Getting started with Red Hat Lightspeed

Data collectors gather system facts about your RHEL systems to populate inventory data and enable system analysis in Red Hat Lightspeed.

A data collector is an application or service that regularly sends host information, updates, or system profile data to Red Hat Lightspeed inventory. The insights-client is a data collector for Red Hat Lightspeed.

System facts are the metadata that data collectors collect about your RHEL systems. These facts describe runtime configuration, system health, and system performance. The insights-client uses the system facts it collects to populate inventory data in Red Hat Lightspeed and to update existing data. Red Hat Lightspeed also uses system facts to analyze system performance and to create recommendations for services such as Advisor or remediations.

Multiple installation methods are available for Red Hat Lightspeed on RHEL depending on your system configuration and management approach.

You can use other supported methods to register and install Red Hat Lightspeed, too. A registration assistant is also available to guide you through the process of registering and installing Red Hat Lightspeed. You can also use the remote host configuration (RHC) tool. The installation method you choose depends on several factors, including whether:

Use the Registration Assistant as an interactive guide to register and install Red Hat Lightspeed on your systems.

You can use the Registration Assistant as a starting point to help you start using Red Hat Lightspeed. The Registration Assistant provides an interactive guide to help you register and install Red Hat Lightspeed.

The installation guide provides detailed step-by-step instructions for registering your systems and installing Red Hat Lightspeed client tools on RHEL systems.

The Registering RHEL systems and configuring client tools with Red Hat Lightspeed guide covers:

Use the available Red Hat Satellite resources to install and configure Red Hat Lightspeed on RHEL hosts managed by Satellite Server.

Install Red Hat Lightspeed on RHEL systems that are already managed through Red Hat Subscription Management, Satellite Server, or Cloud Access.

Install Red Hat Lightspeed on RHEL systems purchased from cloud marketplaces and managed through Red Hat Cloud Access.

Install Red Hat Lightspeed on RHEL systems purchased from cloud marketplaces and managed through Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI).

OpenShift Container Platform uses built-in remote health monitoring tools instead of requiring a separate Red Hat Lightspeed client installation.

Unlike Red Hat Enterprise Linux, OpenShift Container Platform does not require a separate installation of the Red Hat Lightspeed insights-client. Instead, the platform uses built-in remote health monitoring tools to report telemetry and configuration data to Red Hat. Red Hat Lightspeed analyzes this data to identify potential issues proactively and provide recommendations.

Red Hat Lightspeed relies on data collected by the following components, which are installed and enabled by default in OpenShift Container Platform:

Enable your OpenShift Container Platform cluster to collect and report data to Red Hat before using Red Hat Lightspeed services.

To ensure your system is ready to use the services of Red Hat Lightspeed, enable your OpenShift Container Platform cluster to collect and report data to Red Hat:

You can connect your systems to Red Hat Lightspeed using several methods depending on your network configuration and security requirements.

A system can connect to Red Hat Lightspeed in the following ways:

Red Hat Satellite acts as the single connection point between your hosts and Red Hat Lightspeed, automatically handling all communications.

If you are not a Satellite user, then you need to either directly communicate with Red Hat Lightspeed or set up a web proxy.

Red Hat Lightspeed proxy provides encrypted connectivity for your systems and is included with your RHEL subscription.

Use Red Hat Lightspeed proxy to connect internet-restricted systems to Red Hat Lightspeed through encrypted channels. The proxy service (rhproxy) routes all Red Hat traffic through a centralized proxy server.

To get started with Red Hat Lightspeed proxy, you configure the subscription manager repository on each client system, install the rhproxy package, and configure firewall settings. You then enable proxy communication by running the configure-client.sh script.

For more detailed setup and configuration instructions, see the Connecting your RHEL systems through the Red Hat Lightspeed proxy guide.

You can use your own web proxy to act as a gateway between the public Internet and your private network for enhanced security.

Configure a web configuration file on each host to control Internet access while connecting to Red Hat Lightspeed. You must add hostnames, ports, and allow additional URLs to connect your systems to Red Hat Lightspeed through your own proxy.

Understand how the role-based access control (RBAC) User Access feature of the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console manages user permissions through roles instead of individual user assignments. User Access simplifies permission management by assigning specific permissions to roles, which can then be assigned to user groups.

You can also create custom groups and roles to provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed to suit the needs of your organization.

If you are an Organization Administrator, you can use the User Access feature under Identity & Access Management in the Hybrid Cloud Console to:

Understand the two predefined groups available in User Access: Default access and Default admin access. Create custom groups to align permissions with specific personas, job functions, or teams in your organization.

The Default admin access group includes many (but not all) predefined roles that provide update and delete permissions. The roles in this group usually include administrator in their names.

Understand how predefined roles in Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console bundle permissions across multiple Red Hat Lightspeed applications to align with common user personas. Use predefined roles to reduce administrative effort, or create custom roles for more fine-tuned control over specific features.

The predefined roles are a starting point to help you to control and manage user permissions. You can then use these roles to create custom roles that are tailored to your specific use cases and organization. For example, you can use the predefined granular roles to create custom roles that provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed.

By default, Red Hat provides a set of consolidated roles and a set of granular roles in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console User Access UI. The consolidated roles significantly reduce the administrative effort required to manage user permissions, while the granular roles provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed.

You can use the predefined consolidated and granular roles in User Access simultaneously, but using consolidated roles can significantly reduce the administrative effort.

Verify your current permissions and the roles or groups assigned to you in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. Check your permissions to troubleshoot access issues or understand your level of access to Red Hat Lightspeed applications.

You can also filter your permissions by application, for example, by advisor, cost management, inventory, and remediations.

If you are an Organization Administrator, you can view and manage user permissions for all users in your organization. Control access to Red Hat Lightspeed and other Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console services through the User Access interface.