| copyright | lastupdated | keywords | subcollection | content-type | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2023-08-23 |
satellite, hybrid, multicloud, faq, service, host, location |
satellite |
faq |
{{site.data.keyword.attribute-definition-list}}
{: #faqs}
Review frequently asked questions (FAQs) for using {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong}}. {: shortdesc}
{: #what-is-satellite} {: faq} {: support}
With {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}}, you can create a hybrid environment that brings the scalability and flexibility of public cloud services to the applications and data that run in your secure private cloud. To achieve this distributed cloud architecture, {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} provides an API-based suite of tools that you can use to represent your on-premises data center, a public cloud provider, or an edge network as a {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location. You fill the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location with your own host machines that meet the minimum host requirements. Then, these hosts provide the compute power to run {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services, such as workloads in managed {{site.data.keyword.redhat_openshift_notm}} clusters or data and artificial intelligence (AI) tools like {{site.data.keyword.watson}}.
Your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location includes tools such as {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} Link and {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} Config to provide additional capabilities for securing and auditing network connections in your location and consistently deploying, managing, and controlling your apps and policies across clusters in the location.
For more information, see the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} product page{: external}.
{: #satellite-locations} {: faq} {: support}
Because you bring your own compute host infrastructure to your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location, you can choose to host this infrastructure anywhere you need it. However, to monitor malicious activity and apply updates to your location, these compute hosts are managed by an {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} multizone region that is supported by {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}}. You can choose any of the supported regions, but to reduce latency between {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} and your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location, choose the region that is closest to your compute hosts.
For more information, see Supported {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} locations.
{: #satellite-ha} {: faq} {: support}
The {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}} service architecture and infrastructure is designed to ensure reliability, low processing latency, and a maximum uptime of the service. By default, every location is managed by a highly available {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} control plane that consists of a control plane master and worker nodes. For an overview of potential points of failures and your options to increase the availability of your location and control plane, see High availability for {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}}.
{: #control-plane-unavailable} {: faq} {: support}
Every location is securely connected to the {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} multizone region that manages your location by using the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} Link component. The link component runs in your control plane and is the main gateway for any communication between your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location and {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}}. If your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location cannot communicate with the {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} multizone region anymore, your existing location workloads will continue to run, but you cannot make any configuration changes or roll out updates to the services and apps that run in your location.
For an overview of your options to make the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} control plane more highly available to prevent connectivity issues with your {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} multizone region, see High availability for {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}}.
Does {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}} support third-party and open source tools that I use with {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}}?
{: #faq_thirdparty_oss} {: faq}
See the {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}} open source and third-party policy{: external}.
{: #host-software} {: faq}
To add your own server as a host in your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location, the host must meet certain compute, storage, networking, and system requirements. These requirements specify the Red Hat software packages that must be installed on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts. Other software packages that make modifications to the hosts, including vulnerability scanning tools such as McAfee or Qualys, cannot be installed on the hosts. But you can install read-only software such as OpenSCAP on the hosts before attaching them to your location.
The reasons that you cannot install extra software on the hosts relate to {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}} 's responsibilities to manage multiple aspects of the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} hosts for you, such as installation, access, and maintenance.
Installation: The {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} team tries to keep the host requirements to a minimal level so that many servers across infrastructure providers can meet the requirements to become {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} hosts. By limiting the number of possible software packages, {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} reduces instability and conflicts during installation tasks such as bootstrapping each host so that all hosts across {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} locations have a consistent set of images and container platform software. This consistency also helps you develop applications and deploy {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}}-enabled {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services that work across your environments.
Access: For security purposes, {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} restricts external access to hosts, including SSH. Many extra software packages require access to or from the host, so extra software packages are not allowed to be installed.
Maintenance: {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}} provides software updates that you choose when to apply to the host. Because {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}} is responsible for providing these updates, you cannot install extra software that is not managed by {{site.data.keyword.IBM_notm}}. Extra software also uses mores CPU, memory, and disk storage resources on the host, which impacts the amount available to your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}}-enabled {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services and applications that run on the hosts.
{: #pricing} {: support} {: faq}
{{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}} provides a convenient way for you to consume {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services in any location that you want, with visibility across your locations. For more information, see Pricing.
{{site.data.content.cost-estimate}}
{{site.data.content.usage}}
{: #sla} {: faq}
See the {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} terms of service and the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} additional service description{: external}.
{{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} Infrastructure Service is IBM-operated and as such, is covered in the {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}} cloud service terms with additional information outlined in the {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} Additional Services Description{: external}.
{: #standards} {: faq}
{{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} is built by following many data, finance, health, insurance, privacy, security, technology, and other international compliance standards. For more information, see {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} compliance.
To view detailed system requirements, you can run a software product compatibility report for {{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}}{: external}.
Note that compliance also might depend on the setup of the underlying infrastructure provider that you use for the {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location control plane and other resources. {: important}
{{site.data.keyword.satellitelong_notm}} implements controls commensurate with the following security standards:
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018)
{: #supported-services} {: faq} {: support}
For a complete list of {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services that you can deploy to your {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location, see {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}}-enabled {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} services.
Keep in mind that each service might:
- Be available for {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} locations that are managed from select {{site.data.keyword.cloud_notm}} regions only, such as from Washington, DC or London.
- Have its own limitations for use in {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}}.
What managed add-ons can I use with {{site.data.keyword.redhat_openshift_notm}} clusters in my {{site.data.keyword.satelliteshort}} location?
{: #faq-managed-addons}
See the {{site.data.keyword.openshiftlong_notm}} documentation.