What am i missing [Error: Unable to download ....pub/repositories/res/9/bootstrap/venv-enabled-x86_64.txt file!]

[A7GPS0]

Hello all,

due to my possible complete incompetence or absolute missinterpretation-/understanding of the documentation, i wanted to reach out to you in the hope of gaining some enlightenment.

The current problem:
While trying to register/bootstrap a client i receive the [....unable to download.....venv-enabled-x86_64.txt file!] error. See

To back this up the command [mgr-create-bootstrap-repo] returns [No products available].
Also i can guarantee that no firewall/connection issue exists.

What iam trying to achieve?

• Maintaining different VMs running oracle linux 8, 9, ....some day 10 (which is currently not supported).

What is the actuall environment and what have i configured

• Freshly installed Uyuni 2025.07
• Following the documentation a local uln-mirror is already set up and works like a charm. Reachable under: [https://uln-mirror.mydomain.de/uln/]. Info: The local uln-mirror is configured in a way that he receives the packages from the Unbreakable Linux Network and not from the public yum, to provide them for the uyuni server.
• In Uyuni i created a repository (Software -> Manage -> Repositories) for each uln package i have on my local uln-mirror server
• I've then created one parent and 4 child-channels under (Software -> Manage -> Channels) which are all linked to their corresponding repositories and are also in sync, see:

• Info: The parent channel [OL9_x86_64_Pool] is not linked to any repository because it has no counterpart repository and is intended to act as an aggregator, collecting all channels beneath it which are possible candidates for the clients.

• Due to the fact i dont want to link these channels to clients i created a content lifecycle environment via (Content Lifecycle -> Project), leaving me with a new set of 5 new channels automatically generated via content lifecycle, see:

• These channels are now infact the same like the ones from the screenshot before, except they are all not linked to a repository. They are only a "snapshot" of the original channels.
• From here iam going to create a new activation key via (Systems -> Activation Keys), see:

• The final part (in my opinion now) is to bootstrapping my client via (Systems -> Bootstrapping) entering the credientials, activation key and so on, leaving me with the error from the original screenshot.

What have i tried to come around this issue?

• To be honest, iam just going around in cicles. Iam pretty sure that the main problem is that my client cant receive the [venv-enabled-x86_64.txt) file, because there is nothing and no bootstrap repository was created.

• Also iam pretty sure that i have something to do manually via spacewalk-common-channels or anything like this.....but i only turning around.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction and clarify my problem. Keep in mind i don't use any "common-channels" defined in the spacewalk-common-channels.ini

[rjmateus]

Can you try it using the flags --force and --with-custom-channels.

When creating you may also need to use the flag --with-parent-channel. The names doesn't look like the stand names the script is expecting, so you may need to pass the parent channel label.

[A7GPS0]

Hello @rjmateus ,

thank you for your response. So if iam executing this manually is still receive the same [No product available] answer.

EDIT: Double-checked it and tried it also with the label of the parent-channel which is actually connected to the repository. Same outcome.

When iam looking through the documentation for registering the oracle clients https://www.uyuni-project.org/uyuni-docs/en/uyuni/client-configuration/clients-oracle.html iam aware of the [Procedure: Adding Software Channels at the Command Prompt] but i have never executed this manually as i excpeted that this will happen in the background.

May i miss here a spacewalk-common-channel command?

[rjmateus]

How did you added the Oracle Linux channels?
You should use that command to add the Oracle Linux channels, and specially the channel *uyuni-client channel, that contains the salt agent.

[A7GPS0]

Well i added them through the UI.

1. Created a repository via [Software -> Manage -> Repositories] (Created for each Software-Channel i want to use)
   F.e:

2. After that i created the channels via [Software -> Manage -> Channels -> Create Channel] and connected and synced them. (sync completed)
3. Next step created via [Content Lifecycle] the "playground"-Channels which i wanted to use for the clients.
4. Finally: Activation Key -> Bootstrapping -> Error

I think iam confused about the part of "adding the channels" because i dont think i understood what exactly happens in this step. I thought that with these steps i've listed here everything else happens in the background. And because my repositories (Software -> Manage -> repositories) have the url for uyuni to get those packages i dont need to "add" anything manually.

Regardless, I would like to thank you in advance for your support

[rjmateus]

The steps you have mentioned are basically creating the channels manually, which in uyuni is seen as vendor channels. By adding channels with the spacewalk-common-channel, you are adding the vendor channels that are used to create something "special" that is the bootstrap repository, used during registration time.
Try the following:
run > mgrctl exec -ti -- spacewalk-common-channels oraclelinux9 oraclelinux9-uyuni-client

After those channels are added and synchronized, try run the command mgr-create-bootstrap-script -l and check if oracle 9 shows up.

Have a great time

[A7GPS0]

Hello @rjmateus,

i've executed your commands as recommended.

• mgrctl exec -ti -- spacewalk-common-channels oraclelinux9 oraclelinux9-uyuni-client
• mgr-create-bootstrap-repo -l (mgr-create-bootstrap-script -l this command didnt exists)

now some channels are shown:

what ive noticed now is that two new channels got created through this command:

i've never created them manually.

BUT.....i now tried to bootstrap one server via [Systems -> Bootstrapping] and for the activation key i used the [playground-key] which is connected to my [playground-channels] (the ones via Content Lifecycle).

What can i say: It worked!
Maybe you would help me again to understand this better: I had everthing, my repositories, my channels, my activiation keys. The command mgrctl exec -ti -- spacewalk-common-channels oraclelinux9 oraclelinux9-uyuni-client created new channels (oraclelinux9, ol9-uyuni-toolsconnected to new repositories (external) and despite everything the bootstrapping process with my activation key linked to complete different channels worked....WHY?
iam pretty sure that i missunderstood the MAIN concept of this software but if you have anything for me that help me to understand this better iam absolute open to hear this.

Thank you very much and have a great time!

[rjmateus]

What can i say: It worked!

Great success :)

Ok, let's start from the beginning. Uyuni allows you to manage several open-source operating systems. The repository's URL is known, and we have that in the configuration files on Uyuni server.
When a user wants to add a new product, they can make it directly on UYUNI, and we would create all the channels with the repository URL's. This is done by calling the command spacewalk-common-channels ... , and these channels are called vendor channels.

These vendor channels are special; they are not connected to any organization at database level. But also, they are used to create a special repository called bootstrap repository, which is always used during the onboarding process. Look at https://<SERVER_FQDN>/pub/repositories/

By creating the repositories manually (named custom channels), you bypassed all these mechanisms and the bootstrap repository didn't get created. When you run the commands I pasted, besides adding the channels, it also automatically creates the bootstrap repository. As soon as you have the bootstrap repo in place, you can register the minion and assign any activation key/channels you want.

I hope it brings some clarity about what is happening internally.

[A7GPS0]

That helped a lot, this was very helpful in understanding the circumstances especially the explaination for the term vendor-channels in connection with Uyuni.

So in short: I need for every OS i want to manage, a bootstrap repository, which i MUST create via the spacewalk-commen-channels.... command. - If i dont use the SUSE Customer Center with the appropriate products and want everything to be "custom".

However, I am still somewhat confused about why i have to specify oraclelinux9 and oraclelinux9-uyuni-client in the spacewalk-common-channels... command?
As far as i can tell the bootstrap repository which is created through this process provides "only" the venv-salt-minion-.....x86_64.rpm packages for the onboarding process. Should I therefore not be able to create the uyuni-client-tools channel on its own? - So basically mgrctl exec -ti -- spacewalk-common-channels oraclelinux9-uyuni-client

I had assumed that by creating my own repositories (pointing to my ULN mirror server), along with a repository for the official Uyuni client tools for each OS, and then setting up custom parent/child channels linked to those repositories, I MUST be able to generate a bootstrap repository using the mgr-create-bootstrap-repo command and use it directly for client onboarding. Because everything else would lead to redundancy, which I wanted to avoid at all costs

[rjmateus]

ok, I got your point. I think you should be able to use the custom channels to create the bootstrap repository. If I remember correctly, the command mgr-create-bootstrap-repo should allow it. But I don't remember the exact combination. Should be something with the flag -c oracle-9-x86_64-uyuni --with-custom-channels --with-parent-channel=<Your Parent Channel>

You can also try to create your custom channels with the default names.

The commands I pasted just added the default names and trigger the creation of boostrap repository automatically.

[rjmateus]

by the way, you can keep the existing channels and add new ones with the spacewalk-common-channel command. If the packages are already synchronized it will not duplicate the space, it links with the existing packages.