Chapter 1. Client tools and components

The rhc client is the recommended tool to register and manage your RHEL systems that are connected to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. Use the rhc client to register and connect systems directly to Red Hat services.

The rhc client works in conjunction with insights-client and subscription-manager to offer a unified client experience including the registration of the system to Red Hat, and the configuration of feature levels and the remote management capabilities.

The remote host configuration service includes the following two main components:

The remote host configuration (rhc) client enables the following capabilities:

RHC client components and support. The rhc client is preinstalled and fully supported with all Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.6 and later installations, with the exception of minimal installations. The rhc client consists of the following utility programs:

Remote remediation using the remote host configuration manager. To enable or disable Red Hat Lightspeed remediation capabiliities for systems that connect using the rhc client and that are also running the yggdrasil daemon, use the remote host configuration manager.

You can access the remote host configuration manager, by logging in to the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console as a user with RHC user privileges. To make changes to settings in the remote host configuration manager, located at Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console > Red Hat Lightspeed > Inventory > System Configuration > Remote Host Configuration (RHC), you need RHC administrator privileges.

As an option, you can use the subscription-manager client to directly register your RHEL systems, but the available RHSM features will be limited with Red Hat Lightspeed. Registering with only the subscription-manager client will establish your system’s identity and provide access to the Red Hat Content Delivery Network (CDN) for updates and packages. For additional features provided by Red Hat Lightspeed, consider using the rhc client.

The insights-client is mainly responsible for collecting data for analytics provided by Red Hat Lightspeed. The insights-client relies on the subscription-manager client to establish the identity of the system.

The insights-client is available for the following releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

Understand how the role-based access control (RBAC) User Access feature of the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console manages user permissions through roles instead of individual user assignments. User Access simplifies permission management by assigning specific permissions to roles, which can then be assigned to user groups.

You can also create custom groups and roles to provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed to suit the needs of your organization.

If you are an Organization Administrator, you can use the User Access feature under Identity & Access Management in the Hybrid Cloud Console to:

Understand the two predefined groups available in User Access: Default access and Default admin access. Create custom groups to align permissions with specific personas, job functions, or teams in your organization.

The Default admin access group includes many (but not all) predefined roles that provide update and delete permissions. The roles in this group usually include administrator in their names.

Understand how predefined roles in Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console bundle permissions across multiple Red Hat Lightspeed applications to align with common user personas. Use predefined roles to reduce administrative effort, or create custom roles for more fine-tuned control over specific features.

The predefined roles are a starting point to help you to control and manage user permissions. You can then use these roles to create custom roles that are tailored to your specific use cases and organization. For example, you can use the predefined granular roles to create custom roles that provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed.

By default, Red Hat provides a set of consolidated roles and a set of granular roles in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console User Access UI. The consolidated roles significantly reduce the administrative effort required to manage user permissions, while the granular roles provide more fine-tuned control over specific features of Red Hat Lightspeed.

You can use the predefined consolidated and granular roles in User Access simultaneously, but using consolidated roles can significantly reduce the administrative effort.

Verify your current permissions and the roles or groups assigned to you in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. Check your permissions to troubleshoot access issues or understand your level of access to Red Hat Lightspeed applications.

You can also filter your permissions by application, for example, by advisor, cost management, inventory, and remediations.

If you are an Organization Administrator, you can view and manage user permissions for all users in your organization. Control access to Red Hat Lightspeed and other Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console services through the User Access interface.

Understand the predefined roles that control permissions to manage and remediate your RHEL systems remotely using the remote host configuration manager with Red Hat Lightspeed. Use these role definitions to assign appropriate permissions to users based on their responsibilities.

The following User Access roles enable standard or enhanced access to the remote host configuration manager in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console:

See also the following information about the required User Access roles for remotely executing remediation plans in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console:

You can install insights-client on an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system connected to Red Hat Cloud Access to get automated system health checks and other services to find and fix problems before they cause problems with systems in your organization.

You can install the insights-client on an existing, cloud marketplace-purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux system that is managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) to get automated system health checks and other services to find and fix issues before they cause problems with systems in your organization.