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Chapter 8. Changing the insights-client schedule

You can disable, enable, and modify the schedule that controls when the Red Hat Lightspeed client runs. By default, the Red Hat Lightspeed client runs every 24 hours. The timers in the default schedules vary so that all systems do not run the client at the same time.

You must disable the client schedule before you can change the default Red Hat Lightspeed client settings and create a new schedule.

The procedure you use to disable the insights-client schedule depends on your Red Hat Enterprise Linux and client versions.

Additional resources

8.1.1. Disabling the client schedule
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Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system

  • Red Hat Lightspeed client version 3.x and later

    • NOTE: The --no-schedule option is deprecated in Client 3.x and later.

Procedure

  1. Enter the insights-client command with the --version option to verify you have the required client version installed. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --version
Client: 3.0.6-0
Core: 3.0.121-1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Enter the insights-client command with the --disable-schedule option to disable the client schedule. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --disable-schedule
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

When you first enable the client schedule, it runs using its default settings. If you make changes to the schedule, those settings take precedence.

When you run insights-client from the command line, Red Hat Lightspeed client runs using the settings you specify for only that session. When the next scheduled run takes place, it uses the default settings.

You can enable the client schedule so that it runs on its default settings. If you change the default schedule settings, the changed settings take precedence.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.
  • The client schedule is disabled.
  • (Optional) You modified the default schedule.

Procedure

  1. To verify the client version, enter the insights-client command with the --version option. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --version
Client: 3.0.6-0
Core: 3.0.121-1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Enter the insights-client command with the --enable-schedule option to enable the client schedule. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --enable-schedule
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

To change when the Red Hat Lightspeed client runs, modify the schedule. The method that you use depends on the RHEL release and client version that your system is running.

Select the procedure that matches your version of RHEL.

  • For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 and earlier, use cron to modify the system schedule.
  • For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 and later, update the systemd settings and the insights-client-timer file.
Note

Use this for systems running RHEL 7.5 and later with Client 3.x.

You can change the default schedule for running insights-client by updating the system systemd settings and the insights-client.timer file.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.

Procedure

  1. To edit the settings in the insights-client.timer file, enter the systemctl edit command and the file name. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# systemctl edit insights-client.timer
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This action opens an empty file with the default system editor, on RHEL 6, 7, and 8. On RHEL 9 and later, running the command opens a file with a template that includes the original systemd service file as a reference.

  2. Enter different settings to modify the schedule. The values in this example are the default settings for systemd. 

    [Timer]
OnCalendar=daily
RandomizedDelaySec=14400
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Enable the insights-client schedule. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --enable-schedule
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Additional resources

Red Hat Lightspeed now provides the optional --build-packagecache command to provide accurate reporting for applicable updates on Satellite-managed systems. This option rebuilds the yum/dnf package caches for insights-client, and creates a refreshed list of applicable updates for the system.

You can run the command manually to rebuild the package caches immediately, or you can edit the client configuration file (/etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf) to rebuild the package caches automatically each time the system checks in to Red Hat Lightspeed.

Additional resources

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