Foreman and Katello Update

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1

I have Foreman Smart Proxies versions 3.7.1 katello 4.9.2. The system is running smoothly.

While reading the documents I saw that Foreman 3.7 & Katello 4.9 are no longer supported. How can I upgrade Foreman and Katello to 3.9 and Katelleo 4.11?

When upgrading, I will update 3.8 Katelleo 4.10 and then 3.9 4.11. Also, Smart Proxy and Katello installation are separate steps I am using with the foreman katello I am using now, right? Because I have installed katello rmp on the servers. How do I understand this? What is the difference between Katello and smart proxy ? Later versions can be installed without Katello ? What exactly does this do ?

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Hey @pilgrimage , these are great questions! I’ll try to explain.

In general, “Foreman” refers to the main application and its host provisioning and monitoring capabilities. “Katello” is a plugin to Foreman and is what provides “content management” features - patching, content views/lifecycle environments, hosting of content, etc. There are also other optional (and semi-optional) plugins which provide remote execution, Puppet, Ansible, and many other features.

Foreman and Katello are installed on your main Foreman server. Your upgrade path is correct - first you’d upgrade to Foreman 3.8 & Katello 4.10, then Foreman 3.9 and Katello 4.11. And now, Foreman 3.10 and Katello 4.12 are available so you can upgrade to those too, if you want :slight_smile:

By “katello rpm” I think you are referring to the katello-ca-consumer rpm installed on the hosts, right? That rpm was just responsible for distributing the Katello certificates to your hosts. It does not need to be upgraded when upgrading your Foreman/Katello server. No action is needed here.

A smart proxy is what makes Foreman & Katello scalable. Foreman comes with a “built-in” smart proxy. If you have large numbers of hosts to manage (>5000), or if you wish to host content and services from several geographical locations, you can install one or more “external” smart proxies. They can provide services including content and remote execution, among others.

When upgrading, you only have to upgrade your smart proxy(ies) if they are “external.” The built-in smart proxy will be upgraded as part of the regular Foreman/Katello upgrade.

If you do have external smart proxies to upgrade, ideally they should be upgraded in parallel. (for example: Upgrade Foreman to 3.9, then upgrade external smart proxies to 3.9, then upgrade Foreman to 3.10, then upgrade external smart proxies to 3.10). But if you can’t do that, it is supported to temporarily have smart proxies up to 2 versions old: (for example, Foreman 3.9, smart proxy on 3.7 should still work. But once Foreman is 3.10, smart proxy must be at least 3.8).

And to answer your final question, Foreman and Katello cannot be divorced once they are joined. If you want Foreman without Katello, you would have to start over with a fresh installation.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

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