Chapter 1 Introducing Spacewalk
A central task for IT administrators is to provision systems and keep them up to date with the latest patches and operating system updates. If the security policy at your site mandates errata as critical, it is crucially important to conduct regular testing and apply patches to reduce the risk of systems compromise or data exposure. As data centers expand, administrators are required to manage even greater numbers of physical servers and virtual machines. As a result, automation becomes a necessity for efficient and cost-effective systems management. Spacewalk is open source software that helps to automate Oracle Linux systems management, thereby enabling you to control the system software life cycle, from initial installation, through maintenance, software configuration, upgrades, and eventual decommissioning.
Provisioning and maintaining large numbers of physical servers and virtual machines across large deployments that span departments and data centers is a challenging task. However, keeping Oracle Linux systems up to date with stable software configurations, the latest security errata, and consistent patch levels is critical to user productivity, as well as useful for managing day-to-day business operations.
This guide introduces you to the basic concepts of using Spacewalk to manage Oracle Linux systems. Beyond the scope of this guide are additional efficiencies that can result from implementing Spacewalk.
For example, you can use Spacewalk to do the following:
-
Run automatic OpenSCAP audits against industry-standard security checklists and evaluation profiles.
-
Use the Spacewalk API, which offers powerful and extensive interfaces for high-level scripting, to provide a sophisticated and comprehensive way to automate advanced management tasks.
Spacewalk provides an effective set of tools for managing the Oracle Linux software life cycle in small or large deployments. Spacewalk also helps you automate a kickstart installation, system configuration, and maintenance tasks, which enables you to rapidly deploy proven and consistent software configurations for Oracle Linux systems.
As illustrated in the following figure, during the typical life cycle of a system, you can use Spacewalk to simplify several system management tasks, such as installing bare metal systems and virtual guests, applying patches and software updates, configuring software, and auditing system security.
You can administer Spacewalk and perform most Spacewalk operations by using either a web interface or the spacecmd command. Spacewalk also features an extensive and powerful XML/RPC-based API that you can use with a high-level scripting language such as Python.
Oracle Linux Premier Support and Oracle Linux Basic Support contracts provide support for Spacewalk and include a limited-use license for Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition for use with Spacewalk. You can use Spacewalk to automate the management of Oracle Linux 6 and Oracle Linux 7 systems. When deployed on Oracle Linux, Spacewalk can additionally manage other Linux releases, such as CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and SLES. However, note that Oracle does not support Spacewalk for management of these systems.
Spacewalk provides automated management capabilities at no additional cost. Oracle support for Spacewalk is especially valuable when transitioning to Oracle Linux, for those who are already familiar with Red Hat Satellite 5 releases or SUSE Manager. However, your IT organization might prefer to implement Oracle Enterprise Manager instead because it provides a comprehensive management solution that extends beyond the management of purely Linux-derived systems. The Oracle Enterprise Manager product family supports the management of the entire Oracle software stack, including hardware, hypervisors, operating systems and Oracle Database, Oracle middleware, and Oracle software applications. For more information, visit the Oracle Enterprise Manager product page at https://www.oracle.com/enterprise-manager/.