Katello-agent vs katello-host-tools

Hello,

clients(servers) running on centos 7.
just read about goferless host management and have a question:
Is there a difference in manageability when i use katello-host-tools or katello-agent.
Or in other words are there any features/functionalities in katello-agent not covered by katello-host-tools?

Thanks
Thomas

katello-agent and katello-host-tools have different functions, although katello-agent has a dependency on katello-host-tools to avoid some code duplication.

katello-agent, as the name suggests, places an agent on the client system in order to enable package actions (install/update/remove). The same can be accomplished with Remote Execution as you’ve read about. katello-agent will be removed in Katello 4.0

Historically, katello-host-tools was responsible for uploading the installed package and enabled repository information from the client to Katello to facilitate applicable Errata calculation. It still does this if necessary, but that functionality has been assumed by subscription-manager in newer versions which are available on CentOS 7+.

If you’re running the latest subscription-manager on your CentOS 7 (or 8) hosts then katello-host-tools is not required at all unless you are using katello-agent instead of REX.

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thank you very much

it seems for the package actions via foreman GUI–>content the katello-agent ist still needed…is it planned in furture to also use REX for this foreman GUI features?
(foreman version 1.24.2)
image

If you enable the REX plugin on your Katello installation, you can use REX today to perform these actions. The options to use REX will show up as part of the actions:

1 Like

thanks for clarification…works perfect