1. Accessing Foreman
After Foreman has been installed and configured, use the Foreman web UI interface to log in to Foreman for further configuration.
1.1. Installing the Katello Root CA Certificate
The first time you log on to Foreman, you might see a warning informing you that you are using the default self-signed certificate and you might not be able to connect this browser to Foreman until the root CA certificate is installed in the browser. Use the following procedure to locate the root CA certificate on Foreman and to install it in your browser.
-
Your Foreman is installed and configured.
-
Identify the fully qualified domain name of your Foreman server:
# hostname -f
-
Access the
pub
directory on your Foreman server using a web browser pointed to the fully qualified domain name:https://foreman.example.com/pub
-
When you access Foreman for the first time, an untrusted connection warning displays in your web browser. Accept the self-signed certificate and add the Foreman URL as a security exception to override the settings. This procedure might differ depending on the browser being used. Ensure that the Foreman URL is valid before you accept the security exception.
-
Select
katello-server-ca.crt
. -
Import the certificate into your browser as a certificate authority and trust it to identify websites.
-
From the Foreman CLI, copy the
katello-server-ca.crt
file to the machine you use to access the Foreman web UI:# scp /var/www/html/pub/katello-server-ca.crt username@hostname:remotefile
-
In the browser, import the
katello-server-ca.crt
certificate as a certificate authority and trust it to identify websites.
1.2. Logging on to Foreman
Use the web user interface to log on to Foreman for further configuration.
-
Ensure that the Katello root CA certificate is installed in your browser. For more information, see Installing the Katello Root CA Certificate.
-
Access Foreman server using a web browser pointed to the fully qualified domain name:
https://foreman.example.com/
-
Enter the user name and password created during the configuration process. If a user was not created during the configuration process, the default user name is admin. If you have problems logging on, you can reset the password. For more information, see Resetting the Administrative User Password.
1.3. Navigation Tabs in the Foreman web UI
Use the navigation tabs to browse the Foreman web UI.
Navigation Tabs | Description |
---|---|
Any Context |
Clicking this tab changes the organization and location. If no organization or location is selected, the default organization is Any Organization and the default location is Any Location. Use this tab to change to different values. |
Monitor |
Provides summary dashboards and reports. |
Content |
Provides content management tools. This includes Content Views, Activation Keys, and Life Cycle Environments. |
Hosts |
Provides host inventory and provisioning configuration tools. |
Configure |
Provides general configuration tools and data including Host Groups and Puppet data. |
Infrastructure |
Provides tools on configuring how Foreman interacts with the environment. |
User Name |
Provides user administration where users can edit their personal information. |
Provides event notifications to keep administrators informed of important environment changes. |
|
Administer |
Provides advanced configuration for settings such as Users and RBAC, as well as general settings. |
1.4. Changing the Password
These steps show how to change your password.
-
Click your user name at the top right corner.
-
Select My Account from the menu.
-
In the Current Password field, enter the current password.
-
In the Password field, enter a new password.
-
In the Verify field, enter the new password again.
-
Click the Submit button to save your new password.
1.5. Resetting the Administrative User Password
Use the following procedures to reset the administrative password to randomly generated characters or to set a new administrative password.
-
Log on to the base operating system where Foreman server is installed.
-
Enter the following command to reset the password:
# foreman-rake permissions:reset Reset to user: admin, password: qwJxBptxb7Gfcjj5
-
Use this password to reset the password in the Foreman web UI.
-
Edit the
~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
file on Foreman server to add the new password:# vi ~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
Unless you update the ~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
file, you cannot use the new password with Hammer CLI.
-
Log on to the base operating system where Foreman server is installed.
-
To set the password, enter the following command:
# foreman-rake permissions:reset password=new_password
-
Edit the
~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
file on Foreman server to add the new password:# vi ~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
Unless you update the ~/.hammer/cli.modules.d/foreman.yml
file, you cannot use the new password with Hammer CLI.
1.6. Setting a Custom Message on the Login Page
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the General tab.
-
Click the edit button next to Login page footer text, and enter the desired text to be displayed on the login page. For example, this text may be a warning message required by your company.
-
Click Save.
-
Log out of the Foreman web UI and verify that the custom text is now displayed on the login page below the Foreman version number.
2. Starting and Stopping Foreman
Foreman provides the foreman-maintain service
command to manage Foreman services from the command line.
This is useful when creating a backup of Foreman.
For more information on creating backups, see Backing Up Foreman server and Smart Proxy server.
After installing Foreman with the foreman-installer
command, all Foreman services are started and enabled automatically.
View the list of these services by executing:
# foreman-maintain service list
To see the status of running services, execute:
# foreman-maintain service status
To stop Foreman services, execute:
# foreman-maintain service stop
To start Foreman services, execute:
# foreman-maintain service start
To restart Foreman services, execute:
# foreman-maintain service restart
3. Migrating from Internal Foreman Databases to External Databases
When you install Foreman, the foreman-installer command installs PostgreSQL databases on the same server as Foreman. If you are using the default internal databases but want to start using external databases to help with the server load, you can migrate your internal databases to external databases.
To confirm whether your Foreman server has internal or external databases, you can query the status of your databases:
For PostgreSQL, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain service status --only postgresql
To migrate from the default internal databases to external databases, you must complete the following procedures:
-
Preparing a Host for External Databases. Prepare a Enterprise Linux 8 or Enterprise Linux 7 server to host the external databases.
-
Installing PostgreSQL. Prepare PostgreSQL with databases for Foreman, Pulp and Candlepin with dedicated users owning them.
-
Migrating to External Databases. Edit the parameters of
foreman-installer
to point to the new databases, and runforeman-installer
.
3.1. PostgreSQL as an External Database Considerations
Foreman, Katello, and Candlepin use the PostgreSQL database. If you want to use PostgreSQL as an external database, the following information can help you decide if this option is right for your Foreman configuration. Foreman supports PostgreSQL version 12.
-
Increase in free memory and free CPU on Foreman
-
Flexibility to set
shared_buffers
on the PostgreSQL database to a high number without the risk of interfering with other services on Foreman -
Flexibility to tune the PostgreSQL server’s system without adversely affecting Foreman operations
-
Increase in deployment complexity that can make troubleshooting more difficult
-
The external PostgreSQL server is an additional system to patch and maintain
-
If either Foreman or the PostgreSQL database server suffers a hardware or storage failure, Foreman is not operational
-
If there is latency between the Foreman server and database server, performance can suffer
3.2. Preparing a Host for External Databases
Install a freshly provisioned system with the latest Enterprise Linux 8 or Enterprise Linux 7 server to host the external databases.
-
The prepared host must meet Foreman’s Storage Requirements.
-
Use the instructions in Attaching the Foreman Infrastructure Subscription to attach a Foreman subscription to your server.
-
Disable all repositories and enable only the following repositories:
-
For Enterprise Linux 7:
# subscription-manager repos --disable '*'
-
3.3. Installing PostgreSQL
You can install only the same version of PostgreSQL that is installed with the foreman-installer
tool during an internal database installation.
You can install PostgreSQL using Enterprise Linux 8 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 repositories.
Foreman supports PostgreSQL version 12.
If you do not use firewall-cmd
to configure the Linux firewall, implement using the command of your choice.
3.3.1. Installing PostgreSQL on Enterprise Linux 8
-
To install PostgreSQL, enter the following command:
# dnf install postgresql-server
-
To initialize PostgreSQL, enter the following command:
# postgresql-setup initdb
-
Edit the
/var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
file:# vi /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
-
Remove the
#
and edit to listen to inbound connections:listen_addresses = '*'
-
Edit the
/var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
file:# vi /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
-
Add the following line to the file:
host all all Foreman_ip/24 md5
-
To start, and enable PostgreSQL service, enter the following commands:
# systemctl start postgresql # systemctl enable postgresql
-
Open the postgresql port on the external PostgreSQL server:
# firewall-cmd --add-service=postgresql # firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent
-
Switch to the
postgres
user and start the PostgreSQL client:$ su - postgres -c psql
-
Create three databases and dedicated roles: one for Foreman, one for Candlepin, and one for Pulp:
CREATE USER "foreman" WITH PASSWORD 'Foreman_Password'; CREATE USER "candlepin" WITH PASSWORD 'Candlepin_Password'; CREATE USER "pulp" WITH PASSWORD 'Pulpcore_Password'; CREATE DATABASE foreman OWNER foreman; CREATE DATABASE candlepin OWNER candlepin; CREATE DATABASE pulpcore OWNER pulp;
-
Exit the
postgres
user:# \q
-
From Foreman server, test that you can access the database. If the connection succeeds, the commands return
1
.# PGPASSWORD='Foreman_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U foreman -d foreman -c "SELECT 1 as ping" # PGPASSWORD='Candlepin_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U candlepin -d candlepin -c "SELECT 1 as ping" # PGPASSWORD='Pulpcore_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U pulp -d pulpcore -c "SELECT 1 as ping"
3.3.2. Installing PostgreSQL on Enterprise Linux 7
-
To install PostgreSQL, enter the following command:
# yum install rh-postgresql12-postgresql-server \ rh-postgresql12-syspaths \ rh-postgresql12-postgresql-evr
-
To initialize PostgreSQL, enter the following command:
# postgresql-setup initdb
-
Edit the
/var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
file:# vi /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
-
Remove the
#
and edit to listen to inbound connections:listen_addresses = '*'
-
Edit the
/var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
file:# vi /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf
-
Add the following line to the file:
host all all Foreman_ip/24 md5
-
To start, and enable PostgreSQL service, enter the following commands:
# systemctl start postgresql # systemctl enable postgresql
-
Open the postgresql port on the external PostgreSQL server:
# firewall-cmd --add-service=postgresql # firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent
-
Switch to the
postgres
user and start the PostgreSQL client:$ su - postgres -c psql
-
Create three databases and dedicated roles: one for Foreman, one for Candlepin, and one for Pulp:
CREATE USER "foreman" WITH PASSWORD 'Foreman_Password'; CREATE USER "candlepin" WITH PASSWORD 'Candlepin_Password'; CREATE USER "pulp" WITH PASSWORD 'Pulpcore_Password'; CREATE DATABASE foreman OWNER foreman; CREATE DATABASE candlepin OWNER candlepin; CREATE DATABASE pulpcore OWNER pulp;
-
Exit the
postgres
user:# \q
-
From Foreman server, test that you can access the database. If the connection succeeds, the commands return
1
.# PGPASSWORD='Foreman_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U foreman -d foreman -c "SELECT 1 as ping" # PGPASSWORD='Candlepin_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U candlepin -d candlepin -c "SELECT 1 as ping" # PGPASSWORD='Pulpcore_Password' psql -h postgres.example.com -p 5432 -U pulp -d pulpcore -c "SELECT 1 as ping"
3.4. Migrating to External Databases
Back up and transfer existing data, then use the foreman-installer
command to configure Foreman to connect to an external PostgreSQL database server.
-
You have installed and configured a PostgreSQL server on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux server.
-
On Foreman server, stop Foreman services:
# foreman-maintain service stop
-
Start the PostgreSQL services:
# systemctl start postgresql
-
Back up the internal databases:
# foreman-maintain backup online --skip-pulp-content --preserve-directory -y /var/migration_backup
-
Transfer the data to the new external databases:
PGPASSWORD='Foreman_Password' pg_restore -h postgres.example.com -U foreman -d foreman < /var/migration_backup/foreman.dump PGPASSWORD='Candlepin_Password' pg_restore -h postgres.example.com -U candlepin -d candlepin < /var/migration_backup/candlepin.dump PGPASSWORD='Pulpcore_Password' pg_restore -h postgres.example.com -U pulp -d pulpcore < /var/migration_backup/pulpcore.dump
-
Use the
foreman-installer
command to update Foreman to point to the new databases:foreman-installer --scenario foreman \ --foreman-db-host postgres.example.com \ --foreman-db-password Foreman_Password \ --foreman-db-database foreman \ --foreman-db-manage false \ --foreman-db-username foreman \ --katello-candlepin-db-host postgres.example.com \ --katello-candlepin-db-name candlepin \ --katello-candlepin-db-password Candlepin_Password \ --katello-candlepin-manage-db false \ --katello-candlepin-db-user candlepin \ --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-manage-postgresql false \ --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-postgresql-host postgres.example.com \ --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-postgresql-db-name pulpcore \ --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-postgresql-password Pulpcore_Password \ --foreman-proxy-content-pulpcore-postgresql-user pulp
4. Managing Foreman with Ansible Collections
Foreman Ansible Collections is a set of Ansible modules that interact with the Foreman API. You can use Foreman Ansible Collections to manage and automate many aspects of Foreman.
4.1. Installing the Foreman Ansible Modules
Use this procedure to install the Foreman Ansible modules.
-
Install the package using the following command:
# apt-get install ansible-collection-theforeman-foreman
4.2. Viewing the Foreman Ansible Modules
Starting with Ansible 2.10, you can view the installed Foreman Ansible modules by running:
# ansible-doc -l theforeman.foreman
When using Ansible before 2.10, you can view the installed Foreman Ansible modules by listing the content of the following directory:
# ls /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/theforeman/foreman/plugins/modules/
Alternatively, you can also see the complete list of Foreman Ansible modules and other related information at Ansible Galaxy.
All modules are in the theforeman.foreman
namespace and can be referred to in the format theforeman.foreman._module_name_
.
For example, to display information about the activation_key
module, enter the following command:
$ ansible-doc theforeman.foreman.activation_key
5. Managing Users and Roles
A User defines a set of details for individuals using the system. Users can be associated with organizations and environments, so that when they create new entities, the default settings are automatically used. Users can also have one or more roles attached, which grants them rights to view and manage organizations and environments. See User Management for more information on working with users.
You can manage permissions of several users at once by organizing them into user groups. User groups themselves can be further grouped to create a hierarchy of permissions. For more information on creating user groups, see Creating and Managing User Groups.
Roles define a set of permissions and access levels. Each role contains one on more permission filters that specify the actions allowed for the role. Actions are grouped according to the Resource type. Once a role has been created, users and user groups can be associated with that role. This way, you can assign the same set of permissions to large groups of users. Foreman provides a set of predefined roles and also enables creating custom roles and permission filters as described in Creating and Managing Roles.
5.1. User Management
As an administrator, you can create, modify and remove Foreman users. You can also configure access permissions for a user or a group of users by assigning them different roles.
5.1.1. Creating a User
Use this procedure to create a user. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Click Create User.
-
In the Login field, enter a username for the user.
-
In the Firstname and Lastname fields, enter the real first name and last name of the user.
-
In the Mail field, enter the user’s email address.
-
In the Description field, add a description of the new user.
-
Select a specific language for the user from the Language list.
-
Select a timezone for the user from the Timezone list.
By default, Foreman server uses the language and timezone settings of the user’s browser.
-
Set a password for the user:
-
From the Authorized by list, select the source by which the user is authenticated.
-
INTERNAL: to enable the user to be managed inside Foreman server.
-
EXTERNAL: to configure external authentication as described in Configuring External Authentication.
-
-
Enter an initial password for the user in the Password field and the Verify field.
-
-
Click Submit to create the user.
-
To create a user, enter the following command:
# hammer user create \ --auth-source-id My_Authentication_Source \ --login My_User_Name \ --mail My_User_Mail \ --organization-ids My_Organization_ID_1,My_Organization_ID_2 \ --password My_User_Password
The
--auth-source-id 1
setting means that the user is authenticated internally, you can specify an external authentication source as an alternative. Add the--admin
option to grant administrator privileges to the user. Specifying organization IDs is not required, you can modify the user details later using theupdate
subcommand.
For more information about user related subcommands, enter hammer user --help
.
5.1.2. Assigning Roles to a User
Use this procedure to assign roles to a user. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Click the username of the user to be assigned one or more roles.
NoteIf a user account is not listed, check that you are currently viewing the correct organization. To list all the users in Foreman, click Default Organization and then Any Organization.
-
Click the Locations tab, and select a location if none is assigned.
-
Click the Organizations tab, and check that an organization is assigned.
-
Click the Roles tab to display the list of available roles.
-
Select the roles to assign from the Roles list.
To grant all the available permissions, select the Admin checkbox.
-
Click Submit.
To view the roles assigned to a user, click the Roles tab; the assigned roles are listed under Selected items. To remove an assigned role, click the role name in Selected items.
-
To assign roles to a user, enter the following command:
# hammer user add-role --id user_id --role role_name
5.1.3. Impersonating a Different User Account
Administrators can impersonate other authenticated users for testing and troubleshooting purposes by temporarily logging on to the Foreman web UI as a different user. When impersonating another user, the administrator has permissions to access exactly what the impersonated user can access in the system, including the same menus.
Audits are created to record the actions that the administrator performs while impersonating another user. However, all actions that an administrator performs while impersonating another user are recorded as having been performed by the impersonated user.
-
Ensure that you are logged on to the Foreman web UI as a user with administrator privileges for Foreman.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
To the right of the user that you want to impersonate, from the list in the Actions column, select Impersonate.
When you want to stop the impersonation session, in the upper right of the main menu, click the impersonation icon.
5.1.4. Creating an API-Only User
You can create users that can interact only with the Foreman API.
-
You have created a user and assigned roles to them. Note that this user must be authorized internally. For more information, see Creating a User and Assigning Roles to a User.
-
Log in to your Foreman as admin.
-
Navigate to Administer > Users and select a user.
-
On the User tab, set a password. Do not save or communicate this password with others. You can create pseudo-random strings on your console:
# openssl rand -hex 32
-
Create a Personal Access Token for the user. For more information, see Creating a Personal Access Token.
5.2. SSH Key Management
Adding SSH keys to a user allows deployment of SSH keys during provisioning. For information on deploying SSH keys during provisioning, see Deploying SSH Keys during Provisioning in the Provisioning guide.
For information on SSH keys and SSH key creation, see Using SSH-based Authentication in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System Administrator’s Guide.
5.2.1. Managing SSH Keys for a User
Use this procedure to add or remove SSH keys for a user. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Ensure that you are logged in to the Foreman web UI as an Admin user of Foreman or a user with the create_ssh_key permission enabled for adding SSH key and destroy_ssh_key permission for removing a key.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
From the Username column, click on the username of the required user.
-
Click on the SSH Keys tab.
-
To Add SSH key
-
Prepare the content of the public SSH key in a clipboard.
-
Click Add SSH Key.
-
In the Key field, paste the public SSH key content from the clipboard.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the SSH key.
-
Click Submit.
-
-
To Remove SSH key
-
Click Delete on the row of the SSH key to be deleted.
-
Click OK in the confirmation prompt.
-
-
To add an SSH key to a user, you must specify either the path to the public SSH key file, or the content of the public SSH key copied to the clipboard.
-
If you have the public SSH key file, enter the following command:
# hammer user ssh-keys add \ --user-id user_id \ --name key_name \ --key-file ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
-
If you have the content of the public SSH key, enter the following command:
# hammer user ssh-keys add \ --user-id user_id \ --name key_name \ --key ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNtYAAABBBHHS2KmNyIYa27Qaa7EHp+2l99ucGStx4P77e03ZvE3yVRJEFikpoP3MJtYYfIe8k 1/46MTIZo9CPTX4CYUHeN8= host@user
To delete an SSH key from a user, enter the following command:
# hammer user ssh-keys delete --id key_id --user-id user_id
To view an SSH key attached to a user, enter the following command:
# hammer user ssh-keys info --id key_id --user-id user_id
To list SSH keys attached to a user, enter the following command:
# hammer user ssh-keys list --user-id user_id
5.3. Managing Personal Access Tokens
Personal Access Tokens allow you to authenticate API requests without using your password. You can set an expiration date for your Personal Access Token and you can revoke it if you decide it should expire before the expiration date.
5.3.1. Creating a Personal Access Token
Use this procedure to create a Personal Access Token.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Select a user for which you want to create a Personal Access Token.
-
On the Personal Access Tokens tab, click Add Personal Access Token.
-
Enter a Name for you Personal Access Token.
-
Optional: Select the Expires date to set an expiration date. If you do not set an expiration date, your Personal Access Token will never expire unless revoked.
-
Click Submit. You now have the Personal Access Token available to you on the Personal Access Tokens tab.
ImportantEnsure to store your Personal Access Token as you will not be able to access it again after you leave the page or create a new Personal Access Token. You can click Copy to clipboard to copy your Personal Access Token.
-
Make an API request to your Foreman server and authenticate with your Personal Access Token:
# curl https://foreman.example.com/api/status --user My_Username:My_Personal_Access_Token
-
You should receive a response with status
200
, for example:{"foreman_version":"2.5.0","result":"ok","status":200,"version":"3.5.1.10","api_version":2}
If you go back to Personal Access Tokens tab, you can see the updated Last Used time next to your Personal Access Token.
5.3.2. Revoking a Personal Access Token
Use this procedure to revoke a Personal Access Token before its expiration date.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Select a user for which you want to revoke the Personal Access Token.
-
On the Personal Access Tokens tab, locate the Personal Access Token you want to revoke.
-
Click Revoke in the Actions column next to the Personal Access Token you want to revoke.
-
Make an API request to your Foreman server and try to authenticate with the revoked Personal Access Token:
# curl https://foreman.example.com/api/status --user My_Username:My_Personal_Access_Token
-
You receive the following error message:
{ "error": {"message":"Unable to authenticate user My_Username"} }
5.4. Creating and Managing User Groups
5.4.1. User Groups
With Foreman, you can assign permissions to groups of users. You can also create user groups as collections of other user groups. If using an external authentication source, you can map Foreman user groups to external user groups as described in Configuring External User Groups.
User groups are defined in an organizational context, meaning that you must select an organization before you can access user groups.
5.4.2. Creating a User Group
Use this procedure to create a user group.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > User Groups.
-
Click Create User group.
-
On the User Group tab, specify the name of the new user group and select group members:
-
Select the previously created user groups from the User Groups list.
-
Select users from the Users list.
-
-
On the Roles tab, select the roles you want to assign to the user group. Alternatively, select the Admin checkbox to assign all available permissions.
-
Click Submit.
-
To create a user group, enter the following command:
# hammer user-group create \ --name My_User_Group_Name \ --role-ids My_Role_ID_1,My_Role_ID_2 \ --user-ids My_User_ID_1,My_User_ID_2
5.5. Creating and Managing Roles
Foreman provides a set of predefined roles with permissions sufficient for standard tasks, as listed in Predefined Roles Available in Foreman. It is also possible to configure custom roles, and assign one or more permission filters to them. Permission filters define the actions allowed for a certain resource type. Certain Foreman plug-ins create roles automatically.
5.5.1. Creating a Role
Use this procedure to create a role.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Roles.
-
Click Create Role.
-
Provide a Name for the role.
-
Click Submit to save your new role.
-
To create a role, enter the following command:
# hammer role create --name My_Role_Name
To serve its purpose, a role must contain permissions. After creating a role, proceed to Adding Permissions to a Role.
5.5.2. Cloning a Role
Use the Foreman web UI to clone a role.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Roles and select Clone from the drop-down menu to the right of the required role.
-
Provide a Name for the role.
-
Click Submit to clone the role.
-
Click the name of the cloned role and navigate to Filters.
-
Edit the permissions as required.
-
Click Submit to save your new role.
5.5.3. Adding Permissions to a Role
Use this procedure to add permissions to a role. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Roles.
-
Select Add Filter from the drop-down list to the right of the required role.
-
Select the Resource type from the drop-down list. The (Miscellaneous) group gathers permissions that are not associated with any resource group.
-
Click the permissions you want to select from the Permission list.
-
Depending on the Resource type selected, you can select or deselect the Unlimited and Override checkbox. The Unlimited checkbox is selected by default, which means that the permission is applied on all resources of the selected type. When you disable the Unlimited checkbox, the Search field activates. In this field you can specify further filtering with use of the Foreman search syntax. For more information, see Granular Permission Filtering. When you enable the Override checkbox, you can add additional locations and organizations to allow the role to access the resource type in the additional locations and organizations; you can also remove an already associated location and organization from the resource type to restrict access.
-
Click Next.
-
Click Submit to save changes.
-
List all available permissions:
# hammer filter available-permissions
-
Add permissions to a role:
# hammer filter create \ --permission-ids My_Permission_ID_1,My_Permission_ID_2 \ --role My_Role_Name
For more information about roles and permissions parameters, enter the hammer role --help
and hammer filter --help
commands.
5.5.4. Viewing Permissions of a Role
Use the Foreman web UI to view the permissions of a role.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Roles.
-
Click Filters to the right of the required role to get to the Filters page.
The Filters page contains a table of permissions assigned to a role grouped by the resource type. It is also possible to generate a complete table of permissions and actions that you can use on your Foreman system. For more information, see Creating a Complete Permission Table.
5.5.5. Creating a Complete Permission Table
Use the Foreman CLI to create a permission table.
-
Ensure that the required packages are installed. Execute the following command on Foreman server:
# apt-get install foreman-console
-
Start the Foreman console with the following command:
# foreman-rake console
Insert the following code into the console:
f = File.open('/tmp/table.html', 'w') result = Foreman::AccessControl.permissions {|a,b| a.security_block <=> b.security_block}.collect do |p| actions = p.actions.collect { |a| "<li>#{a}</li>" } "<tr><td>#{p.name}</td><td><ul>#{actions.join('')}</ul></td><td>#{p.resource_type}</td></tr>" end.join("\n") f.write(result)
The above syntax creates a table of permissions and saves it to the
/tmp/table.html
file. -
Press
Ctrl
+D
to exit the Foreman console. Insert the following text at the first line of/tmp/table.html
:<table border="1"><tr><td>Permission name</td><td>Actions</td><td>Resource type</td></tr>
Append the following text at the end of
/tmp/table.html
:</table>
-
Open
/tmp/table.html
in a web browser to view the table.
5.6. Predefined Roles Available in Foreman
The following table provides an overview of permissions that predefined roles in Foreman grant to a user.
To view the exact set of permissions a predefined role grants, display the role in Foreman web UI as the privileged user. For more information, see Viewing Permissions of a Role.
Role | Permissions Provided by Role |
---|---|
Access Insights Admin |
Add and edit Insights rules. |
Access Insights Viewer |
View Insight reports. |
Ansible Roles Manager |
Play roles on hosts and host groups. View, destroy, and import Ansible roles. View, edit, create, destroy, and import Ansible variables. |
Ansible Tower Inventory Reader |
View facts, hosts, and host groups. |
Bookmarks manager |
Create, edit, and delete bookmarks. |
Boot disk access |
Download the boot disk. |
Compliance manager |
View, create, edit, and destroy SCAP content files, compliance policies, and tailoring files. View compliance reports. |
Compliance viewer |
View compliance reports. |
Create ARF report |
Create compliance reports. |
Default role |
The set of permissions that every user is granted, irrespective of any other roles. |
Discovery Manager |
View, provision, edit, and destroy discovered hosts and manage discovery rules. |
Discovery Reader |
View hosts and discovery rules. |
Edit hosts |
View, create, edit, destroy, and build hosts. |
Edit partition tables |
View, create, edit and destroy partition tables. |
Manager |
View and edit global settings. |
Organization admin |
All permissions except permissions for managing organizations. An administrator role defined per organization. The role has no visibility into resources in other organizations. By cloning this role and assigning an organization, you can delegate administration of that organization to a user. |
Red Hat Access Logs |
View the log viewer and the logs. |
Remote Execution Manager |
Control which roles have permission to run infrastructure jobs. |
Remote Execution User |
Run remote execution jobs against hosts. |
Site manager |
A restrained version of the Manager role. |
System admin |
Users with this role can create users and assign all roles to them. Therefore, ensure to give this role only to trusted users. |
Tasks manager |
View and edit Foreman tasks. |
Tasks reader |
A role that can only view Foreman tasks. |
Viewer |
A passive role that provides the ability to view the configuration of every element of the Foreman structure, logs, reports, and statistics. |
View hosts |
A role that can only view hosts. |
Virt-who Manager |
A role with full virt-who permissions. |
Virt-who Reporter |
Upload reports generated by virt-who to Foreman. It can be used if you configure virt-who manually and require a user role that has limited virt-who permissions. |
Virt-who Viewer |
View virt-who configurations. Users with this role can deploy virt-who instances using existing virt-who configurations. |
5.7. Granular Permission Filtering
5.7.1. Granular Permission Filter
As mentioned in Adding Permissions to a Role, Foreman provides the ability to limit the configured user permissions to selected instances of a resource type. These granular filters are queries to the Foreman database and are supported by the majority of resource types.
5.7.2. Creating a Granular Permission Filter
Use this procedure to create a granular filter. To use the CLI instead of the Foreman web UI, see the CLI procedure.
Foreman does not apply search conditions to create actions. For example, limiting the create_locations action with name = "Default Location" expression in the search field does not prevent the user from assigning a custom name to the newly created location.
Specify a query in the Search field on the Edit Filter page. Deselect the Unlimited checkbox for the field to be active. Queries have the following form:
field_name operator value
-
field_name marks the field to be queried. The range of available field names depends on the resource type. For example, the Partition Table resource type offers family, layout, and name as query parameters.
-
operator specifies the type of comparison between field_name and value. See Supported Operators for Granular Search for an overview of applicable operators.
-
value is the value used for filtering. This can be for example a name of an organization. Two types of wildcard characters are supported: underscore (_) provides single character replacement, while percent sign (%) replaces zero or more characters.
For most resource types, the Search field provides a drop-down list suggesting the available parameters. This list appears after placing the cursor in the search field. For many resource types, you can combine queries using logical operators such as and, not and has operators.
-
To create a granular filter, enter the
hammer filter create
command with the--search
option to limit permission filters, for example:# hammer filter create \ --permission-ids 91 \ --search "name ~ ccv*" \ --role qa-user
This command adds to the qa-user role a permission to view, create, edit, and destroy Content Views that only applies to Content Views with name starting with ccv
.
5.7.3. Examples of Using Granular Permission Filters
As an administrator, you can allow selected users to make changes in a certain part of the environment path. The following filter allows you to work with content while it is in the development stage of the application life cycle, but the content becomes inaccessible once is pushed to production.
Applying Permissions for the Host Resource Type
The following query applies any permissions specified for the Host resource type only to hosts in the group named host-editors.
hostgroup = host-editors
The following query returns records where the name matches XXXX, Yyyy, or zzzz example strings:
name ^ (XXXX, Yyyy, zzzz)
You can also limit permissions to a selected environment. To do so, specify the environment name in the Search field, for example:
Dev
You can limit user permissions to a certain organization or location with the use of the granular permission filter in the Search field. However, some resource types provide a GUI alternative, an Override checkbox that provides the Locations and Organizations tabs. On these tabs, you can select from the list of available organizations and locations. For more information, see Creating an Organization Specific Manager Role.
Creating an Organization Specific Manager Role
Use the Foreman web UI to create an administrative role restricted to a single organization named org-1.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Roles.
-
Clone the existing Organization admin role. Select Clone from the drop-down list next to the Filters button. You are then prompted to insert a name for the cloned role, for example org-1 admin.
-
Click the desired locations and organizations to associate them with the role.
-
Click Submit to create the role.
-
Click org-1 admin, and click Filters to view all associated filters. The default filters work for most use cases. However, you can optionally click Edit to change the properties for each filter. For some filters, you can enable the Override option if you want the role to be able to access resources in additional locations and organizations. For example, by selecting the Domain resource type, the Override option, and then additional locations and organizations using the Locations and Organizations tabs, you allow this role to access domains in the additional locations and organizations that is not associated with this role. You can also click New filter to associate new filters with this role.
5.7.4. Supported Operators for Granular Search
Operator |
Description |
and |
Combines search criteria. |
not |
Negates an expression. |
has |
Object must have a specified property. |
Operator |
Description |
= |
Is equal to. An equality comparison that is case-sensitive for text fields. |
!= |
Is not equal to. An inversion of the = operator. |
~ |
Like. A case-insensitive occurrence search for text fields. |
!~ |
Not like. An inversion of the ~ operator. |
^ |
In. An equality comparison that is case-sensitive search for text fields. This generates a different SQL query to the Is equal to comparison, and is more efficient for multiple value comparison. |
!^ |
Not in. An inversion of the ^ operator. |
>, >= |
Greater than, greater than or equal to. Supported for numerical fields only. |
<, ⇐ |
Less than, less than or equal to. Supported for numerical fields only. |
6. Email Notifications
Email notifications are created by Foreman server periodically or after completion of certain events. The periodic notifications can be sent daily, weekly or monthly.
The events that trigger a notification are the following:
-
Host build
-
Content View promotion
-
Error reported by host
-
Repository sync
Users do not receive any email notifications by default. An administrator can configure users to receive notifications based on criteria such as the type of notification, and frequency.
Note
|
If you want email notifications sent to a group’s email address, instead of an individual’s email address, create a user account with the group’s email address and minimal Foreman permissions, then subscribe the user account to the desired notification types. |
Important
|
Foreman server does not enable outgoing emails by default, therefore you must review your email configuration. For more information, see Configuring Foreman server for Outgoing Emails in Installing Foreman server from a Connected Network. |
6.1. Configuring Email Notifications
You can configure Foreman to send email messages to individual users registered to Foreman. Foreman sends the email to the email address that has been added to the account, if present. Users can edit the email address by clicking on their name in the top-right of the Foreman web UI and selecting My account.
Configure email notifications for a user from the Foreman web UI.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Click the Username of the user you want to edit.
-
On the User tab, verify the value of the Mail field. Email notifications will be sent to the address in this field.
-
On the Email Preferences tab, select Mail Enabled.
-
Select the notifications you want the user to receive using the drop-down menus next to the notification types.
NoteThe Audit Summary notification can be filtered by entering the required query in the Mail Query text box.
-
Click Submit.
The user will start receiving the notification emails.
6.2. Testing Email Delivery
To verify the delivery of emails, send a test email to a user. If the email gets delivered, the settings are correct.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Users.
-
Click on the username.
-
On the Email Preferences tab, click Test email.
A test email message is sent immediately to the user’s email address.
If the email is delivered, the verification is complete. Otherwise, you must perform the following diagnostic steps:
-
Verify the user’s email address.
-
Verify Foreman server’s email configuration.
-
Examine firewall and mail server logs.
6.3. Testing Email Notifications
To verify that users are correctly subscribed to notifications, trigger the notifications manually.
-
To trigger the notifications, execute the following command:
# foreman-rake reports:_My_Frequency_
Replace My_Frequency with one of the following:
-
daily
-
weekly
-
monthly
This triggers all notifications scheduled for the specified frequency for all the subscribed users. If every subscribed user receives the notifications, the verification succeeds.
Note
|
Sending manually triggered notifications to individual users is currently not supported. |
6.4. Notification Types
The following are the notifications created by Foreman:
-
Audit summary: A summary of all activity audited by Foreman server.
-
Host built: A notification sent when a host is built.
-
Host errata advisory: A summary of applicable and installable errata for hosts managed by the user.
-
OpenSCAP policy summary: A summary of OpenSCAP policy reports and their results.
-
Promote errata: A notification sent only after a Content View promotion. It contains a summary of errata applicable and installable to hosts registered to the promoted Content View. This allows a user to monitor what updates have been applied to which hosts.
-
Puppet error state: A notification sent after a host reports an error related to Puppet.
-
Puppet summary: A summary of Puppet reports.
-
Sync errata: A notification sent only after synchronizing a repository. It contains a summary of new errata introduced by the synchronization.
6.5. Changing Email Notification Settings for a Host
Foreman can send event notifications for a host to the host’s registered owner. You can configure Foreman to send email notifications either to an individual user or a user group. When set to a user group, all group members who are subscribed to the email type receive a message.
Receiving email notifications for a host can be useful, but also overwhelming if you are expecting to receive frequent errors, for example, because of a known issue or error you are working around.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Hosts > All Hosts, locate the host that you want to view, and click Edit in the Actions column.
-
Go to the Additional Information tab. If the checkbox Include this host within Foreman reporting is checked, then the email notifications are enabled on that host.
-
Optional: Toggle the checkbox to enable or disable the email notifications.
NoteIf you want to receive email notifications, ensure that you have an email address set in your user settings.
7. Backing Up Foreman server and Smart Proxy server
You can back up your Foreman deployment to ensure the continuity of your Foreman deployment and associated data in the event of a disaster. If your deployment uses custom configurations, you must consider how to handle these custom configurations when you plan your backup and disaster recovery policy.
+
Note
|
The instances created using the backup tool are not supposed to run in parallel in a production environment. You must decommission any old instances after restoring the backup. |
To create a backup of your Foreman server or Smart Proxy server and all associated data, use the foreman-maintain backup
command.
Backing up to a separate storage device on a separate system is highly recommended.
Foreman services are unavailable during the backup.
Therefore, you must ensure that no other tasks are scheduled by other administrators.
You can schedule a backup using cron
.
For more information, see the Example of a Weekly Full Backup Followed by Daily Incremental Backups.
During offline or snapshot backups, the services are inactive and Foreman is in a maintenance mode. All the traffic from outside on port 443 is rejected by a firewall to ensure there are no modifications triggered.
A backup contains sensitive information from the /root/ssl-build
directory.
For example, it can contain hostnames, ssh keys, request files and SSL certificates.
You must encrypt or move the backup to a secure location to minimize the risk of damage or unauthorized access to the hosts.
You can also use conventional backup methods. For more information, see System Backup and Recovery in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System Administrator’s Guide.
Note
|
If you plan to use the |
-
When creating a snapshot or conventional backup, you must stop all services as follows:
# foreman-maintain service stop
-
Start the services after creating a snapshot or conventional backup:
# foreman-maintain service start
7.1. Estimating the Size of a Backup
Note that estimations in this section are for the installations that use the Katello plug-in.
The full backup creates uncompressed archives of PostgreSQL and Pulp database files, and Foreman configuration files. Compression occurs after the archives are created to decrease the time when Foreman services are unavailable.
A full backup requires space to store the following data:
-
Uncompressed Foreman database and configuration files
-
Compressed Foreman database and configuration files
-
An extra 20% of the total estimated space to ensure a reliable backup
-
Enter the
du
command to estimate the size of uncompressed directories containing Foreman database and configuration files:For Enterprise Linux 8:# du -sh /var/lib/pgsql/data /var/lib/pulp 100G /var/lib/pgsql/data 100G /var/lib/pulp # du -csh /var/lib/qpidd /var/lib/tftpboot /etc /root/ssl-build \ /var/www/html/pub /opt/puppetlabs 886M /var/lib/qpidd 16M /var/lib/tftpboot 37M /etc 900K /root/ssl-build 100K /var/www/html/pub 2M /opt/puppetlabs 942M total
For Enterprise Linux 7:# du -sh /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data /var/lib/pulp 100G /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data 100G /var/lib/pulp # du -csh /var/lib/qpidd /var/lib/tftpboot /etc /root/ssl-build \ /var/www/html/pub /opt/puppetlabs 886M /var/lib/qpidd 16M /var/lib/tftpboot 37M /etc 900K /root/ssl-build 100K /var/www/html/pub 2M /opt/puppetlabs 942M total
-
Calculate how much space is required to store the compressed data.
The following table describes the compression ratio of all data items included in the backup:
Table 4. Backup Data Compression Ratio for Enterprise Linux 8 Data type Directory Ratio Example results PostgreSQL database files
/var/lib/pgsql/data
80 – 85%
100 GB → 20 GB
Pulp RPM files
/var/lib/pulp
(not compressed)
100 GB
Configuration files
/var/lib/qpidd
/var/lib/tftpboot
/etc
/root/ssl-build
/var/www/html/pub
/opt/puppetlabs
85%
942 MB → 141 MB
Table 5. Backup Data Compression Ratio for Enterprise Linux 7 Data type Directory Ratio Example results PostgreSQL database files
/var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data
80 - 85%
100 GB → 20 GB
Pulp RPM files
/var/lib/pulp
(not compressed)
100 GB
Configuration files
/var/lib/qpidd
/var/lib/tftpboot
/etc
/root/ssl-build
/var/www/html/pub
/opt/puppetlabs
85%
942 MB → 141 MB
In this example, the compressed backup data occupies 120 GB in total.
-
To calculate the amount of available space you require to store a backup, calculate the sum of the estimated values of compressed and uncompressed backup data, and add an extra 20% to ensure a reliable backup.
This example requires 201 GB plus 120 GB for the uncompressed and compressed backup data, 321 GB in total. With 64 GB of extra space, 385 GB must be allocated for the backup location.
7.2. Performing a Full Backup of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server
Foreman uses the foreman-maintain backup
command to make backups.
There are three main methods of backing up Foreman server:
-
Offline backup
-
Online backup
-
Snapshot backups
For more information about each of these methods, you can view the usage statements for each backup method.
# foreman-maintain backup offline --help
# foreman-maintain backup online --help
# foreman-maintain backup snapshot --help
The foreman-maintain backup
command creates a time-stamped subdirectory in the backup directory that you specify.
The foreman-maintain backup
command does not overwrite backups, therefore you must select the correct directory or subdirectory when restoring from a backup or an incremental backup.
The foreman-maintain backup
command stops and restarts services as required.
When you run the foreman-maintain backup offline
command, the following default backup directories are created:
-
foreman-backup
on Foreman -
foreman-proxy-backup
on Smart Proxy
If you want to set a custom directory name, add the --preserve-directory
option and add a directory name.
The backup is then stored in the directory you provide in the command line.
If you use the --preserve-directory
option, no data is removed if the backup fails.
Note that if you use a local PostgreSQL database, the postgres
user requires write access to the backup directory.
You can use the foreman-maintain backup
command to back up remote databases.
You can use both online and offline methods to back up remote databases, but if you use offline methods, such as snapshot, the foreman-maintain backup
command performs a database dump.
-
Ensure that your backup location has sufficient available disk space to store the backup. For more information, see Estimating the Size of a Backup.
Warning
|
Request other users of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server to save any changes and warn them that Foreman services are unavailable for the duration of the backup. Ensure no other tasks are scheduled for the same time as the backup. |
-
On Foreman server, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain backup offline /var/foreman-backup
-
On Smart Proxy server, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain backup offline /var/foreman-proxy-backup
7.3. Performing a Backup without Pulp Content
You can perform an offline backup that excludes the contents of the Pulp directory. The backup without Pulp content is useful for debugging purposes and is only intended to provide access to configuration files without backing up the Pulp database. For production usecases, do not restore from a directory that does not contain Pulp content.
Warning
|
Request other users of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server to save any changes and warn them that Foreman services are unavailable for the duration of the backup. Ensure no other tasks are scheduled for the same time as the backup. |
-
Ensure that your backup location has sufficient available disk space to store the backup. For more information, see Estimating the Size of a Backup.
-
To perform an offline backup without Pulp content, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain backup offline --skip-pulp-content /var/backup_directory
7.4. Performing an Incremental Backup
Use this procedure to perform an offline backup of any changes since a previous backup.
To perform incremental backups, you must perform a full backup as a reference to create the first incremental backup of a sequence. Keep the most recent full backup and a complete sequence of incremental backups to restore from.
Warning
|
Request other users of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server to save any changes and warn them that Foreman services are unavailable for the duration of the backup. Ensure no other tasks are scheduled for the same time as the backup. |
-
Ensure that your backup location has sufficient available disk space to store the backup. For more information, see Estimating the Size of a Backup.
-
To perform a full offline backup, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain backup offline /var/backup_directory
-
To create a directory within your backup directory to store the first incremental back up, enter the
foreman-maintain backup
command with the--incremental
option:# foreman-maintain backup offline --incremental /var/backup_directory/full_backup /var/backup_directory
-
To create the second incremental backup, enter the
foreman-maintain backup
command with the--incremental
option and include the path to the first incremental backup to indicate the starting point for the next increment. This creates a directory for the second incremental backup in your backup directory:# foreman-maintain backup offline --incremental /var/backup_directory/first_incremental_backup /var/backup_directory
-
Optional: If you want to point to a different version of the backup, and make a series of increments with that version of the backup as the starting point, you can do this at any time. For example, if you want to make a new incremental backup from the full backup rather than the first or second incremental backup, point to the full backup directory:
# foreman-maintain backup offline --incremental /var/backup_directory/full_backup /var/backup_directory
7.5. Example of a Weekly Full Backup Followed by Daily Incremental Backups
The following script performs a full backup on a Sunday followed by incremental backups for each of the following days. A new subdirectory is created for each day that an incremental backup is performed. The script requires a daily cron job.
#!/bin/bash -e PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin DESTINATION=/var/backup_directory if [[ $(date +%w) == 0 ]]; then foreman-maintain backup offline --assumeyes $DESTINATION else LAST=$(ls -td -- $DESTINATION/*/ | head -n 1) foreman-maintain backup offline --assumeyes --incremental "$LAST" $DESTINATION fi exit 0
Note that the foreman-maintain backup
command requires /sbin
and /usr/sbin
directories to be in PATH
and the --assumeyes
option is used to skip the confirmation prompt.
7.6. Performing an Online Backup
Perform an online backup only for debugging purposes.
When performing an online backup, if there are procedures affecting the Pulp database, the Pulp part of the backup procedure repeats until it is no longer being altered. Because the backup of the Pulp database is the most time consuming part of backing up Foreman, if you make a change that alters the Pulp database during this time, the backup procedure keeps restarting.
For production environments, use the snapshot method. For more information, see Performing a Snapshot Backup. If you want to use the online backup method in production, proceed with caution and ensure that no modifications occur during the backup.
Warning
|
Request other users of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server to save any changes and warn them that Foreman services are unavailable for the duration of the backup. Ensure no other tasks are scheduled for the same time as the backup. |
-
Ensure that your backup location has sufficient available disk space to store the backup. For more information, see Estimating the Size of a Backup.
-
To perform an online backup, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain backup online /var/backup_directory
7.7. Performing a Snapshot Backup
You can perform a snapshot backup that uses Logical Volume Manager (LVM) snapshots of the Pulp, and PostgreSQL directories. Creating a backup from LVM snapshots mitigates the risk of an inconsistent backup.
The snapshot backup method is faster than a full offline backup and therefore reduces Foreman downtime.
To view the usage statement, enter the following command:
foreman-maintain backup snapshot -h
Warning
|
Request other Foreman server or Smart Proxy server users to save any changes and warn them that Foreman services are unavailable for the duration of the backup. Ensure no other tasks are scheduled for the same time as the backup. |
-
The system uses LVM for the directories that you snapshot:
/var/lib/pulp/
, and/var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql
. -
The free disk space in the relevant volume group (VG) is three times the size of the snapshot. More precisely, the VG must have enough space unreserved by the member logical volumes (LVs) to accommodate new snapshots. In addition, one of the LVs must have enough free space for the backup directory.
-
The target backup directory is on a different LV than the directories that you snapshot.
-
To perform a snapshot backup, enter the
foreman-maintain backup snapshot
command:# foreman-maintain backup snapshot /var/backup_directory
The foreman-maintain backup snapshot
command creates snapshots when the services are active, and stops all services which can impact the backup.
This makes the maintenance window shorter.
After the successful snapshot, all services are restarted and LVM snapshots are removed.
7.8. White-listing and Skipping Steps When Performing Backups
A backup using the foreman-maintain backup
command proceeds in a sequence of steps.
To skip part of the backup add the --whitelist
option to the command and add the step label that you want to omit.
-
To display a list of available step labels, enter the following command:
# foreman-maintain advanced procedure run -h
-
To skip a step of the backup, enter the
foreman-maintain backup
command with the--whitelist
option. For example:# foreman-maintain backup online --whitelist backup-metadata -y /var/backup_directory
8. Restoring Foreman server or Smart Proxy server from a Backup
You can restore Foreman server or Smart Proxy server from the backup data that you create as part of Backing Up Foreman server and Smart Proxy server. This process outlines how to restore the backup on the same server that generated the backup, and all data covered by the backup is deleted on the target system. If the original system is unavailable, provision a system with the same configuration settings and host name.
8.1. Restoring from a Full Backup
Use this procedure to restore Foreman or Smart Proxy server from a full backup. When the restore process completes, all processes are online, and all databases and system configuration revert to the state at the time of the backup.
-
Ensure that you are restoring to the correct instance. The Foreman instance must have the same host name, configuration, and be the same minor version (X.Y) as the original system.
-
Ensure that you have an existing target directory. The target directory is read from the configuration files contained within the archive.
-
Ensure that you have enough space to store this data on the base system of Foreman server or Smart Proxy server as well as enough space after the restoration to contain all the data in the
/etc/
and/var/
directories contained within the backup.To check the space used by a directory, enter the following command:
# du -sh /var/backup_directory
To check for free space, enter the following command:
# df -h /var/backup_directory
Add the
--total
option to get a total of the results from more than one directory. -
Ensure that all SELinux contexts are correct. Enter the following command to restore the correct SELinux contexts:
# restorecon -Rnv /
-
Choose the appropriate method to install Foreman or Smart Proxy:
-
To install Foreman server from a connected network, follow the procedures in Installing Foreman 3.1 Server on Debian/Ubuntu.
-
To install a Smart Proxy server, follow the procedures in Installing an External Smart Proxy Server on Debian/Ubuntu.
-
-
Copy the backup data to Foreman server’s local file system. Use
/var/
or/var/tmp/
. -
Run the restoration script.
# foreman-maintain restore /var/backup_directory
Where backup_directory is the time-stamped directory or subdirectory containing the backed-up data.
The restore process can take a long time to complete, because of the amount of data to copy.
-
For troubleshooting, you can check
/var/log/foreman/production.log
and/var/log/messages
.
8.2. Restoring from Incremental Backups
Use this procedure to restore Foreman or Smart Proxy server from incremental backups. If you have multiple branches of incremental backups, select your full backup and each incremental backup for the branch you want to restore, in chronological order.
When the restore process completes, all processes are online, and all databases and system configuration revert to the state at the time of the backup.
-
Restore the last full backup using the instructions in Restoring from a Full Backup.
-
Remove the full backup data from Foreman server’s local file system, for example,
/var/
or/var/tmp/
. -
Copy the incremental backup data to Foreman server’s local file system, for example,
/var/
or/var/tmp/
. -
Restore the incremental backups in the same sequence that they are made:
# foreman-maintain restore /var/backup_directory/FIRST_INCREMENTAL # foreman-maintain restore /var/backup_directory/SECOND_INCREMENTAL
-
For troubleshooting, you can check
/var/log/foreman/production.log
and/var/log/messages
.
8.3. Backup and Restore Smart Proxy server Using a Virtual Machine Snapshot
If your Smart Proxy server is a virtual machine, you can restore it from a snapshot. Creating weekly snapshots to restore from is recommended. In the event of failure, you can install, or configure a new Smart Proxy server, and then synchronize the database content from Foreman server.
If required, deploy a new Smart Proxy server, ensuring the host name is the same as before, and then install the Smart Proxy certificates. You may still have them on Foreman server, the package name ends in -certs.tar, alternately create new ones. Follow the procedures in Installing Smart Proxy server until you can confirm, in the Foreman web UI, that Smart Proxy server is connected to Foreman server. Then use the procedure Synchronizing an External Smart Proxy to synchronize from Foreman.
8.3.1. Synchronizing an External Smart Proxy
Synchronize an external Smart Proxy with Foreman.
-
To synchronize an external Smart Proxy, select the relevant organization and location in the Foreman web UI, or choose Any Organization and Any Location.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies and click the name of the Smart Proxy to synchronize.
-
On the Overview tab, select Synchronize.
9. Renaming Foreman server or Smart Proxy server
To rename Foreman server or Smart Proxy server, you must use the katello-change-hostname
script.
If you rename Foreman server, you must reregister all Foreman clients and configure each Smart Proxy server to point them to the new Foreman host name. If you use custom SSL certificates, you must regenerate them with the new host name. If you use virt-who, you must update the virt-who configuration files with the new host name.
If you rename Smart Proxy server, you must reregister all Smart Proxy clients and update the Smart Proxy host name in the Foreman web UI. If you use custom SSL certificates, you must regenerate them with the new host name.
Warning
|
The renaming process shuts down all Foreman server services on the host being renamed. When the renaming is complete, all services are restarted. |
9.1. Renaming Foreman server
The host name of Foreman server is used by Foreman server components, all Smart Proxy servers, and hosts registered to it for communication. This procedure ensures that you update all references to the new host name.
If you use external authentication, you must reconfigure Foreman server for external authentication after you run the katello-change-hostname
script.
The katello-change-hostname
script breaks external authentication for Foreman server.
For more information about configuring external authentication, see Configuring External Authentication.
If you use virt-who, you must update the virt-who configuration files with the new host name after you run the katello-change-hostname
script.
-
Both the
hostname
andhostname -f
commands must return the FQDN of Foreman server or thekatello-change-hostname
script will fail to complete. If thehostname
command returns the shortname of Foreman server instead of the FQDN, usehostnamectl set-hostname old_fqdn
to set the old FQDN correctly before attempting to use thekatello-change-hostname
script. -
Perform a backup of Foreman server before changing a host name. If the renaming process is not successful, you must restore it from a backup. For more information, see Backing Up Foreman server and Smart Proxy server.
-
Optional: If Foreman server has a custom SSL certificate installed, a new certificate must be obtained for the host’s new name. For more information, see Configuring Foreman server with a Custom SSL Certificate in Installing Foreman server from a Connected Network.
-
On Foreman server, choose the appropriate method to run the
katello-change-hostname
script, providing the new host name and Foreman credentials:-
If your Foreman server is installed with default self-signed SSL certificates, enter the following command:
# katello-change-hostname new-foreman \ --username admin \ --password password
-
If your Foreman server is installed with custom SSL certificates:
# katello-change-hostname new-foreman \ --username admin \ --password password \ --custom-cert "/root/ownca/test.com/test.com.crt" \ --custom-key "/root/ownca/test.com/test.com.key"
-
-
Optional: If you have created a custom SSL certificate for the new Foreman server host name, run the Foreman installation script to install the certificate. For more information about installing a custom SSL certificate, see Deploying a Custom SSL Certificate to Foreman server in Installing Foreman server from a Connected Network.
-
Reregister all Foreman hosts. For more information, see Registering Hosts in Managing Hosts.
-
On all Smart Proxy servers, run the Foreman installation script to update references to the new host name:
# foreman-installer \ --foreman-proxy-foreman-base-url https://new-foreman.example.com \ --foreman-proxy-trusted-hosts new-foreman.example.com \ --puppet-server-foreman-url https://new-foreman.example.com
-
On Foreman server, list all Smart Proxy servers:
# hammer proxy list
-
On Foreman server, synchronize content for each Smart Proxy server:
# hammer proxy_content synchronize \ --id proxy_id_number
9.2. Renaming Smart Proxy server
The host name of Smart Proxy server is referenced by Foreman server components, and all hosts registered to it. This procedure ensures that you update all references to the new host name.
Note
|
|
-
Backup Smart Proxy server. The
katello-change-hostname
script makes irreversible changes to Smart Proxy server. If the renaming process is not successful, you must restore it from a backup.Perform a backup before changing a host name. For more information, see Backing Up Foreman server and Smart Proxy server.
-
On Foreman server, generate a new certificates archive file for Smart Proxy server.
-
If you are using the default SSL certificate, enter the following command:
# foreman-proxy-certs-generate \ --foreman-proxy-fqdn new-smartproxy.example.com \ --certs-tar /root/new-smartproxy.example.com-certs.tar
Ensure that you enter the full path to the
.tar
file. -
If you are using a custom SSL certificate, create a new SSL certificate for Smart Proxy server. For more information, see Configuring Smart Proxy server with a Custom SSL Certificate in Installing Smart Proxy server.
-
-
On Foreman server, copy the certificates archive file to Smart Proxy server, providing the
root
user’s password when prompted. In this example the archive file is copied to theroot
user’s home directory, but you may prefer to copy it elsewhere.# scp /root/new-smartproxy.example.com-certs.tar root@smartproxy.example.com:
-
On Smart Proxy server, run the
katello-change-hostname
script and provide the host’s new name, Foreman credentials, and certificates archive filename.# katello-change-hostname new-smartproxy.example.com --username admin \ --password password \ --certs-tar /root/new-smartproxy.example.com-certs.tar
Ensure that you enter the full path to the
.tar
file. -
Optional: If you have created a custom certificate for Smart Proxy server, on Smart Proxy server, to deploy the certificate, enter the
foreman-installer
command that theforeman-proxy-certs-generate
command returns. For more information, see Deploying a Custom SSL Certificate to Smart Proxy server in Installing Smart Proxy server. -
On all Smart Proxy clients, enter the following commands to reinstall the bootstrap RPM, reregister clients, and refresh their subscriptions.
You can use remote execution feature to perform this step. For more information, see Configuring and Setting up Remote Jobs in the Managing Hosts Guide.
# yum remove -y katello-ca-consumer* # rpm -Uvh http://new-smartproxy.example.com/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm # subscription-manager register --org="Default_Organization" \ --environment="Library" \ --force # subscription-manager refresh
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies.
-
Locate Smart Proxy server in the list, and click Edit to the right of it.
-
Edit the Name and URL fields to match Smart Proxy server’s new host name, then click Submit.
-
On your DNS server, add a record for Smart Proxy server’s new host name, and delete the record for the previous host name.
10. Maintaining Foreman server
This chapter provides information on how to maintain a Foreman server, including information on how to work with audit records, how to clean unused tasks, and how to recover Pulp from a full disk.
10.1. Deleting Audit Records
Audit records are created automatically in Foreman.
You can use the foreman-rake audits:expire
command to remove audits at any time.
You can also use a cron job to schedule audit record deletions at the set interval that you want.
By default, using the foreman-rake audits:expire
command removes audit records that are older than 90 days.
You can specify the number of days to keep the audit records by adding the days option and add the number of days.
For example, if you want to delete audit records that are older than seven days, enter the following command:
# foreman-rake audits:expire days=7
10.2. Anonymizing Audit Records
You can use the foreman-rake audits:anonymize
command to remove any user account or IP information while maintaining the audit records in the database.
You can also use a cron job to schedule anonymizing the audit records at the set interval that you want.
By default, using the foreman-rake audits:anonymize
command anonymizes audit records that are older than 90 days.
You can specify the number of days to keep the audit records by adding the days option and add the number of days.
For example, if you want to anonymize audit records that are older than seven days, enter the following command:
# foreman-rake audits:anonymize days=7
10.3. Deleting Report Records
Report records are created automatically in Foreman.
You can use the foreman-rake reports:expire
command to remove reports at any time.
You can also use a cron job to schedule report record deletions at the set interval that you want.
By default, using the foreman-rake reports:expire
command removes report records that are older than 90 days.
You can specify the number of days to keep the report records by adding the days option and add the number of days.
For example, if you want to delete report records that are older than seven days, enter the following command:
# foreman-rake reports:expire days=7
10.4. Configuring the Cleaning Unused Tasks Feature
Foreman performs regular cleaning to reduce disc space in the database and limit the rate of disk growth. As a result, Foreman backup completes faster and overall performance is higher.
By default, Foreman executes a cron job that cleans tasks every day at 19:45. Foreman removes the following tasks during the cleaning:
-
Tasks that have run successfully and are older than thirty days
-
All tasks that are older than a year
You can configure the cleaning unused tasks feature using these options:
-
To configure the time at which Foreman runs the cron job, set the
--foreman-plugin-tasks-cron-line
parameter to the time you want in cron format. For example, to schedule the cron job to run every day at 15:00, enter the following command:# foreman-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-cron-line "00 15 * * *"
-
To configure the period after which Foreman deletes the tasks, edit the
:rules:
section in the/etc/foreman/plugins/foreman-tasks.yaml
file. -
To disable regular task cleanup on Foreman, enter the following command:
# foreman-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-automatic-cleanup false
-
To reenable regular task cleanup on Foreman, enter the following command:
# foreman-installer --foreman-plugin-tasks-automatic-cleanup true
10.5. Deleting Task Records
Task records are created automatically in Foreman.
You can use the foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup
command to remove tasks at any time.
You can also use a cron job to schedule Task record deletions at the set interval that you want.
For example, if you want to delete task records from successful repository synchronizations, enter the following command:
# foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup TASK_SEARCH='label = Actions::Katello::Repository::Sync' STATES='stopped'
10.6. Deleting a Task by ID
You can delete tasks by ID, for example if you have submitted confidential data by mistake.
-
Connect to your Foreman server using SSH:
# ssh root@foreman.example.com
-
Optional: View the task:
# hammer task info --id My_Task_ID
-
Delete the task:
# foreman-rake foreman_tasks:cleanup TASK_SEARCH="id=My_Task_ID"
-
Optional: Ensure the task has been removed from Foreman server:
# hammer task info --id My_Task_ID
Note that because the task is deleted, this command returns a non-zero exit code.
10.7. Recovering from a Full Disk
The following procedure describes how to resolve the situation when a logical volume (LV) with the Pulp database on it has no free space.
-
Let running Pulp tasks finish but do not trigger any new ones as they can fail due to the full disk.
-
Ensure that the LV with the
/var/lib/pulp
directory on it has sufficient free space. Here are some ways to achieve that:-
Remove orphaned content:
# foreman-rake katello:delete_orphaned_content RAILS_ENV=production
This is run weekly so it will not free much space.
-
Change the download policy from Immediate to On Demand for as many repositories as possible and remove already downloaded packages. See the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution How to change syncing policy for Repositories on Satellite from "Immediate" to "On-Demand" on the Red Hat Customer Portal for instructions.
-
Grow the file system on the LV with the
/var/lib/pulp
directory on it. For more information, see Growing a File System on a Logical Volume in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Logical Volume Manager Administration Guide.NoteIf you use an untypical file system (other than for example ext3, ext4, or xfs), you might need to unmount the file system so that it is not in use. In that case, complete the following steps:
-
Stop Foreman services:
# foreman-maintain service stop
-
Grow the file system on the LV.
-
Start Foreman services:
# foreman-maintain service start
-
-
-
If some Pulp tasks failed due to the full disk, run them again.
10.8. Reclaiming PostgreSQL Space
The PostgreSQL database can use a large amount of disk space especially in heavily loaded deployments. Use this procedure to reclaim some of this disk space on Foreman.
-
Stop all services, except for the
postgresql
service:# foreman-maintain service stop --exclude postgresql
-
Switch to the
postgres
user and reclaim space on the database:# su - postgres -c 'vacuumdb --full --all'
-
Start the other services when the vacuum completes:
# foreman-maintain service start
11. Logging and Reporting Problems
This chapter provides information on how to log and report problems in Foreman, including information on relevant log files, how to enable debug logging, how to open a support case and attach the relevant log tar files, and how to access support cases within the Foreman web UI.
For more information about Foreman logging settings, use foreman-installer
with the --full-help
option:
# foreman-installer --full-help | grep logging
11.1. Enabling Debug Logging
Debug logging provides the most detailed log information and can help with troubleshooting issues that can arise with Foreman and its components. In the Foreman CLI, enable debug logging to log detailed debugging information for Foreman.
-
To enable debug logging, enter the following command:
# foreman-installer --foreman-logging-level debug
-
After you complete debugging, reset the logging level to the default value:
# foreman-installer --reset-foreman-logging-level
11.2. Increasing the Logging Levels to Help with Debugging
By default, Foreman comes with :INFO
level logging enabled.
You can increase or decrease the log levels on your Foreman.
# hammer admin logging --all --level-debug # foreman-maintain service restart
# hammer admin logging --components "Component" --level-debug
INFO
# hammer admin logging --all --level-production # foreman-maintain service restart
# hammer admin logging --list -----------|-------------------------------------|------------------------------------- COMPONENT | AUTO-DETECTED BY EXISTENCE OF | DESTINATIONS -----------|-------------------------------------|------------------------------------- dhcpd | /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf | syslog /var/log/dhcpd-debug.log postgresql | /var/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf | syslog /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_log/ proxy | /etc/foreman-proxy/settings.yml | /var/log/foreman-proxy/proxy.log qpidd | /etc/qpid/qpidd.conf | syslog rails | /etc/foreman/settings.yaml | /var/log/foreman/production.log tomcat | /etc/candlepin/candlepin.conf | /var/log/candlepin/ /var/log/tomcat/ virt-who | /etc/sysconfig/virt-who | syslog -----------|-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------
11.2.1. Increasing the Logging Level For Hammer
You can find the log for Hammer in ~/.hammer/log/hammer.log
.
Edit /etc/hammer/cli_config.yml
and set the :log_level:
:
:log_level: 'debug'
11.2.2. Increasing the Logging Level On Smart Proxy
You can find the log for Smart Proxy in /var/log/foreman-proxy/proxy.log
.
Uncomment the DEBUG
line in /etc/foreman-proxy/settings.yml
:
:log_level: DEBUG
Ensure to restart the foreman-proxy
service afterwards:
# systemctl restart foreman-proxy
Caution
|
Running the installer will revert this change back. |
11.2.3. Increasing the Logging Level For Candlepin
You can find the log for Candlepin in /var/log/candlepin/candlepin.log
.
Errors are also logged to a separate file for easier debugging /var/log/candlepin/error.log
.
Extend /etc/candlepin/candlepin.conf
:
log4j.logger.org.candlepin=DEBUG
Ensure to restart the tomcat
service afterwards:
# systemctl restart tomcat
If the candlepin log files are too verbose, you can decrease the default debug level:
log4j.logger.org.candlepin.resource.ConsumerResource=WARN log4j.logger.org.candlepin.resource.HypervisorResource=WARN
11.2.4. Increasing the Logging Level On Foreman
You can find the log for Foreman in /var/log/foreman/production.log
.
Foreman stores logs for Apache in:
-
/var/log/httpd/foreman_error.log
-
/var/log/httpd/foreman_access.log
-
/var/log/httpd/foreman_ssl_error.log
-
/var/log/httpd/foreman_ssl_access.log
-
Set the logging level in
/etc/foreman/settings.yaml
::logging: :production: :type: file :layout: pattern :level: debug
-
Enable selected loggers in
/etc/foreman/settings.yaml
::loggers: :ldap: :enabled: true :permissions: :enabled: true :sql: :enabled: true
Note that to see logging from some area, debug logging has to be set.
-
Restart Foreman services:
# foreman-maintain service restart
You can find the complete list of loggers with their default values in /usr/share/foreman/config/application.rb
in the Foreman::Logging.add_loggers
command.
11.2.5. Increasing the Logging Level For Qpid Dispatch Router
Qpid logs to syslog and can be viewed in /var/log/messages
or with journalctl
.
Enable debug logging in /etc/qpid-dispatch/qdrouterd.conf
:
enable: debug+
Ensure to restart the Qpid Dispatch Router afterwards:
# systemctl restart qdrouterd
Caution
|
Running the installer will revert this change back. |
11.2.6. Increasing the Logging Level For Qpid Broker
Qpid logs to syslog and can be viewed in /var/log/messages
or with journalctl
.
Set the log level in /etc/qpid/qpidd.conf
:
log-enable=debug+
Ensure to restart the Qpid Broker afterwards:
# systemctl restart qpidd
Caution
|
Running the installer will revert this change. |
11.2.7. Increasing the Logging Level For Redis
You can find the log for Redis in /var/log/redis/redis.log
.
Set the log level in /etc/opt/rh/rh-redis5/redis.conf
:
loglevel debug
Ensure to restart the Redis service afterwards:
# systemctl restart rh-redis5-redis
11.2.8. Increasing the Logging Level For Postgres
You can find the log for Postgres in /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/log/
.
Uncomment the log_statement
in /var/opt/rh/rh-postgresql12/lib/pgsql/data/postgresql.conf
:
log_statement = 'all'
Ensure to restart Foreman services afterwards:
# foreman-maintain service restart
Caution
|
Based on the size of your Foreman installation, this can cause disk space to fill up very quickly. Only turn this on if absolutely needed. |
For more debug log settings, refer to the Postgresql documentation.
11.2.9. Increasing the Logging Level For Foreman Installer
You can find the log files in /var/log/foreman-installer/
.
To increase the log level of the Foreman Installer during an install:
# foreman-installer --verbose-log-level debug
11.2.10. Increasing the Logging Level For Pulp
By default, Pulp logs to syslog and can be viewed in /var/log/messages
or with journalctl
.
Add the following config to the /etc/pulp/settings.py
file:
LOGGING = {"dynaconf_merge": True, "loggers": {'': {'handlers': ['console'], 'level': 'DEBUG'}}}
Ensure to restart the Pulp services afterwards:
# systemctl restart \ pulpcore-api \ pulpcore-content \ pulpcore-resource-manager \ pulpcore-worker@1 \ pulpcore-worker@2 \ rh-redis5-redis
11.2.11. Increasing the Logging Level For Puppet Agent
You can increase the logging level for Puppet agent on your Foreman server.
-
Add the following line to the
[agent]
block in the/etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf
file:[agent] log_level = debug
You can find the logs in /var/log/puppetlabs/puppet/
11.2.12. Increasing the Logging Level For Puppet Server
You can increase the logging level for Puppet server on your Foreman server.
-
Add the following line to the
[master]
block in/etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf
file:[master] log_level = debug
-
Restart the Puppet server:
# foreman-maintain service restart --only puppetserver
You can find the logs in /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/
.
11.3. Retrieving the Status of Services
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > About.
-
On the Smart Proxies tab, you can view the status of all Smart Proxies.
-
On the Compute Resources tab, you can view the status of attached compute resource providers.
-
In the Backend System Status table, you can view the status of all back-end services.
-
Run
hammer ping
to get information from the database and Foreman services:# hammer ping
-
Use
foreman-maintain
to check the status of the services running in systemd:# foreman-maintain service status
-
Use
foreman-maintain
to perform a health check:$ foreman-maintain health check
11.4. Restarting Services
Foreman uses a set of back-end services to perform tasks. You you experience an issue with your Foreman, check the status of Foreman services.
-
Use
foreman-maintain
to restart Foreman services:# foreman-maintain service restart
Tip
|
Run |
11.5. Enabling Individual Loggers
You can enable individual loggers for selective logging. Foreman uses the following loggers:
app
-
Logs web requests and all general application messages. Default value: true.
audit
-
Logs additional fact statistics, numbers of added, updated, and removed facts. Default value: true.
background
-
Logs information from the background processing component.
blob
-
Logs contents of rendered templates for auditing purposes.
ImportantThe blob
logger might contain sensitive data. dynflow
-
Logs information from the Dynflow process.
ldap
-
Logs high level LDAP queries and LDAP operations. Default value: false.
notifications
-
Logs information from the notifications component.
permissions
-
Logs queries to user roles, filters, and permissions when loading pages. Default value: false.
sql
-
Logs SQL queries made through Rails ActiveRecord. Default value: false.
telemetry
-
Logs debugging information from telemetry.
templates
-
Logs information from the template renderer component.
-
Enable the individual loggers that you want. For example, to enable
sql
andldap
loggers, enter the following command:# foreman-installer \ --foreman-loggers ldap:true \ --foreman-loggers sql:true
-
Optional: To reset loggers to their default values, enter the following command:
# foreman-installer --reset-foreman-loggers
11.6. Configuring Logging to Journal or File-based Logging
Foreman uses file-based logging by default.
You can use the foreman-installer
command to reconfigure logging.
-
Enter the following
foreman-installer
command to configure logging to thejournald
service:# foreman-installer \ --foreman-logging-layout pattern \ --foreman-logging-type journald \ --foreman-proxy-log JOURNAL
-
Optional: To inspect the log messages, use the
journalctl
utility. For example:-
journalctl --unit foreman
andjournalctl --unit foreman-proxy
show messages for theforeman
andforeman-proxy
units -
journalctl REQUEST=request_ID
shows messages for a specified request
-
-
Enter the following
foreman-installer
command to configure file-based logging:# foreman-installer \ --reset-foreman-logging-layout \ --reset-foreman-logging-type \ --reset-foreman-proxy-log
-
Optional: To inspect the log messages, view these files:
-
/var/log/foreman/production.log
-
/var/log/foreman-proxy.log
-
11.7. Log File Directories Provided by Foreman
Foreman provides system information in the form of notifications and log files.
Log File Directories | Description of Log File Content |
---|---|
|
Subscription management |
|
Installer |
|
Foreman maintain |
|
Foreman proxy |
|
Foreman |
|
Apache HTTP server |
|
Various other log messages |
|
Configuration management |
|
Subscription management |
|
Candlepin webservice logs |
You can also use the foreman-tail
command to follow many of the log files related to Foreman.
You can run foreman-tail -l
to list the processes and services that it follows.
11.8. Utilities for Collecting Log Information
You can collect information from log files to troubleshoot Foreman.
- foreman-debug
-
The
foreman-debug
command collects configuration and log file data for Foreman, its back-end services, and system information. This information is collected and written to a tar file. By default, the output tar file is located at/tmp/foreman-debug-xxx.tar.xz
.
Additionally, the foreman-debug
command exports tasks run during the last 60 days.
By default, the output tar file is located at /tmp/task-export-xxx.tar.xz
.
If the file is missing, see the file /tmp/task-export.log
to learn why task export was unsuccessful.
There is no timeout when running this command.
For more information, run foreman-debug -h
.
Important
|
The collection process removes security information such as passwords, tokens, and keys while collecting information. However, the tar files can still contain sensitive information about the Foreman server. Foreman community recommends that you send this information directly to the intended recipient and not to a public target. |
11.9. System Journal Metadata
The following table lists metadata that the journald
service uses in Foreman.
You can use this metadata to filter your queries.
Name | Description |
---|---|
AUDIT_ACTION |
Audit action performed Example: Create, update, or delete |
AUDIT_TYPE |
Audit resource type Example: Host, Subnet, or ContentView |
AUDIT_ID |
Audit resource database ID as a number |
AUDIT_ATTRIBUTE |
Audit resource field or an updated database column |
AUDIT_FIELD_OLD |
Old audit value of an update action |
AUDIT_FIELD_NEW |
New audit value of an update action |
AUDIT_ID |
Record database ID of the audit subject |
AUDIT_ATTRIBUTE |
Attribute name or column on which an action was performed Example: Name or description |
EXCEPTION_MESSAGE |
Exception message when error is logged |
EXCEPTION_CLASS |
Exception Ruby class when error is logged |
EXCEPTION_BACKTRACE |
Exception backtrace as a multiline string when error is logged |
LOC_ID |
Location database ID |
LOC_NAME |
Location name |
LOC_LABEL |
Location label |
LOGGER |
Logger name To see the current list of loggers enabled by default, enter this command: # awk '/add_loggers/,/^$/' /usr/share/foreman/config/application.rb |
ORG_ID |
Organization database ID |
ORG_NAME |
Organization name |
ORG_LABEL |
Organization label |
REMOTE_IP |
Remote IP address of a client |
REQUEST |
Request ID generated by the Action Dispatch module |
SESSION |
Random ID generated per session or a request for a sessionless request |
TEMPLATE_NAME |
Template name |
TEMPLATE_DIGEST |
Digest (SHA256) of rendered template contents |
TEMPLATE_HOST_NAME |
Host name for a rendered template if present |
TEMPLATE_HOST_ID |
Host database ID for a rendered template if present |
USER_LOGIN |
User login name |
12. Configuring External Authentication
By using external authentication you can derive user and user group permissions from user group membership in an external identity provider. When you use external authentication, you do not have to create these users and maintain their group membership manually on Foreman server. In case the external source does not provide email, it will be requested during the first login through Foreman web UI.
All user and group accounts must be local accounts. This is to ensure that there are no authentication conflicts between local accounts on your Foreman server and accounts in your Active Directory domain.
Your system is not affected by this conflict if your user and group accounts exist in both /etc/passwd
and /etc/group
files.
For example, to check if entries for puppet
, apache
, foreman
and foreman-proxy
groups exist in both /etc/passwd
and /etc/group
files, enter the following commands:
# cat /etc/passwd | grep 'puppet\|apache\|foreman\|foreman-proxy' # cat /etc/group | grep 'puppet\|apache\|foreman\|foreman-proxy'
Foreman supports the following general scenarios for configuring external authentication:
-
Using Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server as an external identity provider. LDAP is a set of open protocols used to access centrally stored information over a network. With Foreman, you can manage LDAP entirely through the Foreman web UI. For more information, see Using LDAP. Though you can use LDAP to connect to a FreeIPA or AD server, the setup does not support server discovery, cross-forest trusts, or single sign-on with Kerberos in Foreman’s web UI.
-
Using a FreeIPA server as an external identity provider. FreeIPA deals with the management of individual identities, their credentials and privileges used in a networking environment. Configuration using FreeIPA cannot be completed using only the Foreman web UI and requires some interaction with the CLI. For more information see Using FreeIPA.
-
Using Active Directory (AD) integrated with FreeIPA through cross-forest Kerberos trust as an external identity provider. For more information see Active Directory with Cross-Forest Trust.
-
Using Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication to Foreman. For more information, see Configuring Foreman with Keycloak Authentication.
-
Using Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication to Foreman with TOTP. For more information, see Configuring Keycloak Authentication with TOTP.
-
Using Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication to Foreman with PIV cards. For more information, see Configuring Keycloak Authentication with PIV Cards.
As well as providing access to Foreman server, hosts provisioned with Foreman can also be integrated with FreeIPA realms. Foreman has a realm feature that automatically manages the life cycle of any system registered to a realm or domain provider. For more information, see External Authentication for Provisioned Hosts.
Type | Authentication | User Groups |
---|---|---|
FreeIPA |
Kerberos or LDAP |
Yes |
Active Directory |
Kerberos or LDAP |
Yes |
POSIX |
LDAP |
Yes |
12.1. Using LDAP
Foreman supports LDAP authentication using one or multiple LDAP directories.
If you require Foreman to use TLS
to establish a secure LDAP connection (LDAPS), first obtain certificates used by the LDAP server you are connecting to and mark them as trusted on the base operating system of your Foreman server as described below.
If your LDAP server uses a certificate chain with intermediate certificate authorities, all of the root and intermediate certificates in the chain must be trusted, so ensure all certificates are obtained.
If you do not require secure LDAP at this time, proceed to Configuring Foreman to use LDAP.
Though direct LDAP integration is covered in this section, Red Hat recommends that you use SSSD and configure it against FreeIPA, AD, or an LDAP server. SSSD improves the consistency of the authentication process. For more information about the preferred configurations, see Using Active Directory. You can also cache the SSSD credentials and use them for LDAP authentication. For more information on SSSD, see Configuring SSSD in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 System-Level Authentication Guide.
Important
|
Users cannot use both FreeIPA and LDAP as an authentication method. Once a user authenticates using one method, they cannot use the other method. To change the authentication method for a user, you have to remove the automatically created user from Foreman. For more information on using FreeIPA as an authentication method, see Using FreeIPA. |
12.1.1. Configuring TLS for Secure LDAP
Use the Foreman CLI to configure TLS for secure LDAP (LDAPS).
-
Obtain the Certificate from the LDAP Server.
-
If you use Active Directory Certificate Services, export the Enterprise PKI CA Certificate using the Base-64 encoded X.509 format. See How to configure Active Directory authentication with
TLS
on Foreman for information on creating and exporting a CA certificate from an Active Directory server. -
Download the LDAP server certificate to a temporary location onto Foreman server and remove it when finished.
For example,
/tmp/example.crt
. The filename extensions.cer
and.crt
are only conventions and can refer to DER binary or PEM ASCII format certificates.
-
-
Trust the Certificate from the LDAP Server.
Foreman server requires the CA certificates for LDAP authentication to be individual files in
/etc/pki/tls/certs/
directory.-
Use the
install
command to install the imported certificate into the/etc/pki/tls/certs/
directory with the correct permissions:# install /tmp/example.crt /etc/pki/tls/certs/
-
Enter the following command as
root
to trust the example.crt certificate obtained from the LDAP server:# ln -s example.crt /etc/pki/tls/certs/$(openssl \ x509 -noout -hash -in \ /etc/pki/tls/certs/example.crt).0
-
Restart the
httpd
service:# systemctl restart httpd
-
12.1.2. Configuring Foreman to use LDAP
In the Foreman web UI, configure Foreman to use LDAP.
Note that if you need single sign-on functionality with Kerberos on Foreman web UI, you should use FreeIPA and AD external authentication instead. For more information, see:
-
Set the Network Information System (NIS) service boolean to true to prevent SELinux from stopping outgoing LDAP connections:
# setsebool -P nis_enabled on
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Authentication Sources.
-
Click Create LDAP Authentication Source.
-
On the LDAP server tab, enter the LDAP server’s name, host name, port, and server type. The default port is 389, the default server type is POSIX (alternatively you can select FreeIPA or Active Directory depending on the type of authentication server). For
TLS
encrypted connections, select the LDAPS checkbox to enable encryption. The port should change to 636, which is the default for LDAPS. -
On the Account tab, enter the account information and domain name details. See Description of LDAP Settings for descriptions and examples.
-
On the Attribute mappings tab, map LDAP attributes to Foreman attributes. You can map login name, first name, last name, email address, and photo attributes. See Example Settings for LDAP Connections for examples.
-
On the Locations tab, select locations from the left table. Selected locations are assigned to users created from the LDAP authentication source, and available after their first login.
-
On the Organizations tab, select organizations from the left table. Selected organizations are assigned to users created from the LDAP authentication source, and available after their first login.
-
Click Submit.
-
Configure new accounts for LDAP users:
-
If you did not select Automatically Create Accounts In Foreman checkbox, see Creating a User to create user accounts manually.
-
If you selected the Automatically Create Accounts In Foreman checkbox, LDAP users can now log in to Foreman using their LDAP accounts and passwords. After they log in for the first time, the Foreman administrator has to assign roles to them manually. See Assigning Roles to a User to assign user accounts appropriate roles in Foreman.
-
12.1.3. Description of LDAP Settings
The following table provides a description for each setting in the Account tab.
Setting | Description |
---|---|
Account |
The user name of the LDAP account that has read access to the LDAP server. User name is not required if the server allows anonymous reading, otherwise use the full path to the user’s object. For example: uid=$login,cn=users,cn=accounts,dc=example,dc=com The The variable cannot be used with external user groups from an LDAP source because Foreman needs to retrieve the group list without the user logging in. Use either an anonymous, or dedicated service user. |
Account password |
The LDAP password for the user defined in the Account username field.
This field can remain blank if the Account username is using the |
Base DN |
The top level domain name of the LDAP directory. |
Groups base DN |
The top level domain name of the LDAP directory tree that contains groups. |
LDAP filter |
A filter to restrict LDAP queries. |
Automatically Create Accounts In Foreman |
If this checkbox is selected, Foreman creates user accounts for LDAP users when they log in to Foreman for the first time. After they log in for the first time, the Foreman administrator has to assign roles to them manually. See Assigning Roles to a User to assign user accounts appropriate roles in Foreman. |
Usergroup Sync |
If this option is selected, the user group membership of a user is automatically synchronized when the user logs in, which ensures the membership is always up to date. If this option is cleared, Foreman relies on a cron job to regularly synchronize group membership (every 30 minutes by default). For more information, see Configuring External User Groups. |
12.1.4. Example Settings for LDAP Connections
The following table shows example settings for different types of LDAP connections. The example below uses a dedicated service account called redhat that has bind, read, and search permissions on the user and group entries. Note that LDAP attribute names are case sensitive.
Setting | Active Directory | FreeIPA or Red Hat Identity Management | POSIX (OpenLDAP) |
---|---|---|---|
Account |
DOMAIN\redhat |
uid=redhat,cn=users, cn=accounts,dc=example, dc=com |
uid=redhat,ou=users, dc=example,dc=com |
Account password |
P@ssword |
- |
- |
Base DN |
DC=example,DC=COM |
dc=example,dc=com |
dc=example,dc=com |
Groups Base DN |
CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com |
cn=groups,cn=accounts, dc=example,dc=com |
cn=employee,ou=userclass, dc=example,dc=com |
Login name attribute |
userPrincipalName |
uid |
uid |
First name attribute |
givenName |
givenName |
givenName |
Last name attribute |
sn |
sn |
sn |
Email address attribute |
|||
Photo attribute |
thumbnailPhoto |
- |
- |
Note
|
|
12.1.5. Example LDAP Filters
As an administrator, you can create LDAP filters to restrict the access of specific users to Foreman.
User | Filter |
---|---|
User1 |
(distinguishedName=cn=User1,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example) |
User1, User3 |
(memberOf=cn=Group1,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example) |
User2, User3 |
(memberOf=cn=Group2,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example) |
User1, User2, User3 |
(|(memberOf=cn=Group1,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example)(memberOf=cn=Group2,cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example)) |
User1, User2, User3 |
(memberOf:1.2.840.113556.1.4.1941:=cn=Users,dc=domain,dc=example) |
Note
|
Group |
The LDAP directory structure that the filters in the example use:
DC=Domain,DC=Example | |----- CN=Users | |----- CN=Group1 |----- CN=Group2 |----- CN=User1 |----- CN=User2 |----- CN=User3
The group membership that the filters in the example use:
Group | Members |
---|---|
Group1 |
User1, User3 |
Group2 |
User2, User3 |
12.2. Using FreeIPA
This section shows how to integrate Foreman server with a FreeIPA server and how to enable host-based access control.
Note
|
You can attach FreeIPA as an external authentication source with no single sign-on support. For more information, see Using LDAP. |
Important
|
Users cannot use both FreeIPA and LDAP as an authentication method. Once a user authenticates using one method, they cannot use the other method. To change the authentication method for a user, you have to remove the automatically created user from Foreman. |
-
The base operating system of Foreman server must be enrolled in the FreeIPA domain by the FreeIPA administrator of your organization.
The examples in this chapter assume separation between FreeIPA and Foreman configuration. However, if you have administrator privileges for both servers, you can configure FreeIPA as described in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Linux Domain Identity, Authentication, and Policy Guide.
12.2.1. Configuring FreeIPA Authentication on Foreman server
In the Foreman CLI, configure FreeIPA authentication by first creating a host entry on the FreeIPA server.
-
On the FreeIPA server, to authenticate, enter the following command and enter your password when prompted:
# kinit admin
-
To verify that you have authenticated, enter the following command:
# klist
-
On the FreeIPA server, create a host entry for Foreman server and generate a one-time password, for example:
# ipa host-add --random hostname
NoteThe generated one-time password must be used on the client to complete FreeIPA-enrollment.
For more information on host configuration properties, see About Host Entry Configuration Properties in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Linux Domain Identity, Authentication, and Policy guide.
-
Create an HTTP service for Foreman server, for example:
# ipa service-add HTTP/hostname
For more information on managing services, see Managing Services in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Linux Domain Identity, Authentication, and Policy guide.
-
On Foreman server, install the IPA client:
# apt-get install ipa-client
-
On Foreman server, enter the following command as root to configure FreeIPA-enrollment:
# ipa-client-install --password OTP
Replace OTP with the one-time password provided by the FreeIPA administrator.
-
If Foreman server is running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, execute the following command:
# subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
The installer is dependent on packages which, on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, are in the optional repository
rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
. -
If Foreman server is running on Debian, ensure that the hostname is set to the fully qualified domain name (FQDN); the short name is not sufficient:
# hostname foreman.example.com
Otherwise the installer cannot generate the right principal name that is needed to join the realm.
-
Set
foreman-ipa-authentication
to true, using the following command:# foreman-installer --foreman-ipa-authentication=true
-
Restart Foreman services:
# foreman-maintain service restart
External users can now log in to Foreman using their FreeIPA credentials. They can now choose to either log in to Foreman server directly using their username and password or take advantage of the configured Kerberos single sign-on and obtain a ticket on their client machine and be logged in automatically. The two-factor authentication with one-time password (2FA OTP) is also supported. If the user in FreeIPA is configured for 2FA, and Foreman server is running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, this user can also authenticate to Foreman with an OTP.
12.2.2. Configuring Host-Based Authentication Control
HBAC rules define which machine within the domain a FreeIPA user is allowed to access. You can configure HBAC on the FreeIPA server to prevent selected users from accessing Foreman server. With this approach, you can prevent Foreman from creating database entries for users that are not allowed to log in. For more information on HBAC, see Configuring Host-Based Access Control in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Linux Domain Identity, Authentication, and Policy guide.
On the FreeIPA server, configure Host-Based Authentication Control (HBAC).
-
On the FreeIPA server, to authenticate, enter the following command and enter your password when prompted:
# kinit admin
-
To verify that you have authenticated, enter the following command:
# klist
-
Create HBAC service and rule on the FreeIPA server and link them together. The following examples use the PAM service name foreman-prod. Execute the following commands on the FreeIPA server:
# ipa hbacsvc-add foreman-prod # ipa hbacrule-add allow_foreman_prod # ipa hbacrule-add-service allow_foreman_prod --hbacsvcs=foreman-prod
-
Add the user who is to have access to the service foreman-prod, and the hostname of Foreman server:
# ipa hbacrule-add-user allow_foreman_prod --user=username # ipa hbacrule-add-host allow_foreman_prod --hosts=foreman.example.com
Alternatively, host groups and user groups can be added to the allowforeman_prod_ rule.
-
To check the status of the rule, execute:
# ipa hbacrule-find foreman-prod # ipa hbactest --user=username --host=foreman.example.com --service=foreman-prod
-
Ensure the allow_all rule is disabled on the FreeIPA server. For instructions on how to do so without disrupting other services see the How to configure HBAC rules in IdM article on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
-
Configure the FreeIPA integration with Foreman server as described in Configuring FreeIPA Authentication on Foreman server. On Foreman server, define the PAM service as root:
# foreman-installer --foreman-pam-service=foreman-prod
12.3. Using Active Directory
This section shows how to use direct Active Directory (AD) as an external authentication source for Foreman server.
Note
|
You can attach Active Directory as an external authentication source with no single sign-on support. For more information, see Using LDAP. For an example configuration, see How to configure Active Directory authentication with TLS on Foreman. |
Direct AD integration means that Foreman server is joined directly to the AD domain where the identity is stored. The recommended setup consists of two steps:
-
Enrolling Foreman server with the Active Directory server as described in Enrolling Foreman server with the AD Server.
-
Configuring direct Active Directory integration with GSS-proxy as described in Configuring Direct AD Integration with GSS-Proxy.
12.3.1. GSS-Proxy
The traditional process of Kerberos authentication in Apache requires the Apache process to have read access to the keytab file. GSS-Proxy allows you to implement stricter privilege separation for the Apache server by removing access to the keytab file while preserving Kerberos authentication functionality. When using AD as an external authentication source for Foreman, it is recommended to implement GSS-proxy, because the keys in the keytab file are the same as the host keys.
Perform the following procedures on Enterprise Linux that acts as a base operating system for your Foreman server. For the examples in this section EXAMPLE.ORG is the Kerberos realm for the AD domain. By completing the procedures, users that belong to the EXAMPLE.ORG realm can log in to Foreman server.
12.3.2. Enrolling Foreman server with the AD Server
In the Foreman CLI, enroll Foreman server with the Active Directory server.
-
GSS-proxy and nfs-utils are installed.
Installing GSS-proxy and nfs-utils:
# apt-get install gssproxy nfs-utils
-
Install the required packages:
# apt-get install sssd adcli realmd ipa-python-compat krb5-workstation samba-common-tools
-
Enroll Foreman server with the AD server. You may need to have administrator permissions to perform the following command:
# realm join -v EXAMPLE.ORG --membership-software=samba -U Administrator
12.3.3. Configuring Direct AD Integration with GSS-Proxy
In the Foreman CLI, configure the direct Active Directory integration with GSS-proxy.
-
Foreman is enrolled with the Active Directory server. For more information, see Enrolling Foreman server with the AD Server.
-
Create the
/etc/ipa/
directory and thedefault.conf
file:# mkdir /etc/ipa # touch /etc/ipa/default.conf
-
To the
default.conf
file, add the following content:[global] server = unused realm = EXAMPLE.ORG
-
Create the
/etc/net-keytab.conf
file with the following content:[global] workgroup = EXAMPLE realm = EXAMPLE.ORG kerberos method = system keytab security = ads
-
Determine the effective user ID of the Apache user:
# id apache
Apache user must not have access to the keytab file.
-
Create the
/etc/gssproxy/00-http.conf
file with the following content:[service/HTTP] mechs = krb5 cred_store = keytab:/etc/httpd/conf/http.keytab cred_store = ccache:/var/lib/gssproxy/clients/krb5cc_%U euid = ID_of_Apache_User
-
Create a keytab entry:
# KRB5_KTNAME=FILE:/etc/httpd/conf/http.keytab net ads keytab add HTTP -U administrator -d3 -s /etc/net-keytab.conf # chown root.apache /etc/httpd/conf/http.keytab # chmod 640 /etc/httpd/conf/http.keytab
-
Enable IPA authentication in Foreman:
# foreman-installer --foreman-ipa-authentication=true
-
Start and enable the
gssproxy
service:# systemctl restart gssproxy.service # systemctl enable gssproxy.service
-
To configure the Apache server to use the
gssproxy
service, create asystemd
drop-in file and add the following content to it:# mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/httpd.service.d/ # vi /etc/systemd/system/httpd.service.d/gssproxy.conf [Service] Environment=GSS_USE_PROXY=1
-
Apply changes to the service:
# systemctl daemon-reload
-
Start and enable the
httpd
service:# systemctl restart httpd.service
Important
|
With direct AD integration, HBAC through FreeIPA is not available.
As an alternative, you can use Group Policy Objects (GPO) that enable administrators to centrally manage policies in AD environments.
To ensure correct GPO to PAM service mapping, add the following SSSD configuration to access_provider = ad ad_gpo_access_control = enforcing ad_gpo_map_service = +foreman Here, foreman is the PAM service name. |
Verify that SSO is working as expected.
With a running Apache server, users making HTTP requests against the server are authenticated if the client has a valid Kerberos ticket.
-
Retrieve the Kerberos ticket of the LDAP user, using the following command:
# kinit ldapuser
-
View the Kerberos ticket, using the following command:
# klist
-
View output from successful SSO-based authentication, using the following command:
# curl -k -u : --negotiate https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
This returns the following response:
<html><body>You are being <a href="https://foreman.example.com/users/4-ldapuserexample-com/edit">redirected</a>.</body></html>
12.3.4. Kerberos Configuration in Web Browsers
For information on configuring the Firefox browser see Configuring Firefox to Use Kerberos for Single Sign-On in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System-Level Authentication guide.
If you use the Internet Explorer browser, add Foreman server to the list of Local Intranet or Trusted sites, and turn on the Enable Integrated Windows Authentication setting. See the Internet Explorer documentation for details.
12.3.5. Active Directory with Cross-Forest Trust
Kerberos can create cross-forest trust
that defines a relationship between two otherwise separate domain forests.
A domain forest is a hierarchical structure of domains; both AD and FreeIPA constitute a forest.
With a trust relationship enabled between AD and FreeIPA, users of AD can access Linux hosts and services using a single set of credentials.
For more information on cross-forest trusts, see Creating Cross-forest Trusts with Active Directory and Identity Management in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Windows Integration guide.
From the Foreman point of view, the configuration process is the same as integration with FreeIPA server without cross-forest trust configured. Foreman server has to be enrolled in the IdM domain and integrated as described in Using FreeIPA.
12.3.6. Configuring the FreeIPA Server to Use Cross-Forest Trust
On the FreeIPA server, configure the server to use cross-forest trust
.
-
Enable HBAC:
-
Create an external group and add the AD group to it.
-
Add the new external group to a POSIX group.
-
Use the POSIX group in a HBAC rule.
-
-
Configure sssd to transfer additional attributes of AD users.
-
Add the AD user attributes to the nss and domain sections in
/etc/sssd/sssd.conf
. For example:[nss] user_attributes=+mail, +sn, +givenname [domain/EXAMPLE.com] ... krb5_store_password_if_offline = True ldap_user_extra_attrs=email:mail, lastname:sn, firstname:givenname [ifp] allowed_uids = ipaapi, root user_attributes=+email, +firstname, +lastname
-
Verify the AD attributes value.
# dbus-send --print-reply --system --dest=org.freedesktop.sssd.infopipe /org/freedesktop/sssd/infopipe org.freedesktop.sssd.infopipe.GetUserAttr string:ad-user@ad-domain array:string:email,firstname,lastname
-
12.4. Configuring External User Groups
Foreman does not associate external users with their user group automatically. You must create a user group with the same name as in the external source on Foreman. Members of the external user group then automatically become members of the Foreman user group and receive the associated permissions.
The configuration of external user groups depends on the type of external authentication.
To assign additional permissions to an external user, add this user to an internal user group that has no external mapping specified. Then assign the required roles to this group.
-
If you use an LDAP server, configure Foreman to use LDAP authentication. For more information see Using LDAP.
When using external user groups from an LDAP source, you cannot use the
$login
variable as a substitute for the account user name. You must use either an anonymous or dedicated service user. -
If you use a FreeIPA or AD server, configure Foreman to use FreeIPA or AD authentication. For more information, see Configuring External Authentication.
-
Ensure that at least one external user authenticates for the first time.
-
Retain a copy of the external group names you want to use. To find the group membership of external users, enter the following command:
# id username
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > User Groups, and click Create User Group.
-
Specify the name of the new user group. Do not select any users to avoid adding users automatically when you refresh the external user group.
-
Click the Roles tab and select the roles you want to assign to the user group. Alternatively, select the Administrator checkbox to assign all available permissions.
-
Click the External groups tab, then click Add external user group, and select an authentication source from the Auth source drop-down menu.
Specify the exact name of the external group in the Name field.
-
Click Submit.
12.5. Refreshing External User Groups for LDAP
To set the LDAP source to synchronize user group membership automatically on user login, in the Auth Source page, select the Usergroup Sync option. If this option is not selected, LDAP user groups are refreshed automatically through a scheduled cron job synchronizing the LDAP Authentication source every 30 minutes by default.
If the user groups in the LDAP Authentication source change in the lapse of time between scheduled tasks, the user can be assigned to incorrect external user groups. This is corrected automatically when the scheduled task runs.
Use this procedure to refresh the LDAP source manually.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Usergroups and select a user group.
-
On the External Groups tab, click Refresh to the right of the required user group.
-
Enter the following command:
# foreman-rake ldap:refresh_usergroups
12.6. Refreshing External User Groups for FreeIPA or AD
External user groups based on FreeIPA or AD are refreshed only when a group member logs in to Foreman. It is not possible to alter user membership of external user groups in the Foreman web UI, such changes are overwritten on the next group refresh.
12.7. External Authentication for Provisioned Hosts
Use this section to configure Foreman server or Smart Proxy server for FreeIPA realm support, then add hosts to the FreeIPA realm group.
-
Foreman server that is registered to the Content Delivery Network or an external Smart Proxy server that is registered to Foreman server.
-
A deployed realm or domain provider such as FreeIPA.
To use FreeIPA for provisioned hosts, complete the following steps to install and configure FreeIPA packages on Foreman server or Smart Proxy server:
-
Install the
ipa-client
package on Foreman server or Smart Proxy server:# apt-get install ipa-client
-
Configure the server as a FreeIPA client:
# ipa-client-install
-
Create a realm proxy user,
realm-smart-proxy
, and the relevant roles in FreeIPA:# foreman-prepare-realm admin realm-smart-proxy
Note the principal name that returns and your FreeIPA server configuration details because you require them for the following procedure.
Complete the following procedure on Foreman and every Smart Proxy that you want to use:
-
Copy the
/root/freeipa.keytab
file to any Smart Proxy server that you want to include in the same principal and realm:# scp /root/freeipa.keytab root@smartproxy.example.com:/etc/foreman-proxy/freeipa.keytab
-
Move the
/root/freeipa.keytab
file to the/etc/foreman-proxy
directory and set the ownership settings to theforeman-proxy
user:# mv /root/freeipa.keytab /etc/foreman-proxy # chown foreman-proxy:foreman-proxy /etc/foreman-proxy/freeipa.keytab
-
Enter the following command on all Smart Proxies that you want to include in the realm. If you use the integrated Smart Proxy on Foreman, enter this command on Foreman server:
# foreman-installer --foreman-proxy-realm true \ --foreman-proxy-realm-keytab /etc/foreman-proxy/freeipa.keytab \ --foreman-proxy-realm-principal realm-smart-proxy@EXAMPLE.COM \ --foreman-proxy-realm-provider freeipa
You can also use these options when you first configure the Foreman server.
-
Ensure that the most updated versions of the ca-certificates package is installed and trust the FreeIPA Certificate Authority:
# cp /etc/ipa/ca.crt /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/ipa.crt # update-ca-trust enable # update-ca-trust
-
Optional: If you configure FreeIPA on an existing Foreman server or Smart Proxy server, complete the following steps to ensure that the configuration changes take effect:
-
Restart the foreman-proxy service:
# systemctl restart foreman-proxy
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies.
-
Locate the Smart Proxy you have configured for FreeIPA and from the list in the Actions column, select Refresh.
-
After you configure your integrated or external Smart Proxy with FreeIPA, you must create a realm and add the FreeIPA-configured Smart Proxy to the realm.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Realms and click Create Realm.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the realm.
-
From the Realm Type list, select the type of realm.
-
From the Realm Smart Proxy list, select Smart Proxy server where you have configured FreeIPA.
-
Click the Locations tab and from the Locations list, select the location where you want to add the new realm.
-
Click the Organizations tab and from the Organizations list, select the organization where you want to add the new realm.
-
Click Submit.
You must update any host groups that you want to use with the new realm information.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Configure > Host Groups, select the host group that you want to update, and click the Network tab.
-
From the Realm list, select the realm you create as part of this procedure, and then click Submit.
FreeIPA supports the ability to set up automatic membership rules based on a system’s attributes.
Foreman’s realm feature provides administrators with the ability to map the Foreman host groups to the FreeIPA parameter userclass
which allow administrators to configure automembership.
When nested host groups are used, they are sent to the FreeIPA server as they are displayed in the Foreman User Interface. For example, "Parent/Child/Child".
Foreman server or Smart Proxy server sends updates to the FreeIPA server, however automembership rules are only applied at initial registration.
-
On the FreeIPA server, create a host group:
# ipa hostgroup-add hostgroup_name --desc=hostgroup_description
-
Create an
automembership
rule:# ipa automember-add --type=hostgroup hostgroup_name automember_rule
Where you can use the following options:
-
automember-add
flags the group as an automember group. -
--type=hostgroup
identifies that the target group is a host group, not a user group. -
automember_rule
adds the name you want to identify the automember rule by.
-
-
Define an automembership condition based on the
userclass
attribute:# ipa automember-add-condition --key=userclass --type=hostgroup --inclusive-regex=^webserver hostgroup_name ---------------------------------- Added condition(s) to "hostgroup_name" ---------------------------------- Automember Rule: automember_rule Inclusive Regex: userclass=^webserver ---------------------------- Number of conditions added 1 ----------------------------
Where you can use the following options:
-
automember-add-condition
adds regular expression conditions to identify group members. -
--key=userclass
specifies the key attribute asuserclass
. -
--type=hostgroup
identifies that the target group is a host group, not a user group. -
--inclusive-regex=
^webserver identifies matching values with a regular expression pattern. -
hostgroup_name – identifies the target host group’s name.
-
When a system is added to Foreman server’s hostgroup_name host group, it is added automatically to the FreeIPA server’s "hostgroup_name" host group. FreeIPA host groups allow for Host-Based Access Controls (HBAC), sudo policies and other FreeIPA functions.
12.8. Configuring Foreman with Keycloak Authentication
Use this section to configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication.
12.8.1. Prerequisites for Configuring Foreman with Keycloak Authentication
Before configuring Foreman with Keycloak external authentication, ensure that you meet the following requirements:
-
A working installation of Keycloak server that uses HTTPS instead of HTTP.
-
A Keycloak account with admin privileges.
-
A realm for Foreman user accounts created in Keycloak.
-
If the certificates or the CA are self-signed, ensure that they are added to the end-user certificate trust store.
-
Users imported or added to Keycloak.
If you have an existing user database configured such as LDAP or Kerberos, you can import users from it by configuring user federation. For more information, see User Storage Federation in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
If you do not have an existing user database configured, you can manually create users in Keycloak. For more information, see Creating New Users in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
12.8.2. Registering Foreman as a Keycloak Client
Use this procedure to register Foreman to Keycloak as a client and configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source.
You can configure Foreman and Keycloak with two different authentication methods:
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI.
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman CLI.
You must decide on how you want your users to authenticate in advance because both methods require different Foreman clients to be registered to Keycloak and configured. The steps to register and configure Foreman client in Keycloak are distinguished within the procedure.
You can also register two different Foreman clients to Keycloak if you want to use both authentication methods and configure both clients accordingly.
-
On the Foreman server, install the following packages:
# apt-get install mod_auth_openidc keycloak-httpd-client-install
-
Register Foreman to Keycloak as a client. Note that you the registration process for logging in using the web UI and the CLI are different. You can register two clients Foreman clients to Keycloak to be able to log in to Foreman from the web UI and the CLI.
-
If you want you users to authenticate to Foreman using the web UI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name foreman-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
Then, configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source:
# foreman-installer --foreman-keycloak true \ --foreman-keycloak-app-name "foreman-openidc" \ --foreman-keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm"
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name hammer-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
-
-
Restart the
httpd
service:# systemctl restart httpd
12.8.3. Configuring the Foreman Client in Keycloak
Use this procedure to configure the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI and create group and audience mappers for the Foreman client.
-
In the Keycloak web UI, navigate to Clients and click the Foreman client.
-
Configure access type:
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, from the Access Type list, select confidential.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, from the Access Type list, select public.
-
-
In the Valid redirect URI fields, add a valid redirect URI.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter a URI in the form
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
. Note that you must add the string/users/extlogin
after the Foreman FQDN.After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the Foreman web UI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob.
After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the CLI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
-
-
Click Save.
-
Click the Mappers tab and click Create to add an audience mapper.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the audience mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Audience.
-
From the Included Client Audience list, select the Foreman client.
-
Click Save.
-
Click Create to add a group mapper so that you can specify authorization in Foreman based on group membership.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the group mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Group Membership.
-
In the Token Claim Name field, enter groups.
-
Set the Full group path setting to OFF.
-
Click Save.
12.8.4. Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication
Use this section to configure Foreman for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI or the CLI.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the Web UI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to confidential
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Authentication tab.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation row, and in the Value column, set the value to Yes.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation auth source user autocreate row, and in the Value column, set the value to External.
-
Locate the Login delegation logout URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout.
-
Locate the OIDC Algorithm row, and in the Value column, set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak to RS256.
-
Locate the OIDC Audience row, and in the Value column, set the value to the client ID for Keycloak.
-
Locate the OIDC Issuer row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm.
-
Locate the OIDC JWKs URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Authentication Sources, click the vertical ellipsis on the External card, and select Edit.
-
Click the Locations tab and add locations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click the Organizations tab and add organizations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click Submit.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the CLI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman CLI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to public
-
On Foreman, set the login delegation to
true
so that users can authenticate using the Open IDC protocol:# hammer settings set --name authorize_login_delegation --value true
-
Set the login delegation logout URL:
# hammer settings set --name login_delegation_logout_url \ --value https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout
-
Set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak, for example,
RS256
:# hammer settings set --name oidc_algorithm --value 'RS256'
-
Open the
Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_REALM/.well-known/openid-configuration
URL and note the values to populate the options in the following steps. -
Add the value for the Hammer client in the Open IDC audience:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
NoteIf you register several Keycloak clients to Foreman, ensure that you append all audiences in the array. For example:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc', 'foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
-
Set the value for the Open IDC issuer:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_issuer \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm"
-
Set the value for Open IDC Java Web Token (JWT):
# hammer settings set --name oidc_jwks_url \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs"
-
Retrieve the ID of the Keycloak authentication source:
# hammer auth-source external list
-
Set the location and organization:
# hammer auth-source external update --id Authentication Source ID \ --location-ids Location ID --organization-ids Organization ID
12.8.5. Logging in to the Foreman web UI Using Keycloak
Use this procedure to log in to the Foreman web UI using Keycloak.
-
In your browser, log in to Foreman and enter your credentials.
12.8.6. Logging in to the Foreman CLI Using Keycloak
Use this procedure to authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type.
-
To authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type, enter the following command:
# hammer auth login oauth \ --two-factor \ --oidc-token-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/ssl-realm/protocol/openid-connect/token' \ --oidc-authorization-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth' \ --oidc-client-id 'foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc' \ --oidc-redirect-uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
The command prompts you to enter a success code.
-
To retrieve the success code, navigate to the URL that the command returns and provide the required information.
-
Copy the success code that the web UI returns.
-
In the command prompt of
hammer auth login oauth
, enter the success code to authenticate to the Foreman CLI.
12.8.7. Configuring Group Mapping for Keycloak Authentication
Optionally, to implement the Role Based Access Control (RBAC), create a group in Foreman, assign a role to this group, and then map an Active Directory group to the Foreman group. As a result, anyone in the given group in Keycloak are logged in under the corresponding Foreman group. This example configures users of the Foreman-admin user group in the Active Directory to authenticate as users with administrator privileges on Foreman.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > User Groups, and click the Create User Group button.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the user group. The name should not be the same as in the Active Directory.
-
Do not add users and user groups to the right-hand columns. Click the Roles tab.
-
Select the Administer checkbox.
-
Click the External Groups tab.
-
Click Add external user group.
-
In the Name field, enter the name of the Active Directory group.
-
From the list, select EXTERNAL.
12.9. Configuring Keycloak Authentication with TOTP
Use this section to configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication with TOTP cards.
12.9.1. Prerequisites for Configuring Foreman with Keycloak Authentication
Before configuring Foreman with Keycloak external authentication, ensure that you meet the following requirements:
-
A working installation of Keycloak server that uses HTTPS instead of HTTP.
-
A Keycloak account with admin privileges.
-
A realm for Foreman user accounts created in Keycloak.
-
If the certificates or the CA are self-signed, ensure that they are added to the end-user certificate trust store.
-
Users imported or added to Keycloak.
If you have an existing user database configured such as LDAP or Kerberos, you can import users from it by configuring user federation. For more information, see User Storage Federation in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
If you do not have an existing user database configured, you can manually create users in Keycloak. For more information, see Creating New Users in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
12.9.2. Registering Foreman as a Keycloak Client
Use this procedure to register Foreman to Keycloak as a client and configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source.
You can configure Foreman and Keycloak with two different authentication methods:
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI.
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman CLI.
You must decide on how you want your users to authenticate in advance because both methods require different Foreman clients to be registered to Keycloak and configured. The steps to register and configure Foreman client in Keycloak are distinguished within the procedure.
You can also register two different Foreman clients to Keycloak if you want to use both authentication methods and configure both clients accordingly.
-
On the Foreman server, install the following packages:
# apt-get install mod_auth_openidc keycloak-httpd-client-install
-
Register Foreman to Keycloak as a client. Note that you the registration process for logging in using the web UI and the CLI are different. You can register two clients Foreman clients to Keycloak to be able to log in to Foreman from the web UI and the CLI.
-
If you want you users to authenticate to Foreman using the web UI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name foreman-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
Then, configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source:
# foreman-installer --foreman-keycloak true \ --foreman-keycloak-app-name "foreman-openidc" \ --foreman-keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm"
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name hammer-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
-
-
Restart the
httpd
service:# systemctl restart httpd
12.9.3. Configuring the Foreman Client in Keycloak
Use this procedure to configure the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI and create group and audience mappers for the Foreman client.
-
In the Keycloak web UI, navigate to Clients and click the Foreman client.
-
Configure access type:
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, from the Access Type list, select confidential.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, from the Access Type list, select public.
-
-
In the Valid redirect URI fields, add a valid redirect URI.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter a URI in the form
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
. Note that you must add the string/users/extlogin
after the Foreman FQDN.After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the Foreman web UI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob.
After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the CLI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
-
-
Click Save.
-
Click the Mappers tab and click Create to add an audience mapper.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the audience mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Audience.
-
From the Included Client Audience list, select the Foreman client.
-
Click Save.
-
Click Create to add a group mapper so that you can specify authorization in Foreman based on group membership.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the group mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Group Membership.
-
In the Token Claim Name field, enter groups.
-
Set the Full group path setting to OFF.
-
Click Save.
12.9.4. Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication
Use this section to configure Foreman for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI or the CLI.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the Web UI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to confidential
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Authentication tab.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation row, and in the Value column, set the value to Yes.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation auth source user autocreate row, and in the Value column, set the value to External.
-
Locate the Login delegation logout URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout.
-
Locate the OIDC Algorithm row, and in the Value column, set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak to RS256.
-
Locate the OIDC Audience row, and in the Value column, set the value to the client ID for Keycloak.
-
Locate the OIDC Issuer row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm.
-
Locate the OIDC JWKs URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Authentication Sources, click the vertical ellipsis on the External card, and select Edit.
-
Click the Locations tab and add locations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click the Organizations tab and add organizations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click Submit.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the CLI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman CLI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to public
-
On Foreman, set the login delegation to
true
so that users can authenticate using the Open IDC protocol:# hammer settings set --name authorize_login_delegation --value true
-
Set the login delegation logout URL:
# hammer settings set --name login_delegation_logout_url \ --value https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout
-
Set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak, for example,
RS256
:# hammer settings set --name oidc_algorithm --value 'RS256'
-
Open the
Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_REALM/.well-known/openid-configuration
URL and note the values to populate the options in the following steps. -
Add the value for the Hammer client in the Open IDC audience:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
NoteIf you register several Keycloak clients to Foreman, ensure that you append all audiences in the array. For example:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc', 'foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
-
Set the value for the Open IDC issuer:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_issuer \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm"
-
Set the value for Open IDC Java Web Token (JWT):
# hammer settings set --name oidc_jwks_url \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs"
-
Retrieve the ID of the Keycloak authentication source:
# hammer auth-source external list
-
Set the location and organization:
# hammer auth-source external update --id Authentication Source ID \ --location-ids Location ID --organization-ids Organization ID
12.9.5. Configuring Foreman with Keycloak for TOTP Authentication
Use this procedure to configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication with Time-based One-time Password (TOTP).
-
In the Keycloak web UI, navigate to the Foreman realm.
-
Navigate to Authentication, and click the OTP Policy tab.
-
Ensure that the Supported Applications field includes FreeOTP or Google Authenticator.
-
Configure the OTP settings to suit your requirements.
-
Optional: If you want to use TOTP authentication as a default authentication method for all users, click the Flows tab, and to the right of the OTP Form setting, select REQUIRED.
-
Click the Required Actions tab.
-
To the right of the Configure OTP row, select the Default Action checkbox.
12.9.6. Logging in to the Foreman web UI Using Keycloak TOTP Authentication
Use this procedure to log in to the Foreman web UI using Keycloak TOTP authentication.
-
Log in to Foreman, Foreman redirects you to the Keycloak login screen.
-
Enter your username and password, and click Log In.
-
The first attempt to log in, Keycloak requests you to configure your client by scanning the barcode and entering the pin displayed.
-
After you configure your client and enter a valid PIN, Keycloak redirects you to Foreman and logs you in.
12.9.7. Logging in to the Foreman CLI Using Keycloak
Use this procedure to authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type.
-
To authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type, enter the following command:
# hammer auth login oauth \ --two-factor \ --oidc-token-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/ssl-realm/protocol/openid-connect/token' \ --oidc-authorization-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth' \ --oidc-client-id 'foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc' \ --oidc-redirect-uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
The command prompts you to enter a success code.
-
To retrieve the success code, navigate to the URL that the command returns and provide the required information.
-
Copy the success code that the web UI returns.
-
In the command prompt of
hammer auth login oauth
, enter the success code to authenticate to the Foreman CLI.
12.9.8. Configuring Group Mapping for Keycloak Authentication
Optionally, to implement the Role Based Access Control (RBAC), create a group in Foreman, assign a role to this group, and then map an Active Directory group to the Foreman group. As a result, anyone in the given group in Keycloak are logged in under the corresponding Foreman group. This example configures users of the Foreman-admin user group in the Active Directory to authenticate as users with administrator privileges on Foreman.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > User Groups, and click the Create User Group button.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the user group. The name should not be the same as in the Active Directory.
-
Do not add users and user groups to the right-hand columns. Click the Roles tab.
-
Select the Administer checkbox.
-
Click the External Groups tab.
-
Click Add external user group.
-
In the Name field, enter the name of the Active Directory group.
-
From the list, select EXTERNAL.
12.10. Configuring Keycloak Authentication with PIV Cards
Use this section to configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an OpenID provider for external authentication with PIV cards.
12.10.1. Prerequisites for Configuring Foreman with Keycloak Authentication
Before configuring Foreman with Keycloak external authentication, ensure that you meet the following requirements:
-
A working installation of Keycloak server that uses HTTPS instead of HTTP.
-
A Keycloak account with admin privileges.
-
A realm for Foreman user accounts created in Keycloak.
-
If the certificates or the CA are self-signed, ensure that they are added to the end-user certificate trust store.
-
Users imported or added to Keycloak.
If you have an existing user database configured such as LDAP or Kerberos, you can import users from it by configuring user federation. For more information, see User Storage Federation in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
If you do not have an existing user database configured, you can manually create users in Keycloak. For more information, see Creating New Users in the Red Hat Single Sign-On Server Administration Guide.
12.10.2. Registering Foreman as a Keycloak Client
Use this procedure to register Foreman to Keycloak as a client and configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source.
You can configure Foreman and Keycloak with two different authentication methods:
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI.
-
Users authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman CLI.
You must decide on how you want your users to authenticate in advance because both methods require different Foreman clients to be registered to Keycloak and configured. The steps to register and configure Foreman client in Keycloak are distinguished within the procedure.
You can also register two different Foreman clients to Keycloak if you want to use both authentication methods and configure both clients accordingly.
-
On the Foreman server, install the following packages:
# apt-get install mod_auth_openidc keycloak-httpd-client-install
-
Register Foreman to Keycloak as a client. Note that you the registration process for logging in using the web UI and the CLI are different. You can register two clients Foreman clients to Keycloak to be able to log in to Foreman from the web UI and the CLI.
-
If you want you users to authenticate to Foreman using the web UI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name foreman-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
Then, configure Foreman to use Keycloak as an authentication source:
# foreman-installer --foreman-keycloak true \ --foreman-keycloak-app-name "foreman-openidc" \ --foreman-keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm"
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, create a client as follows:
# keycloak-httpd-client-install --app-name hammer-openidc \ --keycloak-server-url "https://Keycloak.example.com" \ --keycloak-admin-username "admin" \ --keycloak-realm "Foreman_Realm" \ --keycloak-admin-realm master \ --keycloak-auth-role root-admin \ -t openidc -l /users/extlogin --force
Enter the password for the administer account when prompted. This command creates a client for Foreman in Keycloak.
-
-
Restart the
httpd
service:# systemctl restart httpd
12.10.3. Configuring the Foreman Client in Keycloak
Use this procedure to configure the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI and create group and audience mappers for the Foreman client.
-
In the Keycloak web UI, navigate to Clients and click the Foreman client.
-
Configure access type:
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, from the Access Type list, select confidential.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, from the Access Type list, select public.
-
-
In the Valid redirect URI fields, add a valid redirect URI.
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the Foreman web UI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter a URI in the form
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
. Note that you must add the string/users/extlogin
after the Foreman FQDN.After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the Foreman web UI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin
-
If you want your users to authenticate to Foreman using the CLI, in the blank field below the existing URI, enter urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob.
After completing this step, the Foreman client for logging in using the CLI must have the following Valid Redirect URIs:
https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogin/redirect_uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
-
-
Click Save.
-
Click the Mappers tab and click Create to add an audience mapper.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the audience mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Audience.
-
From the Included Client Audience list, select the Foreman client.
-
Click Save.
-
Click Create to add a group mapper so that you can specify authorization in Foreman based on group membership.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the group mapper.
-
From the Mapper Type list, select Group Membership.
-
In the Token Claim Name field, enter groups.
-
Set the Full group path setting to OFF.
-
Click Save.
12.10.4. Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication
Use this section to configure Foreman for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI or the CLI.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the Web UI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman web UI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to confidential
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Authentication tab.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation row, and in the Value column, set the value to Yes.
-
Locate the Authorize login delegation auth source user autocreate row, and in the Value column, set the value to External.
-
Locate the Login delegation logout URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout.
-
Locate the OIDC Algorithm row, and in the Value column, set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak to RS256.
-
Locate the OIDC Audience row, and in the Value column, set the value to the client ID for Keycloak.
-
Locate the OIDC Issuer row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm.
-
Locate the OIDC JWKs URL row, and in the Value column, set the value to https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Authentication Sources, click the vertical ellipsis on the External card, and select Edit.
-
Click the Locations tab and add locations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click the Organizations tab and add organizations that can use the Keycloak authentication source.
-
Click Submit.
Configuring Foreman Settings for Keycloak Authentication Using the CLI
Use this procedure to configure Foreman settings for Keycloak authentication using the Foreman CLI.
Note that you can navigate to the following URL within your realm to obtain values to configure Foreman settings: https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Foreman_Realm/.well-known/openid-configuration
-
Ensure that the Access Type setting in the Foreman client in the Keycloak web UI is set to public
-
On Foreman, set the login delegation to
true
so that users can authenticate using the Open IDC protocol:# hammer settings set --name authorize_login_delegation --value true
-
Set the login delegation logout URL:
# hammer settings set --name login_delegation_logout_url \ --value https://foreman.example.com/users/extlogout
-
Set the algorithm for encoding on Keycloak, for example,
RS256
:# hammer settings set --name oidc_algorithm --value 'RS256'
-
Open the
Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_REALM/.well-known/openid-configuration
URL and note the values to populate the options in the following steps. -
Add the value for the Hammer client in the Open IDC audience:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
NoteIf you register several Keycloak clients to Foreman, ensure that you append all audiences in the array. For example:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_audience \ --value "['foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc', 'foreman.example.com-hammer-openidc']"
-
Set the value for the Open IDC issuer:
# hammer settings set --name oidc_issuer \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm"
-
Set the value for Open IDC Java Web Token (JWT):
# hammer settings set --name oidc_jwks_url \ --value "Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/Keycloak_Realm/protocol/openid-connect/certs"
-
Retrieve the ID of the Keycloak authentication source:
# hammer auth-source external list
-
Set the location and organization:
# hammer auth-source external update --id Authentication Source ID \ --location-ids Location ID --organization-ids Organization ID
12.10.5. Configuring Keycloak Settings for Authentication With PIV Cards
You must configure Keycloak settings for authentication with PIV cards.
-
In the Keycloak web UI, navigate to the Authentication tab.
-
From the Flows list, select Browser.
-
Click Copy to copy this flow.
-
In the Copy Authentication Flow window, enter a new name for the flow and click OK.
-
In the copied flow, delete Username Password Form and OTP Form entries.
-
Click Add execution.
-
From the Provider list, select X509/Validate Username Form.
-
Click Save.
-
In the X509/Validate Username Form raw, select ALTERNATIVE.
-
In the X509/Validate Username Form raw, click Actions > Config.
-
In the Alias field, enter a name for this configuration.
-
From the User Identity Source list, select Subject’s Common Name,
-
From the User mapping method list, select Username or Email.
-
Click Save.
-
Navigate to Authentication > Bindings.
-
From the Browser Flow list, select the created flow.
12.10.6. Configuring Users' OS for Keycloak Authentication with PIV Cards
Complete this procedure on each system from which you want to be able to log in to Foreman using Keycloak PIV cards.
-
Install required packages:
apt-get install opensc -y
-
Install the Firefox browser if not installed.
-
Launch Firefox and navigate to Preferences.
-
Click the Privacy and Security tab.
-
Click Security Devices.
-
Click Load.
-
In the Load PKCS#11 Device Driver window, in the Module Name field, enter a name for this device.
-
In the Module filename field, enter /usr/lib64/pkcs11/opensc-pkcs11.so.
-
Click OK.
-
If the PIV card is connected to system, restart the
pcscd
service.
12.10.7. Logging in to the Foreman web UI Using Keycloak PIV Cards
Use this procedure to log in to the Foreman web UI using the Keycloak PIV cards.
-
In Firefox, log in to Foreman and enter your credentials.
-
When prompted, enter the PIN of the PIV card.
-
Choose the certificate for authentication. Browser verifies this certificate with Keycloak. Once authenticated, browser redirects you back to Foreman and logs you in.
12.10.8. Logging in to the Foreman CLI Using Keycloak
Use this procedure to authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type.
-
To authenticate to the Foreman CLI using the code grant type, enter the following command:
# hammer auth login oauth \ --two-factor \ --oidc-token-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth/realms/ssl-realm/protocol/openid-connect/token' \ --oidc-authorization-endpoint 'https://Keycloak.example.com/auth' \ --oidc-client-id 'foreman.example.com-foreman-openidc' \ --oidc-redirect-uri urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob
The command prompts you to enter a success code.
-
To retrieve the success code, navigate to the URL that the command returns and provide the required information.
-
Copy the success code that the web UI returns.
-
In the command prompt of
hammer auth login oauth
, enter the success code to authenticate to the Foreman CLI.
12.10.9. Configuring Group Mapping for Keycloak Authentication
Optionally, to implement the Role Based Access Control (RBAC), create a group in Foreman, assign a role to this group, and then map an Active Directory group to the Foreman group. As a result, anyone in the given group in Keycloak are logged in under the corresponding Foreman group. This example configures users of the Foreman-admin user group in the Active Directory to authenticate as users with administrator privileges on Foreman.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > User Groups, and click the Create User Group button.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the user group. The name should not be the same as in the Active Directory.
-
Do not add users and user groups to the right-hand columns. Click the Roles tab.
-
Select the Administer checkbox.
-
Click the External Groups tab.
-
Click Add external user group.
-
In the Name field, enter the name of the Active Directory group.
-
From the list, select EXTERNAL.
13. Monitoring Resources
The following chapter details how to configure monitoring and reporting for managed systems. This includes host configuration, Content Views, compliance, subscriptions, registered hosts, promotions, and synchronization.
13.1. Using the Foreman Content Dashboard
The Foreman content dashboard contains various widgets which provide an overview of the host configuration, Content Views, compliance reports, subscriptions and hosts currently registered, promotions and synchronization, and a list of the latest notifications.
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Monitor > Dashboard to access the content dashboard. The dashboard can be rearranged by clicking on a widget and dragging it to a different position. The following widgets are available:
- Host Configuration Status
-
An overview of the configuration states and the number of hosts associated with it during the last reporting interval. The following table shows the descriptions of the possible configuration states.
Table 12. Host Configuration States Icon State Description Hosts that had performed modifications without error
Host that successfully performed modifications during the last reporting interval.
Hosts in error state
Hosts on which an error was detected during the last reporting interval.
Good host reports in the last 35 minutes
Hosts without error that did not perform any modifications in the last 35 minutes.
Hosts that had pending changes
Hosts on which some resources would be applied but Puppet was configured to run in the
noop
mode.Out of sync hosts
Hosts that were not synchronized and the report was not received during the last reporting interval.
Hosts with no reports
Hosts for which no reports were collected during the last reporting interval.
Hosts with alerts disabled
Hosts which are not being monitored.
Click the particular configuration status to view hosts associated with it.
- Host Configuration Chart
-
A pie chart shows the proportion of the configuration status and the percentage of all hosts associated with it.
- Latest Events
-
A list of messages produced by hosts including administration information, product and subscription changes, and any errors.
Monitor this section for global notifications sent to all users and to detect any unusual activity or errors.
- Run Distribution (last 30 minutes)
-
A graph shows the distribution of the running Puppet agents during the last puppet interval which is 30 minutes by default. In this case, each column represents a number of reports received from clients during 3 minutes.
- New Hosts
-
A list of the recently created hosts. Click the host for more details.
- Task Status
-
A summary of all current tasks, grouped by their state and result. Click the number to see the list of corresponding tasks.
- Latest Warning/Error Tasks
-
A list of the latest tasks that have been stopped due to a warning or error. Click a task to see more details.
- Discovered Hosts
-
A list of all bare-metal hosts detected on the provisioning network by the Discovery plug-in.
- Latest Errata
-
A list of all errata available for hosts registered to Foreman.
- Content Views
-
A list of all Content Views in Foreman and their publish status.
- Sync Overview
-
An overview of all products or repositories enabled in Foreman and their synchronization status. All products that are in the queue for synchronization, are unsynchronized or have been previously synchronized are listed in this section.
- Host Subscription Status
-
An overview of the subscriptions currently consumed by the hosts registered to Foreman. A subscription is a purchased certificate that unlocks access to software, upgrades, and security fixes for hosts. The following table shows the possible states of subscriptions.
Table 13. Host Subscription States Icon State Description Invalid
Hosts that have products installed, but are not correctly subscribed. These hosts need attention immediately.
Partial
Hosts that have a subscription and a valid entitlement, but are not using their full entitlements. These hosts should be monitored to ensure they are configured as expected.
Valid
Hosts that have a valid entitlement and are using their full entitlements.
Click the subscription type to view hosts associated with subscriptions of the selected type.
- Subscription Status
-
An overview of the current subscription totals that shows the number of active subscriptions, the number of subscriptions that expire in the next 120 days, and the number of subscriptions that have recently expired.
- Host Collections
-
A list of all host collections in Foreman and their status, including the number of content hosts in each host collection.
- Virt-who Configuration Status
-
An overview of the status of reports received from the
virt-who
daemon running on hosts in the environment. The following table shows the possible states.Table 14. Virt-who Configuration States State Description No Reports
No report has been received because either an error occurred during the virt-who configuration deployment, or the configuration has not been deployed yet, or virt-who cannot connect to Foreman during the scheduled interval.
No Change
No report has been received because hypervisor did not detect any changes on the virtual machines, or virt-who failed to upload the reports during the scheduled interval. If you added a virtual machine but the configuration is in the No Change state, check that virt-who is running.
OK
The report has been received without any errors during the scheduled interval.
Total Configurations
A total number of virt-who configurations.
Click the configuration status to see all configurations in this state.
The widget also lists the three latest configurations in the No Change state under Latest Configurations Without Change.
- Latest Compliance Reports
-
A list of the latest compliance reports. Each compliance report shows a number of rules passed (P), failed (F), or othered (O). Click the host for the detailed compliance report. Click the policy for more details on that policy.
- Compliance Reports Breakdown
-
A pie chart shows the distribution of compliance reports according to their status.
- Red Hat Insights Actions
-
Red Hat Insights is a tool embedded in Foreman that checks the environment and suggests actions you can take. The actions are divided into 4 categories: Availability, Stability, Performance, and Security.
- Red Hat Insights Risk Summary
-
A table shows the distribution of the actions according to the risk levels. Risk level represents how critical the action is and how likely it is to cause an actual issue. The possible risk levels are: Low, Medium, High, and Critical.
NoteIt is not possible to change the date format displayed in the Foreman web UI.
13.1.1. Managing Tasks
Foreman keeps a complete log of all planned or performed tasks, such as repositories synchronised, errata applied, and Content Views published. To review the log, navigate to Monitor > Tasks.
In the Task window, you can search for specific tasks, view their status, details, and elapsed time since they started. You can also cancel and resume one or more tasks.
The tasks are managed using the Dynflow engine. Remote tasks have a timeout which can be adjusted as needed.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.
-
Enter %_timeout in the search box and click Search. The search should return four settings, including a description.
-
In the Value column, click the icon next to a number to edit it.
-
Enter the desired value in seconds, and click Save.
Note
|
Adjusting the %_finish_timeout values might help in case of low bandwidth. Adjusting the %_accept_timeout values might help in case of high latency. |
When a task is initialized, any back-end service that will be used in the task, such as Candlepin or Pulp, will be checked for correct functioning. If the check fails, you will receive an error similar to the following one:
There was an issue with the backend service candlepin: Connection refused – connect(2).
If the back-end service checking feature turns out to be causing any trouble, it can be disabled as follows.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings.
-
Enter check_services_before_actions in the search box and click Search.
-
In the Value column, click the icon to edit the value.
-
From the drop-down menu, select false.
-
Click Save.
13.2. Configuring RSS Notifications
To view Foreman event notification alerts, click the Notifications icon in the upper right of the screen.
By default, the Notifications area displays RSS feed events published in the Foreman Blog.
The feed is refreshed every 12 hours and the Notifications area is updated whenever new events become available.
You can configure the RSS feed notifications by changing the URL feed. The supported feed format is RSS 2.0 and Atom. For an example of the RSS 2.0 feed structure, see the Foreman Blog feed. For an example of the Atom feed structure, see the Foreman blog feed.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings and select the Notifications tab.
-
In the RSS URL row, click the edit icon in the Value column and type the required URL.
-
In the RSS enable row, click the edit icon in the Value column to enable or disable this feature.
13.3. Monitoring Foreman server
From the About page in Foreman web UI, you can find an overview of the following:
-
System Status, including Smart Proxies, Available Providers, Compute Resources, and Plug-ins
-
Support Information
-
System Information
-
Backend System Status
-
Installed Packages
To navigate to the About page:
-
In the upper right corner of Foreman web UI, click Administer > About.
Note
|
After Pulp failure, the status of Pulp might show OK instead of Error for up to 10 minutes due to synchronization delay. |
13.4. Monitoring Smart Proxy server
The following section shows how to use the Foreman web UI to find Smart Proxy information valuable for maintenance and troubleshooting.
13.4.1. Viewing General Smart Proxy Information
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies to view a table of Smart Proxy servers registered to Foreman server. The information contained in the table answers the following questions:
- Is Smart Proxy server running?
-
This is indicated by a green icon in the Status column. A red icon indicates an inactive Smart Proxy, use the
service foreman-proxy restart
command on Smart Proxy server to activate it. - What services are enabled on Smart Proxy server?
-
In the Features column you can verify if Smart Proxy for example provides a DHCP service or acts as a Pulp mirror. Smart Proxy features can be enabled during installation or configured in addition. For more information, see Installing Smart Proxy server.
- What organizations and locations is Smart Proxy server assigned to?
-
A Smart Proxy server can be assigned to multiple organizations and locations, but only Smart Proxies belonging to the currently selected organization are displayed. To list all Smart Proxies, select Any Organization from the context menu in the top left corner.
After changing the Smart Proxy configuration, select Refresh from the drop-down menu in the Actions column to ensure the Smart Proxy table is up to date.
Click the Smart Proxy name to view further details. At the Overview tab, you can find the same information as in the Smart Proxy table. In addition, you can answer to the following questions:
- Which hosts are managed by Smart Proxy server?
-
The number of associated hosts is displayed next to the Hosts managed label. Click the number to view the details of associated hosts.
- How much storage space is available on Smart Proxy server?
-
The amount of storage space occupied by the Pulp content in
/var/lib/pulp
is displayed. Also the remaining storage space available on the Smart Proxy can be ascertained.
13.4.2. Monitoring Services
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies and click the name of the selected Smart Proxy. At the Services tab, you can find basic information on Smart Proxy services, such as the list of DNS domains, or the number of Pulp workers. The appearance of the page depends on what services are enabled on Smart Proxy server. Services providing more detailed status information can have dedicated tabs at the Smart Proxy page. For more information, see Monitoring Puppet.
13.4.3. Monitoring Puppet
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Smart Proxies and click the name of the selected Smart Proxy. At the Puppet tab you can find the following:
-
A summary of Puppet events, an overview of latest Puppet runs, and the synchronization status of associated hosts at the General sub-tab.
-
A list of Puppet environments at the Environments sub-tab.
At the Puppet CA tab you can find the following:
-
A certificate status overview and the number of autosign entries at the General sub-tab.
-
A table of CA certificates associated with the Smart Proxy at the Certificates sub-tab. Here you can inspect the certificate expiry data, or cancel the certificate by clicking Revoke.
-
A list of autosign entries at the Autosign entries sub-tab. Here you can create an entry by clicking New or delete one by clicking Delete.
14. Using Webhooks
A webhook is a way for a web page or web application to provide other applications with information in real time. Webhooks are only triggered after an event occurs. The request usually contains details of the event. An event triggers callbacks, such as sending an e-mail confirming a host has been provisioned. Webhooks enable you to define a call to an external API based on Foreman internal event using a fire-and-forget message exchange pattern. The application sending the request does not wait for the response, or ignores it.
Payload of a webhook is created from webhook templates. Webhook templates use the same ERB syntax as Provisioning templates. Available variables:
-
@event_name
: Name of an event. -
@webhook_id
: Unique event ID. -
@payload
: Payload data, different for each event type. To access individual fields, use@payload[:key_name]
Ruby hash syntax. -
@payload[:object]
: Database object for events triggered by database actions (create, update, delete). Not available for custom events. -
@payload[:context]
: Additional information as hash like request and session UUID, remote IP address, user, organization and location.
Because webhooks use HTTP, no new infrastructure needs be added to existing web services.
The typical use case for webhooks in Foreman is making a call to a monitoring system when a host is created or deleted.
Webhooks are useful where the action you want to perform in the external system can be achieved through its API. Where it is necessary to run additional commands or edit files, the shellhooks plugin for Smart Proxies is available. The shellhooks plugin enables you to define a shell script on the Smart Proxy that can be executed through the API.
You can use webhooks successfully without installing the shellhooks plugin.
For a list of available events, see Available webhook events.
14.1. Migrating to Webhooks
The legacy foreman_hooks
plugin provided full access to model objects that the webhooks plugin does not intentionally provide.
The scope of what is available is limited by the safemode and all objects and macros are both subject to an API stability promise and are fully documented.
The number of events triggered by webhooks is substantially fewer than with foreman_hooks
.
Webhooks are processed asynchronously so there is minimal risk of tampering with internals of the system.
It is not possible to migrate from foreman_hooks
without creating payloads for each individual webhook script.
However, the webhooks plugin comes with several example payload templates.
You can also use the example payloads with shellhooks to simplify migration.
Both script and payload templates must be customized to achieve similar results.
14.2. Installing Webhooks
Use the following procedure to install webhooks. After installing webhooks, you can configure Foreman server to send webhook requests.
-
Install webhooks using the following command:
# foreman-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-webhooks
-
Optional: you can install the CLI plugin using the following command:
# foreman-installer --enable-foreman-cli-webhooks
14.3. Creating a Webhook Template
Webhook templates are used to generate the body of HTTP request to a configured target when a webhook is triggered. Use the following procedure to create a webhook template in the Foreman web UI.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Webhook Templates.
-
Click Clone an existing template or Create Template.
-
Enter a name for the template.
-
Use the editor to make changes to the template payload.
A webhook HTTP payload must be created using Foreman template syntax. The webhook template can use a special variable called
@object
that can represent the main object of the event.@object
can be missing in case of certain events. You can determine what data are actually available with the@payload
variable.For more information, see Template Writing Reference in Managing Hosts and for available template macros and methods, visit
/templates_doc
on Foreman server. -
Optional: Enter the description and audit comment.
-
Assign organizations and locations.
-
Click Submit.
14.4. Creating a Webhook
You can customize events, payloads, HTTP authentication, content type, and headers through the Foreman web UI.
Use the following procedure to create a webhook in the Foreman web UI.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Webhooks.
-
Click Create new.
-
From the Subscribe to list, select an event.
-
Enter a Name for your webhook.
-
Enter a Target URL. Webhooks make HTTP requests to pre-configured URLs. The target URL can be a dynamic URL.
-
Click Template to select a template. Webhook templates are used to generate the body of the HTTP request to Foreman server when a webhook is triggered.
-
Enter an HTTP method.
-
Optional: If you do not want activate the webhook when you create it, uncheck the Enabled flag.
-
Click the Credentials tab.
-
Optional: If HTTP authentication is required, enter User and Password.
-
Optional: Uncheck Verify SSL if you do not want to verify the server certificate against the system certificate store or Foreman CA.
-
On the Additional tab, enter the HTTP Content Type. For example,
application/json
,application/xml
ortext/plain
on the payload you define. The application does not attempt to convert the content to match the specified content type. -
Optional: Provide HTTP headers as JSON. ERB is also allowed.
14.5. Available Webhook Events
The following table contains a list of webhook events that are available from the Foreman web UI.
Action
events trigger webhooks only on success
, so if an action fails, a webhook is not triggered.
For more information about payload, go to Administer > About > Support > Templates DSL. A list of available types is provided in the following table. Some events are marked as custom, in that case, the payload is an object object but a Ruby hash (key-value data structure) so syntax is different.
Event name | Description | Payload |
---|---|---|
Actions Katello Content View Promote Succeeded |
A Content View was successfully promoted. |
Actions::Katello::ContentView::Promote |
Actions Katello Content View Publish Succeeded |
A repository was successfully synchronized. |
Actions::Katello::ContentView::Publish |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Succeeded |
A generic remote execution job succeeded for a host. This event is emitted for all Remote Execution jobs, when complete. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Errata Install Succeeded |
Install errata using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Group Install Succeeded |
Install package group using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Package Install Succeeded |
Install package using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Group Remove |
Remove package group using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Package Remove Succeeded |
Remove package using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Service Restart Succeeded |
Restart Services using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Group Update Succeeded |
Update package group using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Package Update Succeeded |
Update package using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Foreman OpenSCAP Run Scans Succeeded |
Run OpenSCAP scan. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Ansible Run Host Succeeded |
Runs an Ansible playbook containing all the roles defined for a host. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Ansible Run Capsule Upgrade Succeeded |
Upgrade Capsules on given Capsule server hosts. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Ansible Configure Cloud Connector Succeeded |
Configure Cloud Connector on given hosts. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Ansible Run Playbook Succeeded |
Run an Ansible playbook against given hosts. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Ansible Enable Web Console Succeeded |
Run an Ansible playbook to enable the web console on given hosts. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Puppet Run Host Succeeded |
Perform a single Puppet run. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Katello Module Stream Action Succeeded |
Perform a module stream action using the Katello interface. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Leapp Pre-upgrade Succeeded |
Upgradeability check for RHEL 7 host. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Leapp Remediation Plan Succeeded |
Run Remediation plan with Leapp. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Leapp Upgrade Succeeded |
Run Leapp upgrade job for RHEL 7 host. |
Actions::RemoteExecution::RunHostJob |
Build Entered |
A host entered the build mode. |
Custom event: |
Build Exited |
A host build mode was canceled, either it was successfully provisioned or the user canceled the build manually. |
Custom event: |
Content View Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a Content View. |
Katello::ContentView |
Domain Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a domain. |
Domain |
Host Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a host. |
Host |
Hostgroup Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a hostgroup. |
Hostgroup |
Model Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a model. |
Model |
Status Changed |
Global host status of a host changed. |
Custom event: |
Subnet Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a subnet. |
Subnet |
Template Render Performed |
A report template was rendered. |
Template |
User Created/Updated/Destroyed |
Common database operations on a user. |
User |
14.6. Shellhooks
With webhooks, you can only map one Foreman event to one API call. For advanced integrations, where a single shell script can contain multiple commands, you can install a Smart Proxy shellhooks plugin that exposes executables using a REST HTTP API.
You can then configure a webhook to reach out to a Smart Proxy API to run a predefined shellhook. A shellhook is an executable script that can be written in any language as long as it can be executed. The shellhook can for example contain commands or edit files.
You must place your executable scripts in /var/lib/foreman-proxy/shellhooks
with only alphanumeric characters and underscores in their name.
You can pass input to shellhook script through the webhook payload.
This input is redirected to standard input of the shellhook script.
You can pass arguments to shellhook script using HTTP headers in format X-Shellhook-Arg-1
to X-Shellhook-Arg-99
.
For more information on passing arguments to shellhook script, see:
The HTTP method must be POST.
An example URL would be: https://smartproxy.example.com:8443/shellhook/My_Script
.
Note
|
Unlike the |
You must enable Smart Proxy Authorization for each webhook connected to a shellhook to enable it to authorize a call.
Standard output and standard error output are redirected to the Smart Proxy logs as messages with debug or warning levels respectively.
The shellhook HTTPS calls do not return a value.
For an example on creating a shellhook script, see Creating a Shellhook to Print Arguments.
14.7. Installing the Shellhooks Plugin
Optionally, you can install and enable the shellhooks plugin on each Smart Proxy used for shellhooks, using the following command:
# foreman-installer --enable-foreman-proxy-plugin-shellhooks
14.8. Passing Arguments to Shellhook Script Using Webhooks
Use this procedure to pass arguments to a shellhook script using webhooks.
-
When creating a webhook, on the Additional tab, create HTTP headers in the following format:
{ "X-Shellhook-Arg-1": "VALUE", "X-Shellhook-Arg-2": "VALUE" }
Ensure that the headers have a valid JSON or ERB format. Only pass safe fields like database ID, name, or labels that do not include new lines or quote characters.
For more information, see Creating a Webhook.
{ "X-Shellhook-Arg-1": "<%= @object.content_view_version_id %>", "X-Shellhook-Arg-2": "<%= @object.content_view_name %>" }
14.9. Passing Arguments to Shellhook Script Using Curl
Use this procedure to pass arguments to a shellhook script using curl.
-
When executing a shellhook script using
curl
, create HTTP headers in the following format:"X-Shellhook-Arg-1: VALUE" "X-Shellhook-Arg-2: VALUE"
# curl -sX POST -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \ -H "X-Shellhook-Arg-1: Version 1.0" \ -H "X-Shellhook-Arg-2: My Content View" \ --data "" https://smartproxy.example.com:8443/shellhook/My_Script
14.10. Creating a Shellhook to Print Arguments
Create a simple shellhook script that prints "Hello World!" when you run a remote execution job.
-
You have the
webhooks
andshellhooks
plug-ins installed. For more information, see:
-
Modify the
/var/lib/foreman-proxy/shellhooks/print_args
script to print arguments to standard error output so you can see them in the Smart Proxy logs:#!/bin/sh # # Prints all arguments to stderr # echo "$@" >&2
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Webhooks.
-
Click Create new.
-
From the Subscribe to list, select Actions Remote Execution Run Host Job Succeeded.
-
Enter a Name for your webhook.
-
In the Target URL field, enter the URL of your Smart Proxy server followed by
:8443/shellhook/print_args
:https://smartproxy.example.com:8443/shellhook/print_args
Note that
shellhook
in the URL is singular, unlike theshellhooks
directory. -
From the Template list, select Empty Payload.
-
On the Credentials tab, check Smart Proxy Authorization.
-
On the Additional tab, enter the following text in the Optional HTTP headers field:
{ "X-Shellhook-Arg-1": "Hello", "X-Shellhook-Arg-2": "World!" }
-
Click Submit. You now have successfully created a shellhook that prints "Hello World!" to Smart Proxy logs every time you a remote execution job succeeds.
-
Run a remote execution job on any host. You can use
time
as a command. For more information, see Executing a Remote Job in Managing Hosts. -
Verify that the shellhook script was triggered and printed "Hello World!" to Smart Proxy server logs:
# tail /var/log/foreman-proxy/proxy.log
You should find the following lines at the end of the log:
[I] Started POST /shellhook/print_args [I] Finished POST /shellhook/print_args with 200 (0.33 ms) [I] [3520] Started task /var/lib/foreman-proxy/shellhooks/print_args\ Hello\ World\! [W] [3520] Hello World!
15. Searching and Bookmarking
Foreman features powerful search functionality on most pages of the Foreman web UI. It enables you to search all kinds of resources that Foreman manages. Searches accept both free text and syntax-based queries, which can be built using extensive input prediction. Search queries can be saved as bookmarks for future reuse.
15.1. Building Search Queries
As you start typing a search query, a list of valid options to complete the current part of the query appears. You can either select an option from the list and keep building the query using the prediction, or continue typing. To learn how free text is interpreted by the search engine, see Using Free Text Search.
15.1.1. Query Syntax
parameter operator value
Available fields, resources to search, and the way the query is interpreted all depend on context, that is, the page where you perform the search. For example, the field "hostgroup" on the Hosts page is equivalent to the field "name" on the Host Groups page. The field type also determines available operators and accepted values.
15.1.2. Query Operators
All operators that can be used between parameter and value are listed in the following table. Other symbols and special characters that might appear in a prediction-built query, such as colons, do not have special meaning and are treated as free text.
Operator | Short Name | Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
= |
EQUALS |
Accepts numerical, temporal, or text values. For text, exact case sensitive matches are returned. |
|
!= |
NOT EQUALS |
||
~ |
LIKE |
Accepts text or temporal values. Returns case insensitive matches. Accepts the following wildcards: _ for a single character, % or * for any number of characters including zero. If no wildcard is specified, the string is treated as if surrounded by wildcards: %rhel7% |
|
!~ |
NOT LIKE |
||
> |
GREATER THAN |
Accepts numerical or temporal values. For temporal values, the operator > is interpreted as "later than", and < as "earlier than". Both operators can be combined with EQUALS: >= <= |
|
< |
LESS THAN |
||
^ |
IN |
Compares an expression against a list of values, as in SQL. Returns matches that contain or not contain the values, respectively. |
|
!^ |
NOT IN |
||
HAS or set? |
|
Returns values that are present or not present, respectively. |
|
NOT HAS or null? |
|
Simple queries that follow the described syntax can be combined into more complex ones using logical operators AND, OR, and NOT. Alternative notations of the operators are also accepted:
Operator | Alternative Notations | Example | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
and |
& |
&& |
<whitespace> |
|
or |
| |
|| |
|
|
not |
– |
! |
|
|
15.1.3. Query Values
- Text Values
-
Text containing whitespaces must be enclosed in quotes. A whitespace is otherwise interpreted as the AND operator.
Examples:
hostgroup = "Web servers"
The search will return hosts with assigned host group named "Web servers".
hostgroup = Web servers
The search will return hosts in the host group Web with any field matching %servers%.
- Temporal Values
-
Many date and time formats are accepted, including the following:
-
"10 January 2017"
-
"10 Jan 2017"
-
10-January-2017
-
10/January/2017
-
"January 10, 2017"
-
Today, Yesterday, and the like.
-
Warning
|
Avoid ambiguous date formats, such as 02/10/2017 or 10-02-2017. |
15.2. Using Free Text Search
When you enter free text, it will be searched for across multiple fields. For example, if you type "64", the search will return all hosts that have that number in their name, IP address, MAC address, and architecture.
Note
|
Multi-word queries must be enclosed in quotes, otherwise the whitespace is interpreted as the AND operator. |
Because of searching across all fields, free text search results are not very accurate and searching can be slow, especially on a large number of hosts. For this reason, we recommend that you avoid free text and use more specific, syntax-based queries whenever possible.
15.3. Managing Bookmarks
You can save search queries as bookmarks for reuse. You can also delete or modify a bookmark.
Bookmarks appear only on the page on which they were created.
On some pages, there are default bookmarks available for the common searches, for example, all active
or disabled
hosts.
15.3.1. Creating Bookmarks
This section details how to save a search query as a bookmark. You must save the search query on the relevant page to create a bookmark for that page, for example, saving a host related search query on the Hosts page.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to the page where you want to create a bookmark.
-
In the Search field, enter the search query you want to save.
-
Select the arrow to the right of the Search button and then select Bookmark this search.
-
In the Name field, enter a name for the new bookmark.
-
In the Search query field, ensure your search query is correct.
-
Ensure the Public checkbox is set correctly:
-
Select the Public checkbox to set the bookmark as public and visible to all users.
-
Clear the Public checkbox to set the bookmark as private and only visible to the user who created it.
-
-
Click Submit.
To confirm the creation, either select the arrow to the right of the Search button to display the list of bookmarks, or navigate to Administer > Bookmarks and then check the Bookmarks list for the name of the bookmark.
15.3.2. Deleting Bookmarks
You can delete bookmarks on the Bookmarks page.
-
In the Foreman web UI, navigate to Administer > Bookmarks.
-
On the Bookmarks page, click Delete for the Bookmark you want to delete.
-
When the confirmation window opens, click OK to confirm the deletion.
To confirm the deletion, check the Bookmarks list for the name of the bookmark.
Appendix A: Administration Settings
This section contains information about settings that you can edit in the Foreman web UI by navigating to Administer > Settings.
A.1. General Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Administrator email address |
The default administrator email address |
|
Foreman URL |
URL where your Foreman instance is reachable. See also Provisioning > Unattended URL. |
|
Entries per page |
20 |
Number of records shown per page in Foreman |
Fix DB cache |
No |
Foreman maintains a cache of permissions and roles.
When set to |
DB pending seed |
No |
Should the |
Smart Proxy request timeout |
60 |
Open and read timeout for HTTP requests from Foreman to Smart Proxy (in seconds). |
Login page footer text |
Text to be shown in the login-page footer. |
|
Show host power status |
Yes |
Show power status on the host index page. This feature calls to compute resource providers which may lead to decreased performance on the host listing page. |
HTTP(S) proxy |
Set a proxy for outgoing HTTP(S) connections from the Foreman product. System-wide proxies must be configured at the operating system level. |
|
HTTP(S) proxy except hosts |
[] |
Set hostnames to which requests are not to be proxied. Requests to the local host are excluded by default. |
Show Experimental Labs |
No |
Whether or not to show a menu to access experimental lab features (requires reload of page). |
Append domain names to the host |
Yes |
If set to |
Out of sync interval |
30 |
Managed hosts report periodically, and if the time between reports exceeds this duration in minutes, hosts are considered out of sync.
You can override this on your hosts by adding the |
Foreman UUID |
Foreman instance ID. Uniquely identifies a Foreman instance. |
|
Default language |
The UI for new users uses this language. |
|
Default timezone |
The timezone to use for new users. |
|
Instance title |
The instance title is shown on the top navigation bar (requires a page reload). |
|
Saved audits interval |
Duration in days to preserve audit data. Leave empty to disable the audits cleanup. |
|
New host details UI |
Yes |
Foreman loads the new UI for host details. |
A.2. Tasks settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Sync task timeout |
120 |
Number of seconds to wait for a synchronous task to finish before an exception is raised. |
Enable dynflow console |
Yes |
Enable the dynflow console ( |
Require auth for dynflow console |
Yes |
The user must be authenticated as having administrative rights before accessing the dynflow console. |
Proxy action retry count |
4 |
Number of attempts permitted to start a task on the Smart Proxy before failing. |
Proxy action retry interval |
15 |
Time in seconds between retries. |
Allow proxy batch tasks |
Yes |
Allow triggering tasks on the Smart Proxy in batches. |
Proxy tasks batch size |
100 |
Number of tasks included in one request to the Smart Proxy if |
Tasks troubleshooting URL |
URL pointing to the task troubleshooting documentation.
It should contain a |
|
Polling intervals multiplier |
1 |
Polling multiplier used to multiply the default polling intervals. You can use this to prevent polling too frequently for long running tasks. |
A.3. Template Sync Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Associate |
New |
Associate templates with OS, organization and location. |
Branch |
Default branch in Git repo. |
|
Commit message |
Templates export made by a Foreman user |
Custom commit message for exported templates. |
Dirname |
/ |
The directory within the Git repo containing the templates. |
Filter |
Import or export of names matching this regex. Case-insensitive. Snippets are not filtered. |
|
Force import |
No |
If set to |
Lock templates |
Keep, do not lock new |
How to handle lock for imported templates. |
Metadata export mode |
Refresh |
Default metadata export mode. Possible options:
|
Negate |
No |
Negate the filter for import or export. |
Prefix |
A string added as a prefix to imported templates. |
|
Repo |
Target path from where to import or export templates. Different protocols can be used, for example:
When exporting to |
|
Verbosity |
No |
Choose verbosity for Rake task importing templates. |
A.4. Discovered Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Discovery location |
Indicates the default location to place discovered hosts in. |
|
Discovery organization |
Indicates the default organization to which discovered hosts are added. |
|
Interface fact |
discovery_bootif |
Fact name to use for primary interface detection. |
Create bond interfaces |
No |
Automatically create a bond interface if another interface is detected on the same VLAN using LLDP. |
Clean all facts |
No |
Clean all reported facts (except discovery facts) during provisioning. |
Hostname facts |
discovery_bootif |
List of facts to use for the hostname (comma separated, first wins). |
Auto provisioning |
No |
Use the provisioning rules to automatically provision newly discovered hosts. |
Reboot |
Yes |
Automatically reboot or kexec discovered hosts during provisioning. |
Hostname prefix |
mac |
The default prefix to use for the hostname. Must start with a letter. |
Fact columns |
Extra facter columns to show in host lists (comma separated). |
|
Highlighted facts |
Regex to organize facts for highlights section – e.g. |
|
Storage facts |
Regex to organize facts for the storage section. |
|
Software facts |
Regex to organize facts for the software section. |
|
Hardware facts |
Regex to organize facts for the hardware section. |
|
Network facts |
Regex to organize facts for the network section. |
|
IPMI facts |
Regex to organize facts for the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) section. |
|
Lock PXE |
No |
Automatically generate a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) configuration to pin a newly discovered host to discovery. |
Locked PXELinux template name |
pxelinux_discovery |
PXELinux template to be used when pinning a host to discovery. |
Locked PXEGrub template name |
pxegrub_discovery |
PXEGrub template to be used when pinning a host to discovery. |
Locked PXEGrub2 template name |
pxegrub2_discovery |
PXEGrub2 template to be used when pinning a host to discovery. |
Force DNS |
Yes |
Force the creation of DNS entries when provisioning a discovered host. |
Error on existing NIC |
No |
Do not permit to discover an existing managed host matching the MAC of a provisioning Network Interface Card (NIC) (errors out early). |
Type of name generator |
Fact + prefix |
Discovery hostname naming pattern. |
Prefer IPv6 |
No |
Prefer IPv6 to IPv4 when calling discovered nodes. |
A.5. Boot Disk Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
iPXE directory |
|
Path to directory containing iPXE images. |
ISOLINUX directory |
|
Path to directory containing ISOLINUX images. |
SYSLINUX directory |
|
Path to directory containing SYSLINUX images. |
Grub2 directory |
|
Path to directory containing |
Host image template |
Boot disk iPXE - host |
iPXE template to use for host-specific boot disks. |
Generic image template |
Boot disk iPXE - generic host |
iPXE template to use for generic host boot disks. |
Generic Grub2 EFI image template |
Boot disk Grub2 EFI - generic host |
Grub2 template to use for generic Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) host boot disks. |
ISO generation command |
genisoimage |
Command to generate ISO image, use |
Installation media caching |
Yes |
Installation media files are cached for full host images. |
Allowed bootdisk types |
[generic, host, full_host, subnet] |
List of permitted bootdisk types. Leave blank to disable it. |
A.6. Content Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Default HTTP Proxy |
Default HTTP Proxy for syncing content. |
|
CDN SSL version |
SSL version used to communicate with the CDN. |
|
Default synced OS provisioning template |
Kickstart default |
Default provisioning template for operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS finish template |
Kickstart default finish |
Default finish template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS user-data |
Kickstart default user data |
Default user data for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS PXELinux template |
Kickstart default PXELinux |
Default PXELinux template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS PXEGrub template |
Kickstart default PXEGrub |
Default PXEGrub template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS PXEGrub2 template |
Kickstart default PXEGrub2 |
Default PXEGrub2 template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS iPXE template |
Kickstart default iPXE |
Default iPXE template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS partition table |
Kickstart default |
Default partitioning table for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS kexec template |
Discovery Foreman community kexec |
Default kexec template for new operating systems created from synced content. |
Default synced OS Atomic template |
Atomic Kickstart default |
Default provisioning template for new atomic operating systems created from synced content. |
Manifest refresh timeout |
1200 |
Timeout when refreshing a manifest (in seconds). |
Accept action timeout |
20 |
Time in seconds to wait for a host to pick up a remote action. |
Finish action timeout |
3600 |
Time in seconds to wait for a host to finish a remote action. |
Subscription connection enabled |
Yes |
Can communicate with the Foreman community Portal for subscriptions. |
Installable errata from Content View |
No |
Calculate errata host status based only on errata in a host’s Content View and Lifecycle Environment. |
Restrict Composite Content View promotion |
No |
If this is enabled, a composite content view cannot be published or promoted, unless the component content view versions that it includes exist in the target environment. |
Check services before actions |
Yes |
Check the status of backend services such as pulp and candlepin before performing actions? |
Batch size to sync repositories in |
100 |
How many repositories should be synced concurrently on a Smart Proxy. A smaller number may lead to longer sync times. A larger number will increase dynflow load. |
Sync Smart Proxies after Content View promotion |
Yes |
Whether or not to auto sync Smart Proxies after a Content View promotion. |
Default Custom Repository download policy |
|
Default download policy for custom repositories.
Either |
Default Foreman community Repository download policy |
|
Default download policy for enabled Foreman community repositories.
Either |
Default Smart Proxy download policy |
|
Default download policy for Smart Proxy syncs.
Either |
Pulp export destination filepath |
|
On-disk location for exported repositories. |
Pulp 3 export destination filepath |
|
On-disk location for Pulp 3 exported repositories. |
Pulp client key |
|
Path for SSL key used for Pulp server authentication. |
Pulp client cert |
|
Path for SSL certificate used for Pulp server authentication. |
Sync Connection Timeout |
300 |
Total timeout in seconds for connections when syncing. |
Use remote execution by default |
No |
If enabled, remote execution is used instead of katello-agent for remote actions. |
Delete Host upon unregister |
No |
When unregistering a host using subscription-manager, also delete the host record. Managed resources linked to the host such as virtual machines and DNS records might also be deleted. |
Subscription manager name registration fact |
When registering a host using subscription-manager, force use the specified fact for the host name (in the form of |
|
Subscription manager name registration fact strict matching |
No |
If this is enabled, and |
Default Location subscribed hosts |
Default Location |
Default location where new subscribed hosts are stored after registration. |
Expire soon days |
120 |
The number of days remaining in a subscription before you are reminded about renewing it. |
Content View Dependency Solving Default |
No |
The default dependency solving value for new content views. |
Host Duplicate DMI UUIDs |
[] |
If hosts fail to register because of duplicate Desktop Management Interface (DMI) UUIDs, add their comma-separated values here. Subsequent registrations generate a unique DMI UUID for the affected hosts. |
Host Profile Assume |
Yes |
Enable new host registrations to assume registered profiles with matching hostname as long as the registering DMI UUID is not used by another host. |
Host Profile Can Change In Build |
No |
Enable host registrations to bypass Host Profile Assume as long as the host is in build mode. |
Host Can Re-Register Only In Build |
No |
Enable hosts to re-register only when they are in build mode. |
Host Tasks Workers Pool Size |
5 |
Number of workers in the pool to handle the execution of host-related tasks. When set to 0, the default queue is used. Restart of the dynflowd/foreman-tasks service is required. |
Applicability Batch Size |
50 |
Number of host applicability calculations to process per task. |
Autosearch |
Yes |
For pages that support it, automatically perform the search while typing in search input. |
Autosearch delay |
500 |
If Autosearch is enabled, delay in milliseconds before executing searches while typing. |
Pulp bulk load size |
2000 |
The number of items fetched from a single paged Pulp API call. |
Upload profiles without Dynflow |
Yes |
Enable Katello to update host installed packages, enabled repositories, and module inventory directly instead of wrapped in Dynflow tasks (try turning off if Puma processes are using too much memory). |
Orphaned Content Protection Time |
1440 |
Time in minutes to consider orphan content as orphaned. |
Prefer registered through proxy for remote execution |
No |
Prefer using a proxy to which a host is registered when using remote execution. |
Allow deleting repositories in published content views |
Yes |
Enable removal of repositories that the user has previously published in one or more Content View versions. |
A.7. Authentication Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
OAuth active |
Yes |
Foreman will use OAuth for API authorization. |
OAuth consumer key |
***** |
OAuth consumer key. |
OAuth consumer secret |
***** |
OAuth consumer secret. |
OAuth map users |
No |
Foreman maps users by username in the request-header. If this is disabled, OAuth requests have administrator rights. |
Failed login attempts limit |
30 |
Foreman blocks user logins from an incoming IP address for 5 minutes after the specified number of failed login attempts. Set to 0 to disable brute force protection. |
Restrict registered Smart Proxies |
Yes |
Only known Smart Proxies can access features that use Smart Proxy authentication. |
Trusted hosts |
[] |
List of hostnames, IPv4, IPv6 addresses or subnets to be trusted in addition to Smart Proxies for access to fact/report importers and ENC output. |
SSL certificate |
|
SSL Certificate path that Foreman uses to communicate with its proxies. |
SSL CA file |
|
SSL CA file path that Foreman uses to communicate with its proxies. |
SSL private key |
|
SSL Private Key path that Foreman uses to communicate with its proxies. |
SSL client DN env |
HTTP_SSL_CLIENT_S_DN |
Environment variable containing the subject DN from a client SSL certificate. |
SSL client verify env |
HTTP_SSL_CLIENT_VERIFY |
Environment variable containing the verification status of a client SSL certificate. |
SSL client cert env |
HTTP_SSL_CLIENT_CERT |
Environment variable containing a client’s SSL certificate. |
Server CA file |
SSL CA file path used in templates to verify the connection to Foreman. |
|
Websockets SSL key |
|
Private key file path that Foreman uses to encrypt websockets. |
Websockets SSL certificate |
|
Certificate path that Foreman uses to encrypt websockets. |
Websockets encryption |
Yes |
VNC/SPICE websocket proxy console access encryption ( |
Login delegation logout URL |
Redirect your users to this URL on logout. Enable Authorize login delegation also. |
|
Authorize login delegation auth source user autocreate |
External |
Name of the external authentication source where unknown externally authenticated users (see Authorize login delegation) are created. Empty means no autocreation. |
Authorize login delegation |
No |
Authorize login delegation with |
Authorize login delegation API |
No |
Authorize login delegation with |
Idle timeout |
60 |
Log out idle users after the specified number of minutes. |
BCrypt password cost |
9 |
Cost value of bcrypt password hash function for internal auth-sources (4 – 30). A higher value is safer but verification is slower, particularly for stateless API calls and UI logins. A password change is needed to affect existing passwords. |
BMC credentials access |
Yes |
Permits access to BMC interface passwords through ENC YAML output and in templates. |
OIDC JWKs URL |
OpenID Connect JSON Web Key Set (JWKS) URL.
Typically |
|
OIDC Audience |
[] |
Name of the OpenID Connect Audience that is being used for authentication. In the case of Keycloak this is the Client ID. |
OIDC Issuer |
The issuer claim identifies the principal that issued the JSON Web tokens (JWT), which exists at a |
|
OIDC Algorithm |
The algorithm used to encode the JWT in the OpenID provider. |
A.8. Email Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Email reply address |
Email reply address for emails that Foreman is sending. |
|
Email subject prefix |
Prefix to add to all outgoing email. |
|
Send welcome email |
No |
Send a welcome email including username and URL to new users. |
Delivery method |
Sendmail |
Method used to deliver email. |
SMTP enable StartTLS auto |
Yes |
SMTP automatically enables StartTLS. |
SMTP OpenSSL verify mode |
Default verification mode |
When using TLS, you can set how OpenSSL checks the certificate. |
SMTP address |
SMTP address to connect to. |
|
SMTP port |
25 |
SMTP port to connect to. |
SMTP HELO/EHLO domain |
HELO/EHLO domain. |
|
SMTP username |
Username to use to authenticate, if required. |
|
SMTP password |
***** |
Password to use to authenticate, if required. |
SMTP authentication |
none |
Specify authentication type, if required. |
Sendmail arguments |
-i |
Specify additional options to sendmail. Only used when the delivery method is set to sendmail. |
Sendmail location |
|
The location of the sendmail executable. Only used when the delivery method is set to sendmail. |
A.9. Notifications Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
RSS enable |
Yes |
Pull RSS notifications. |
RSS URL |
URL from which to fetch RSS notifications. |
A.10. Provisioning Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Host owner |
Default owner on provisioned hosts, if empty Foreman uses the current user. |
|
Root password |
***** |
Default encrypted root password on provisioned hosts. |
Unattended URL |
URL that hosts retrieve templates from during the build. When it starts with https, unattended, or userdata, controllers cannot be accessed using HTTP. |
|
Safemode rendering |
|
Enables safe mode rendering of provisioning templates.
The default and recommended option When set to |
Access unattended without build |
No |
Enable access to unattended URLs without build mode being used. |
Query local nameservers |
No |
Foreman queries the locally configured resolver instead of the SOA/NS authorities. |
Installation token lifetime |
360 |
Time in minutes that installation tokens should be valid for. Set to 0 to disable the token. |
SSH timeout |
120 |
Time in seconds before SSH provisioning times out. |
Libvirt default console address |
0.0.0.0 |
The IP address that should be used for the console listen address when provisioning new virtual machines using libvirt. |
Update IP from built request |
No |
Foreman updates the host IP with the IP that made the build request. |
Use short name for VMs |
No |
Foreman uses the short hostname instead of the FQDN for creating new virtual machines. |
DNS timeout |
[5, 10, 15, 20] |
List of timeouts (in seconds) for DNS lookup attempts such as the |
Clean up failed deployment |
Yes |
Foreman deletes the virtual machine if the provisioning script ends with a non-zero exit code. |
Type of name generator |
|
Specifies the method used to generate a hostname when creating a new host. The default The The |
Default PXE global template entry |
Default PXE menu item in a global template – |
|
Default PXE local template entry |
Default PXE menu item in local template – |
|
iPXE intermediate script |
iPXE intermediate script |
Intermediate iPXE script for unattended installations. |
Destroy associated VM on host delete |
No |
Destroy associated VM on host delete. When enabled, VMs linked to hosts are deleted on Compute Resource. When disabled, VMs are unlinked when the host is deleted, meaning they remain on Compute Resource and can be re-associated or imported back to Foreman again. This does not automatically power off the VM |
Maximum structured facts |
100 |
Maximum number of keys in structured subtree, statistics stored in |
Default Global registration template |
Global Registration |
Global Registration template. |
Default 'Host initial configuration' template |
Linux host_init_config default |
Default 'Host initial configuration' template, automatically assigned when a new operating system is created. |
CoreOS Transpiler Command |
[ |
Full path to CoreOS transpiler (ct) with arguments as an comma-separated array |
Fedora CoreOS Transpiler Command |
|
Full path to Fedora CoreOS transpiler (fcct) with arguments as an comma-separated array |
Global default PXEGrub2 template |
PXEGrub2 global default |
Global default PXEGrub2 template. This template is deployed to all configured TFTP servers. It is not affected by upgrades. |
Global default PXELinux template |
PXELinux global default |
Global default PXELinux template. This template is deployed to all configured TFTP servers. It is not affected by upgrades. |
Global default PXEGrub template |
PXEGrub global default |
Global default PXEGrub template. This template is deployed to all configured TFTP servers. It is not affected by upgrades. |
Global default iPXE template |
iPXE global default |
Global default iPXE template. This template is deployed to all configured TFTP servers. It is not affected by upgrades. |
Local boot PXEGrub2 template |
PXEGrub2 default local boot |
Template that is selected as PXEGrub2 default for local boot. |
Local boot PXELinux template |
PXELinux default local boot |
Template that is selected as PXELinux default for local boot. |
Local boot PXEGrub template |
PXEGrub default local boot |
Template that is selected as PXEGrub default for local boot. |
Local boot iPXE template |
iPXE default local boot |
Template that is selected as iPXE default for local boot. |
Manage PuppetCA |
Yes |
Foreman automates certificate signing upon provision of a new host. |
Use UUID for certificates |
No |
Foreman uses random UUIDs for certificate signing instead of hostnames. |
A.11. Facts Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Create new host when facts are uploaded |
Yes |
Foreman creates the host when new facts are received. |
Location fact |
foreman_location |
Hosts created after a Puppet run are placed in the location specified by this fact. |
Organization fact |
foreman_organization |
Hosts created after a Puppet run are placed in the organization specified by this fact. The content of this fact should be the full label of the organization. |
Default location |
Default Location |
Hosts created after a Puppet run that did not send a location fact are placed in this location. |
Default organization |
Default Organization |
Hosts created after a Puppet run that did not send an organization fact are placed in this organization. |
Update hostgroup from facts |
Yes |
Foreman updates a host’s hostgroup from its facts. |
Ignore facts for operating system |
No |
Stop updating operating system from facts. |
Ignore facts for domain |
No |
Stop updating domain values from facts. |
Update subnets from facts |
None |
Foreman updates a host’s subnet from its facts. |
Ignore interfaces facts for provisioning |
No |
Stop updating IP and MAC address values from facts (affects all interfaces). |
Ignore interfaces with matching identifier |
[ |
Skip creating or updating host network interfaces objects with identifiers matching these values from incoming facts.
You can use a * wildcard to match identifiers with indexes, e.g. |
Exclude pattern for facts stored in satellite |
[ |
Exclude pattern for all types of imported facts (Puppet, Ansible, rhsm).
Those facts are not stored in the foreman database.
You can use a * wildcard to match names with indexes, e.g. |
Default Puppet environment |
production |
Foreman defaults to this puppet environment if it cannot auto detect one. |
ENC environment |
Yes |
Foreman explicitly sets the puppet environment in the ENC yaml output.
This avoids conflicts between the environment in |
Update environment from facts |
No |
Foreman updates a host’s environment from its facts. |
A.12. Configuration Management Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Create new host when report is uploaded |
Yes |
Foreman creates the host when a report is received. |
Matchers inheritance |
Yes |
Foreman matchers are inherited by children when evaluating smart class parameters for hostgroups, organizations, and locations. |
Default parameters lookup path |
[ |
Foreman evaluates host smart class parameters in this order by default. |
Interpolate ERB in parameters |
Yes |
Foreman parses ERB in parameters value in the ENC output. |
Always show configuration status |
No |
All hosts show a configuration status even when a Puppet Smart Proxy is not assigned. |
Puppet interval |
35 |
Duration in minutes after servers reporting using Puppet are classed as out of sync. |
Puppet out of sync disabled |
No |
Disable host configuration status turning to out of sync for Puppet after report does not arrive within configured interval. |
A.13. Remote Execution Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Fallback to Any Proxy |
No |
Search the host for any proxy with Remote Execution. This is useful when the host has no subnet or the subnet does not have an execution proxy. |
Enable Global Proxy |
Yes |
Search for Remote Execution proxy outside of the proxies assigned to the host. The search is limited to the host’s organization and location. |
SSH User |
root |
Default user to use for SSH.
You can override per host by setting the |
Effective User |
root |
Default user to use for executing the script. If the user differs from the SSH user, su or sudo is used to switch the user. |
Effective User Method |
sudo |
The command used to switch to the effective user.
One of [ |
Effective user password |
***** |
Effective user password. See Effective User. |
Sync Job Templates |
Yes |
Whether to sync templates from disk when running |
SSH Port |
22 |
Port to use for SSH communication.
Default port 22.
You can override per host by setting the |
Connect by IP |
No |
Whether the IP addresses on host interfaces are preferred over the FQDN.
It is useful when the DNS is not resolving the FQDNs properly.
You can override this per host by setting the |
Prefer IPv6 over IPv4 |
No |
When connecting using an IP address, are IPv6 addresses preferred?
If no IPv6 address is set, it falls back to IPv4 automatically.
You can override this per host by setting the |
Default SSH password |
***** |
Default password to use for SSH.
You can override per host by setting the |
Default SSH key passphrase |
***** |
Default key passphrase to use for SSH.
You can override per host by setting the |
Workers pool size |
5 |
Number of workers in the pool to handle the execution of the remote execution jobs.
Restart of the |
Cleanup working directories |
Yes |
Whether working directories are removed after task completion.
You can override this per host by setting the |
Cockpit URL |
Where to find the Cockpit instance for the Web Console button. By default, no button is shown. |
|
Form Job Template |
Run Command - SSH Default |
Choose a job template that is pre-selected in job invocation form. |
Job Invocation Report Template |
Jobs - Invocation report template |
Select a report template used for generating a report for a particular remote execution job. |
A.14. Ansible Settings
Setting | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|
Private Key Path |
Use this to supply a path to an SSH Private Key that Ansible uses instead of a password.
Override with the |
|
Connection type |
ssh |
Use this connection type by default when running Ansible playbooks.
You can override this on hosts by adding the |
WinRM cert Validation |
validate |
Enable or disable WinRM server certificate validation when running Ansible playbooks.
You can override this on hosts by adding the |
Default verbosity level |
Disabled |
Foreman adds this level of verbosity for additional debugging output when running Ansible playbooks. |
Post-provision timeout |
360 |
Timeout (in seconds) to set when Foreman triggers an Ansible roles task playbook after a host is fully provisioned. Set this to the maximum time you expect a host to take until it is ready after a reboot. |
Ansible report timeout |
30 |
Timeout (in minutes) when hosts should have reported. |
Ansible out of sync disabled |
No |
Disable host configuration status turning to out of sync for Ansible after a report does not arrive within the configured interval. |
Default Ansible inventory report template |
Ansible - Ansible Inventory |
Foreman uses this template to schedule the report with Ansible inventory. |
Ansible roles to ignore |
[] |
The roles to exclude when importing roles from Smart Proxy.
The expected input is comma separated values and you can use * wildcard metacharacters.
For example: |
Proxy tasks batch size for Ansible |
Number of tasks which should be sent to the Smart Proxy in one request if |