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Chapter 4. Manage system operations and configuration settings

Manage system connectivity, display settings, and client schedules by using rhc and insights-client.

4.1. The remote host configuration manager
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The remote host configuration manager controls global remote host configuration settings to enable or disable remediations playbook execution, which affects remediation plans for Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems connecting to Red Hat Lightspeed.

You can use the remote host configuration manager to edit remote host configuration connection settings to enable and disable permissions to run remediation playbooks on rhc-connected systems.

Prerequisites

  • You must be logged into the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.
  • You must have RHC administrator privileges.

Procedure

Set a 10-second MQTT reconnect delay in remote host configuration (rhc) configuration to maintain a strong connection with Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console for remote management and monitoring.

Prerequisites

  • You have root-level access to the system or sudo permissions.
  • You have an rhc version that is between 0.2.4 and version 0.3.

Procedure

  1. Open the following file: /etc/rhc/config.toml
  2. Add this option to the file mqtt-reconnect-delay = "10s"
  3. Save your changes.

  4. Restart the rhcd service: 

    # systemctl restart rhcd.service

Verification

  • Enter the following command: 

    # systemctl status rhcd.service

  • If the command is successful, the following output is displayed: 

    # `Active: active (running)`

    The statement also includes a timestamp.

4.2. System connectivity and networking
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Configure network and firewall settings to allow outbound connections to Red Hat Lightspeed for registration and data transfer.

To connect your RHEL systems to Red Hat Lightspeed for registration and data transfer, your network configuration and firewall must allow outbound traffic. If your network uses a proxy, configure your RHEL systems to route outbound connections through it.

Review the required prerequisites to verify that your firewall rules and network settings allow RHEL clients to register and send data to Red Hat Lightspeed.

Additionally, to use remote management capabilities, verify that connections to required Red Hat systems on standard ports and the MQTT port are open.

For subscription-manager, the system must be able to reach the following destination and TCP ports:

  • subscription.rhn.redhat.com:443 (https)
  • subscription.rhsm.redhat.com:443 (https)
  • cdn.redhat.com:443 (https)
  • *.akamaiedge.net:443 (https)
  • *.akamaitechnologies.com:443 (https)

4.2.2. The insights-client destinations and ports
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For Red Hat Lightspeed to collect data, the system must be able to reach the following destination and TCP ports:

  • api.access.redhat.com:443 (https)
  • cert-api.access.redhat.com:443 (https)

For the rhc daemon (rhcd) to communicate with the MQTT message broker, the system must be able to reach the following destination:

  • connect.cloud.redhat.com:443 (https)

4.2.4. Add a proxy for rhc
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When you run rhc on your RHEL systems, the system attempts to establish connections to several Red Hat endpoints. The registration fails if you cannot reach the Red Hat endpoints. To work around this issue, add a proxy for rhc to connect to Red Hat.

Prerequisites

  • You have root-level access to your system

Procedure

  1. Add a proxy for rhc to connect to Red Hat: 

    # mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/rhcd.service.d
     
    # cat /etc/systemd/system/rhcd.service.d/proxy.conf
     
    [Service]
Environment=HTTPS_PROXY=http://proxy.corp.com:8888
     
    # systemctl daemon-reload
     
    # systemctl restart rhcd

4.3. System display and status
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Manage system identity and connection status to maintain accurate inventory and prevent duplicate entries that can lead to inaccurate reporting.

4.3.1. Change the host display name
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Use insights-client to set a custom display name during or after registration to improve inventory identification. If you do not assign a display name, Red Hat Lightspeed uses the value in /etc/hostname.

Note

Using the insights-client command to set the display name takes effect immediately, but does not run the client.

Note

If you obfuscate the hostname, the hostname configured in /etc/hostname is obfuscated. Assign a display name so that you can identify a host even when its hostname is obfuscated.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to the system.

Procedure

  • Enter the insights-client command with the --display-name option and specify a display name. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --display-name ITC-4
System display name changed from None to ITC-4

  • To create a display name that contains spaces, use double quotes. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --display-name "ITC-4"
System display name changed from None to ITC-4

4.3.2. Display the client version
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You can display the insights-client version and client core version.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.

Procedure

  • Enter the insights-client command with the --version option. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --version
Client: 3.0.6-0
Core: 3.0.121-1

Control when insights-client runs by disabling, enabling, or modifying the default 24-hour schedule.

By default, the insights-client runs every 24 hours. The timers in the default schedules are random so that all systems do not run the client at the same time. You can disable, enable, or modify the schedule to control when the system performs data collection, although changes from the default might affect performance. To ensure that host information remains up-to-date, extending the timers beyond 24 hours is not recommended.

4.4.1. Disable the insights-client schedule
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You must disable the client schedule before you can change the default insights-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.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system

  • The insights-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 that you have the required client version installed. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --version
Client: 3.0.6-0
Core: 3.0.121-1

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

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --disable-schedule

4.4.2. Enable the insights-client schedule
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When you enable the client schedule, it runs using its default settings. If you change the schedule, those settings take precedence.

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

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. Verify the client version on your system by entering the insights-client command with the --version option. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --version
Client: 3.0.6-0
Core: 3.0.121-1

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

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --enable-schedule

You can change when the insights-client runs by modifying the schedule. The method that you use depends on the RHEL release and client version that your system is running. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 and later, you can update the systemd settings and the insights-client.timer file.

Important

If you update the schedule using cron or the systemd.timer, those customized settings take precedence. However, if you change settings using the insights-client on the command line, the settings apply only to that session. When the next scheduled run takes place, the client uses your persistent customized settings.

Note

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 and earlier, use cron to modify the system schedule. For more information about using cron, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution, What is cron and how is it used?.

Prerequisites

  • You have root-user 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

    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

  3. Enable the insights-client schedule. 

    [root@rhlightspeed]# insights-client --enable-schedule
    • For more information, refer to the man pages for systemctl(1), systemd.timer(5), and systemd.time(7) to understand systemd

Re-enable the settings for automatic collection rule updates in the insights-client configuration to keep collection rules current. Automatic rule collections helps you benefit from the latest security and performance analyses provided by Red Hat Lightspeed.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.
  • Automatic rule collection is disabled.

Procedure

  1. Open the /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf file with an editor.

  2. Locate the line that contains the following: 

    auto_update=False

  3. Change False to True. 

    auto_update=True
  4. Save and close the /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf file.

4.4.5. Disable automatic rule updates
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Disable automatic collection rule updates in the insights-client configuration. Automatic updates keep collection rules current, so disabling them is not recommended because you do not receive the most recent collection rule updates from Red Hat’s hosted services.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to your system.
  • Automatic rule updates are enabled.

Procedure

  1. Open the /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf file with an editor.

  2. Locate the line that contains 

    #auto_update=True

  3. Remove the # and change True to False. 

    auto_update=False
  4. Save and close the /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf file.

You can use the --build-packagecache option 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.

Run the command manually to rebuild the package caches immediately. Alternatively, edit /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf to rebuild the package caches automatically each time the system checks in to Red Hat Lightspeed.

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