Red Hat Satellite
Red Hat Satellite is an IT infrastructure management tool primarily used to monitor and manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments. Satellite is part of Red Hat's four-piece systems management tool set for enterprise IT, which also includes Ansible, CloudForms and the Red Hat Insights service.
Red Hat launched Satellite in 2002, and regularly updates the product with new features. Red Hat Satellite 6.2, was released in July 2016.
Red Hat Satellite helps IT teams manage different aspects of their Red Hat infrastructure from a single interface. In addition to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Red Hat Satellite can manage the lifecycle of other Red Hat infrastructure and configuration products, including:
- Red Hat Storage -- a distributed file system.
- Red Hat Virtualization -- the company's virtualization platform
- Red Hat Directory Server
- Red Hat Certificate System
- and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.
An IT team can also use Red Hat Satellite to establish a standard operating environment. This increases efficiency by allowing admins to deploy IT resources and systems in a more repeatable and consistent way, and reduces the likelihood of errors.
Key capabilities of Red Hat Satellite
RHEL lifecycle management is the primary capability of Satellite, and there are four main features that support that. These include:
- Centralized provisioning: Admins can centralize and standardize provisioning across multiple platforms, including virtualized environments, public cloud, private cloud and Bare metal.
- Software management: Red Hat Satellite handles software patches and updates to ensure system consistency and availability. Admins can use Satellite to manage software from the development stage to production.
- System configuration management: Satellite provides a central location for admins to configure Red Hat systems. They can also use the tool to identify and reduce configuration drift.
- Subscription management: Satellite provides visibility into Red Hat product subscriptions, allowing admins to track usage.
Satellite also provides features for compliance and audit reporting.
Deployment
To deploy Satellite, users need to purchase the Red Hat Satellite Server, which sells, as of May 2017, for $10,000 annually. Red Hat provides training courses, consultation and support for Satellite users.
