1. Overview of Hosts in Foreman

A host is any Linux client that Foreman manages. Hosts can be physical or virtual. Virtual hosts can be deployed on any platform supported by Foreman, such as KVM, VMware vSphere, OpenStack, Amazon EC2, Rackspace Cloud Services or Google Compute Engine.

Foreman enables host management at scale, including monitoring, provisioning, remote execution, configuration management, software management, and subscription management. You can manage your hosts from the Foreman web UI or from the command line.

In the Foreman web UI, you can browse all hosts recognized by Foreman server, grouped by type:

  • All Hosts - a list of all hosts recognized by Foreman server.

  • Discovered Hosts - a list of bare-metal hosts detected on the provisioning network by the Discovery plug-in.

  • Content Hosts - a list of hosts that manage tasks related to content and subscriptions.

  • Host Collections - a list of user-defined collections of hosts used for bulk actions such as errata installation.

To search for a host, type in the Search field, and use an asterisk (*) to perform a partial string search. For example, if searching for a content host named dev-node.example.com, click the Content Hosts page and type dev-node* in the Search field. Alternatively, *node* will also find the content host dev-node.example.com.

Warning
 Foreman server is listed as a host itself even if it is not self-registered. Do not delete Foreman server from the list of hosts.

2. Administering Hosts

This chapter describes creating, registering, administering, and removing hosts.

2.1. Creating a Host in Foreman

Use this procedure to create a host in Foreman. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, click Hosts > Create Host.

  2. On the Host tab, enter the required details.

  3. Click the Ansible Roles tab, and from the Ansible Roles list, select one or more roles that you want to add to the host. Use the arrow icon to manage the roles that you add or remove.

  4. On the Puppet Classes tab, select the Puppet classes you want to include.

  5. On the Interfaces tab:

    1. For each interface, click Edit in the Actions column and configure the following settings as required:

      • Type — For a Bond or BMC interface, use the Type list and select the interface type.

      • MAC address — Enter the MAC address.

      • DNS name — Enter the DNS name that is known to the DNS server. This is used for the host part of the FQDN.

      • Domain — Select the domain name of the provisioning network. This automatically updates the Subnet list with a selection of suitable subnets.

      • IPv4 Subnet — Select an IPv4 subnet for the host from the list.

      • IPv6 Subnet — Select an IPv6 subnet for the host from the list.

      • IPv4 address — If IP address management (IPAM) is enabled for the subnet, the IP address is automatically suggested. Alternatively, you can enter an address. The address can be omitted if provisioning tokens are enabled, if the domain does not mange DNS, if the subnet does not manage reverse DNS, or if the subnet does not manage DHCP reservations.

      • IPv6 address — If IP address management (IPAM) is enabled for the subnet, the IP address is automatically suggested. Alternatively, you can enter an address.

      • Managed — Select this check box to configure the interface during provisioning to use the Smart Proxy provided DHCP and DNS services.

      • Primary — Select this check box to use the DNS name from this interface as the host portion of the FQDN.

      • Provision — Select this check box to use this interface for provisioning. This means TFTP boot will take place using this interface, or in case of image based provisioning, the script to complete the provisioning will be executed through this interface. Note that many provisioning tasks, such as downloading RPMs by anaconda, Puppet setup in a %post script, will use the primary interface.

      • Virtual NIC — Select this check box if this interface is not a physical device. This setting has two options:

        • Tag — Optionally set a VLAN tag. If unset, the tag will be the VLAN ID of the subnet.

        • Attached to — Enter the device name of the interface this virtual interface is attached to.

    2. Click OK to save the interface configuration.

    3. Optionally, click Add Interface to include an additional network interface. See Adding Network Interfaces for details.

    4. Click Submit to apply the changes and exit.

  6. On the Operating System tab, enter the required details. For Red Hat operating systems, select Synced Content for Media Selection. If you want to use non Red Hat operating systems, select All Media, then select the installation media from the Media Selection list. You can select a partition table from the list or enter a custom partition table in the Custom partition table field. You cannot specify both.

  7. On the Parameters tab, click Add Parameter to add any parameter variables that you want to pass to job templates at run time. This includes all Puppet Class, Ansible playbook parameters and host parameters that you want to associate with the host. To use a parameter variable with an Ansible job template, you must add a Host Parameter.

  8. On the Additional Information tab, enter additional information about the host.

  9. Click Submit to complete your provisioning request.

CLI procedure

  • To create a host associated to a host group, enter the following command:

    # hammer host create \
--name "host_name" \
--hostgroup "hostgroup_name" \
--interface="primary=true, \
            provision=true, \
            mac=mac_address, \
            ip=ip_address" \
--organization "Your_Organization" \
--location "Your_Location" \
--ask-root-password yes

    This command prompts you to specify the root password. It is required to specify the host’s IP and MAC address. Other properties of the primary network interface can be inherited from the host group or set using the --subnet, and --domain parameters. You can set additional interfaces using the --interface option, which accepts a list of key-value pairs. For the list of available interface settings, enter the hammer host create --help command.

2.2. Changing a Module Stream for a Host

If you have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or clone operating system host, you can modify the module stream for the repositories you install.

After you create the host, you can enable, disable, install, update, and remove module streams from your host in the Foreman web UI.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Content Hosts and click the name of the host that contains the modules you want to change.

  2. Click the Module Streams tab.

  3. From the Available Module Streams list, locate the module that you want to change. You can use the Filter field to refine the list entries. You can also use the Filter Status list to search for modules with a specific status.

  4. From the Actions list, select the change that you want to make to the module.

  5. In the Job Invocation window, ensure that the job information is accurate. Change any details that you require, and then click Submit.

2.3. Creating a Host Group

If you create a high volume of hosts, many of the hosts can have common settings and attributes. Adding these settings and attributes for every new host is time consuming. If you use host groups, you can apply common attributes to hosts that you create.

A host group functions as a template for common host settings, containing many of the same details that you provide to hosts. When you create a host with a host group, the host inherits the defined settings from the host group. You can then provide additional details to individualize the host.

To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Host Group Hierarchy

You can create a hierarchy of host groups. Aim to have one base level host group that represents all hosts in your organization and provide general settings, and then nested groups to provide specific settings. For example, you can have a base level host group that defines the operating system, and two nested host groups that inherit the base level host group:

  • Hostgroup: Base (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6)

    • Hostgroup: Webserver (applies the httpd Puppet class)

      • Host: webserver1.example.com (web server)

      • Host: webserver2.example.com (web server)

    • Hostgroup: Storage (applies the nfs Puppet class)

      • Host: storage1.example.com (storage server)

      • Host: storage2.example.com (storage server)

    • Host: custom.example.com (custom host)

In this example, all hosts use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 as their operating system because of their inheritance of the Base host group. The two web server hosts inherit the settings from the Webserver host group, which includes the httpd Puppet class and the settings from the Base host group. The two storage servers inherit the settings from the Storage host group, which includes the nfs Puppet class and the settings from the Base host group. The custom host only inherits the settings from the Base host group.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups and click Create Host Group.

  2. If you have an existing host group that you want to inherit attributes from, you can select a host group from the Parent list. If you do not, leave this field blank.

  3. Enter a Name for the new host group.

  4. Enter any further information that you want future hosts to inherit.

  5. Click the Ansible Roles tab, and from the Ansible Roles list, select one or more roles that you want to add to the host. Use the arrow icon to manage the roles that you add or remove.

  6. Click the additional tabs and add any details that you want to attribute to the host group.

    Note

    Puppet fails to retrieve the Puppet CA certificate while registering a host with a host group associated with a Puppet environment created inside a Production environment.

    To create a suitable Puppet environment to be associated with a host group, manually create a directory and change the owner:

    # mkdir /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/example_environment
# chown apache /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/example_environment

  7. Click Submit to save the host group.

CLI procedure

  • Create the host group with the hammer hostgroup create command. For example:

    # hammer hostgroup create --name "Base" \
--lifecycle-environment "Production" --content-view "Base" \
--puppet-environment "production" --content-source-id 1 \
--puppet-ca-proxy-id 1 --puppet-proxy-id 1 --domain "example.com" \
--subnet `ACME's Internal Network` --architecture "x86_64" \
--operatingsystem "RedHat 7.2" --medium-id 9 \
--partition-table "Kickstart default" --root-pass "p@55w0rd!" \
--locations "New York" --organizations "ACME"

2.4. Creating a Host Group for Each LifeCycle Environment

Use this procedure to create a host group for the Library lifecycle environment and add nested host groups for other lifecycle environments.

Procedure

To create a host group for each life cycle environment, run the following Bash script:

MAJOR="7"
ARCH="x86_64"
ORG="Your Organization"
LOCATIONS="Your Location"
PTABLE_NAME="Kickstart default"
DOMAIN="example.com"

hammer --output csv --no-headers lifecycle-environment list --organization "${ORG}" | cut -d ',' -f 2 | while read LC_ENV; do
  [[ ${LC_ENV} == "Library" ]] && continue

  hammer hostgroup create --name "rhel-${MAJOR}server-${ARCH}-${LC_ENV}" \
    --architecture "${ARCH}" \
    --partition-table "${PTABLE_NAME}" \
    --domain "${DOMAIN}" \
    --organizations "${ORG}" \
    --query-organization "${ORG}" \
    --locations "${LOCATIONS}" \
    --lifecycle-environment "${LC_ENV}"
done

2.5. Changing the Group of a Host

Use this procedure to change the group of a host.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Select the check box of the host you want to change.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Change Group. A new option window opens.

  4. From the Host Group list, select the group that you want for your host.

  5. Click Submit.

2.6. Changing the Environment of a Host

Use this procedure to change the environment of a host.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Select the check box of the host you want to change.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Change Environment. A new option window opens.

  4. From the Environment list, select the new environment for your host.

  5. Click Submit.

2.7. Changing the Managed Status of a Host

Hosts provisioned by Foreman are Managed by default. When a host is set to Managed, you can configure additional host parameters from Foreman server. These additional parameters are listed on the Operating System tab. If you change any settings on the Operating System tab, they will not take effect until you set the host to build and reboot it.

If you need to obtain reports about configuration management on systems using an operating system not supported by Foreman, set the host to Unmanaged.

Use this procedure to switch a host between Managed and Unmanaged status.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Select the host.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Click Manage host or Unmanage host to change the host’s status.

  5. Click Submit.

2.8. Assigning a Host to a Specific Organization

Use this procedure to assign a host to a specific organization. For general information about organizations and how to configure them, see Managing Organizations in the Content Management Guide.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Select the check box of the host you want to change.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Assign Organization. A new option window opens.

  4. From the Select Organization list, select the organization that you want to assign your host to. Select the check box Fix Organization on Mismatch.

    Note

    A mismatch happens if there is a resource associated with a host, such as a domain or subnet, and at the same time not associated with the organization you want to assign the host to. The option Fix Organization on Mismatch will add such a resource to the organization, and is therefore the recommended choice. The option Fail on Mismatch will always result in an error message. For example, reassigning a host from one organization to another will fail, even if there is no actual mismatch in settings.

  5. Click Submit.

2.9. Assigning a Host to a Specific Location

Use this procedure to assign a host to a specific location. For general information about locations and how to configure them, see Creating a Location in the Content Management Guide.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Select the check box of the host you want to change.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Assign Location. A new option window opens.

  4. Navigate to the Select Location list and choose the location that you want for your host. Select the check box Fix Location on Mismatch.

    Note

    A mismatch happens if there is a resource associated with a host, such as a domain or subnet, and at the same time not associated with the location you want to assign the host to. The option Fix Location on Mismatch will add such a resource to the location, and is therefore the recommended choice. The option Fail on Mismatch will always result in an error message. For example, reassigning a host from one location to another will fail, even if there is no actual mismatch in settings.

  5. Click Submit.

2.10. Removing a Host from Foreman

Use this procedure to remove a host from Foreman.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts or Hosts > Content Hosts. Note that there is no difference from what page you remove a host, from All hosts or Content Hosts. In both cases, Foreman removes a host completely.

  2. Select the hosts that you want to remove.

  3. From the Select Action list, select Delete Hosts.

  4. Click Submit to remove the host from Foreman permanently.

Warning

By default, the Destroy associated VM on host delete setting is set to no. If a host record that is associated with a virtual machine is deleted, the virtual machine will remain on the compute resource.

To delete a virtual machine on the compute resource, navigate to Administer > Settings and select the Provisioning tab. Setting Destroy associated VM on host delete to yes deletes the virtual machine if the host record that is associated with the virtual machine is deleted. To avoid deleting the virtual machine in this situation, disassociate the virtual machine from Foreman without removing it from the compute resource or change the setting.

2.10.1. Disassociating A Virtual Machine from Foreman without Removing it from a Hypervisor

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the check box to the left of the hosts to be disassociated.

  2. From the Select Action list, select the Disassociate Hosts button.

  3. Optionally, select the check box to keep the hosts for future action.

  4. Click Submit.

3. Registering a Host to Foreman

Hosts can be registered to Foreman by generating a curl command on Foreman and running this command on hosts. This method uses two templates: global registration template and host initial configuration template. That gives you complete control over the host registration process. You can set default templates by navigating to Administer > Settings, and clicking the Provisioning tab.

Note that you can extend the parameters by plug-ins. For more information, see How to Create a Plugin and Slot and Fill

Prerequisites

  • The Foreman user that generates the curl command must have the create_hosts permission.

  • You must have root privileges on the host that you want to register.

  • Optional: If you want to register hosts through Smart Proxy, ensure that the Registration feature is enabled on this Smart Proxy.

    Navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies, click the Smart Proxy that you want to use, and locate the Registration feature in the Active features list.

    Optional: If the Registration feature is not enabled on your Smart Proxy, enter the following command on the Smart Proxy to enable it:

    # foreman-installer --foreman-proxy-registration \
--foreman-proxy-templates \
--foreman-proxy-template-url 'http://smartproxy.example.com'
Procedure

  1. Navigate to Hosts > Register Host.

  2. Optional: From the Host Group list, select the host group to associate the hosts with. Fields that inherit value from Host group: Operating System, Activation Key(s) and Lifecycle environment.

  3. From the Operating System list, select the operating system of hosts that you want to register.

  4. Optional: From the Smart Proxy list, select the Smart Proxy to register hosts through. You must select the internal Smart Proxy if you do not want to use an external Smart Proxy.

  5. Optional: Insecure - This makes the first call insecure, however, during this first call, hosts download the CA file from Foreman. Hosts will use this CA file to connect to Foreman with all future calls making them secure.

    If an attacker, located in the network between Foreman and a host, fetches the CA file from the first insecure call, the attacker will be able to access the content of the API calls to and from the registered host and the JSON Web Tokens (JWT). Therefore, if you have chosen to deploy SSH keys during registration, the attacker will be able to access the host using the SSH key.

  6. From the Setup REX list, select whether you want to deploy Foreman SSH keys to hosts or not.

    If set to Yes, SSH keys will be installed on the registered host. The inherited value is based on the host_registration_remote_execution parameter. It can be inherited e.g. from host group, operating system, organization. When overridden, the selected value will be stored on host parameter level.

  7. From the Setup Insights list, select whether you want to install insights-client and register the hosts to Insights.

    The Insights tool is available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux only. It has no effect on other operating systems. You must enable the following repositories on a registered machine:

    • RHEL 6: rhel-6-server-rpms

    • RHEL 7: rhel-7-server-rpms

    • RHEL 8: rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms (The insights-client package is installed by default on RHEL 8 except in environments whereby RHEL 8 was deployed with "Minimal Install" option)

  8. Optional: Foreman uses the JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication. The duration of this token defines how long the generated curl command works. If you want to change the duration of the token, enter the required duration to the Token lifetime (hours) field. You can set the duration to 0 - 999 999 hours or unlimited.

    Note that Foreman uses the permissions of the user who generates the curl command for authorization of hosts. If the user loses or gains additional permissions, the permissions of the JWT change too. Therefore, do not delete, block, or change permissions of the user during the token duration. Also, the scope of JWT is limited to the registration endpoints only and cannot be used anywhere else.

  9. Optional: In the Remote Execution Interface field, enter a network interface that hosts must use for the SSH connection. If you keep this field blank, Foreman uses the default network interface.

  10. Optional: Install packages - Install packages on the host when registered. Can be set by host_packages parameter

  11. Optional: Update packages - Update packages on the host when registered. Can be set by host_update_packages parameter

  12. Optional: Repository - A repository to be added before the registration is performed. For example, it can be useful to make the subscription-manager packages available for the purpose of the registration. For Red Hat family distributions, this should be the URL of the repository. For example, http://rpm.example.com/. For Debian OS families, it’s the whole list file content, for example 'deb http://deb.example.com/ buster 1.0'.

  13. Optional: Repository GPG key URL - If packages are GPG signed, the public key can be specified here to verify the packages signatures. It needs to be specified in the ascii form with the GPG public key header.

  14. Optional: This step is for the Katello users only. If you register RHEL or CentOS hosts, in the Activation Key(s) field, enter one or more activation keys to assign to registered hosts.

  15. Click Generate command.

  16. Copy the generated curl command to enter it on the hosts.

    The following is an example of the curl command with the --insecure option:

    curl -sS --insecure https://foreman.example.com/register...

    If you do not want to call the curl command with the --insecure option, you can manually copy and install the CA file on each host.

    To do this find where Foreman stores the CA file by navigating to Administer > Settings > Authentication and locating the value for the SSL CA file setting.

    Copy the CA file to the /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ directory on hosts and enter the following commands:

    # update-ca-trust enable
# update-ca-trust

  17. On the hosts that you want to register, enter the curl command as root.

3.1. Customizing the Registration Templates

Use information in this section if you want to customize the registration process.

Note that all default templates in Foreman are locked. If you want to customize the registration process, you need to clone the default templates and edit the clones. Then, in Administer > Settings > Provisioning change the Default Global registration template and Default 'Host initial configuration' template settings to point to your custom templates.

Templates

The registration process uses the following registration templates:

  • The Global Registration template contains steps for registering hosts to Foreman. This template renders when hosts access the /register endpoint.

  • The Linux host_init_config default template contains steps for initial configuration of hosts after they are registered.

Global Parameters

You can configure the following global parameters by navigating to Configure > Global Parameters:

  • The host_registration_remote_execution parameter is used in the remote_execution_ssh_keys snippet, the default value is true.

  • The host_registration_insights parameter is used in the insights snippet, the default value is false.

  • The host_packages parameter is for installing packages on the host.

  • The remote_execution_ssh_keys, remote_execution_ssh_user, remote_execution_create_user and remote_execution_effective_user_method parameters are used in the remote_execution_ssh_keys. For more details se the details of the snippet.

Snippets

Snippet is used in the Linux host_init_config default template:

  • The remote_execution_ssh_keys snippet deploys SSH keys to the host only when the host_registration_remote_execution parameter is true.

  • The insights snippet downloads and installs the Red Hat Insights client when global parameter host_registration_insights is set to true.

  • The puppetlabs_repo and puppet_setup snippets downloads and installs puppet agent on the host (only when puppet master is present)

  • The host_init_config_post is empty snippet for user’s custom actions on during host initial configuration.

Variables

This table describes what variables are used in the Global Registration template.

Table 1. The Global Registration Template Variables
Variable Command argument Description

@user

none

Current authenticated user object.

@organization

organization_id

If organization_id is not set, then user’s default organization is set, or the first organization from user’s organizations list.

@location

location_id

If location_id is not set, user’s default location is set, or the first location from user’s locations list.

@hostgroup

hostgroup_id

Host group of the host.

@operatingsystem

operatingsystem_id

Host operating system.

@setup_insights

setup_insights

Override the value of the host_registration_insights global parameter for the registered host and install insights client.

@setup_remote_execution

setup_remote_execution

Override the value of host_registration_remote_execution global parameter for the registered host and deploy SSH keys for remote execution.

@setup_remote_execution

setup_remote_execution

Set default interface of host for the remote execution.

@packages

packages

Packages to install

@repo

repo

Add repository on the host

@repo_gpg_key_url

repo_gpg_key_url

Set repository GPG key form URL

@activation_keys

activation_keys

The Host activation keys snippet is for Katello users only.

@registration_url

none

URL for the /register endpoint.

3.2. Migrating from Katello Agent to Remote Execution

Remote Execution is the preferred way to manage package content on hosts. The Katello Agent is deprecated and will be removed in a future Foreman version. Follow these steps to switch to Remote Execution.

Prerequisites

  • You have previously installed the katello-agent package on content hosts.

Procedure

  1. Stop the goferd service on content hosts:

    # systemctl stop goferd.service

  2. Disable the goferd service on content hosts:

    # systemctl disable goferd.service

  3. Remove the Katello agent on content hosts:

    Warning
    		 If your host is installed on oVirt version 4.4 or lower, do not remove the katello-agent package because the removed dependencies corrupt the host. 
    # yum remove katello-agent

  4. Distribute the remote execution SSH keys to the content hosts. For more information, see Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution.

  5. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  6. Select the Content tab.

  7. Set the Use remote execution by default parameter to Yes.

The Foreman server now uses host management by remote execution instead of katello-agent.

The following table shows the remote execution equivalent commands to perform specific package actions. See hammer job-invocation create --help to learn how to specify search queries to determine the target hosts or host collections.

Table 2. Hammer Commands
Action Katello Agent Remote Execution

Install a package

hammer host package install

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_install

Install a package (host collection)

hammer host-collection package install

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_install

Remove a package

hammer host package remove

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_remove

Remove a package (host collection)

hammer host-collection package remove

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_remove

Update a package

hammer host package upgrade

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_update

Update a package (host collection)

hammer host-collection package update

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_update

Update all packages

hammer host package update

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_package_update

Install errata

hammer host errata apply

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_errata_install

Install errata (host collection)

hammer host-collection errata install

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_errata_install

Install a package group

hammer host package-group install

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_install

Install a package group (host collection)

hammer host-collection package-group install

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_install

Remove a package group

hammer host package-group remove

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_remove

Remove a package group (host collection)

hammer host-collection package-group remove

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_remove

Update a package group

hammer host package-group update

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_update

Update a package group (host collection)

hammer host-collection package-group update

hammer job-invocation create --feature katello_group_update

4. Adding Network Interfaces

Foreman supports specifying multiple network interfaces for a single host. You can configure these interfaces when creating a new host as described in Creating a Host in Foreman or when editing an existing host.

There are several types of network interfaces that you can attach to a host. When adding a new interface, select one of:

  • Interface: Allows you to specify an additional physical or virtual interface. There are two types of virtual interfaces you can create. Use VLAN when the host needs to communicate with several (virtual) networks using a single interface, while these networks are not accessible to each other. Use alias to add an additional IP address to an existing interface.

    For more information about adding a physical interface, see Adding a Physical Interface.

    For more information about adding a virtual interface, see Adding a Virtual Interface.

  • Bond: Creates a bonded interface. NIC bonding is a way to bind multiple network interfaces together into a single interface that appears as a single device and has a single MAC address. This enables two or more network interfaces to act as one, increasing the bandwidth and providing redundancy. See Adding a Bonded Interface for details.

  • BMC: Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) allows you to remotely monitor and manage the physical state of machines. For more information about BMC, see Enabling Power Management on Managed Hosts in Installing Foreman 3.0 server on Enterprise Linux. For more information about configuring BMC interfaces, see Adding a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) Interface.

Note

Additional interfaces have the Managed flag enabled by default, which means the new interface is configured automatically during provisioning by the DNS and DHCP Smart Proxy servers associated with the selected subnet. This requires a subnet with correctly configured DNS and DHCP Smart Proxy servers. If you use a Kickstart method for host provisioning, configuration files are automatically created for managed interfaces in the post-installation phase at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-interface_id.
Note

Virtual and bonded interfaces currently require a MAC address of a physical device. Therefore, the configuration of these interfaces works only on bare-metal hosts.

4.1. Adding a Physical Interface

Use this procedure to add an additional physical interface to a host.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Click Edit next to the host you want to edit.

  3. On the Interfaces tab, click Add Interface.

  4. Keep the Interface option selected in the Type list.

  5. Specify a MAC address. This setting is required.

  6. Specify the Device Identifier, for example eth0. The identifier is used to specify this physical interface when creating bonded interfaces, VLANs, and aliases.

  7. Specify the DNS name associated with the host’s IP address. Foreman saves this name in Smart Proxy server associated with the selected domain (the "DNS A" field) and Smart Proxy server associated with the selected subnet (the "DNS PTR" field). A single host can therefore have several DNS entries.

  8. Select a domain from the Domain list. To create and manage domains, navigate to Infrastructure > Domains.

  9. Select a subnet from the Subnet list. To create and manage subnets, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets.

  10. Specify the IP address. Managed interfaces with an assigned DHCP Smart Proxy server require this setting for creating a DHCP lease. DHCP-enabled managed interfaces are automatically provided with a suggested IP address.

  11. Select whether the interface is Managed. If the interface is managed, configuration is pulled from the associated Smart Proxy server during provisioning, and DNS and DHCP entries are created. If using kickstart provisioning, a configuration file is automatically created for the interface.

  12. Select whether this is the Primary interface for the host. The DNS name from the primary interface is used as the host portion of the FQDN.

  13. Select whether this is the Provision interface for the host. TFTP boot takes place using the provisioning interface. For image-based provisioning, the script to complete the provisioning is executed through the provisioning interface.

  14. Select whether to use the interface for Remote execution.

  15. Leave the Virtual NIC check box clear.

  16. Click OK to save the interface configuration.

  17. Click Submit to apply the changes to the host.

4.2. Adding a Virtual Interface

Use this procedure to configure a virtual interface for a host. This can be either a VLAN or an alias interface.

An alias interface is an additional IP address attached to an existing interface. An alias interface automatically inherits a MAC address from the interface it is attached to; therefore, you can create an alias without specifying a MAC address. The interface must be specified in a subnet with boot mode set to static.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Click Edit next to the host you want to edit.

  3. On the Interfaces tab, click Add Interface.

  4. Keep the Interface option selected in the Type list.

  5. Specify the general interface settings. The applicable configuration options are the same as for the physical interfaces described in Adding a Physical Interface.

    Specify a MAC address for managed virtual interfaces so that the configuration files for provisioning are generated correctly. However, a MAC address is not required for virtual interfaces that are not managed.

    If creating a VLAN, specify ID in the form of eth1.10 in the Device Identifier field. If creating an alias, use ID in the form of eth1:10.

  6. Select the Virtual NIC check box. Additional configuration options specific to virtual interfaces are appended to the form:

    • Tag: Optionally set a VLAN tag to trunk a network segment from the physical network through to the virtual interface. If you do not specify a tag, managed interfaces inherit the VLAN tag of the associated subnet. User-specified entries from this field are not applied to alias interfaces.

    • Attached to: Specify the identifier of the physical interface to which the virtual interface belongs, for example eth1. This setting is required.

  7. Click OK to save the interface configuration.

  8. Click Submit to apply the changes to the host.

4.3. Adding a Bonded Interface

Use this procedure to configure a bonded interface for a host. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  2. Click Edit next to the host you want to edit.

  3. On the Interfaces tab, click Add Interface.

  4. Select Bond from the Type list. Additional type-specific configuration options are appended to the form.

  5. Specify the general interface settings. The applicable configuration options are the same as for the physical interfaces described in Adding a Physical Interface.

    Bonded interfaces use IDs in the form of bond0 in the Device Identifier field.

    A single MAC address is sufficient.

  6. Specify the configuration options specific to bonded interfaces:

    • Mode: Select the bonding mode that defines a policy for fault tolerance and load balancing. See [Bonding_Modes_Available_in_Red_Hat_Satellite] for a brief description of each bonding mode.

    • Attached devices: Specify a comma-separated list of identifiers of attached devices. These can be physical interfaces or VLANs.

    • Bond options: Specify a space-separated list of configuration options, for example miimon=100. See the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Networking Guide for details of the configuration options you can specify for the bonded interface.

  7. Click OK to save the interface configuration.

  8. Click Submit to apply the changes to the host.

CLI procedure

  • To create a host with a bonded interface, enter the following command:

    # hammer host create --name bonded_interface \
--hostgroup-id 1 \
--ip=192.168.100.123 \
--mac=52:54:00:14:92:2a \
--subnet-id=1 \
--managed true \
   --interface="identifier=eth1, \
               mac=52:54:00:62:43:06, \
               managed=true, \
               type=Nic::Managed, \
               domain_id=1, \
               subnet_id=1" \
   --interface="identifier=eth2, \
               mac=52:54:00:d3:87:8f, \
               managed=true, \
               type=Nic::Managed, \
               domain_id=1, \
               subnet_id=1" \
   --interface="identifier=bond0, \
               ip=172.25.18.123, \
               type=Nic::Bond, \
               mode=active-backup, \
               attached_devices=[eth1,eth2], \
               managed=true, \
               domain_id=1, \
               subnet_id=1" \
--organization "Your_Organization" \
--location "Your_Location" \
--ask-root-password yes

.Bonding Modes Available in Foreman

Bonding Mode Description

balance-rr

Transmissions are received and sent sequentially on each bonded interface.

active-backup

Transmissions are received and sent through the first available bonded interface. Another bonded interface is only used if the active bonded interface fails.

balance-xor

Transmissions are based on the selected hash policy. In this mode, traffic destined for specific peers is always sent over the same interface.

broadcast

All transmissions are sent on all bonded interfaces.

802.a3

Creates aggregation groups that share the same settings. Transmits and receives on all interfaces in the active group.

balance-tlb

The outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load on each bonded interface.

balance-alb

Receive load balancing is achieved through Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) negotiation.

4.4. Adding a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) Interface

Use this procedure to configure a baseboard management controller (BMC) interface for a host that supports this feature.

Prerequisites

  • The ipmitool package is installed.

  • You know the MAC address, IP address, and other details of the BMC interface on the host, and the appropriate credentials for that interface.

    Note

    You only need the MAC address for the BMC interface if the BMC interface is managed, so that it can create a DHCP reservation.
Procedure

  1. Enable BMC on the Smart Proxy server if it is not already enabled:

    1. Configure BMC power management on Smart Proxy server by running the foreman-installer script with the following options:

      # foreman-installer --foreman-proxy-bmc=true \
--foreman-proxy-bmc-default-provider=ipmitool

    2. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies.

    3. From the list in the Actions column, click Refresh. The list in the Features column should now include BMC.

  2. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts.

  3. Click Edit next to the host you want to edit.

  4. On the Interfaces tab, click Add Interface.

  5. Select BMC from the Type list. Type-specific configuration options are appended to the form.

  6. Specify the general interface settings. The applicable configuration options are the same as for the physical interfaces described in Adding a Physical Interface.

  7. Specify the configuration options specific to BMC interfaces:

    • Username and Password: Specify any authentication credentials required by BMC.

    • Provider: Specify the BMC provider.

  8. Click OK to save the interface configuration.

  9. Click Submit to apply the changes to the host.

5. Upgrading Hosts from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8

You can use a job template to upgrade your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 hosts to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

Prerequisites
Procedure

  1. On Foreman, enable the foreman_plugin_leapp puppet module:

    # foreman-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-leapp

  2. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  3. Select the hosts that you want to upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.

  4. In the upper right of the Hosts window, from the Select Action list, select Preupgrade check with Leapp.

  5. Click Submit to start the pre-upgrade check.

  6. When the check is finished, click the Leapp preupgrade report tab to see if LEAPP has found any issues on RHEL 7 hosts. Issues that have the Inhibitor flag are considered crucial and are likely to break the upgrade procedure. Some issues might have documentation linked that describe how to fix them.

  7. Optional: If you have issues that have commands associated with them, you can fix them with a remote job. To do that, select these issues, click the Fix Selected button, and submit the job.

  8. After you fixed the issues, click the Rerun button, and then click Submit to run the pre-upgrade check again to verify that your RHEL 7 hosts do not have any issues and are ready to be upgraded.

  9. When your systems are ready for the upgrade, click the Run Upgrade button and click Submit to start the upgrade.

6. Host Management and Monitoring Using Cockpit

Cockpit is an interactive web interface that you can use to perform actions and monitor Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts. You can enable a remote-execution feature to integrate Foreman with Cockpit. When you install Cockpit on a host that you manage with Foreman, you can view the Cockpit dashboards of that host from within the Foreman web UI. You can also use the features that are integrated with Cockpit, for example, Lorax Composer.

6.1. Integrating Foreman with Cockpit

By default, Cockpit integration is disabled in Foreman. If you want to access Cockpit features for your hosts from within Foreman, you must first enable Cockpit integration on Foreman server.

Procedure

  • On Foreman server, run foreman-installer with the --enable-foreman-plugin-remote-execution-cockpit option:

    # foreman-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-remote-execution-cockpit

6.2. Managing and Monitoring Hosts Using Cockpit

You can access the Cockpit web UI through the Foreman web UI and use the functionality to manage and monitor hosts in Foreman.

Prerequisites
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the host that you want to manage and monitor with Cockpit.

  2. In the upper right of the host window, click Web Console.

You can now access the full range of features available for host monitoring and management, for example, Lorax Composer, through the Cockpit.

7. Using Report Templates to Monitor Hosts

You can use report templates to query Foreman data to obtain information about, for example, host status, registered hosts, applicable errata, applied errata, subscription details, and user activity. You can use the report templates that ship with Foreman or write your own custom report templates to suit your requirements. The reporting engine uses the embedded Ruby (ERB) syntax. For more information about writing templates and ERB syntax, see Template Writing Reference.

You can create a template, or clone a template and edit the clone. For help with the template syntax, click a template and click the Help tab.

7.1. Generating Host Monitoring Reports

To view the report templates in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates.

To schedule reports, configure a cron job or use the Foreman web UI.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates.

  2. To the right of the report template that you want to use, click Generate.

  3. Optional: To schedule a report, to the right of the Generate at field, click the icon to select the date and time you want to generate the report at.

  4. Optional: To send a report to an e-mail address, select the Send report via e-mail check box, and in the Deliver to e-mail addresses field, enter the required e-mail address.

  5. Optional: Apply search query filters. To view all available results, do not populate the filter field with any values.

  6. Click Submit. A CSV file that contains the report is downloaded. If you have selected the Send report via e-mail check box, the host monitoring report is sent to your e-mail address.

CLI procedure

To generate a report, complete the following steps:

  1. List all available report templates:

    # hammer report-template list

  2. Generate a report:

    # hammer report-template generate --id template ID

    This command waits until the report fully generates before completing. If you want to generate the report as a background task, you can use the hammer report-template schedule command.

7.2. Creating a Report Template

In Foreman, you can create a report template and customize the template to suit your requirements. You can import existing report templates and further customize them with snippets and template macros.

Report templates use Embedded Ruby (ERB) syntax. To view information about working with ERB syntax and macros, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates, and click Create Template, and then click the Help tab.

When you create a report template in Foreman, safe mode is enabled by default. For more information about safe mode, see Report Template Safe Mode.

For more information about writing templates, see the Template Writing Reference.

For more information about macros you can use in report templates, see Templates Macros.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates, and click Create Template.

  2. In the Name field, enter a unique name for your report template.

  3. If you want the template to be available to all locations and organizations, select Default.

  4. Create the template directly in the template editor or import a template from a text file by clicking Import. For more information about importing templates, see Importing Report Templates.

  5. Optional: In the Audit Comment field, you can add any useful information about this template.

  6. Click the Input tab, and in the Name field, enter a name for the input that you can reference in the template in the following format: input('name'). Note that you must save the template before you can reference this input value in the template body.

  7. Select whether the input value is mandatory. If the input value is mandatory, select the Required check box.

  8. From the Value Type list, select the type of input value that the user must input.

  9. Optional: If you want to use facts for template input, select the Advanced check box.

  10. Optional: In the Options field, define the options that the user can select from. If this field remains undefined, the users receive a free-text field in which they can enter the value they want.

  11. Optional: In the Default field, enter a value, for example, a host name, that you want to set as the default template input.

  12. Optional: In the Description field, you can enter information that you want to display as inline help about the input when you generate the report.

  13. Optional: Click the Type tab, and select whether this template is a snippet to be included in other templates.

  14. Click the Location tab and add the locations where you want to use the template.

  15. Click the Organizations tab and add the organizations where you want to use the template.

  16. Click Submit to save your changes.

7.3. Exporting Report Templates

You can export report templates that you create in Foreman.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates.

  2. Locate the template that you want to export, and from the list in the Actions column, select Export.

  3. Repeat this action for every report template that you want to download.

An .erb file that contains the template downloads.

CLI procedure

  1. To view the report templates available for export, enter the following command:

    # hammer report-template list

    Note the template ID of the template that you want to export in the output of this command.

  2. To export a report template, enter the following command:

    # hammer report-template dump --id template_ID > example_export.erb

7.4. Exporting Report Templates Using the Foreman API

You can use the Foreman report_templates API to export report templates from Foreman. For more information about using the Foreman API, see the API Guide.

Procedure

  1. Use the following request to retrieve a list of available report templates:

    Example request:
    $ curl --insecure --user admin:redhat \
--request GET \
--config https://foreman.example.com/api/report_templates \
| json_reformat

    In this example, the json_reformat tool is used to format the JSON output.

    Example response:
    {
    "total": 6,
    "subtotal": 6,
    "page": 1,
    "per_page": 20,
    "search": null,
    "sort": {
        "by": null,
        "order": null
    },
    "results": [
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "name": "Applicable errata",
            "id": 112
        },
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "name": "Applied Errata",
            "id": 113
        },
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-30 16:15:24 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-30 16:15:24 UTC",
            "name": "Hosts - complete list",
            "id": 158
        },
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "name": "Host statuses",
            "id": 114
        },
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "name": "Registered hosts",
            "id": 115
        },
        {
            "created_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "updated_at": "2019-11-20 17:49:52 UTC",
            "name": "Subscriptions",
            "id": 116
        }
    ]
}

  2. Note the id of the template that you want to export, and use the following request to export the template:

    Example request:
    $ curl --insecure --output /tmp/_Example_Export_Template.erb_ \
--user admin:password --request GET --config \
https://foreman.example.com/api/report_templates/158/export

    Note that 158 is an example ID of the template to export.

    In this example, the exported template is redirected to host_complete_list.erb.

7.5. Importing Report Templates

You can import a report template into the body of a new template that you want to create. Note that using the Foreman web UI, you can only import templates individually. For bulk actions, use the Foreman API. For more information, see Importing Report Templates Using the Foreman API.

Prerequisite

  • You must have exported templates from Foreman to import them to use in new templates. For more information see Exporting Report Templates.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates.

  2. In the upper right of the Report Templates window, click Create Template.

  3. On the upper right of the Editor tab, click the folder icon, and select the .erb file that you want to import.

  4. Edit the template to suit your requirements.

  5. Click Submit.

For more information about customizing your new template, see Template Writing Reference.

7.6. Importing Report Templates Using the Foreman API

You can use the Foreman API to import report templates into Foreman. Importing report templates using the Foreman API automatically parses the report template metadata and assigns organizations and locations. For more information about using the Foreman API, see the API Guide.

Prerequisites
Procedure

  1. Use the following example to format the template that you want to import to a .json file:

    # cat Example_Template.json
{
    "name": "Example Template Name",
    "template": "
    Enter ERB Code Here
"
}
    Example JSON File with ERB Template:
    {
    "name": "Hosts - complete list",
    "template": "
<%#
name: Hosts - complete list
snippet: false
template_inputs:
- name: host
  required: false
  input_type: user
  advanced: false
  value_type: plain
  resource_type: Katello::ActivationKey
model: ReportTemplate
-%>
<% load_hosts(search: input('host')).each_record do |host| -%>
<%
      report_row(
          'Server FQND': host.name
      )
-%>
<%  end -%>
<%= report_render %>
"
}

  2. Use the following request to import the template:

    $ curl --insecure --user admin:redhat \
--data @Example_Template.json --header "Content-Type:application/json" \
--request POST --config https://foreman.example.com/api/report_templates/import

  3. Use the following request to retrieve a list of report templates and validate that you can view the template in Foreman:

    $ curl --insecure --user admin:redhat \
 --request GET --config https://foreman.example.com/api/report_templates | json_reformat

7.7. Report Template Safe Mode

When you create report templates in Foreman, safe mode is enabled by default. Safe mode limits the macros and variables that you can use in the report template. Safe mode prevents rendering problems and enforces best practices in report templates. The list of supported macros and variables is available in the Foreman web UI.

To view the macros and variables that are available, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates and click Create Template. In the Create Template window, click the Help tab and expand Safe mode methods.

While safe mode is enabled, if you try to use a macro or variable that is not listed in Safe mode methods, the template editor displays an error message.

To view the status of safe mode in Foreman, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and click the Provisioning tab. Locate the Safemode rendering row to check the value.

8. Configuring Host Collections

This is for users of the Katello plug-in and hosts running RPM-based linux distributions. Hosts collections work via the Pulp back end.

A host collection is a group of multiple content hosts. This feature enables you to perform the same action on multiple hosts at once. These actions can include the installation, removal, and update of packages and errata, change of assigned life cycle environment, and change of Content View. You can create host collections to suit your requirements, and those of your company. For example, group hosts in host collections by function, department, or business unit.

8.1. Creating a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to create host collections.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Click New Host Collection.

  3. Add the Name of the host collection.

  4. Clear Unlimited Content Hosts, and enter the desired maximum number of hosts in the Limit field.

  5. Add the Description of the host collection.

  6. Click Save.

CLI procedure

  • To create a host collection, enter the following command:

    # hammer host-collection create \
--organization "Your_Organization" \
--name hc_name

8.2. Cloning a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to clone a host collection.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. On the left hand panel, click the host collection you want to clone.

  3. Click Copy Collection.

  4. Specify a name for the cloned collection.

  5. Click Create.

8.3. Removing a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to remove a host collection.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Choose the host collection to be removed.

  3. Click Remove. An alert box appears:

    Are you sure you want to remove host collection Host Collection Name?

  4. Click Remove.

8.4. Adding a Host to a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to add hosts to host collections.

Prerequisites

A host must be registered to Foreman to add it to a Host Collection.

Note that if you add a host to a host collection, the Foreman auditing system does not log the change.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Select the host collection where the host should be added.

  3. On the Hosts tab, select the Add subtab.

  4. Select the hosts to be added from the table and click Add Selected.

CLI procedure

To add hosts to a host collection, enter the following command:

# hammer host-collection add-host \
--id hc_ID \
--host-ids host_ID1,host_ID2...

8.5. Removing a Host from a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to remove hosts from host collections.

Note that if you remove a host from a host collection, the host collection record in the database is not modified so the Foreman auditing system does not log the change.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Choose the desired host collection.

  3. On the Hosts tab, select the List/Remove subtab.

  4. Select the hosts you want to remove from the host collection and click Remove Selected.

8.6. Adding Content to a Host Collection

These steps show how to add content to host collections in Foreman.

8.6.1. Adding Packages to a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to add packages to host collections.

Prerequisites

  • The content to be added should be available in one of the existing repositories or added prior to this procedure.

  • Content should be promoted to the environment where the hosts are assigned.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Select the host collection where the package should be added.

  3. On the Collection Actions tab, click Package Installation, Removal, and Update.

  4. To update all packages, click the Update All Packages button to use the default method. Alternatively, select the drop-down icon to the right of the button to select a method to use. Selecting the via remote execution - customize first menu entry will take you to the Job invocation page where you can customize the action.

  5. Select the Package or Package Group radio button as required.

  6. In the field provided, specify the package or package group name. Then click:

    • Install - to install a new package using the default method. Alternatively, select the drop-down icon to the right of the button and select a method to use. Selecting the via remote execution - customize first menu entry will take you to the Job invocation page where you can customize the action.

    • Update - to update an existing package in the host collection using the default method. Alternatively, select the drop-down icon to the right of the button and select a method to use. Selecting the via remote execution - customize first menu entry will take you to the Job invocation page where you can customize the action.

8.6.2. Adding Errata to a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to add errata to host collections.

Prerequisites

  • The errata to be added should be available in one of the existing repositories or added prior to this procedure.

  • Errata should be promoted to the environment where the hosts are assigned.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Select the host collection where the errata should be added.

  3. On the Collection Actions tab, click Errata Installation.

  4. Select the errata you want to add to the host collection and click the Install Selected button to use the default method. Alternatively, select the drop-down icon to the right of the button to select a method to use. Selecting the via remote execution - customize first menu entry takes you to the Job invocation page where you can customize the action.

8.6.3. Removing Content from a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to remove packages from host collections.

To Remove Content from a Host Collection:

  1. Click Hosts > Host Collections.

  2. Click the host collection where the package should be removed.

  3. On the Collection Actions tab, click Package Installation, Removal, and Update.

  4. Select the Package or Package Group radio button as required.

  5. In the field provided, specify the package or package group name.

  6. Click the Remove button to remove the package or package group using the default method. Alternatively, select the drop-down icon to the right of the button and select a method to use. Selecting the via remote execution - customize first menu entry will take you to the Job invocation page where you can customize the action.

8.6.4. Changing the Life Cycle Environment or Content View of a Host Collection

The following procedure shows how to change the assigned life cycle environment or Content View of host collections.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Host Collection.

  2. Selection the host collection where the life cycle environment or Content View should be changed.

  3. On the Collection Actions tab, click Change assigned Life Cycle Environment or Content View.

  4. Select the life cycle environment to be assigned to the host collection.

  5. Select the required Content View from the list.

  6. Click Assign.

    Note

    The changes take effect in approximately 4 hours. To make the changes take effect immediately, on the host, enter the following command:

    # subscription-manager refresh

    You can use remote execution to run this command on multiple hosts at the same time.

9. Using Puppet for Configuration Management

Use this section as a guide to configuring Foreman to use Puppet for configuration management on managed hosts.

9.1. Introduction to Puppet

Puppet is a configuration management tool using a declarative language to describe the state of managed hosts.

Puppet increases your productivity as you can administer multiple hosts simultaneously. At the same time, it decreases your configuration effort as Puppet makes it easy to verify and possibly correct the state hosts are in.

9.1.1. Puppet Architecture

Puppet uses a server-client architecture with managed hosts running the Puppet agent and Foreman or any Smart Proxies acting as a Puppet server. The Puppet agent enforces the declared state on managed hosts. It sends facts to the Puppet server, receives catalogs that are compiled from Puppet manifests, and sends reports to your Foreman. Differences between the declared state and the actual state are called drifts in Puppet terminology.

Puppet facts are information about the hosts running the Puppet agent. Running puppet facts on a host displays Puppet facts in JSON format. They are collected by the Puppet agent and reported to the Puppet server on each run.

Foreman users can define Puppet parameters as key-value pairs which behave similar to host parameters or Ansible variables.

This section is set out to use a Puppet module to install, configure, and manage the ntp service.

9.1.2. Prerequisites for Puppet

There are four requirements to run the Puppet agent on managed hosts:

  1. Sync the Puppet agent from puppet.com. For example, Puppet 6 for CentOS 7 on x86_64 or Puppet 6 for Ubuntu 20.04 with release focal, component puppet6, and architecture amd64.

    Manage these repositories by using products, sync plans, content views, composite content views, and lifecycle environments. For more information, see basic content management workflow in the Content Management Guide.

  2. Provide the Puppet agent to the managed host using their activation key.

  3. Add either enable-puppet5 or enable-puppet6 as parameter to your host or host group. Set the parameter type to boolean and its value to true.

  4. Set a Puppet environment, Puppet server, and Puppet CA when provisioning a host.

9.2. Installing a Puppet Module from Puppet Forge

The Puppet Forge is a repository for pre-built Puppet modules. Puppet modules flagged as supported are officially supported and tested by Puppet Inc.

This example shows how to add the ntp module to managed hosts.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to forge.puppet.com and search for ntp. One of the first modules is puppetlabs/ntp.

  2. Connect to your Foreman server using SSH and install the Puppet module:

    # puppet module install puppetlabs-ntp -i /etc/puppetlabs/code/environment/production/modules

    Use the -i parameter to specify the path and Puppet environment, for example production.

    Once the installation is completed, the output looks as follows:

    Notice: Preparing to install into /etc/puppetlabs/code/environment/production/modules ...
Notice: Created target directory /etc/puppetlabs/code/environment/production/modules
Notice: Downloading from https://forgeapi.puppet.com ...
Notice: Installing -- do not interrupt ...
/etc/puppetlabs/code/environment/production/modules
|-| puppetlabs-ntp (v8.3.0)
  |-- puppetlabs-stdlib (v4.25.1) [/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules]

An alternative way to install a Puppet module is to copy a folder containing the Puppet module to the module path as mentioned above. Ensure to resolve its dependencies manually.

9.3. Updating a Puppet Module

You can update an existing Puppet module using the puppet command.

Procedure

  1. Connect to your Puppet server using SSH and find out where the Puppet modules are located:

    # puppet config print modulepath

    This returns output as follows:

    /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules:/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/common:/etc/puppetlabs/code/modules:/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/modules:/usr/share/puppet/modules

  2. If the module is located in the path as displayed above, the following command updates a module:

    # puppet module upgrade module name

9.4. Importing a Puppet Module

Import the Puppet module to Foreman or any attached Smart Proxy server before you assign any of its classes to managed hosts. Ensure to select Any Organization and Any Location as context, otherwise the import might fail.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Classes.

  2. Click the Import button in the upper right corner and select which Smart Proxy you want to import modules from. You may typically choose between your Foreman server or any attached Smart Proxy server.

  3. Select the Puppet module you want to import:

    1. Select the classes of your choice and check the box on the left.

    2. Click the Update button to import the Puppet classes to Foreman.

  4. Importing a Puppet module results in a notification as follows:

    Successfully updated environments and Puppet classes from the on-disk Puppet installation

9.5. Configuring a Puppet Class

You can configure a Puppet class once you’ve imported it to Foreman server. This example overrides the default list of ntp servers.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Classes and select the ntp Puppet module to change its configuration.

  2. Select the Smart Class Parameter tab and search for servers.

  3. Ensure the Override check box is selected.

  4. Set the Parameter Type drop down menu to array.

  5. Insert a list of ntp servers as Default Value:

    ["0.de.pool.ntp.org","1.de.pool.ntp.org","2.de.pool.ntp.org","3.de.pool.ntp.org"]

    An alternative way to describe the array is the yaml syntax:

    - 0.de.pool.ntp.org
- 1.de.pool.ntp.org
- 2.de.pool.ntp.org
- 3.de.pool.ntp.org

  6. Click the Submit button after adding the values. This changes the default configuration of the Puppet module ntp.

9.6. Managing Puppet Modules with r10k

You can manage Puppet modules and environments using r10k. r10k uses a list of Puppet roles from a Puppetfile to download Puppet modules from the Puppet Forge or git repositories. It does not handle dependencies between Puppet modules.

A Puppetfile looks as follows:

forge "https://forge.puppet.com"

mod "puppet-nginx",
  :git => "https://github.com/voxpupuli/puppet-nginx.git",
  :ref => "master"

mod "puppetlabs/apache"
mod "puppetlabs/ntp", "8.3.0"

9.7. Using Puppet Classes

There are three different ways to use Puppet classes within Foreman. You can assign Puppet classes to either a single host or multiple hosts using host groupings such as a location based context or Puppet config groups in combination with host groups.

A Puppet module typically consists of several Puppet classes. You can only assign Puppet classes to hosts.

9.7.1. Assigning a Puppet Class to Individual Hosts

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All hosts and click on the edit button of the host you want to add the ntp Puppet class to.

  2. Select the Puppet classes tab and look for the ntp class.

  3. Click the + symbol next to ntp to add the ntp submodule to the list of included classes.

  4. Click the Submit button at the bottom to save your changes.

    Tip

    If the Puppet classes tab of an individual host is empty, check if it’s assigned to the proper Puppet environment.

Select the YAML button on the host overview page to verify the Puppet configuration. This produces output similar as follows:

---
parameters:
  // shortened YAML output
classes:
  ntp:
    servers: '["0.de.pool.ntp.org","1.de.pool.ntp.org","2.de.pool.ntp.org","3.de.pool.ntp.org"]'
environment: production
...

Connect to your host using SSH and check the content of /etc/ntp.conf to verify the ntp configuration. This examples assumes your host is running CentOS 7. Other operating systems may store the ntp config file in a different path.

Tip

You may need to run the Puppet agent on your host by executing the following command:

# puppet agent -t

Running the following command on the host checks which ntp servers are used for clock synchronization:

# cat /etc/ntp.conf

This returns output similar as follows:

# ntp.conf: Managed by puppet.
server 0.de.pool.ntp.org
server 1.de.pool.ntp.org
server 2.de.pool.ntp.org
server 3.de.pool.ntp.org

You now have a working ntp module which you can add to a host or group of hosts to roll out your ntp configuration automatically.

9.7.2. Assigning a Puppet Class to a Host Group

Use a host group to assign the ntp Puppet class to multiple hosts at once. Every host you deploy based on this host group has this Puppet class installed.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups to create a host group or edit an existing one.

  2. Set the following parameters:

    1. The Lifecycle Environment describes the stage in which certain versions of content are available to hosts.

    2. The Content View is comprised of products and allows for version control of content repositories.

    3. The Environment allows you to supply a group of hosts with their own dedicated configuration.

  3. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Classes.

  4. Add the Puppet class to the included classes or to the included config groups if a Puppet config group is configured.

  5. Click Submit to save the changes.

9.7.3. Creating a Puppet Config Group

A Puppet config group is a named list of Puppet classes that allows you to combine their capabilities and assign them to managed hosts at a click. This is equivalent to the concept of profiles in pure Puppet.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Config Groups and select the New Config Group button.

  2. Select the classes you want to add to the config group.

    1. Choose a meaningful Name for the Puppet config group.

    2. Add selected Puppet classes to the Included Classes field.

  3. Click Submit to save the changes.

9.8. Puppet Parameter Hierarchy

Puppet parameters are structured hierarchically. Parameters with a higher placement override parameters with lower placements:

  1. Global parameters

  2. Organization parameters

  3. Location parameters

  4. Host group parameters

  5. Host parameters

For example, host specific parameters override any other parameter and location parameters only override any organization or global parameters. This feature is especially useful when grouping hosts with location or organization contexts.

9.8.1. Overriding Puppet Parameters on Individual Hosts

You can override parameters on individual hosts. This is recommended if you have multiple hosts and only want to make changes to a single one.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select a host.

  2. Click Edit and select the Parameters tab.

  3. Click the Override button to edit the Puppet parameter.

  4. Click Submit to save the changes.

9.8.2. Overriding Puppet Parameters Location Based

You can use groups of hosts to override Puppet parameters for multiple hosts at once. The following examples chooses the location context to illustrate setting context based parameters.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Classes and select the Smart Class Parameter tab.

  2. Choose a parameter.

  3. Use the Order list to define the hierarchy of the Puppet parameters. The individual host (fqdn) marks the most and the location context (location) the least relevant.

  4. Check Merge Overrides if you want to add all further matched parameters after finding the first match.

  5. Check Merge Default if you want to also include the default value even if there are more specific values defined.

  6. Check Avoid Duplicates if you want to create a list of unique values for the selected parameter.

  7. The matcher field requires an attribute type from the order list. For example, you can choose Paris as location context and set the value to French ntp servers.

  8. Use the Add Matcher button to add more matchers.

  9. Click Submit to save the changes.

9.8.3. Overriding Puppet Parameters Organization Based

You can use groups of hosts to override Puppet parameters for multiple hosts at once. The following example chooses the organization context to illustrate setting context based parameters.

Note that organization based Puppet parameters are overridden by location based Puppet parameters.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Classes and select the Smart Class Parameter tab.

  2. Choose a parameter.

  3. Use the Order list to define the hierarchy of the Puppet parameters. The individual host (fqdn) marks the most and the organization context (organization) the least relevant.

  4. Check Merge Overrides if you want to add all further matched parameters after finding the first match.

  5. Check Merge Default if you want to also include the default value even if there are more specific values defined.

  6. Check Avoid Duplicates if you want to create a list of unique values for the selected parameter.

  7. The matcher field requires an attribute type from the order list.

  8. Use the Add Matcher button to add more matchers.

  9. Click Submit to save the changes.

9.9. Puppet Run Once Using SSH

Assign the proper job template to the Run Puppet Once feature to run Puppet on managed hosts.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Remote Execution Features.

  2. Select the puppet_run_host remote execution feature.

  3. Assign the Run Puppet Once - SSH Default job template.

Run Puppet on managed hosts by running a job and selecting category Puppet and template Run Puppet Once - SSH Default. Alternatively, click the Run Puppet Once button in the Schedule Remote Job drop down menu on the host details page.

9.10. Setting Out of Sync Time for Puppet Managed Hosts

Foreman considers hosts managed by Puppet to be out of sync if the last Puppet report is older than the combined values of outofsync_interval and puppet_interval set in minutes. By default, the Puppet agent on managed hosts runs every 30 minutes. The puppet_interval is set to 35 minutes and the global outofsync_interval is set to 30 minutes.

The effective time after which hosts are considered out of sync is the sum of outofsync_interval and puppet_interval. Setting the global outofsync_interval to 30 and the puppet_interval to 60 results in a total of 90 minutes after which the host status changes to out of sync.

9.10.1. Setting the Puppet Agent Run Interval

Set the interval when the Puppet Agent runs and sends reports to Foreman.

Procedure

  1. Connect to your managed host using SSH.

  2. Add the Puppet Agent run interval to /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf, for example runinterval = 1h.

9.10.2. Setting the Puppet Interval

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Puppet tab.

  2. In the Puppet interval field, edit the value to the duration, in minutes, after which hosts reporting using Puppet are considered to be out of sync. Set a duration in minutes after which hosts reporting using Puppet are considered to be out of sync.

9.10.3. Setting the Out of Sync Interval

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  2. On the General tab, edit Out of sync interval. Set a duration in minutes after which hosts are considered to be out of sync.

    You can also overwrite this on individual hosts or host groups by adding the outofsync_interval parameter.

9.10.4. Setting Out of Sync Interval for Individual Hosts

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

  2. Click Edit for a selected host.

  3. On the Parameters tab, click Add Parameter.

  4. In the Name field, enter outofsync_interval.

9.10.5. Setting Out of Sync Interval for Host Groups

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups.

  2. Select a host group.

  3. On the Parameters tab, click Add Parameter.

  4. In the Name field, enter outofsync_interval.

9.11. Additional Resources for Puppet

10. Configuring and Setting up Remote Jobs

Use this section as a guide to configuring Foreman to execute jobs on remote hosts.

Any command that you want to apply to a remote host must be defined as a job template. After you have defined a job template you can execute it multiple times.

10.1. About Running Jobs on Hosts

You can run jobs on hosts remotely from Smart Proxies using shell scripts or Ansible tasks and playbooks. This is referred to as remote execution.

For custom Ansible roles that you create, or roles that you download, you must install the package containing the roles on the Smart Proxy base operating system. Before you can use Ansible roles, you must import the roles into Foreman from the Smart Proxy where they are installed.

Communication occurs through Smart Proxy server, which means that Foreman server does not require direct access to the target host, and can scale to manage many hosts. Remote execution uses the SSH service that must be enabled and running on the target host. Ensure that the remote execution Smart Proxy has access to port 22 on the target hosts.

Foreman uses ERB syntax job templates. For more information, see Template Writing Reference in the Managing Hosts guide.

Several job templates for shell scripts and Ansible are included by default. For more information, see Setting up Job Templates.

Note

Any Smart Proxy server base operating system is a client of Foreman server’s internal Smart Proxy, and therefore this section applies to any type of host connected to Foreman server, including Smart Proxies.

You can run jobs on multiple hosts at once, and you can use variables in your commands for more granular control over the jobs you run. You can use host facts and parameters to populate the variable values.

In addition, you can specify custom values for templates when you run the command.

For more information, see Executing a Remote Job.

10.2. Remote Execution Workflow

When you run a remote job on hosts, for every host, Foreman performs the following actions to find a remote execution Smart Proxy to use.

Foreman searches only for Smart Proxies that have the remote execution feature enabled.

  1. Foreman finds the host’s interfaces that have the Remote execution check box selected.

  2. Foreman finds the subnets of these interfaces.

  3. Foreman finds remote execution Smart Proxies assigned to these subnets.

  4. From this set of Smart Proxies, Foreman selects the Smart Proxy that has the least number of running jobs. By doing this, Foreman ensures that the jobs load is balanced between remote execution Smart Proxies.

  5. If Foreman does not find a remote execution Smart Proxy at this stage, and if the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman selects the most lightly loaded Smart Proxy from the following types of Smart Proxies that are assigned to the host:

    • DHCP, DNS and TFTP Smart Proxies assigned to the host’s subnets

    • DNS Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s domain

    • Realm Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s realm

    • Puppet server Smart Proxy

    • Puppet CA Smart Proxy

    • OpenSCAP Smart Proxy

  6. If Foreman does not find a remote execution Smart Proxy at this stage, and if the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman selects the most lightly loaded remote execution Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies in the host’s organization and location to execute a remote job.

10.3. Permissions for Remote Execution

You can control which users can run which jobs within your infrastructure, including which hosts they can target. The remote execution feature provides two built-in roles:

  • Remote Execution Manager: This role allows access to all remote execution features and functionality.

  • Remote Execution User: This role only allows running jobs; it does not provide permission to modify job templates.

You can clone the Remote Execution User role and customize its filter for increased granularity. If you adjust the filter with the view_job_templates permission, the user can only see and trigger jobs based on matching job templates. You can use the view_hosts and view_smart_proxies permissions to limit which hosts or Smart Proxies are visible to the role.

The execute_template_invocation permission is a special permission that is checked immediately before execution of a job begins. This permission defines which job template you can run on a particular host. This allows for even more granularity when specifying permissions. For more information on working with roles and permissions see Creating and Managing Roles in the Administering Foreman.

The following example shows filters for the execute_template_invocation permission:

name = Reboot and host.name = staging.example.com
name = Reboot and host.name ~ *.staging.example.com
name = "Restart service" and host_group.name = webservers

The first line in this example permits the user to apply the Reboot template to one selected host. The second line defines a pool of hosts with names ending with .staging.example.com. The third line binds the template with a host group.

Note

Permissions assigned to users can change over time. If a user has already scheduled some jobs to run in the future, and the permissions have changed, this can result in execution failure because the permissions are checked immediately before job execution.

10.4. Creating a Job Template

Use this procedure to create a job template. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Hosts > Job templates.

  2. Click New Job Template.

  3. Click the Template tab, and in the Name field, enter a unique name for your job template.

  4. Select Default to make the template available for all organizations and locations.

  5. Create the template directly in the template editor or upload it from a text file by clicking Import.

  6. Optional: In the Audit Comment field, add information about the change.

  7. Click the Job tab, and in the Job category field, enter your own category or select from the default categories listed in Default Job Template Categories.

  8. Optional: In the Description Format field, enter a description template. For example, Install package %{package_name}. You can also use %{template_name} and %{job_category} in your template.

  9. From the Provider Type list, select SSH for shell scripts and Ansible for Ansible tasks or playbooks.

  10. Optional: In the Timeout to kill field, enter a timeout value to terminate the job if it does not complete.

  11. Optional: Click Add Input to define an input parameter. Parameters are requested when executing the job and do not have to be defined in the template. For examples, see the Help tab.

  12. Optional: Click Foreign input set to include other templates in this job.

  13. Optional: In the Effective user area, configure a user if the command cannot use the default remote_execution_effective_user setting.

  14. Optional: If this template is a snippet to be included in other templates, click the Type tab and select Snippet.

  15. Click the Location tab and add the locations where you want to use the template.

  16. Click the Organizations tab and add the organizations where you want to use the template.

  17. Click Submit to save your changes.

You can extend and customize job templates by including other templates in the template syntax. For more information, see the appendices in the Managing Hosts guide.

CLI procedure

  1. To create a job template using a template-definition file, enter the following command:

    # hammer job-template create \
--file "path_to_template_file" \
--name "template_name" \
--provider-type SSH \
--job-category "category_name"

10.5. Configuring the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy Remote Execution Setting in Foreman

You can enable the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting to configure Foreman to search for remote execution Smart Proxies from the list of Smart Proxies that are assigned to hosts. This can be useful if you need to run remote jobs on hosts that have no subnets configured or if the hosts' subnets are assigned to Smart Proxies that do not have the remote execution feature enabled.

If the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman also selects the most lightly loaded Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies assigned to the host, such as the following:

  • DHCP, DNS and TFTP Smart Proxies assigned to the host’s subnets

  • DNS Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s domain

  • Realm Smart Proxy assigned to the host’s realm

  • Puppet server Smart Proxy

  • Puppet CA Smart Proxy

  • OpenSCAP Smart Proxy

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  2. Click RemoteExecution.

  3. Configure the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting.

CLI procedure

Enter the hammer settings set command on Foreman to configure the Fallback to Any Smart Proxy setting. For example, to set the value to true, enter the following command:

# hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_fallback_proxy --value=true

10.6. Configuring the Global Smart Proxy Remote Execution Setting in Foreman

By default, Foreman searches for remote execution Smart Proxies in hosts' organizations and locations regardless of whether Smart Proxies are assigned to hosts' subnets or not. You can disable the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting if you want to limit the search to the Smart Proxies that are assigned to hosts' subnets.

If the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting is enabled, Foreman adds another set of Smart Proxies to select the remote execution Smart Proxy from. Foreman also selects the most lightly loaded remote execution Smart Proxy from the set of all Smart Proxies in the host’s organization and location to execute a remote job.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.

  2. Click RemoteExection.

  3. Configure the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting.

CLI procedure

  • Enter the hammer settings set command on Foreman to configure the Enable Global Smart Proxy setting. For example, to set the value to true, enter the following command:

    # hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_global_proxy --value=true

10.7. Configuring Foreman to Use an Alternative Directory to Execute Remote Jobs on Hosts

By default, Foreman uses the /var/tmp directory on the client system to execute the remote execution jobs. If the client system has noexec set for the /var/ volume or file system, you must configure Foreman to use an alternative directory because otherwise the remote execution job fails since the script cannot be run.

Procedure

  1. Create a new directory, for example new_place:

    # mkdir /remote_working_dir

  2. Copy the SELinux context from the default var directory:

    # chcon --reference=/var /remote_working_dir

  3. Configure the system:

    # foreman-installer --foreman-proxy-plugin-remote-execution-ssh-remote-working-dir /remote_working_dir

10.8. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution

To use SSH keys for authenticating remote execution connections, you must distribute the public SSH key from Smart Proxy to its attached hosts that you want to manage. Ensure that the SSH service is enabled and running on the hosts. Configure any network or host-based firewalls to enable access to port 22.

Use one of the following methods to distribute the public SSH key from Smart Proxy to target hosts:

  1. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution Manually.

  2. Using the Foreman API to Obtain SSH Keys for Remote Execution.

  3. Configuring a Kickstart Template to Distribute SSH Keys during Provisioning.

  4. For new Foreman hosts, you can deploy SSH keys to Foreman hosts during registration using the global registration template. For more information, see Registering a Host to Foreman Using the Global Registration Template.

Foreman distributes SSH keys for the remote execution feature to the hosts provisioned from Foreman by default.

If the hosts are running on Amazon Web Services, enable password authentication. For more information, see https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/new-user-accounts-linux-instance.

10.9. Distributing SSH Keys for Remote Execution Manually

To distribute SSH keys manually, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command on Smart Proxy. Repeat for each target host you want to manage:

    # ssh-copy-id -i ~foreman-proxy/.ssh/id_rsa_foreman_proxy.pub root@target.example.com

  2. To confirm that the key was successfully copied to the target host, enter the following command on Smart Proxy:

    # ssh -i ~foreman-proxy/.ssh/id_rsa_foreman_proxy root@target.example.com

10.10. Using the Foreman API to Obtain SSH Keys for Remote Execution

To use the Foreman API to download the public key from Smart Proxy, complete this procedure on each target host.

Procedure

  1. On the target host, create the ~/.ssh directory to store the SSH key:

    # mkdir ~/.ssh

  2. Download the SSH key from Smart Proxy:

    # curl https://smartproxy.example.com:8443/ssh/pubkey >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

  3. Configure permissions for the ~/.ssh directory:

    # chmod 700 ~/.ssh

  4. Configure permissions for the authorized_keys file:

    # chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

10.11. Configuring a Kickstart Template to Distribute SSH Keys during Provisioning

You can add a remote_execution_ssh_keys snippet to your custom kickstart template to deploy SSH Keys to hosts during provisioning. Kickstart templates that Foreman ships include this snippet by default. Therefore, Foreman copies the SSH key for remote execution to the systems during provisioning.

Procedure

  • To include the public key in newly-provisioned hosts, add the following snippet to the Kickstart template that you use:

    <%= snippet 'remote_execution_ssh_keys' %>

10.12. Configuring a keytab for Kerberos Ticket Granting Tickets

Use this procedure to configure Foreman to use a keytab to obtain Kerberos ticket granting tickets. If you do not set up a keytab, you must manually retrieve tickets.

Procedure

  1. Find the ID of the foreman-proxy user:

    # id -u foreman-proxy

  2. Modify the umask value so that new files have the permissions 600:

    # umask 077

  3. Create the directory for the keytab:

    # mkdir -p "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID"

  4. Create a keytab or copy an existing keytab to the directory:

    # cp your_client.keytab /var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID/client.keytab

  5. Change the directory owner to the foreman-proxy user:

    # chown -R foreman-proxy:foreman-proxy "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID"

  6. Ensure that the keytab file is read-only:

    # chmod -wx "/var/kerberos/krb5/user/USER_ID/client.keytab"

  7. Restore the SELinux context:

    # restorecon -RvF /var/kerberos/krb5

10.13. Configuring Kerberos Authentication for Remote Execution

You can use Kerberos authentication to establish an SSH connection for remote execution on Foreman hosts.

Prerequisites

  • Enroll Foreman server on the Kerberos server

  • Enroll the Foreman target host on the Kerberos server

  • Configure and initialize a Kerberos user account for remote execution

  • Ensure that the foreman-proxy user on Foreman has a valid Kerberos ticket granting ticket

Procedure

  1. To install and enable Kerberos authentication for remote execution, enter the following command:

    # foreman-installer --scenario foreman \
 --foreman-proxy-plugin-remote-execution-ssh-ssh-kerberos-auth true

  2. To edit the default user for remote execution, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and click the RemoteExecution tab. In the SSH User row, edit the second column and add the user name for the Kerberos account.

  3. Navigate to remote_execution_effective_user and edit the second column to add the user name for the Kerberos account.

To confirm that Kerberos authentication is ready to use, run a remote job on the host.

10.14. Setting up Job Templates

Foreman provides default job templates that you can use for executing jobs. To view the list of job templates, navigate to Hosts > Job templates. If you want to use a template without making changes, proceed to Executing a Remote Job.

You can use default templates as a base for developing your own. Default job templates are locked for editing. Clone the template and edit the clone.

Procedure

  1. To clone a template, in the Actions column, select Clone.

  2. Enter a unique name for the clone and click Submit to save the changes.

Job templates use the Embedded Ruby (ERB) syntax. For more information about writing templates, see the Template Writing Reference in the Managing Hosts guide.

Ansible Considerations

To create an Ansible job template, use the following procedure and instead of ERB syntax, use YAML syntax. Begin the template with ---. You can embed an Ansible playbook YAML file into the job template body. You can also add ERB syntax to customize your YAML Ansible template. You can also import Ansible playbooks in Foreman. For more information, see Synchronizing Repository Templates in the Managing Hosts guide.

Parameter Variables

At run time, job templates can accept parameter variables that you define for a host. Note that only the parameters visible on the Parameters tab at the host’s edit page can be used as input parameters for job templates. If you do not want your Ansible job template to accept parameter variables at run time, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and click the Ansible tab. In the Top level Ansible variables row, change the Value parameter to No.

10.15. Executing a Remote Job

You can execute a job that is based on a job template against one or more hosts.

To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and select the target hosts on which you want to execute a remote job. You can use the search field to filter the host list.

  2. From the Select Action list, select Schedule Remote Job.

  3. On the Job invocation page, define the main job settings:

  4. Select the Job category and the Job template you want to use.

  5. Optional: Select a stored search string in the Bookmark list to specify the target hosts.

  6. Optional: Further limit the targeted hosts by entering a Search query. The Resolves to line displays the number of hosts affected by your query. Use the refresh button to recalculate the number after changing the query. The preview icon lists the targeted hosts.

  7. The remaining settings depend on the selected job template. See Creating a Job Template for information on adding custom parameters to a template.

  8. Optional: To configure advanced settings for the job, click Display advanced fields. Some of the advanced settings depend on the job template, the following settings are general:

    • Effective user defines the user for executing the job, by default it is the SSH user.

    • Concurrency level defines the maximum number of jobs executed at once, which can prevent overload of systems' resources in a case of executing the job on a large number of hosts.

    • Timeout to kill defines time interval in seconds after which the job should be killed, if it is not finished already. A task which could not be started during the defined interval, for example, if the previous task took too long to finish, is canceled.

    • Type of query defines when the search query is evaluated. This helps to keep the query up to date for scheduled tasks.

    • Execution ordering determines the order in which the job is executed on hosts: alphabetical or randomized.

      Concurrency level and Timeout to kill settings enable you to tailor job execution to fit your infrastructure hardware and needs.

  9. To run the job immediately, ensure that Schedule is set to Execute now. You can also define a one-time future job, or set up a recurring job. For recurring tasks, you can define start and end dates, number and frequency of runs. You can also use cron syntax to define repetition. For more information about cron, see the Automating System Tasks section of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System Administrator’s Guide.

  10. Click Submit. This displays the Job Overview page, and when the job completes, also displays the status of the job.

CLI procedure

  • Enter the following command on Foreman:

# hammer settings set --name=remote_execution_global_proxy --value=false

To execute a remote job with custom parameters, complete the following steps:

  1. Find the ID of the job template you want to use:

    # hammer job-template list

  2. Show the template details to see parameters required by your template:

    # hammer job-template info --id template_ID

  3. Execute a remote job with custom parameters:

    # hammer job-invocation create \
--job-template "template_name" \
--inputs key1="value",key2="value",... \
--search-query "query"

    Replace query with the filter expression that defines hosts, for example "name ~ rex01". For more information about executing remote commands with hammer, enter hammer job-template --help and hammer job-invocation --help.

10.16. Monitoring Jobs

You can monitor the progress of the job while it is running. This can help in any troubleshooting that may be required.

Ansible jobs run on batches of 100 hosts, so you cannot cancel a job running on a specific host. A job completes only after the Ansible playbook runs on all hosts in the batch.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Job page. This page is automatically displayed if you triggered the job with the Execute now setting. To monitor scheduled jobs, navigate to Monitor > Jobs and select the job run you wish to inspect.

  2. On the Job page, click the Hosts tab. This displays the list of hosts on which the job is running.

  3. In the Host column, click the name of the host that you want to inspect. This displays the Detail of Commands page where you can monitor the job execution in real time.

  4. Click Back to Job at any time to return to the Job Details page.

CLI procedure

To monitor the progress of a job while it is running, complete the following steps:

  1. Find the ID of a job:

    # hammer job-invocation list

  2. Monitor the job output:

    # hammer job-invocation output \
--id job_ID \
--host host_name

  3. Optional: to cancel a job, enter the following command:

    # hammer job-invocation cancel \
--id job_ID

11. Host Status in Foreman

In Foreman, each host has a global status that indicates which hosts need attention. Each host also has sub-statuses that represent status of a particular feature. With any change of a sub-status, the global status is recalculated and the result is determined by statuses of all sub-statuses.

11.1. Host Global Status Overview

The global status represents the overall status of a particular host. The status can have one of three possible values: OK, Warning, or Error. You can find global status on the Hosts Overview page. The status displays a small icon next to host name and has a color that corresponds with the status. Hovering over the icon renders a tooltip with sub-status information to quickly find out more details. To view the global status for a host, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts.

OK

No errors were reported by any sub-status. This status is highlighted with the color green.

Warning

While no error was detected, some sub-status raised a warning. For example, there are no configuration management reports for the host even though the host is configured to send reports. It is a good practice to investigate any warnings to ensure that your deployment remains healthy. This status is highlighted with the color yellow.

Error

Some sub-status reports a failure. For example, a run contains some failed resources. This status is highlighted with the color red.

Search syntax

If you want to search for hosts according to their status, use the syntax for searching in Foreman that is outlined in the Searching and Bookmarking chapter of the Administering Foreman guide, and then build your searches out using the following status-related examples:

To search for hosts that have an OK status:

global_status = ok

To search for all hosts that deserve attention:

global_status = error or global_status = warning

11.2. Host Sub-status Overview

A sub-status monitors only part of a host’s capabilities.

Currently, Foreman ships only with Build and Configuration sub-statuses. There can be more sub-statuses depending on which plugins you add to your Foreman.

The build sub-status is relevant for managed hosts and when Foreman runs in unattended mode.

The configuration sub-status is only relevant if Foreman uses a configuration management system like Ansible, Puppet, or Salt.

To view the sub-status for a host, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts and click the host whose full status you want to inspect. You can also view substatus information in the hover help for each host.

In the Properties table of the host details' page, you can view both the global host status and all sub-statuses.

Each sub-status can define its own set of possible values that are mapped to the three global status values.

The Build sub-status has two possible values - pending and built that are both mapped to global OK value.

The Configuration status has more possible values that map to the global status as follows:

sub-statuses that map to the global OK status
Active

During the last run, some resources were applied.

Pending

During the last run, some resources would be applied but your configuration management integration was configured to run in noop mode.

No changes

During the last run, nothing changed.

No reports

This can be both a Warning or OK sub-status. This occurs when there are no reports but the host uses, for example, an associated configuration management proxy or always_show_configuration_status setting is set to true, it maps to Warning.

Sub-status that maps to the global Error status
Error

This indicates an error during configuration, for example, a run failed to install a package.

sub-statuses that map to the global Warning status
Out of sync

A configuration report was not received within the expected interval, based on the outofsync_interval. Reports are identified by an origin and can have different intervals based upon it.

No reports

When your host uses a configuration management system but Foreman does not receive reports, it maps to Warning. Otherwise it is mapped to OK.

Search syntax

If you want to search for hosts according to their sub-status, use the syntax for searching in Foreman that is outlined in the Searching and Bookmarking chapter of the Administering Foreman guide, and then build your searches out using the following status-related examples:

You search for hosts' configuration sub-statuses based on their last reported state.

For example, to find hosts that have at least one pending resource:

status.pending > 0

To find hosts that restarted some service during last run:

status.restarted > 0

To find hosts that have an interesting last run that might indicate something has happened:

status.interesting = true

12. Synchronizing Template Repositories

In Foreman, you can synchronize repositories of job templates, provisioning templates, report templates, and partition table templates between Foreman server and a version control system or local directory. In this chapter, a Git repository is used for demonstration purposes.

This section details the workflow for:

  • installing and configuring the TemplateSync plug-in

  • performing exporting and importing tasks

12.1. Enabling the TemplateSync plug-in

  1. To enable the plug-in on your Foreman server, enter the following command:

    # foreman-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-templates

  2. To verify that the plug-in is installed correctly, ensure Administer > Settings includes the TemplateSync menu.

12.2. Configuring the TemplateSync plug-in

In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings > TemplateSync to configure the plug-in. The following table explains the attributes behavior. Note that some attributes are used only for importing or exporting tasks.

Table 3. Synchronizing Templates Plug-in configuration
Parameter API parameter name Meaning on importing Meaning on exporting

Associate

associate

Accepted values: always, new, never

Associates templates with OS, Organization, and Location based on metadata.

N/A

Branch

branch

Specifies the default branch in Git repository to read from.

Specifies the default branch in Git repository to write to.

Dirname

dirname

Specifies the subdirectory under the repository to read from.

Specifies the subdirectory under the repository to write to.

Filter

filter

Imports only templates with names that match this regular expression.

Exports only templates with names that match this regular expression.

Force import

force

Imported templates overwrite locked templates with the same name.

N/A

Lock templates

lock

Do not overwrite existing templates when you import a new template with the same name, unless Force import is enabled.

N/A

Metadata export mode

metadata_export_mode

Accepted values: refresh, keep, remove

N/A

Defines how metadata is handled when exporting:

  • Refresh — remove existing metadata from the template content and generate new metadata based on current assignments and attributes.

  • Keep — retain the existing metadata.

  • Remove — export template without metadata. Useful if you want to add metadata manually.

Negate

negate

Accepted values: true, false

Imports templates ignoring the filter attribute.

Exports templates ignoring the filter attribute.

Prefix

prefix

Adds specified string to the beginning of the template if the template name does not start with the prefix already.

N/A

Repo

repo

Defines the path to the repository to synchronize from.

Defines the path to a repository to export to.

Verbosity

verbose

Accepted values: true, false

Enables writing verbose messages to the logs for this action.

N/A

12.3. Importing and Exporting Templates

You can import and export templates using the Foreman web UI, Hammer CLI, or Foreman API. Foreman API calls use the role-based access control system, which enables the tasks to be executed as any user. You can synchronize templates with a version control system, such as Git, or a local directory.

12.3.1. Importing Templates

You can import templates from a repository of your choice. You can use different protocols to point to your repository, for example /tmp/dir, git://example.com, https://example.com, and ssh://example.com.

Prerequisites

  • Each template must contain the location and organization that the template belongs to. This applies to all template types. Before you import a template, ensure that you add the following section to the template:

    <%#
kind: provision
name: My Kickstart File
oses:
- RedHat 7
- RedHat 6
locations:
- First Location
- Second Location
organizations:
- Default Organization
- Extra Organization
%>
Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Sync Templates.

  2. Click Import.

  3. Each field is populated with values configured in Administer > Settings > TemplateSync. Change the values as required for the templates you want to import. For more information about each field, see Configuring the TemplateSync plug-in.

  4. Click Submit.

The Foreman web UI displays the status of the import. The status is not persistent; if you leave the status page, you cannot return to it.

CLI procedure

  • To import a template from a repository, enter the following command:

    $ hammer import-templates \
    --prefix '[Custom Index] ' \
    --filter '.*Template Name$' \
    --repo https://github.com/examplerepo/exampledirectory \
    --branch my_branch \
    --organization 'Default Organization'

    For better indexing and management of your templates, use --prefix to set a category for your templates. To select certain templates from a large repository, use --filter to define the title of the templates that you want to import. For example --filter '.*Ansible Default$' imports various Ansible Default templates.

12.3.2. Exporting Templates

You can export templates to a version control server, such as a Git repository.

Procedure

  1. In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Sync Templates.

  2. Click Export.

  3. Each field is populated with values configured in Administer > Settings > TemplateSync. Change the values as required for the templates you want to export. For more information about each field, see Configuring the TemplateSync plug-in.

  4. Click Submit.

The Foreman web UI displays the status of the export. The status is not persistent; if you leave the status page, you cannot return to it.

CLI procedure

  1. Clone a local copy of your Git repository:

    $ git clone https://github.com/theforeman/community-templates /custom/templates

  2. Change the owner of your local directory to the foreman user, and change the SELinux context with the following commands:

    # chown -R foreman:foreman /custom/templates
# chcon -R -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /custom/templates

  3. To export the templates to your local repository, enter the following command:

    hammer export-templates --organization 'Default Organization' --repo /custom/templates

    When exporting templates, avoid temporary directories like /tmp or /var/tmp because the backend service runs with systemd private temporary directories.

12.3.3. Synchronizing Templates Using the Foreman API

Prerequisites

  • Each template must contain the location and organization that the template belongs to. This applies to all template types. Before you import a template, ensure that you add the following section to the template:

    <%#
kind: provision
name: My Kickstart File
oses:
- RedHat 7
- RedHat 6
locations:
- First Location
- Second Location
organizations:
- Default Organization
- Extra Organization
%>
Procedure

  1. Configure a version control system that uses SSH authorization, for example gitosis, gitolite, or git daemon.

  2. Configure the TemplateSync plug-in settings on a TemplateSync tab.

    1. Change the Branch setting to match the target branch on a Git server.

    2. Change the Repo setting to match the Git repository. For example, for the repository located in git@git.example.com/templates.git set the setting into ssh://git@git.example.com/templates.git.

  3. Accept Git SSH host key as the foreman user:

    # sudo -u foreman ssh git.example.com

    You can see the Permission denied, please try again. message in the output, which is expected, because the SSH connection cannot succeed yet.

  4. Create an SSH key pair if you do not already have it. Do not specify a passphrase.

    # sudo -u foreman ssh-keygen

  5. Configure your version control server with the public key from your Foreman, which resides in /usr/share/foreman/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

  6. Export templates from your Foreman server to the version control repository specified in the TemplateSync menu:

    $ curl -H "Accept:application/json,version=2" \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-u login:password \
-k https://_foreman.example.com/api/v2/templates/export \
-X POST

{"message":"Success"}

  7. Import templates to Foreman server after their content was changed:

    $ curl -H "Accept:application/json,version=2" \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-u login:password \
-k https://_foreman.example.com/api/v2/templates/import \
-X POST

{“message”:”Success”}

    Note that templates provided by Foreman are locked and you cannot import them by default. To overwrite this behavior, change the Force import setting in the TemplateSync menu to yes or add the force parameter -d '{ "force": "true" }’ to the import command.

12.3.4. Synchronizing Templates with a Local Directory Using the Foreman API

Synchronizing templates with a local directory is useful if you have configured a version control repository in the local directory. That way, you can edit templates and track the history of edits in the directory. You can also synchronize changes to Foreman server after editing the templates.

Prerequisites

  • Each template must contain the location and organization that the template belongs to. This applies to all template types. Before you import a template, ensure that you add the following section to the template:

    <%#
kind: provision
name: My Kickstart File
oses:
- RedHat 7
- RedHat 6
locations:
- First Location
- Second Location
organizations:
- Default Organization
- Extra Organization
%>
Procedure

  1. Create the directory where templates are stored and apply appropriate permissions and SELinux context:

    # mkdir -p /usr/share/templates_dir/
# chown foreman /usr/share/templates_dir/
# chcon -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /usr/share/templates_dir/ -R

  2. Change the Repo setting on the TemplateSync tab to match the export directory /usr/share/templates_dir/.

  3. Export templates from your Foreman server to a local directory:

    $ curl -H "Accept:application/json,version=2" \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-u login:password \
-k https://_foreman.example.com/api/v2/templates/export \
-X POST \

{"message":"Success"}

  4. Import templates to Foreman server after their content was changed:

    $ curl -H "Accept:application/json,version=2" \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-u login:password \
-k https://_foreman.example.com/api/v2/templates/import \
-X POST

{“message”:”Success”}

    Note that templates provided by Foreman are locked and you cannot import them by default. To overwrite this behavior, change the Force import setting in the TemplateSync menu to yes or add the force parameter -d '{ "force": "true" }’ to the import command.

Note

You can override default API settings by specifying them in the request with the -d parameter. The following example exports templates to the git.example.com/templates repository:

$ curl -H "Accept:application/json,version=2" \
-H "Content-Type:application/json" \
-u login:password \
-k https://foreman.example.com/api/v2/templates/export \
-X POST \
-d "{\"repo\":\"git.example.com/templates\"}"

12.4. Advanced Git Configuration

You can perform additional Git configuration for the TemplateSync plug-in using the command line or editing the .gitconfig file.

Accepting a self-signed Git certificate

If you are using a self-signed certificate authentication on your Git server, validate the certificate with the git config http.sslCAPath command.

For example, the following command verifies a self-signed certificate stored in /cert/cert.pem:

# sudo -u foreman git config --global http.sslCAPath cert/cert.pem

For a complete list of advanced options, see the git-config manual page.

12.5. Uninstalling the plug-in

To avoid errors after removing the foreman_templates plugin:

  1. Disable the plug-in using the Foreman installer:

    # foreman-installer --no-enable-foreman-plugin-templates

  2. Clean custom data of the plug-in. The command does not affect any templates that you created.

    # foreman-rake templates:cleanup

  3. Uninstall the plug-in:

    # yum remove foreman-plugin-templates

Appendix A: Template Writing Reference

Embedded Ruby (ERB) is a tool for generating text files based on templates that combine plain text with Ruby code. Foreman uses ERB syntax in the following cases:

Provisioning templates

For more information, see Creating Provisioning Templates in the Provisioning Guide.

Remote execution job templates

For more information, see Configuring and Setting up Remote Jobs.

Report templates

For more information, see Using Report Templates to Monitor Hosts.

Templates for partition tables

For more information, see Creating Partition Tables in the Provisioning Guide.

Smart Variables

For more information, see Configuring Smart Variables in the Puppet Guide.

Smart Class Parameters

For more information, see Configuring Smart Class Parameters in the Puppet Guide.

This section provides an overview of Foreman-specific macros and variables that can be used in ERB templates along with some usage examples. Note that the default templates provided by Foreman (Hosts > Provisioning templates, Hosts > Job templates, Monitor > Report Templates ) also provide a good source of ERB syntax examples.

When provisioning a host or running a remote job, the code in the ERB is executed and the variables are replaced with the host specific values. This process is referred to as rendering. Foreman server has the safemode rendering option enabled by default, which prevents any harmful code being executed from templates.

Accessing the Template Writing Reference in the Foreman web UI

You can access the template writing reference document in the Foreman web UI.

  1. Log in to the Foreman web UI.

  2. Navigate to Administer > About.

  3. Click the Templates DSL link in the Support section.

Writing ERB Templates

The following tags are the most important and commonly used in ERB templates:

<% %>

All Ruby code is enclosed within <% %> in an ERB template. The code is executed when the template is rendered. It can contain Ruby control flow structures as well as Foreman-specific macros and variables. For example:

<% if @host.operatingsystem.family == "Redhat" && @host.operatingsystem.major.to_i > 6 -%>
systemctl <%= input("action") %> <%= input("service") %>
<% else -%>
service <%= input("service") %> <%= input("action") %>
<% end -%>

Note that this template silently performs an action with a service and returns nothing at the output.

<%= %>

This provides the same functionality as <% %> but when the template is executed, the code output is inserted into the template. This is useful for variable substitution, for example:

Example input:

echo <%= @host.name %>

Example rendering:

host.example.com

Example input:

<% server_name = @host.fqdn %>
<%= server_name %>

Example rendering:

host.example.com

Note that if you enter an incorrect variable, no output is returned. However, if you try to call a method on an incorrect variable, the following error message returns:

Example input:

<%= @example_incorrect_variable.fqdn -%>

Example rendering:

undefined method `fqdn' for nil:NilClass
<% -%>, <%= -%>

By default, a newline character is inserted after a Ruby block if it is closed at the end of a line:

Example input:

<%= "line1" %>
<%= "line2" %>

Example rendering:

line1
line2

To change the default behavior, modify the enclosing mark with -%>:

Example input:

<%= "line1" -%>
<%= "line2" %>

Example rendering:

line1line2

This is used to reduce the number of lines, where Ruby syntax permits, in rendered templates. White spaces in ERB tags are ignored.

An example of how this would be used in a report template to remove unnecessary newlines between a FQDN and IP address:

Example input:

<%= @host.fqdn -%>
<%= @host.ip -%>

Example rendering:

host.example.com10.10.181.216
<%# %>

Encloses a comment that is ignored during template rendering:

Example input:

<%# A comment %>

This generates no output.

Indentation in ERB templates

Because of the varying lengths of the ERB tags, indenting the ERB syntax might seem messy. ERB syntax ignore white space. One method of handling the indentation is to declare the ERB tag at the beginning of each new line and then use white space within the ERB tag to outline the relationships within the syntax, for example:

<%- load_hosts.each do |host| -%>
<%-   if host.build? %>
<%=     host.name %> build is in progress
<%-   end %>
<%- end %>

Troubleshooting ERB Templates

The Foreman web UI provides two ways to verify the template rendering for a specific host:

  • Directly in the template editor – when editing a template (under Hosts > Partition tables, Hosts > Provisioning templates, or Hosts > Job templates), on the Template tab click Preview and select a host from the list. The template then renders in the text field using the selected host’s parameters. Preview failures can help to identify issues in your template.

  • At the host’s details page – select a host at Hosts > All hosts and click the Templates tab to list templates associated with the host. Select Review from the list next to the selected template to view it’s rendered version.

Generic Foreman-Specific Macros

This section lists Foreman-specific macros for ERB templates.

You can use the macros listed in the following table across all kinds of templates.

Table 4. Generic Macros
Name Description

indent(n)

Indents the block of code by n spaces, useful when using a snippet template that is not indented.

foreman_url(kind)

Returns the full URL to host-rendered templates of the given kind. For example, templates of the "provision" type usually reside at http://HOST/unattended/provision.

snippet(name)

Renders the specified snippet template. Useful for nesting provisioning templates.

snippets(file)

Renders the specified snippet found in the Foreman database, attempts to load it from the unattended/snippets/ directory if it is not found in the database.

snippet_if_exists(name)

Renders the specified snippet, skips if no snippet with the specified name is found.

Templates Macros

If you want to write custom templates, you can use some of the following macros.

Depending on the template type, some of the following macros have different requirements.

For more information about the available macros for report templates, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Report Templates, and click Create Template. In the Create Template window, click the Help tab.

For more information about the available macros for job templates, in the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > Job Templates, and click the New Job Template. In the New Job Template window, click the Help tab.

input

Using the input macro, you can customize the input data that the template can work with. You can define the input name, type, and the options that are available for users. For report templates, you can only use user inputs. When you define a new input and save the template, you can then reference the input in the ERB syntax of the template body.

<%= input('cpus') %>

This loads the value from user input cpus.

load_hosts

Using the load_hosts macro, you can generate a complete list of hosts.

<%- load_hosts().each_record do |host| -%>
<%=     host.name %>

Use the load_hosts macro with the each_record macro to load records in batches of 1000 to reduce memory consumption.

If you want to filter the list of hosts for the report, you can add the option search: input(‘Example_Host’):

<% load_hosts(search: input('Example_Host')).each_record do |host| -%>
<%=  host.name %>
<% end -%>

In this example, you first create an input that you then use to refine the search criteria that the load_hosts macro retrieves.

report_row

Using the report_row macro, you can create a formatted report for ease of analysis. The report_row macro requires the report_render macro to generate the output.

Example input:
<%- load_hosts(search: input('Example_Host')).each_record do |host| -%>
<%-   report_row(
        'Server FQDN': host.name
      ) -%>
<%- end -%>
<%= report_render -%>
Example rendering:
Server FQDN
host1.example.com
host2.example.com
host3.example.com
host4.example.com
host5.example.com
host6.example.com

You can add extra columns to the report by adding another header. The following example adds IP addresses to the report:

Example input:
<%- load_hosts(search: input('host')).each_record do |host| -%>
<%-   report_row(
      'Server FQDN': host.name,
           'IP': host.ip
      ) -%>
<%- end -%>
<%= report_render -%>
Example rendering:
Server FQDN,IP
host1.example.com,10.8.30.228
host2.example.com,10.8.30.227
host3.example.com,10.8.30.226
host4.example.com,10.8.30.225
host5.example.com,10.8.30.224
host6.example.com,10.8.30.223
report_render

This macro is available only for report templates.

Using the report_render macro, you create the output for the report. During the template rendering process, you can select the format that you want for the report. YAML, JSON, HTML, and CSV formats are supported.

<%= report_render -%>
render_template()

This macro is available only for job templates.

Using this macro, you can render a specific template. You can also enable and define arguments that you want to pass to the template.

Host-Specific Variables

The following variables enable using host data within templates. Note that job templates accept only @host variables.

Table 5. Host Specific Variables and Macros
Name Description

@host.architecture

The architecture of the host.

@host.bond_interfaces

Returns an array of all bonded interfaces. See Parsing Arrays.

@host.capabilities

The method of system provisioning, can be either build (for example kickstart) or image.

@host.certname

The SSL certificate name of the host.

@host.diskLayout

The disk layout of the host. Can be inherited from the operating system.

@host.domain

The domain of the host.

@host.environment

The Puppet environment of the host.

@host.facts

Returns a Ruby hash of facts from Facter. For example to access the 'ipaddress' fact from the output, specify @host.facts['ipaddress'].

@host.grub_pass

Returns the host’s GRUB password.

@host.hostgroup

The host group of the host.

host_enc['parameters']

Returns a Ruby hash containing information on host parameters. For example, use host_enc['parameters']['lifecycle_environment'] to get the life cycle environment of a host.

@host.image_build?

Returns true if the host is provisioned using an image.

@host.interfaces

Contains an array of all available host interfaces including the primary interface. See Parsing Arrays.

@host.interfaces_with_identifier('IDs')

Returns array of interfaces with given identifier. You can pass an array of multiple identifiers as an input, for example @host.interfaces_with_identifier(['eth0', 'eth1']). See Parsing Arrays.

@host.ip

The IP address of the host.

@host.location

The location of the host.

@host.mac

The MAC address of the host.

@host.managed_interfaces

Returns an array of managed interfaces (excluding BMC and bonded interfaces). See Parsing Arrays.

@host.medium

The assigned operating system installation medium.

@host.name

The full name of the host.

@host.operatingsystem.family

The operating system family.

@host.operatingsystem.major

The major version number of the assigned operating system.

@host.operatingsystem.minor

The minor version number of the assigned operating system.

@host.operatingsystem.name

The assigned operating system name.

@host.operatingsystem.boot_files_uri(medium_provider)

Full path to the kernel and initrd, returns an array.

@host.os.medium_uri(@host)

The URI used for provisioning (path configured in installation media).

host_param('parameter_name')

Returns the value of the specified host parameter.

host_param_false?('parameter_name')

Returns false if the specified host parameter evaluates to false.

host_param_true?('parameter_name')

Returns true if the specified host parameter evaluates to true.

@host.primary_interface

Returns the primary interface of the host.

@host.provider

The compute resource provider.

@host.provision_interface

Returns the provisioning interface of the host. Returns an interface object.

@host.ptable

The partition table name.

@host.puppet_ca_server

The Puppet CA server the host must use.

@host.puppetmaster

The Puppet server the host must use.

@host.pxe_build?

Returns true if the host is provisioned using the network or PXE.

@host.shortname

The short name of the host.

@host.sp_ip

The IP address of the BMC interface.

@host.sp_mac

The MAC address of the BMC interface.

@host.sp_name

The name of the BMC interface.

@host.sp_subnet

The subnet of the BMC network.

@host.subnet.dhcp

Returns true if a DHCP proxy is configured for this host.

@host.subnet.dns_primary

The primary DNS server of the host.

@host.subnet.dns_secondary

The secondary DNS server of the host.

@host.subnet.gateway

The gateway of the host.

@host.subnet.mask

The subnet mask of the host.

@host.url_for_boot(:initrd)

Full path to the initrd image associated with this host. Not recommended, as it does not interpolate variables.

@host.url_for_boot(:kernel)

Full path to the kernel associated with this host. Not recommended, as it does not interpolate variables, prefer boot_files_uri.

@provisioning_type

Equals to 'host' or 'hostgroup' depending on type of provisioning.

@static

Returns true if the network configuration is static.

@template_name

Name of the template being rendered.

grub_pass

Returns the GRUB password wrapped in md5pass argument, that is --md5pass=#{@host.grub_pass}.

ks_console

Returns a string assembled using the port and the baud rate of the host which can be added to a kernel line. For example console=ttyS1,9600.

root_pass

Returns the root password configured for the system.

The majority of common Ruby methods can be applied on host-specific variables. For example, to extract the last segment of the host’s IP address, you can use:

<% @host.ip.split('.').last %>

Kickstart-Specific Variables

The following variables are designed to be used within kickstart provisioning templates.

Table 6. Kickstart Specific Variables
Name Description

@arch

The host architecture name, same as @host.architecture.name.

@dynamic

Returns true if the partition table being used is a %pre script (has the #Dynamic option as the first line of the table).

@epel

A command which will automatically install the correct version of the epel-release rpm. Use in a %post script.

@mediapath

The full kickstart line to provide the URL command.

@osver

The operating system major version number, same as @host.operatingsystem.major.

Conditional Statements

In your templates, you might perform different actions depending on which value exists. To achieve this, you can use conditional statements in your ERB syntax.

In the following example, the ERB syntax searches for a specific host name and returns an output depending on the value it finds:

Example input:

<% load_hosts().each_record do |host| -%>
<% if @host.name == "host1.example.com" -%>
<%      result="positive" -%>
<%  else -%>
<%      result="negative" -%>
<%  end -%>
<%= result -%>

Example rendering:

host1.example.com
positive

Parsing Arrays

While writing or modifying templates, you might encounter variables that return arrays. For example, host variables related to network interfaces, such as @host.interfaces or @host.bond_interfaces, return interface data grouped in an array. To extract a parameter value of a specific interface, use Ruby methods to parse the array.

Finding the Correct Method to Parse an Array

The following procedure is an example that you can use to find the relevant methods to parse arrays in your template. In this example, a report template is used, but the steps are applicable to other templates.

  1. To retrieve the NIC of a content host, in this example, using the @host.interfaces variable returns class values that you can then use to find methods to parse the array.

    Example input:
    <%= @host.interfaces -%>
    Example rendering:
    <Nic::Base::ActiveRecord_Associations_CollectionProxy:0x00007f734036fbe0>

  2. In the Create Template window, click the Help tab and search for the ActiveRecord_Associations_CollectionProxy and Nic::Base classes.

  3. For ActiveRecord_Associations_CollectionProxy, in the Allowed methods or members column, you can view the following methods to parse the array:

    [] each find_in_batches first map size to_a

  4. For Nic::Base, in the Allowed methods or members column, you can view the following method to parse the array:

    alias? attached_devices attached_devices_identifiers attached_to bond_options children_mac_addresses domain fqdn identifier inheriting_mac ip ip6 link mac managed? mode mtu nic_delay physical? primary provision shortname subnet subnet6 tag virtual? vlanid

  5. To iterate through an interface array, add the relevant methods to the ERB syntax:

    Example input:
    <% load_hosts().each_record do |host| -%>
<%    host.interfaces.each do |iface| -%>
  iface.alias?: <%= iface.alias? %>
  iface.attached_to: <%= iface.attached_to %>
  iface.bond_options: <%= iface.bond_options %>
  iface.children_mac_addresses: <%= iface.children_mac_addresses %>
  iface.domain: <%= iface.domain %>
  iface.fqdn: <%= iface.fqdn %>
  iface.identifier: <%= iface.identifier %>
  iface.inheriting_mac: <%= iface.inheriting_mac %>
  iface.ip: <%= iface.ip %>
  iface.ip6: <%= iface.ip6 %>
  iface.link: <%= iface.link %>
  iface.mac: <%= iface.mac %>
  iface.managed?: <%= iface.managed? %>
  iface.mode: <%= iface.mode %>
  iface.mtu: <%= iface.mtu %>
  iface.physical?: <%= iface.physical? %>
  iface.primary: <%= iface.primary %>
  iface.provision: <%= iface.provision %>
  iface.shortname: <%= iface.shortname %>
  iface.subnet: <%= iface.subnet %>
  iface.subnet6: <%= iface.subnet6 %>
  iface.tag: <%= iface.tag %>
  iface.virtual?: <%= iface.virtual? %>
  iface.vlanid: <%= iface.vlanid %>
<%- end -%>
    Example rendering:
    host1.example.com
  iface.alias?: false
  iface.attached_to:
  iface.bond_options:
  iface.children_mac_addresses: []
  iface.domain:
  iface.fqdn: host1.example.com
  iface.identifier: ens192
  iface.inheriting_mac: 00:50:56:8d:4c:cf
  iface.ip: 10.10.181.13
  iface.ip6:
  iface.link: true
  iface.mac: 00:50:56:8d:4c:cf
  iface.managed?: true
  iface.mode: balance-rr
  iface.mtu:
  iface.physical?: true
  iface.primary: true
  iface.provision: true
  iface.shortname: host1.example.com
  iface.subnet:
  iface.subnet6:
  iface.tag:
  iface.virtual?: false
  iface.vlanid:

Example Template Snippets

Checking if a Host Has Puppet and Puppetlabs Enabled

The following example checks if the host has the Puppet and Puppetlabs repositories enabled:

<%
pm_set = @host.puppetmaster.empty? ? false : true
puppet_enabled = pm_set || host_param_true?('force-puppet')
puppetlabs_enabled = host_param_true?('enable-puppetlabs-repo')
%>
Capturing Major and Minor Versions of a Host’s Operating System

The following example shows how to capture the minor and major version of the host’s operating system, which can be used for package related decisions:

<%
os_major = @host.operatingsystem.major.to_i
os_minor = @host.operatingsystem.minor.to_i
%>

<% if ((os_minor < 2) && (os_major < 14)) -%>
...
<% end -%>
Importing Snippets to a Template

The following example imports the subscription_manager_registration snippet to the template and indents it by four spaces:

<%= indent 4 do
snippet 'subscription_manager_registration'
end %>
Conditionally Importing a Kickstart Snippet

The following example imports the kickstart_networking_setup snippet if the host’s subnet has the DHCP boot mode enabled:

<% subnet = @host.subnet %>
<% if subnet.respond_to?(:dhcp_boot_mode?) -%>
<%= snippet 'kickstart_networking_setup' %>
<% end -%>
Parsing Values from Host Custom Facts

You can use the host.facts variable to parse values from a host’s facts and custom facts.

In this example luks_stat is a custom fact that you can parse in the same manner as dmi::system::serial_number, which is a host fact:

'Serial': host.facts['dmi::system::serial_number'],
'Encrypted': host.facts['luks_stat'],

In this example, you can customize the Applicable Errata report template to parse for custom information about the kernel version of each host:

<%-     report_row(
          'Host': host.name,
          'Operating System': host.operatingsystem,
          'Kernel': host.facts['uname::release'],
          'Environment': host.lifecycle_environment,
          'Erratum': erratum.errata_id,
          'Type': erratum.errata_type,
          'Published': erratum.issued,
          'Applicable since': erratum.created_at,
          'Severity': erratum.severity,
          'Packages': erratum.package_names,
          'CVEs': erratum.cves,
          'Reboot suggested': erratum.reboot_suggested,
        ) -%>

Appendix B: Job Template Examples and Extensions

Use this section as a reference to help modify, customize, and extend your job templates to suit your requirements.

Customizing Job Templates

When creating a job template, you can include an existing template in the template editor field. This way you can combine templates, or create more specific templates from the general ones.

The following template combines default templates to install and start the httpd service on Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems:

<%= render_template 'Package Action - SSH Default', :action => 'install', :package => 'httpd' %>
<%= render_template 'Service Action - SSH Default', :action => 'start', :service_name => 'httpd' %>

The above template specifies parameter values for the rendered template directly. It is also possible to use the input() method to allow users to define input for the rendered template on job execution. For example, you can use the following syntax:

<%= render_template 'Package Action - SSH Default', :action => 'install', :package => input("package") %>

With the above template, you have to import the parameter definition from the rendered template. To do so, navigate to the Jobs tab, click Add Foreign Input Set, and select the rendered template from the Target template list. You can import all parameters or specify a comma separated list.

Default Job Template Categories

Job template category Description

Packages

Templates for performing package related actions. Install, update, and remove actions are included by default.

Puppet

Templates for executing Puppet runs on target hosts.

Power

Templates for performing power related actions. Restart and shutdown actions are included by default.

Commands

Templates for executing custom commands on remote hosts.

Services

Templates for performing service related actions. Start, stop, restart, and status actions are included by default.

Katello

Templates for performing content related actions. These templates are used mainly from different parts of the Foreman web UI (for example bulk actions UI for content hosts), but can be used separately to perform operations such as errata installation.

Example restorecon Template

This example shows how to create a template called Run Command - restorecon that restores the default SELinux context for all files in the selected directory on target hosts.

  1. Navigate to Hosts > Job templates. Click New Job Template.

  2. Enter Run Command - restorecon in the Name field. Select Default to make the template available to all organizations. Add the following text to the template editor:

    restorecon -RvF <%= input("directory") %>

    The <%= input("directory") %> string is replaced by a user-defined directory during job invocation.

  3. On the Job tab, set Job category to Commands.

  4. Click Add Input to allow job customization. Enter directory to the Name field. The input name must match the value specified in the template editor.

  5. Click Required so that the command cannot be executed without the user specified parameter.

  6. Select User input from the Input type list. Enter a description to be shown during job invocation, for example Target directory for restorecon.

  7. Click Submit.

See Executing a restorecon Template on Multiple Hosts for information on how to execute a job based on this template.

Rendering a restorecon Template

This example shows how to create a template derived from the Run command - restorecon template created in Example restorecon Template. This template does not require user input on job execution, it will restore the SELinux context in all files under the /home/ directory on target hosts.

Create a new template as described in Setting up Job Templates, and specify the following string in the template editor:

<%= render_template("Run Command - restorecon", :directory => "/home") %>

Executing a restorecon Template on Multiple Hosts

This example shows how to run a job based on the template created in Example restorecon Template on multiple hosts. The job restores the SELinux context in all files under the /home/ directory.

  1. Navigate to Hosts > All hosts and select target hosts. Select Schedule Remote Job from the Select Action list.

  2. In the Job invocation page, select the Commands job category and the Run Command - restorecon job template.

  3. Type /home in the directory field.

  4. Set Schedule to Execute now.

  5. Click Submit. You are taken to the Job invocation page where you can monitor the status of job execution.

Including Power Actions in Templates

This example shows how to set up a job template for performing power actions, such as reboot. This procedure prevents Foreman from interpreting the disconnect exception upon reboot as an error, and consequently, remote execution of the job works correctly.

Create a new template as described in Setting up Job Templates, and specify the following string in the template editor:

<%= render_template("Power Action - SSH Default", :action => "restart") %>