Quick start guide for Foreman on Debian/Ubuntu

This guide describes the quickest way to get a Foreman server up and running. For a full installation guide, see Installing Foreman Server 3.16 on Debian/Ubuntu.

1. System requirements

The following list shows the most critical requirements common for most scenarios.

The following operating systems are supported for deploying Foreman:
- Debian 12 (Bookworm) (amd64)
- Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy) (amd64)
Install Foreman server on a freshly provisioned system that serves no other function except to run Foreman server.
Ensure the system has at least 4 CPU cores and 4 GB of memory.

2. Configuring repositories

Configure the required repositories.

Procedure

Debian 12 (Bookworm)
Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy)

Install the wget and ca-certificates packages:
```
# apt install wget ca-certificates
```

Change directory to /tmp and retrieve the puppet-release package.

For Puppet 8:

# cd /tmp && wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet8-release-bookworm.deb

For Puppet 7:

# cd /tmp && wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet7-release-bookworm.deb

Install the puppet-release package.

For Puppet 8:

# apt install /tmp/puppet8-release-bookworm.deb

For Puppet 7:

# apt install /tmp/puppet7-release-bookworm.deb

Enable the Foreman repository:

# wget https://deb.theforeman.org/foreman.asc -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/foreman.asc
# echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ bookworm 3.16" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list
# echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ plugins 3.16" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list

Install the wget and ca-certificates packages:
```
# apt install wget ca-certificates
```

Change directory to /tmp and retrieve the puppet-release package.

For Puppet 8:

# cd /tmp && wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet8-release-jammy.deb

For Puppet 7:

# cd /tmp && wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet7-release-jammy.deb

Install the puppet-release package.

For Puppet 8:

# apt install /tmp/puppet8-release-jammy.deb

For Puppet 7:

# apt install /tmp/puppet7-release-jammy.deb

Enable the Foreman repository:

# wget https://deb.theforeman.org/foreman.asc -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/foreman.asc
# echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ jammy 3.16" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list
# echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ plugins 3.16" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list

3. Running the Foreman installer

Install the required packages and run the Foreman installer utility.

Procedure

Upgrade all packages:
```
# apt upgrade
```
Install foreman-installer:
```
# apt install foreman-installer
```
Run the Foreman installer:
```
# foreman-installer
```
The foreman-installer installer is a collection of Puppet modules that installs Foreman based on native operating system packages.

The installation run is non-interactive by default. The script displays its progress and writes logs to /var/log/foreman-installer/foreman.log.

For a list of the available customization options, run foreman-installer --help or foreman-installer --full-help.

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