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Getting Started

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4 SUSE Manager Setup

4.1 Topics
4.2 SUSE Manager Setup

4.1 Topics #

This section covers SUSE Manager setup. You will perform the following procedures:

Start SUSE Manager setup via YaST or command line
Create the main administration account with the SUSE Manager Web UI
Name your base organization and add login credentials
Sync the SUSE Linux Enterprise product channel from SUSE Customer Center

4.2 SUSE Manager Setup #

Warning: Third Party Software

SUSE Manager is an extension of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and compatible with the software shipped with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

SUSE Manager is a complex system, and therefore installing third party is not allowed. Installing monitoring software provided by a third party vendor is allowed only if you do not exchange basic libraries such as SSL, cryptographic software, and similar tools. In case of emergency, SUSE reserves the right to ask to remove any third party software (and associated configuration changes) and then to reproduce the problem on a clean system.

This section will guide you through SUSE Manager setup procedures.

Procedure: SUSE Manager Setup #

Login to the SUSE Manager server desktop and perform one of the following actions to begin setup:
- Select Applications › System Tools › YaST › SUSE Manager Setup.
- Open a terminal as root and type yast2 susemanager_setup to begin setup.
From the introduction screen select SUSE Manager Setup › Setup SUSE Manager from scratch. Then click Next to continue.
Enter the email address that should receive status notifications about SUSE Manager. The number of emails sent from SUSE Manager can be extensive, therefore notifications via email may be disabled from the Web UI after setup. Then click Next to continue.
Enter your certificate information and a password. The password should be stored in a secure location.
Important: Certificate Password
Without this password it will not be possible to set up a SUSE Manager Proxy Server.
Click Next to continue.
From the SUSE Manager Setup › Database Settings screen, enter a database user and password. This password should be stored in a secure location. Then click Next to continue.
Enter your SUSE Customer Center Organization Credentials. Open https://scc.suse.com/login to register or access to your organization credentials.
Note: Skip
If you are using SUSE Enterprise products, SUSE Manager requires that you connect to SUSE Customer Center for software, updates and patches. You will not be able to synchronize or provide Enterprise channels to your clients without this information.
However if you would like to work with open source software channels and repositories then click the Skip button to continue. You can setup your SUSE Customer Center credentials or configure inter-server sync at a later time.
Click Next to continue.
Click Yes to run setup when prompted.
Once setup has completed, click Next to continue. You will see the address of the SUSE Manager Web UI.
Click Finish to complete SUSE Manager setup.

In the next section you will create the administrator’s account and synchronize with SUSE Customer Center.

4.2.1 Creating the Main Administration Account #

This section will walk you through creating your organizations main administration account for SUSE Manager.

Warning: Admin and User Accounts

The main administration account is the highest authority account within SUSE Manager and therefore account access information should be stored in a secure location.

For security it is recommended that the main administrator creates low level admin accounts designated for administration of organizations and individual groups.

Procedure: Setup the Main Administration Account #

In the browser, enter the address provided after completing setup and open the SUSE Manager Web UI.
Add your organization name to the Create Organization › Organization Name field.
Add your username and password to the Create Organization › Desired Login and Create Organization › Desired Password fields.
Fill in the Account Information fields including an email for system notifications.
Select Create Organization to finish creating your administration account.

You should now be presented with the SUSE Manager Front Page. In the next section you will prepare the server for connecting the first client.

4.2.2 Syncing Products from SUSE Customer Center #

SUSE Customer Center (SCC) maintains a collection of repositories which contain packages, software and updates for all supported enterprise client systems. These repositories are organized into channels each of which provide software specific to a distribution, release and architecture. After synchronizing with SCC clients may receive updates, and be organized into groups and assigned to specific product software channels.

This section covers synchronizing with SCC from the Web UI and adding your first client channel.

Procedure: Synchronizing with SUSE Customer Center #

From the SUSE Manager Web UI start page select Admin › Setup Wizard.
From the Main Menu › Admin › Setup Wizard page select the SUSE Products tab. Wait a moment for the products list to populate. If you previously registered with SUSE Customer Center a list of products will populate the table. This table lists architecture, channels, and status information. For more information, see: Book “Reference Manual”, Chapter 17 “Admin”, Section 17.1 “Main Menu › Admin › Setup Wizard”
Since Your SUSE Linux Enterprise client is based on x86_64 architecture scroll down the page and select the check box for this channel now.
- Add channels to SUSE Manager by selecting the check box to the left of each channel. Click the arrow symbol to the left of the description to unfold a product and list available modules.
- Start product synchronization by clicking the Add Products button.

After adding the channel SUSE Manager will schedule the channel to be copied. This can take a long time as SUSE Manager will copy channel software sources from the SUSE repositories located at SUSE Customer Center to local /var/spacewalk/ directory of your server.

Tip: PostgreSQL and Transparant Huge Pages

In some environments, Transparent Huge Pages provided by the kernel may slow down PostgreSQL workloads significantly.

To disable Transparant Huge Pages set the transparent_hugepage kernel parameter to never. This has to be changed in /etc/default/grub and added to the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, for example:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent quiet showopts elevator=noop transparent_hugepage=never"

To write the new configuration run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg. To update the grub2 during boot run grub2-install /dev/sda.

Monitor channel synchronization process in real-time by viewing channel log files located in the directory /var/log/rhn/reposync:

tailf /var/log/rhn/reposync/<CHANNEL_NAME>.log

After the channel sync process has completed proceed to: Chapter 5, Registering Clients

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