Chapter 4. Organize systems in Red Hat Lightspeed by using filtering and tags


Filter and organize your systems in Red Hat Lightspeed by using SAP workload tags, Satellite host group tags, and custom tags. Tagging enables you to focus on specific system groups across multiple services, which simplifies management for large-scale deployments.

4.1. Filters and tags for SAP workloads

Red Hat Lightspeed helps SAP administrators by automatically tagging systems by SAP workload type and SAP ID (SID). As more organizations run SAP workloads on Linux, this feature makes it easier to filter and organize SAP systems efficiently.

Use these automatic tags to filter and organize your SAP systems throughout the Red Hat Lightspeed application. No customization or manual tagging is required. To filter to view your SAP workloads, use Workloads > SAP.

4.2. Filters and tags for Satellite host groups

Satellite host groups are configured in Satellite and are automatically recognized by Red Hat Lightspeed.

4.3. Custom system tagging

Apply custom tags to your registered systems to add contextual markers and organize your Red Hat Lightspeed inventory. With custom tags, you can filter and focus on related groups of systems, which simplifies management for large-scale deployments.

You can also apply predefined tags to your systems. The advisor service uses predefined tags to generate targeted recommendations for systems that require specific attention, such as those with high security needs.

4.3.1. Filter structure

Filters use a namespace=value or key=value paired structure.

  • Namespace. The namespace is the name of the ingestion point, insights-client. This value cannot be changed. The tags.yaml file is abstracted from the namespace, which is injected by the client before upload.
  • Key. You can create the key or use a predefined key from the system. You can use a mix of capitalization, letters, numbers, symbols, and whitespace.
  • Value. You can define your own descriptive string value. You can use a mix of capitalization, letters, numbers, symbols, and whitespace.

To create and add tags to /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml, use insights-client with the --group=<name-you-choose> option. Running this command on your systems that are registered to Red Hat Lightspeed completes the following actions:

  • Creates the etc/insights-client/tags.yaml file
  • Adds the group= key and <name-you-choose> value to tags.yaml
  • Uploads a fresh archive from the system to the Red Hat Lightspeed service, making the new tag immediately visible along with your latest results

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command as root, adding your custom group name in place of <name-you-choose>:

    [root@server ~]# insights-client --group=<name-you-choose>
  2. Optional: To add additional tags, edit the /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml file.
  3. Navigate to Inventory Systems and log in if necessary.
  4. Click the Filter by tags drop-down menu. You can also use the search box to enter all or part of the tag’s name to automatically show systems with that text in the tags.
  5. Scroll up or down the list to locate the tag.
  6. Click the tag to filter by it.
  7. Verify that your system is among the results on the advisor systems list.

    1. Navigate to Inventory Systems and log in if necessary.
    2. Activate the Name filter and begin typing the system name until you see your system, then select it.
    3. The tag symbol is a darker color, and the number beside it shows the correct number of tags applied.

Edit the tags.yaml file to add or modify custom system tags after creating a group tag. Using custom system tags can help you streamline the organization and filtering of systems when you use Red Hat Lightspeed inventory and other services.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.

Procedure

  1. Open the tag configuration file, tags.yaml, in an editor.

    [root@server ~]# vim /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml
  2. Edit the file contents or add additional key=value pairs. Add additional key=value pairs if needed. Use a mix of capitalization, letters, numbers, symbols, and whitespace. The following example shows how to organize tags.yaml when adding more than one tag to a system.

    group: _group-name-value_
    location: _location-name-value_
    description:
    - RHEL8
    - SAP
    key 4: value
  3. Save your changes and close the editor.
  4. Initiate an upload to Red Hat Lightspeed.

    [root@server ~]# insights-client
  5. Navigate to Inventory Systems and log in if necessary.
  6. In the Filter Results box, click the down arrow and select one of the filters or enter the name of the filter and select it.

    Note

    You can search by the tag key or by its value.

  7. Find your system among the results.
  8. Verify that the filter icon is highlighted and shows a number representing the number of filters applied to the system.

4.4. Predefined tags

In addition to custom tags, Red Hat Lightspeed provides predefined tags that the advisor service can use to create targeted recommendations. These predefined tags are useful for systems that require more security or need different networking performance levels.

To get the extended security hardening and enhanced detection and remediation capabilities offered by predefined tags, opt in and configure the tags. After configuration, the advisor service provides recommendations based on tailored severity levels and the preferred network performance that applies to your systems.

Use the /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml file to tag systems with predefined tags, similar to how you tag systems in the inventory service. The predefined tags are configured using the same key=value structure used to create custom tags. Details about the Red Hat-predefined tags are in the following table:

Expand
Table 4.1. List of supported predefined tags
KeyValueNote

security

normal (default) / strict

With the normal (default) value, the advisor service compares the system’s risk profile to a baseline that comes from the default configuration of the most recent version of RHEL and from often-used usage patterns. This option keeps recommendations focused, actionable, and low in numbers. The strict value is best for systems that are security-sensitive. This option uses a stricter baseline and can show recommendations even on the most up-to-date RHEL installations.

network_performance

null (default) / latency / throughput

The network performance values, either latency or throughput according to your business requirement, affect the severity of an advisor service recommendation to a system.

Note

The names of predefined tag keys are reserved for specific use. If you already use the key security, with a value that differs from one of the predefined values, you do not see a change in your recommendations. You only see a change in recommendations if your existing key=value is the same as one of the predefined keys. For example, if you have a key=value of security: high, your recommendations do not change because of the predefined tags that Red Hat has already defined. If you currently have a key=value pair of security: strict, you see a change in the recommendations for your systems.

4.4.1. Configure predefined tags

Configure predefined tags to adjust recommendations and gain extended security hardening, enhanced detection, and remediation capabilities within the Red Hat Lightspeed advisor service.

Prerequisites

  • You have root-level access to your system.
  • You have insights-client installed.
  • You have systems registered within the insights-client.
  • You have created the tags.yaml file. For information about creating the tags.yaml file, see Configure custom group tags.

Procedure

  1. Use the command line and your preferred editor to open /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml. (The following example uses Vim.)

    [root@server ~]# vi /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml
  2. Edit the /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml file to add the predefined key=value pair for the tags. This example shows how to add security: strict and network_performance: latency tags.

    # cat /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml
    group: redhat
    location: Brisbane/Australia
    description:
    - RHEL8
    - SAP
    security: strict
    network_performance: latency
  3. Save your changes.
  4. Close the editor.
  5. Optional: Run the insights-client command to generate an upload to Red Hat Lightspeed, or wait until the next scheduled Red Hat Lightspeed upload.

    [root@server ~]# insights-client

Verification

After generating an upload to Red Hat Lightspeed (or waiting for the next scheduled Red Hat Lightspeed upload), you can discover whether the tags are in the production environment by accessing Red Hat Lightspeed > RHEL > Inventory > Systems. Find your system and look for the newly created tags. A table displays:

  • Name
  • Value
  • Tag Source (for example, insights-client).

The following image of the advisor service shows a system with the network_performance: latency tag configured.

shows a recommendation that has a higher Total Risk that is Important and another recommendation that has a Total Risk of Moderate

The system shows a recommendation with a higher Total Risk level of Important. The system without the network_performance: latency tag has a Total Risk of Moderate. You can make decisions about prioritizing the system with higher Total Risk.

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