) CHECK_FIREWALLD_AVAILABILITY::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) IS_LOADED_KERNEL_LATEST::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) CUSTOM_REPOSITORIES_ARE_VALID::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) VALIDATE_PACKAGE_MANAGER_TRANSACTION::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) REMOVE_EXCLUDED_PACKAGES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) BACKUP_REPOSITORY::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) SUBSCRIBE_SYSTEM::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) PRE_SUBSCRIPTION::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) EFI::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) DUPLICATE_PACKAGES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) READ_ONLY_MOUNTS_SYS::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) READ_ONLY_MOUNTS_MNT::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) BACKUP_REDHAT_RELEASE::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) PACKAGE_UPDATES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) REMOVE_REPOSITORY_FILES_PACKAGES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) LIST_THIRD_PARTY_PACKAGES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) EUS_SYSTEM_CHECK::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) BACKUP_YUM_VARIABLES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) REMOVE_IWLAX2XX_FIRMWARE::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) BACKUP_PACKAGE_FILES::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) RHEL_COMPATIBLE_KERNEL::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) TAINTED_KMODS::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) DBUS_IS_RUNNING::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) ENSURE_KERNEL_MODULES_COMPATIBILITY::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) INSTALL_RED_HAT_GPG_KEY::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) INSTALL_RED_HAT_CERT_FOR_YUM::SUCCESS - N/A
      (SUCCESS) CONVERT2RHEL_LATEST_VERSION::SUCCESS - N/A
      
      ========== Info (No changes needed) ==========
      (INFO) REMOVE_REPOSITORY_FILES_PACKAGES::REPOSITORY_FILE_PACKAGES_REMOVED -
      Repository file packages to be removed
           Description: We have identified installed packages that match a pre-defined
           list of packages that are to be removed during the conversion
           Diagnosis: The following packages will be removed during the
           conversion: centos-release-7-9.2009.1.el7.centos.x86_64
           Remediation: N/A
      (INFO) REMOVE_EXCLUDED_PACKAGES::EXCLUDED_PACKAGES_REMOVED -
      Excluded packages to be removed
           Description: We have identified installed packages that match a pre-defined
           list of packages that are to be removed during the conversion
           Diagnosis: The following packages will be removed during the
           conversion: centos-logos-70.0.6-3.el7.centos.noarch
           Remediation: N/A

      According to the pre-conversion analysis report, the system complies with the prerequisites for the conversion. The report does not identify potential issues with the conversion, so you can proceed with converting the system.

3. Use the convert2rhel command to convert the system to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Provide the RHEL7 activation key to enable the RHEL repositories to perform the conversion.

   1. After you run the convert2rhel command, the command prompts you to continue with the system conversion and performs a pre-conversion analysis. The command prompts you a second time after the analysis to confirm the conversion.

      You might see a warning message that the Convert2RHEL tool could not connect to a Red Hat site. You can ignore this message, because you are performing this conversion without an internet connection.

      [root@servera ~]# convert2rhel --org Operations --activationkey RHEL7
      ...output omitted...
      Continue with the system conversion? [y/n]: y
      ...output omitted...
      WARNING - There was a problem while trying to connect to 'https://static.redhat.com/test/rhel-networkmanager.txt' to check internet connectivity. This could be due to the host being offline, or the network blocking access to the endpoint... Some checks and actions will be skipped.
      ...output omitted...
      Continue with the system conversion? [y/n]: y
      ...output omitted...
      
      Conversion successful!
      
      WARNING - In order to boot the RHEL kernel, restart of the system is needed.

      The conversion process finishes successfully.

   2. Reboot the system to load the new kernel and system packages.

      [root@servera ~]# reboot
      ...output omitted...
      [student@workstation ~]$

      You will verify the success of the conversion in a future activity.