Chapter 9. Preparing the system for IdM client installation

This chapter describes the conditions your system must meet to install an Identity Management (IdM) client.

9.1. DNS requirements for IdM clients

Client installer by default tries to search for _ldap._tcp.DOMAIN DNS SRV records for all domains that are parent to its hostname. For example, if a client machine has a hostname client1.idm.example.com, the installer will try to retrieve an IdM server hostname from _ldap._tcp.idm.example.com, _ldap._tcp.example.com and _ldap._tcp.com DNS SRV records, respectively. The discovered domain is then used to configure client components (for example, SSSD and Kerberos 5 configuration) on the machine.

However, the hostnames of IdM clients are not required to be part of the primary DNS domain. If the client machine hostname is not in a subdomain of an IdM server, pass the IdM domain as the --domain option of the ipa-client-install command. In that case, after the installation of the client, both SSSD and Kerberos components will have the domain set in their configuration files and will use it to autodiscover IdM servers.

Additional resources

9.2. Port requirements for IdM clients

Identity Management (IdM) clients connect to a number of ports on IdM servers to communicate with their services.

On IdM client, these ports must be open in the outgoing direction. If you are using a firewall that does not filter outgoing packets, such as firewalld, the ports are already available in the outgoing direction.

Additional resources

9.3. Packages required to install an IdM client

In RHEL8, the packages necessary for installing an Identity Management (IdM) client are shipped as a module. Two IdM streams provide IdM client packages:

9.3.1. Installing ipa-client packages from the idm:client stream

The idm:client stream is the default stream of the idm module. Use this stream to download the IdM client packages if you do not need to install server components on your machine. Using the idm:client stream is especially recommended if you need to consistently use IdM client software that is supported long-term, provided you do not need server components, too.

Important

When switching to the idm:client stream after you previously enabled the idm:DL1 stream and downloaded packages from it, you need to first explicitly remove all the relevant installed content and disable the idm:DL1 stream before enabling the idm:client stream. Trying to enable a new stream without disabling the current one results in an error. For details on how to proceed, see Switching to a later stream.

Procedure

  • To download the packages necessary for installing an IdM client: 

    # yum module install idm

9.3.2. Installing ipa-client packages from the idm:DL1 stream

The idm:DL1 stream needs to be enabled before you can download packages from it. Use this stream to download the IdM client packages if you need to install IdM server components on your machine.

Important

When switching to the idm:DL1 stream after you previously enabled the idm:client stream and downloaded packages from it, you need to first explicitly remove all the relevant installed content and disable the idm:client stream before enabling the idm:DL1 stream. Trying to enable a new stream without disabling the current one results in an error. For details on how to proceed, see Switching to a later stream.

Procedure

  1. To switch to the RPMs delivered through the idm:DL1 stream: 

    # yum module enable idm:DL1
# yum distro-sync

  2. To download the packages necessary for installing an IdM client: 

    # yum module install idm:DL1/client