Spacewalk (software)
| Original author(s) | Red Hat |
|---|---|
| Initial release | June 2008 |
| Stable release |
2.6
/ November 29, 2016 |
| Written in | Java, Perl and Python |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Available in | English, Francais, Bengali, Hindi, Japanese, Punjabi, Russian, Simplified Chinese, German, Spanish, Gujarati, Italian, Korean, Brazilian, Portuguese, Tamil, Traditional Chinese |
| Type | Systems management |
| License | GNU General Public License v2 |
| Website |
www |
Spacewalk is an open-source systems management solution for system provisioning, patching and configuration licensed under GNU General Public License v2. It is constructed from free and open source software (FOSS) Components.
Overview
Features
Spacewalk encompasses the following functions:[1]
- Systems Inventory (Hardware and Software)
- System Software Installation and Updates
- Collation and Distribution of Custom Software Packages into Manageable Groups
- System provisioning (via Kickstart)
- Management and deployment of configuation files
- Provision of virtual Guests
- Start/Stop/Configuration of virtual guests
- OpenSCAP Auditing of client systems[2]
Architecture
Spacewalk Server: Server represents managing System
- It is possible to set up master and slave servers, and even a tree setup is possible [3]
- There are options for geographically remote remote proxy servers [4]
Spacewalk Client: A system managed by a Spacewalk server
- Compatible Client OS's are drawn from:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
- Fedora (operating system)
- Oracle Linux (OL)
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
- openSUSE
- Scientific Linux
- Solaris (operating system) - Limited and depreciated Support
- Debian - Limited Support
Spacewalk is controlled by the following Interfaces:
- web interface, Used for most interactions
- CLI (Command-line interface), Used for some specific operations
- XMLRPC API Interface,[5] programmatic interface for specialist/development use
Subscription Management:
- Particular upstream and downstream versions may include integration to supported vendor subscription support network such as Red Hat Network(RHN) and ULN[6] and SUSE Enterprise Linux Server Subscriptions
Backend Database:
- While formerly requiring the commercial Oracle Database as a backend, version 1.7 (released in March 2012) added support for PostgreSQL.[7]
Upstream and downstream versions
A number of downstream versions use upstream Spacewalk version as the basis of their System Provision, patch and errata management:
- Red Hat Satellite 5.x
- Oracle's "Spacewalk for Oracle® Linux"
- SUSE® Manager Server
Support for particular client OS, server OS, system architecture, Backend Databases and subscription services varies between versions and releases.
History and development
Development
Red Hat developed the Red Hat Network to manage subscriptions software management and created the Red Hat Satellite application as a central management point with the user network.
For Red Hat Satellite version 5 the Satellite Function was implemented by a toolset named Project Spacewalk.
Red Hat announced in June 2008 Project Spacewalk was to be made open source under the GPLv2 License[8]
Satellite 5.3 was the first version to be based on upstream Spacewalk code.[9]
Stewardship and governance
In the Spacewalk FAQ [10] issued in 2015 after the release of Redhat Satellite 6 Red Hat.
- Red Hat formally released Spacewalk as open source(GPLv2) in June 2008
- Red Hat continues to sponsor and support Spacewalk as the upstream Red Hat Satellite 5. however that participation is anticipated to diminish as Red Hat Satellite 5 enters the final phases of its lifecycle. Spacewalk is not and can never be upstream for Red Hat Satellite 6 released in September 2014[11][12] due to it being a ground up rebuild with a different toolset.
- The Spacewalk project can continue to grow and flourish providing the community continue to find it a useful tool and a willing to support it.
Builds
Upstream build
Resources
| Resource | Notes |
|---|---|
| Project GitHub Home | Github Root |
| GitHub Wiki | Forced move from Fedorahosted.org TRAC from late 2016 [13][14][15] and as of February 2017 may have some link discrepancies remaining |
| Official Project Home | Domain Registered by Red Hat but not updated since 2015 (accessed January 2017) |
| User Documentation | User Documentation |
| FAQ | Upstream FAQ |
| Depreciated FedoraHosted Wiki | Depreciated |
Releases
| Release | Release Date | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Spacewalk 2.6 | November 29, 2016 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.5 | June 8, 2016 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.4 | October 7, 2015 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.3 | April 14, 2015 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.2 | July 16, 2014 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.1 | March 4, 2014 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 2.0 | July 19, 2013 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.9 | March 5, 2013 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.8 | November 1, 2012 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.7 | March 7, 2012 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.6 | December 22, 2011 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.5 | July 21, 2011 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.4 | April 26, 2011 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.3 | February 4, 2011 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.2 | November 19, 2010 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.1 | August 13, 2010 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 1.0 | April 29, 2010 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 0.8 | February 16, 2010 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 0.7 | December 4, 2009 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 0.6 | August 7, 2009 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 0.5 | March 31, 2009 | See Release Notes |
| Spacewalk 0.4 | January 15, 2009 | Release Announcement |
| Spacewalk 0.3 | November 7, 2008 | Release Announcement |
| Spacewalk 0.2 | September 16, 2008 | Release Announcement |
| Spacewalk | June 17, 2008 | Initial Release Announcement |
Oracle Spacewalk
Oracle Spacewalk was introduced particularly to provide a familiar alternative for those switching from a different vendor while Oracle Enterprise Manager remains Oracle Corporation's preferred way of managing systems[16]
Oracle's spacewalk server is designed to be hosted on Oracle Linux (OL).
| Oracle Spacewalk Release | Date | Upstream Release | Server Versions | Client Versions | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 | November 2013 | 2.0 | OL 6 | OL 5, OL 6 | First Oracle Spacewalk Release |
| 2.2 | January 2015[17] | 2.2 | OL 6 | OL 5, OL 6, OL 7[18] | New features related to upstream Spacewalk 2.2 |
| 2.4 | April 2016 | 2.4 | OL 6, OL 7 | OL 5, OL 6, OL 7 | Oracle Linux 7 supported |
The about section of the release notes in Oracle Spacewalk 2.x Documentation indicate only minor branding changes and changes for GPG keys [19]
Red Hat Satellite 5
Red Hat Satellite 5 is a licensed downstream adaption of Spacewalk with added functionality to manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux Subscriptions. In the active years of the Red Hat Satellite 5 lifecycle Spacewalk was simply known as the upstream project for Satellite. The relationship between Spacewalk and Red Hat Satellite 5 was analogous to the relationship between Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. With the emergence of Red Hat Satellite 6 with based on a fundamentally different toolset, end of lifecycle phase of Red Hat Satellite 5 and the emergence of downstream spacewalk based offerings from Oracle and SUSE newer versions of Spacewalk may not have this close relationship.
SUSE Manager Server
In March 2011 Novell released SUSE Manager 1.2, based on Spacewalk 1.2 and supporting the management of both SUSE Linux Enterprise and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.[20]
As of February 2017 the current version of SUSE Manager is SUSE Manager 3.
SUSE Manager 3 is based upon Spacewalk 2.4.[21] SUSE Manager 3 extends Spacewalk and incorporates integrates other components.[22] Subscription Management Capabilities for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are supported.
Miscellaneous
- The Spacewalk logo is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc.[23]
References
- ↑ "GitHub Spacewalkproject Home". 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "OpenSCAP Auditing of client systems". docs.oracle.com. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "Configuring Inter-Server Synchronization". docs.oracle.com. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ↑ "Installing and Upgrading Spacewalk Proxies". docs.oracle.com. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ↑ "Spacewalk API FAQ". Retrieved 2017-01-31.
- ↑ "Introduction to Using Oracle Unbreakable Linux Network". Oracle Linux Blog. 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "PostgreSQL – spacewalk". Fedorahosted.org. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ↑ "Project Spacewalk Announcement". Red Hat. 2008-06-02. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
- ↑ "Red Hat stretches Linux system management tentacle". The Register. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
- ↑ "(Spacewalk) Frequently Asked Questions". Red hat. 2015. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "Satellite version 6 with Puppet, git, Foreman, Katello, Pulp and Candlepin included - questions on using Puppet".
- ↑ "Spacewalk: Free & Open Source Linux Systems Management". redhat.com. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ↑ "Fedorahosted Sunset". 2016-10-16. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ↑ "Migration from Fedorahosted Trac". 2016-11-16. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ↑ "Spacewalk wiki has a new home!". spacewalk-devel. 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
- ↑ "Spacewalk 2.0 provided to manage Oracle Linux systems". Senior Vice President of Linux and Virtualization Engineering. 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
- ↑ "Friday Spotlight: Spacewalk 2.2 on public yum and Oracle Instant Client on ULN". Oracle's Linux Blog. 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
- ↑ "Spacewalk client released for Oracle Linux 7". Oracle's Linux Blog. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "Oracle Spacewalk Documentation Home". oracle.com. Retrieved 2017-01-30.
- ↑ "Novell Rolls Out Advanced Linux Systems Management Solution". Novell.com. 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ↑ "Release notes for SUSE Manager 3 Server Version 3.0.3". 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "FAQ Server SUSE Manager 3" (PDF). 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2017-02-01.
- ↑ "Spacewalk Home". Red Hat. 2015. Retrieved 2017-02-02.
External links
- Official website
- GitHub.com repository for Spacewalk
- Upstream GitHub documentation Wiki
- Spacewalk Upstream User Documentation
- Spacewalk on Fedorahosted.org (Depreciated)
- Documentation for Red Hat Satellite 5.7 - Contains much Generally relevant for Spacewalk
- Oracle Spacewalk Documentation - Generally useful Reference
- SUSE Manager 3 Documentation