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Chapter 2. Deploying Session Recording on RHEL web console

This section describes how to deploy the Session Recording solution on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux web console.

To be able to deploy the Session Recording solution you need to have the following packages installed:

  • tlog
  • SSSD
  • cockpit-session-recording

2.1. Installing tlog
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Install the tlog packages.

Procedure

  • Use the following command: 

    # yum install tlog

2.2. Installing cockpit-session-recording
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The basic web console packages are a part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 by default. To be able to use the Session Recording solution, you have to install the cockpit-session-recording packages and start or enable the web console on your system:

Procedure

  1. Install cockpit-session-recording. 

    # yum install cockpit-session-recording

  2. Start or enable the web console on your system: 

    # systemctl start cockpit.socket
# systemctl enable cockpit.socket

    or 

    # systemctl enable cockpit.socket --now

If you use SSSD for authentication, you can configure session recording for users and groups from the command line.

Procedure

  1. Open the sssd-session-recording.conf configuration file: 

    # vi /etc/sssd/conf.d/sssd-session-recording.conf
    Note

    The sssd-session-recording.conf file is created automatically once you have opened the configuration page in the web console interface.

  2. To specify the scope of session recording, enter one of the following values for the scope option:

    • none to record no sessions.
    • some to record only specified sessions.
    • all to record all sessions.
  3. Optional: If you set the scope as some add the names of users and groups in comma-separated lists.

  4. To enable the SSSD profile, run the following command: 

    # authselect select sssd with-files-domain

Example 2.1. SSSD configuration

In the following example users example1 and example2, and group examples have session recording enabled. 

[session_recording]
scope = some
users = example1, example2
groups = examples

If you use SSSD for authentication, you can configure session recording for users and groups in the RHEL 8 web console.

Procedure

  1. Connect to the RHEL 8 web console locally by entering localhost:9090 or by entering your IP address <IP_ADDRESS>:9090 into your browser.

  2. Log in to the RHEL 8 web console.

    Important

    Your user has to have administrator privileges to be able to view recorded sessions.

  3. Go to the Session Recording page in the menu on the left.

  4. Click on the gear button in the right top corner.

    SSSD Configuration button

  5. Set your parameters in the SSSD Configuration table. Separate the lists of users and groups with commas.

    Example 2.2. Configuration of recorded users with SSSD

    SSSD Configuration
Important

Red Hat recommends configuring your recorded users using SSSD, either from the command line or directly from the RHEL 8 web console.

Without SSSD, there is no centralized management for policies. Administrators must set the shell for each user on every system individually, which makes it difficult to scale across multiple systems. Group-based configurations or exclusions such as exclude_users and exclude_groups are also not available. Additionally, tools like Cockpit Session Recording are designed to work with SSSD and might not function as expected without it.

  • To enable session recording without SSSD, change the shell of the user you want to record to /usr/bin/tlog-rec-session. 

    # sudo usermod -s /usr/bin/tlog-rec-session <user_name>

    The system uses the configuration in the tlog-rec-session.conf file to determine the user’s working shell.

2.6. Exporting recorded sessions to a file
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You can export your recorded sessions and their logs and copy them.

The following procedure shows how to export recorded sessions on a local system.

Prerequisites

  • Install the systemd-journal-remote package. 

    # yum install systemd-journal-remote

Procedure

  1. Create a directory to store exported recording sessions, such as `/tmp/dir: 

    # mkdir /tmp/dir

  2. Run the journalctl -o export command to export system journal entries related to tlog recordings: 

    # journalctl _COMM=tlog-rec _COMM=tlog-rec-sessio -o export | /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journal-remote -o /tmp/dir/example.journal -
    Note

    The COMM=tlog-rec-sessio COMM name is shortened due to a 15 character limit.

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