Chapter 2. Installing insights-client
You can install Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an existing system that is managed by Red Hat infrastructure, or you can install it on a minimal installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
After you install the Insights client, you need to register your system. For more information about registering systems, refer to Configuring authentication.
2.1. Installing insights-client on an existing system managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure
Use these instructions to deploy Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an existing, cloud marketplace-purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux system managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI).
Prerequisites
- Root-level access for the system.
Procedure
Enter the following command to install the current version of the Insights client package:
RHEL versions 6 and 7
[root@server ~]# yum install insights-client
RHEL version 8 and later
[root@server ~]# dnf install insights-client
2.2. How the Insights client CLI and configuration file interact
The Insights client runs automatically, according to its scheduler settings. By default, it runs every 24 hours. To run the client interactively, enter the insights-client command.
When the client runs, the following values and settings control its behavior:
-
Values that you provide when you run
insights-clientfrom the CLI temporarily override the preset configuration file settings and system environment settings. Any values that you provide for options in theinsights-clientcommand are used only for that instance of Insights client. -
Settings in the configuration files (
/etc/insights-client/insights-client.confand/etc/insights-client/remove.conf) override system environment settings. -
Values of any system environment variables (
printenv) are not affected by the CLI or the client configuration files.
If you are using RHEL 6.9 or earlier, the client command is redhat-access-insights.
2.3. Installing Insights client on a minimal installation of RHEL
The Insights client is not automatically installed on systems running the minimal installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
For more information about minimal installations, see Configuring software selection in Performing a standard RHEL installation.
Prerequisites
- Root-level access to the system.
Procedure
- To create a minimal installation with the Insights client, select Minimal Installation from the RHEL Software Selection options in the Anaconda installer.
-
Make sure to select the Standard checkbox in the Additional Software for Selected Environment section. The Standard option includes the
insights-clientpackage in the RHEL installation.
If you do not select the Standard checkbox, RHEL installs without the insights-client package. If that happens, use dnf install to install the Insights client at a later time.
2.4. How to resolve the Insights Client/real-time scheduling issue
The Insights client executes a number of commands that collect data on your system. Therefore, it has a configuration restriction that limits its CPU usage to no more than 30%. This restriction is defined in the configuration file:
insights-client-boot.service: CPUQuota=30%
This configuration prevents the Insights client from creating a CPU spike on your system. This spike could interfere with other applications running on your system. Specifically, it could prevent applications that depend on real-time scheduling from initiating.
If you need to enable real-time scheduling you can disable the CPU quota restriction. The risk of removing this configuration is minimal. However, it is possible that when the Insights client runs, the CPU usage may become unusually high. If this situation occurs and negatively impacts other services on your system, please contact Red Hat support for assistance.
