Chapter 11. Completing post-installation tasks
This section describes how to complete the following post-installation tasks:
- Completing initial setup
Registering your system
NoteDepending on your requirements, there are several methods to register your system. Most of these methods are completed as part of post-installation tasks. However, a registered system is authorized to access protected content repositories for subscribed products through the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN) before the installation process starts.
See Registering and installing RHEL from the CDN for more information.
- Securing your system
11.1. Completing initial setup
This section contains information about how to complete initial setup on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system.
- If you selected the Server with GUI base environment during installation, the Initial Setup window opens the first time you reboot your system after the installation process is complete.
- If you registered and installed RHEL from the CDN, the Subscription Manager option displays a note that all installed products are covered by valid entitlements.
The information displayed in the Initial Setup window might vary depending on what was configured during installation. At a minimum, the Licensing and Subscription Manager options are displayed.
Prerequisites
- You have completed the graphical installation according to the recommended workflow described on Installing RHEL using an ISO image from the Customer Portal.
- You have an active, non-evaluation Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription.
Procedure
From the Initial Setup window, select Licensing Information.
The License Agreement window opens and displays the licensing terms for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Review the license agreement and select the I accept the license agreement checkbox.
NoteYou must accept the license agreement. Exiting Initial Setup without completing this step causes a system restart. When the restart process is complete, you are prompted to accept the license agreement again.
Click Initial Setup window.
to apply the settings and return to theNoteIf you did not configure network settings, you cannot register your system immediately. In this case, click Subscription manager post installation for more information. If you configured network settings, as described in Network hostname, you can register your system immediately, as shown in the following steps:
. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 starts and you can login, activate access to the network, and register your system. SeeFrom the Initial Setup window, select Subscription Manager.
ImportantIf you registered and installed RHEL from the CDN, the Subscription Manager option displays a note that all installed products are covered by valid entitlements.
- The Subscription Manager graphical interface opens and displays the option you are going to register, which is: subscription.rhsm.redhat.com.
- Click .
- Enter your Login and Password details and click .
- Confirm the Subscription details and click Registration with Red Hat Subscription Management is Done! . You must receive the following confirmation message:
- Click Initial Setup window opens. . The
- Click . The login window opens.
- Configure your system. See the Configuring basic system settings document for more information.
Additional resources
Depending on your requirements, there are five methods to register your system:
- Using the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN) to register your system, attach RHEL subscriptions, and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. See Register and install from CDN using GUI for more information.
- During installation using Initial Setup.
- After installation using the command line.
- After installation using the Subscription Manager user interface. See Subscription manager post install UI for more information.
- After installation using Registration Assistant. Registration Assistant is designed to help you choose the most suitable registration option for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment. See https://access.redhat.com/labs/registrationassistant/ for more information.
11.2. The value of registering your RHEL system to Red Hat
Registration establishes an authorized connection between your system and Red Hat. Red Hat issues the registered system, whether a physical or virtual machine, a certificate that identifies and authenticates the system so that it can receive protected content, software updates, security patches, support, and managed services from Red Hat.
With a valid subscription, you can register a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system in the following ways:
- During the installation process, using an installer graphical user interface (GUI) or text user interface (TUI)
- After installation, using the command line interface (CLI)
- Automatically, during or after installation, using a kickstart script or an activation key.
The specific steps to register your system depend on the version of RHEL that you are using and the registration method that you choose.
Registering your system to Red Hat enables features and capabilities that you can use to manage your system and report data. For example, a registered system is authorized to access protected content repositories for subscribed products through the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN) or a Red Hat Satellite Server. These content repositories contain Red Hat software packages and updates that are available only to customers with an active subscription. These packages and updates include security patches, bug fixes, and new features for RHEL and other Red Hat products.
The entitlement-based subscription model is deprecated and will be retired in the future. Simple content access is now the default subscription model. It provides an improved subscription experience that eliminates the need to attach a subscription to a system before you can access Red Hat subscription content on that system. If your Red Hat account uses the entitlement-based subscription model, contact your Red hat account team, for example, a technical account manager (TAM) or solution architect (SA) to prepare for migration to simple content access. For more information, see Transition of subscription services to the hybrid cloud.
11.3. Registering your system using the Subscription Manager User Interface
This section contains information about how to register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system using the Subscription Manager User Interface to receive updates and access package repositories.
Prerequisites
- You have completed the graphical installation as per the recommended workflow described on Installing RHEL using an ISO image from the Customer Portal.
- You have an active, non-evaluation Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription.
- Your Red Hat subscription status is verified.
Procedure
- Log in to your system.
- Go to Activities.
- From the menu options, click the Show Applications icon.
- Click the Red Hat Subscription Manager icon, or enter Red Hat Subscription Manager in the search.
Enter your administrator password in the Authentication Required dialog box.
NoteAuthentication is required to perform privileged tasks on the system.
The Subscriptions window opens, displaying the current status of Subscriptions, System Purpose, and installed products. Installed products displayed with a red X are not supported by the currently attached subscriptions.
- Click Register System dialog box opens. . The
- Enter your Customer Portal credentials and click .
The Register button in the Subscriptions window changes to Unregister and installed products display a green X. You can verify the successful registration from a terminal window using the subscription-manager status
command. Additionally refer the /var/log/rhsm/rhsm.log
files for additional information. When the org/account
is operated in simple content access mode, the overall compliance status of the system will be marked Disabled
.
Additional resources
11.4. Registering RHEL 8 using the installer GUI
Use the following steps to register a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 using the RHEL installer GUI.
Prerequisites
- You have a valid user account on the Red Hat Customer Portal. See the Create a Red Hat Login page.
- You have a valid Activation Key and Organization id.
Procedure
- From the Installation Summary screen, under Software, click Connect to Red Hat.
- Authenticate your Red Hat account using the Account or Activation Key option.
Optional: In the Set System Purpose field select the Role, SLA, and Usage attribute that you want to set from the drop-down menu.
At this point, your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system has been successfully registered.
11.5. Registration Assistant
Registration Assistant is designed to help you choose the most suitable registration option for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment.
Additional resources
- For assistance with using a username and password to register RHEL with the Subscription Manager client, see the RHEL registration assistant on the Customer Portal.
- For assistance with registering your RHEL system to Red Hat Insights, see the Insights registration assistant on the Hybrid Cloud Console.
11.6. Registering your system using the command line
This section contains information about how to register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 subscription using the command line.
For an improved and simplified experience registering your hosts to Red Hat, use remote host configuration (RHC). The RHC client registers your system to Red Hat making your system ready for Insights data collection and enabling direct issue remediation from Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. For more information, see RHC registration.
Prerequisites
- You have an active, non-evaluation Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription.
- Your Red Hat subscription status is verified.
- You have not previously received a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 subscription.
- You have successfully installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and logged into the system as root.
Procedure
- Open a terminal window as a root user.
Register your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system by using the activation key:
# subscription-manager register --activationkey=<activation_key_name> --org=<organization_ID>
When the system is successfully registered, an output similar to the following is displayed:
The system has been registered with id: 62edc0f8-855b-4184-b1b8-72a9dc793b96
11.7. Configuring System Purpose using the subscription-manager command-line tool
System purpose is a feature of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation to help RHEL customers get the benefit of our subscription experience and services offered in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console, a dashboard-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that enables you to view subscription usage in your Red Hat account.
You can configure system purpose attributes either on the activation keys or by using the subscription manager tool. While it is recommended to configure system purpose on the activation key, you can also configure it by using the subscription-manager syspurpose
command-line tool after installation to set the required attributes.
Prerequisites
- You have installed and registered your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system, but system purpose is not configured.
You are logged in as a
root
user.NoteIn the entitlement mode, if your system is registered but has subscriptions that do not satisfy the required purpose, you can run the
subscription-manager remove --all
command to remove attached subscriptions. You can then use the command-line subscription-manager syspurpose {role, usage, service-level} tools to set the required purpose attributes, and lastly runsubscription-manager attach --auto
to re-entitle the system with considerations for the updated attributes. Whereas, in the SCA enabled account, you can directly update the system purpose details post registration without making an update to the subscriptions in the system.
Procedure
From a terminal window, run the following command to set the intended role of the system:
# subscription-manager syspurpose role --set "VALUE"
Replace
VALUE
with the role that you want to assign:-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Compute Node
For example:
# subscription-manager syspurpose role --set "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server"
Optional: Before setting a value, see the available roles supported by the subscriptions for your organization:
# subscription-manager syspurpose role --list
Optional: Run the following command to unset the role:
# subscription-manager syspurpose role --unset
-
Run the following command to set the intended Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the system:
# subscription-manager syspurpose service-level --set "VALUE"
Replace
VALUE
with the SLA that you want to assign:-
Premium
-
Standard
-
Self-Support
For example:
# subscription-manager syspurpose service-level --set "Standard"
Optional: Before setting a value, see the available service-levels supported by the subscriptions for your organization:
# subscription-manager syspurpose service-level --list
Optional: Run the following command to unset the SLA:
# subscription-manager syspurpose service-level --unset
-
Run the following command to set the intended usage of the system:
# subscription-manager syspurpose usage --set "VALUE"
Replace
VALUE
with the usage that you want to assign:-
Production
-
Disaster Recovery
-
Development/Test
For example:
# subscription-manager syspurpose usage --set "Production"
Optional: Before setting a value, see the available usages supported by the subscriptions for your organization:
# subscription-manager syspurpose usage --list
Optional: Run the following command to unset the usage:
# subscription-manager syspurpose usage --unset
-
Run the following command to show the current system purpose properties:
# subscription-manager syspurpose --show
Optional: For more detailed syntax information run the following command to access the
subscription-manager
man page and browse to the SYSPURPOSE OPTIONS:# man subscription-manager
Verification steps
To verify the system’s subscription status in a system registered with an account having entitlement mode enabled:
# subscription-manager status +-------------------------------------------+ System Status Details +-------------------------------------------+ Overall Status: Current System Purpose Status: Matched
-
An overall status
Current
means that all of the installed products are covered by the subscription(s) attached and entitlements to access their content set repositories has been granted. -
A system purpose status
Matched
means that all of the system purpose attributes (role, usage, service-level) that were set on the system are satisfied by the subscription(s) attached. - When the status information is not ideal, additional information is displayed to help the system administrator decide what corrections to make to the attached subscriptions to cover the installed products and intended system purpose.
-
An overall status
To verify the system’s subscription status in a system registered with an account having SCA mode enabled:
# subscription-manager status +-------------------------------------------+ System Status Details +-------------------------------------------+ Overall Status: Disabled Content Access Mode is set to Simple Content Access. This host has access to content, regardless of subscription status. System Purpose Status: Disabled
- In SCA mode, subscriptions are no longer required to be attached to individual systems. Hence, both the overall status and system purpose status are displayed as Disabled . However, the technical, business, and operational use cases supplied by system purpose attributes are important to the subscriptions service. Without these attributes, the subscriptions service data is less accurate.
Additional resources
- To learn more about the subscriptions service, see the Getting Started with the Subscriptions Service guide.
11.8. Securing your system
Complete the following security-related steps immediately after you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Prerequisites
- You have completed the graphical installation.
Procedure
To update your system, run the following command as root:
# yum update
Even though the firewall service,
firewalld
, is automatically enabled with the installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, there are scenarios where it might be explicitly disabled, for example in a Kickstart configuration. In that scenario, it is recommended that you re-enable the firewall.To start
firewalld
, run the following commands as root:# systemctl start firewalld # systemctl enable firewalld
To enhance security, disable services that you do not need. For example, if your system has no printers installed, disable the cups service using the following command:
# systemctl mask cups
To review active services, run the following command:
$ systemctl list-units | grep service
11.9. Deploying systems that are compliant with a security profile immediately after an installation
You can use the OpenSCAP suite to deploy RHEL systems that are compliant with a security profile, such as OSPP, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA profile, immediately after the installation process. Using this deployment method, you can apply specific rules that cannot be applied later using remediation scripts, for example, a rule for password strength and partitioning.
11.9.1. Profiles not compatible with Server with GUI
Certain security profiles provided as part of the SCAP Security Guide are not compatible with the extended package set included in the Server with GUI base environment. Therefore, do not select Server with GUI when installing systems compliant with one of the following profiles:
Profile name | Profile ID | Justification | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
CIS Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Benchmark for Level 2 - Server |
|
Packages | |
CIS Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Benchmark for Level 1 - Server |
|
Packages | |
Unclassified Information in Non-federal Information Systems and Organizations (NIST 800-171) |
|
The | |
Protection Profile for General Purpose Operating Systems |
|
The | |
DISA STIG for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 |
|
Packages | To install a RHEL system as a Server with GUI aligned with DISA STIG in RHEL version 8.4 and later, you can use the DISA STIG with GUI profile. |
11.9.2. Deploying baseline-compliant RHEL systems using the graphical installation
Use this procedure to deploy a RHEL system that is aligned with a specific baseline. This example uses Protection Profile for General Purpose Operating System (OSPP).
Certain security profiles provided as part of the SCAP Security Guide are not compatible with the extended package set included in the Server with GUI base environment. For additional details, see Profiles not compatible with a GUI server.
Prerequisites
-
You have booted into the
graphical
installation program. Note that the OSCAP Anaconda Add-on does not support interactive text-only installation. -
You have accessed the
Installation Summary
window.
Procedure
-
From the
Installation Summary
window, clickSoftware Selection
. TheSoftware Selection
window opens. -
From the
Base Environment
pane, select theServer
environment. You can select only one base environment. -
Click
Done
to apply the setting and return to theInstallation Summary
window. -
Because OSPP has strict partitioning requirements that must be met, create separate partitions for
/boot
,/home
,/var
,/tmp
,/var/log
,/var/tmp
, and/var/log/audit
. -
Click
Security Policy
. TheSecurity Policy
window opens. -
To enable security policies on the system, toggle the
Apply security policy
switch toON
. -
Select
Protection Profile for General Purpose Operating Systems
from the profile pane. -
Click
Select Profile
to confirm the selection. -
Confirm the changes in the
Changes that were done or need to be done
pane that is displayed at the bottom of the window. Complete any remaining manual changes. Complete the graphical installation process.
NoteThe graphical installation program automatically creates a corresponding Kickstart file after a successful installation. You can use the
/root/anaconda-ks.cfg
file to automatically install OSPP-compliant systems.
Verification
To check the current status of the system after installation is complete, reboot the system and start a new scan:
# oscap xccdf eval --profile ospp --report eval_postinstall_report.html /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-rhel8-ds.xml
Additional resources
11.9.3. Deploying baseline-compliant RHEL systems using Kickstart
Use this procedure to deploy RHEL systems that are aligned with a specific baseline. This example uses Protection Profile for General Purpose Operating System (OSPP).
Prerequisites
-
The
scap-security-guide
package is installed on your RHEL 8 system.
Procedure
-
Open the
/usr/share/scap-security-guide/kickstart/ssg-rhel8-ospp-ks.cfg
Kickstart file in an editor of your choice. -
Update the partitioning scheme to fit your configuration requirements. For OSPP compliance, the separate partitions for
/boot
,/home
,/var
,/tmp
,/var/log
,/var/tmp
, and/var/log/audit
must be preserved, and you can only change the size of the partitions. - Start a Kickstart installation as described in Performing an automated installation using Kickstart.
Passwords in Kickstart files are not checked for OSPP requirements.
Verification
To check the current status of the system after installation is complete, reboot the system and start a new scan:
# oscap xccdf eval --profile ospp --report eval_postinstall_report.html /usr/share/xml/scap/ssg/content/ssg-rhel8-ds.xml
Additional resources
11.10. Next steps
When you have completed the required post-installation steps, you can configure basic system settings. For information about completing tasks such as installing software with yum, using systemd for service management, managing users, groups, and file permissions, using chrony to configure NTP, and working with Python 3, see the Configuring basic system settings document.