Recover the "/var/spacewalk" directory in SUSE Manager

This document (000021110) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Manager Server 4.3

Situation

For an unknown reason, the "/var/spacewalk" directory had been lost.

Resolution

1. Stop the spacewalk service.

# spacewalk-service stop

2. Restore the /var/spacewalk filesystem from the latest backup. The most important directories to be restored are "packages", "systems", "suse" and "rhn".

Ensure the permissions for owner and group are as follows:

drwxr-xr-x  3 wwwrun root 4096 Jan  7 12:59 packages/

drwxr-xr-x  2 wwwrun www  4096 Jan  7 12:59 rhn/

drwxr-xr-x  3 root   root 4096 Jan  7 12:59 suse/

drwxrwxr-x  2 wwwrun www  4096 Jan  7 11:58 systems/

Note: It is recommended to restore it to another directory, and move the above sub-directories to the target directory one by one.

3. Start the spacewalk service:

# spacewalk-service start

4. Refresh the sync for the current products and channels; either from WebUI:

 (Admin - Products - Refresh)

... or from the CLI:

# mgr-sync refresh --refresh-channels

5. Refresh the SUMA repositories metadata:

# zypper ref --force

6. From the client side, refresh the repositories metadata:

# zypper ref --force

Cause

"/var/spacewalk" is the local repository for all the software channel's packages, losing this directory or a part of its contents will prevent any patching operations.

Additional Information

For further information, refer to the following documentation https://documentation.suse.com/suma/4.3/en/suse-manager/administration/backup-restore.html

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.