Options for insights-client command

As a system administrator with root privileges, you can use the insights-client command and its options to control the insights-client operation on your system.

Updates to the insights-client.rpm occur less often than updates to individual components in Red Hat Lightspeed. The frequency of updates could cause the man page to not include the most recent information about insights-client.

Each time you enter the insights-client command, the client collects data and sends it to Red Hat Lightspeed.

Note
Using the insights-client --display-name command to set the display name takes effect immediately, but does not run the insights-client.
Table 1. insights-client user command options
Option Description

--help

-h

Display help information

--register

Register the host to Red Hat Lightspeed by using the information in /etc/hostname. Enables the nightly cron job unless --disable-schedule is set.

--unregister

Unregister the host from Red Hat Lightspeed.

--display-name=DISPLAY_NAME

Set or change the host display name in the GUI. Use it with the --register option to set the value of display_name during the host registration if you want to use a different name than the one specified in /etc/hostname. You can also use the --display-name option after registration to override the name shown for this host in Red Hat Lightspeed inventory.

--group=GROUP

Add a host to a GROUP during registration. Define Group names in /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml.

--retry=RETRIES

Set the number of times to retry an upload. The default is 1. The retry interval is 180 seconds, which is how long the insights-client waits until retrying the upload.

NOTE: In the scheduler, the number of retries is 3.

--validate

Validate /etc/insights-client/tags.yaml, /etc/insights-client/file-redaction.yaml, and /etc/insights-client/file-content-redaction.yaml files.

--quiet

Log only error messages to the terminal output.

--silent

Disable message logging to the terminal.

--enable-schedule

Enable the job schedule. By default, the insights-client runs daily, at or near midnight.

--disable-schedule

Disable the nightly job schedule.

--conf=CONF

-c=CONF

Use a custom configuration file by specifying a file path for CONF instead of using the default /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf file.

IMPORTANT: This option is not available for RHEL 10 systems.

--no-upload

Runs the insights-client without uploading the archive to Red Hat Lightspeed. The archive is stored in the /var/tmp/ directory. When the command completes running, the file name displays.

--offline

Run the client without using network functionality. Using this command does not upload data to Red Hat Lightspeed, similar to using the --no-upload option.

--logging-file=LOGFILE

Write the log data to the specified log file. The default log file is /var/log/insights-client/insights-client.log.

IMPORTANT: This option is not available for RHEL 10 systems.

--diagnosis

Get diagnostic information from the API. The system must be registered and uploaded at least once to use the --diagnosis option.

--compliance

Scan the system with OpenSCAP and upload the report to the Red Hat Lightspeed compliance service in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.

--compliance-policies

List the policies available to assign to the system. The output also provides information for the following categories:

Assigned
Lists the status of the policy as False (system does not have the policy assigned) or True (system has the policy assigned).
ID
Lists the unique ID (UUID) for the policy.
Title
Lists the name of the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) policy to which you can add your system.

--compliance-assign

Assign the system to the policy by using the ID from the insights-client --compliance-policies output.

--compliance-unassign

Remove the system from the policy by using the ID from the insights-client --compliance-policies output.

--payload=PAYLOAD

Upload a specific archive payload file to Red Hat Lightspeed. You must set --content-type.

--content-type=TYPE

Set the content type for the PAYLOAD option. The TYPE value can be gz, bz2, xz, or none. The value of TYPE must match the --compressor used with the payload file.

--show-results

Display analysis results by using the --check-results option.

--output-dir=DIR

Write the collection to a specified directory instead of uploading to Red Hat Lightspeed.

--output-file=FILE

Write the collection to a specified archive instead of uploading to Red Hat Lightspeed.

--ansible-host=ANSIBLE-HOST

Set or change the Ansible hostname in Red Hat Lightspeed inventory. Run this during registration to specify a different hostname from the one listed in /etc/hostname or the configuration file. This also overrides the hostname that Red Hat Lightspeed remediations injects into generated playbooks targeting the Ansible host.

--list-specs

Show insights-client collection specs.

--build-packagecache

Refresh the system package manager cache.

--manifest=MANIFEST

The specified manifest YAML file that defines what Red Hat Lightspeed Core should collect.

--checkin

Do a lightweight check-in instead of a full upload.

--collector=APPLICATION

Run the specified application and upload its generated archive.

For example, specify:

  • --collector malware-detection to use Red Hat Lightspeed to help detect the presence of malware. For more information, see the Additional resources section.
  • --collector compliance to instruct Red Hat Lightspeed to scan the system with OpenSCAP and upload the report. You can get the same result by using the --compliance option.

Additionally, use the following insights-client command options when you need to debug insights-client operations:

Table 2. insights-client debug options
Option Description

--version

Print the versions of insights-client Client and Core.

--test-connection

Test connectivity to the Red Hat Lightspeed services.

--verbose

Log all debug output to the console.

--no-upload

Run the client, but do not upload the archive. The client stores the archive in the /var/tmp/ directory. The file name displays when insights-client completes.

--keep-archive

Store the archive in the /var/cache/insights-client/ directory after upload.

--support

Generate a diagnostic log for support.

--status

Display host registration status.

--net-debug

Log network calls to the console.