Deploying Red Hat Insights on existing RHEL systems managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure

Red Hat Insights 2023

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

The following guidance is for users who wish to deploy Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on a provisioned Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI).
Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. We are beginning with these four terms: master, slave, blacklist, and whitelist. Because of the enormity of this endeavor, these changes will be implemented gradually over several upcoming releases. For more details, see our CTO Chris Wright's message.

Chapter 1. Deployment of Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on cloud-marketplace RHEL managed by RHUI

This guide is for users who wish to deploy Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an existing, cloud marketplace-purchased Red Hat Enterprise Linux system managed by Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI).

Chapter 2. Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployment overview

To start using Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you must perform the following actions on each system you want to monitor and assess:

  • Install the client.
Note

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL8) ships with Red Hat Insights preinstalled, so the Insights client installation procedure is not required on RHEL8 systems. All RHEL systems, no matter which version, must be registered with the Red Hat Insights service.

  • Configure the client to use basic authentication.
  • Register the system to Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

2.1. Installing the client package

Note

The Insights client installation procedure is not required on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL8) systems.

Install the client package on each system.

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command to install the current version of the Insights client package: 

    [root@server ~]# yum install insights-client

2.2. Basic authentication overview

Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux can use two types of authentication to validate system access to the Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux services. The default authentication method is through certificates. Certificates are generated when you register a system with Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) or when your system is managed by Red Hat Network Satellite system management.

An alternative authentication method is through SSO credentials. A valid Red Hat SSO credential is created when you have a valid Red Hat Customer Portal user name. In order to use SSO credentials with Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you must configure your system to use basic authentication.

2.2.1. When to use basic authentication

You must use basic authentication in any of the following situations:

  • Your RHEL system is not registered with Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM).
  • Your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) system is not managed by Red Hat Network Satellite services.
  • Your RHEL system is provisioned through a Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider and is updated by Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI).
  • Your RHEL system is from a cloud marketplace provider and not obtained through Red Hat Cloud Access program.
Note

If you have valid RHEL subscriptions for your system, you can switch between the default certificate-based authentication for Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the basic authentication for Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you are configuring basic authentication on a new RHEL system, you must complete the basic authentication procedures before you can register the Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux client application.

2.2.2. Configuration requirements for basic authentication

When you configure your system to use single sign-on (SSO) credentials for basic authentication instead of the default certificate-based authentication for Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you provide Red Hat SSO credentials. SSO credentials are a valid Red Hat Customer Portal user name and password.

To configure basic authentication, a plain-text username and password is stored in the configuration file. As a best practice, create a Red Hat Customer Portal account with SSO credentials that are used only for Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux basic authentication. This action avoids exposing the SSO credentials of individual users.

2.2.3. How to know if you must configure basic authentication

The following messages might appear when you attempt to register a system that does not have a Red Hat authentication certificate. If you see === End Upload URL Connection Test: FAILURE ===, configure your system for basic authentication. 

insights-client --register
Running connection test...
Connection test config:
=== Begin Certificate Chain Test ===
depth=1
verify error:num=0
verify return:1
depth=0
verify error:num=0
verify return:1
=== End Certificate Chain Test: SUCCESS ===

=== Begin Upload URL Connection Test ===
HTTP Status Code: 401
HTTP Status Text: Unauthorized
HTTP Response Text:
Connection failed
=== End Upload URL Connection Test: FAILURE ===

=== Begin API URL Connection Test ===
HTTP Status Code: 200
HTTP Status Text: OK
HTTP Response Text: lub-dub
Successfully connected to: https://cert-api.access.redhat.com/r/insights/
=== End API URL Connection Test: SUCCESS ===

Connectivity tests completed with some errors
See /var/log/insights-client/insights-client.log for more details.

2.3. Configuring basic authentication

Insights client configuration is managed in /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf. This file provides a configuration template for setting up basic authentication. The default configuration for certificate-based authentication is as follows: 

auto_config=TRUE
authmethod=BASIC
username=<your customer portal username>
password=<your customer portal password>

Prerequisites

  • You have a Red Hat SSO username and SSO password that can be stored in clear text.
  • You have read/write permissions in the directory /etc/insights-client/.
  • The insights-client package is installed on your system.

Procedure

  1. Use a text editor to open the file /etc/insights-client/insights-client.conf
  2. Change auto_config=TRUE value to auto_config=FALSE.
  3. Replace <your customer portal username> with a Red Hat SSO username.
  4. Replace <your customer portal password> with a Red Hat SSO password.
  5. Save the configuration and exit the editor.

  6. Register the system. 

    # insights-client --register

2.4. Registering the system to Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Register the system to communicate with the Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux service and to view results displayed in the Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux application console.

Prerequisites

  • Root-level access to Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command to register the system. 

    [root@server ~]# insights-client --register

2.5. Viewing your Insights results

System and infrastructure results can be viewed in the Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux application dashboard.

The dashboard provides links to each available Insights service. This includes advisor, drift, vulnerability, compliance, policies and patch. From this starting point, you can proactively identify and manage issues affecting system security, performance, stability and availability.

Prerequisites

  • The insights-client package is installed on your system.
  • You have a login account for Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console with privileges that allow you to review the Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux dashboard.

Procedure

  1. Access the Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux dashboard.
  2. When the dashboard appears, click on the Inventory tab.
  3. Confirm that your system name appears in the list of system names that are registered with the Insights client.

Providing feedback on Red Hat documentation

We appreciate your feedback on our documentation. To provide feedback, highlight text in a document and add comments.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  • In the Red Hat Customer Portal, the document is in the Multi-page HTML viewing format.

Procedure

To provide your feedback, perform the following steps:

  1. Click the Feedback button in the top-right corner of the document to see existing feedback.

    Note

    The feedback feature is enabled only in the Multi-page HTML format.

  2. Highlight the section of the document where you want to provide feedback.

  3. Click the Add Feedback pop-up that appears near the highlighted text.

    A text box appears in the feedback section on the right side of the page.

  4. Enter your feedback in the text box and click Submit.

    A documentation issue is created.

  5. To view the issue, click the issue link in the feedback view.

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