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documentation.suse.com / SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro Documentation / Quick Start Guides / Cockpit Guide
SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5

Cockpit Guide

Publication Date: December 05, 2024

This guide describes the administration of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro using Cockpit.

1 About Cockpit

Cockpit is a web-based graphical interface that enables you to manage most of the administration tasks from one place by using plugins. You do not need to create credentials for Cockpit as, by default, Cockpit uses the same credentials that you use to log in to your server. Cockpit uses APIs that already exist on the system without adding a layer to the system.

Cockpit enables you to perform the following tasks:

  • download container images and run containers

  • update the server

  • manage the server storage

  • inspect and change network settings

  • manage user accounts

  • view system logs

  • create and administer virtual machines

  • inspect and interact with systemd services

  • switch between SELinux modes

  • use a terminal on a remote server in your web browser

2 Getting Cockpit

Cockpit is included in the delivered pre-built images, or can be installed if you are installing your own instances manually. For details regarding the manual installation, refer to Section 12.9.2, “Software”.

Though Cockpit is present in the pre-built images by default, the plugin for administration of virtual machines needs to be installed manually. You can do so by installing the microos-cockpit pattern as described below. You can also use the following command in case Cockpit is not installed on your system.

# transactional-update pkg install -t pattern microos-cockpit

Reboot your machine to switch to the latest snapshot.

Note
Note: Cockpit's plugins installed from the microos-cockpit pattern may differ according to technologies installed on your system

The plugin Podman containers is installed only if the Containers Runtime for non-clustered systems patterns are installed on your system. Similarly, the Virtual Machines plugin is installed only if the KVM Virtualization Host pattern is installed on your system.

If the Cockpit instance is intended to serve as a primary one, you need to enable the Cockpit socket in systemd by running:

# systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

After running the command, the server will expose the default 9090 port. systemd will start the cockpit-ws service that listens on the 9090 port.

In case you have enabled the firewall, you must also open the firewall for Cockpit as follows:

# firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=cockpit

And then reload the firewall configuration by running:

# firewall-cmd --reload

Now you can access the Cockpit web interface by opening the following address in your web browser:

https://IP_ADDRESS_OF_MACHINE:9090

3 Cockpit authentication

3.1 Authentication

Cockpit enables you to log in directly to each machine that can expose the 9090 port. If the port cannot be accessed on the particular machine, you can still use Cockpit to administer the machine by using it as a secondary server. For a procedure of adding a server as secondary, refer to Section 3.1.1, “Adding secondary servers”.

Note
Note: A limited number of secondary servers

The number of secondary servers that you can administer from one primary server is limited to 20. If you need to administer more servers, add other primary servers or use another tool for cluster administration.

To log in to the primary server, enter your credentials on the Cockpit login page. To log in to secondary servers, there are two options. You can access secondary machines after logging in to the primary server, or you can access a secondary machine using the Connect to field on the login page.

3.1.1 Adding secondary servers

To add a server as secondary, proceed as follows:

  1. Log in to the primary server using the account with the system administrator role.

  2. Click on the USERNAME@HOSTNAME in the upper-left corner.

  3. Click Add new host.

  4. Fill in the host identification and optionally user name that will be used to log in to the server. You can assign a color to the machine. When the details are complete, click Add.

  5. Verify a fingerprint on the server you want to add. If the fingerprint matches or if you have not set up the SSH connection, click Accept and connect to proceed.

  6. Fill in the password and, if needed, check Automatic login. Cockpit will generate a new SSH key for the user and next time you will be logged in automatically.

3.1.2 Logging into secondary servers directly

You can log in to any secondary server without logging in to the primary server first. This solution can be useful when you do not have credentials for the primary server. The primary server will be used as a bridge, and you will be connected to the secondary server using SSH.

To connect to the secondary server, expand Other options on the login screen of the primary server. Fill in you user name, password and the IP address of the secondary server. If you are trying to log in for the first time, you are asked to verify the fingerprint. After this, click Accept and connect.

4 System overview

The Overview page provides information about the health of your server, CPU and memory usage and also hardware details. On this page, you can also change the host name, configure the system time and view SSH keys.

Cockpit overview
Figure 1: System overview

The Health part displays if your system is up to date or if there are any updates to install. Clicking the displayed statement takes you to Software Updates. For details, refer to Section 12, “Managing SLE Micro updates and snapshots”.

The Usage part displays CPU and memory usage. For detailed performance metrics, click View details and history. Clicking on mount points in Disks takes you to Storage. Clicking on a particular service opens the service details under Services.

In the Configuration part, you can perform the following tasks:

  • change the host name by clicking edit and entering the required host name

  • change the system time by clicking on the date and time value. In the popup window, select a time zone or set the time, either manually or by synchronizing it with an NTP server.

  • view your SSH keys by clicking Show fingerprints

5 SLE Micro logs

After clicking Logs, Cockpit enables you to view logs on your system. You can filter the logs according to the following criteria:

Time

to filter the logs according to a specific time, you can choose from the following values:

  • Current boot

  • Previous boot

  • Last 24 hours

  • Last 7 days

Priority

The standard syslog severity levels are used (sorted from most to least severe):

Only emergency

The system is unusable. This is a panic condition.

Alert and above

This log requires your immediate action.

Critical and above

Failures in primary systems. You should correct the problem immediately.

Error and above

Not an urgent error but should be handled within a specific time.

Warning and above

Not an error but indicates that an error might occur if no action is taken.

Notice and above

Unusual events that are not errors. No immediate actions are required.

Info and above

Normal operational messages that serve as a confirmation that the system is working properly.

Debug and above

These messages are used just to debug the system.

Identifier

You can filter logs for a particular service, daemon or process. Available identifiers are parsed from the logs currently displayed according to the set filters.

Filters

You can refine the logs view here according to the following criteria:

Since

Logs on the specified date or newer will be displayed. You can specify the time the following way:

  • using the absolute date in the format YYYY-MM-DD

  • using any of the terms: yesterday, today, tomorrow and now

  • using relative time by prefixing the value with - or + and specifying units. You can use the following units: seconds or s, minutes or min, hours or h, days or d, weeks or w, months or m, and years or y.

Until

Logs on the specified date or older will be displayed. You can specify the time the following way:

  • using the absolute date in the format YYYY-MM-DD

  • using any of the terms: yesterday, today, tomorrow and now

  • using relative time by prefixing the value with - or + and specifying units. You can use the following units: seconds or s, minutes or min, hours or h, days or d, weeks or w, months or m, and years or y.

Boot

Enter an integer: 0 means the current boot, -1 is for the previous boot, 1 for the first boot, 2 for the second, etc.

Unit

Specify a systemd unit which logs you want to display. Use one of the formats:

  • _SYSTEMD_UNIT=NAME.service

  • COREDUMP_UNIT=NAME.service

  • UNIT=NAME.service

Free-form search

Enter a string that you want to find in the log messages. You can also use PERL-compatible regular expressions. Alternatively, you can filter messages according to message log fields in the format FIELD=VALUE, for example, CODE_LINE=349 displays logs with this value.

6 Managing storage

The Storage page enables you to monitor traffic on your drives, repartition your system, view storage logs and create RAIDs or LVM.

Cockpit storage
Figure 2: Storage view

6.1 Monitoring data flow on disks

The graphs on the Storage page display reading and writing data flow to devices. Each device in the graph has a different color. Hover over the displayed data flow peak to identify the device name.

Cockpit storage
Figure 3: Data flow view

6.2 Managing file systems

The Filesystems view enables you to create a partition table and to format or mount file systems. You can sort the mounted partition according to Name or Mount point. Click on the particular file system to open the details window.

Cockpit storage
Figure 4: File systems details

To format the partition, click Format next to the particular partition description to open the format window.

Format partition
Figure 5: Formatting partitions

You can specify the following details:

Formatting partitions parameters
Name

Enter a unique name of the partition.

Type

Select the file system. BTRFS is mandatory for the / partition.

Mount point

This is a mandatory option. Specify to which directory the partition will be mounted.

Mount options

In the Custom mount options text field, you can enter a comma-separated list of options. For common options, refer to File system Independent Mount Options. Those options are used in the options part of the /etc/fstab file.

Encryption

Select the encryption method or do not encrypt the partition. If you choose any of the encryption methods, the following fields appear:

Passphrase and Confirm

Enter a passphrase to unlock the encrypted partition.

Store passphrase

The passphrase is stored in /etc/luks-keys and you are not asked for the passphrase on next boot.

Custom encryption options

You can pass a list of options described in supported encrypted options.

After you specify all required details, click Format to proceed.

If a partition is already formatted, you can mount it by clicking Mount. Here you can change the mount point and mount options. To proceed, click Mount.

6.3 Managing NFS mount points

Use the Storage view to add, edit or delete NFS mounts.

To add an NFS mount point, after clicking on the plus icon, specify the following details:

NFS mount details
Server address

Provide the IP address or name of the NFS server.

Path on server

Select the available path on the NFS server that can be mounted.

Local mount point

Specify a directory on the local system where the path will be mounted to.

Mount options

Check any of the options:

  • Mount at boot – to mount the path automatically after each system start or restart.

  • Mount read only – you will not be able to perform changes to the data on the NFS path.

  • Custom mount options is a comma-separated list of the mount command options.

To edit an NFS mount, click on the particular NFS mount. On the next screen, click Edit and specify the details described in NFS mount details.

6.4 Software RAID management

The Devices view enables you to add or manage RAIDs.

6.4.1 Creating RAIDs

You can create RAIDs of different levels on your system from the Devices part by selecting the Create RAID device option in the hamburger menu.

Cockpit storage
Figure 6: Creating RAID device

Enter the following parameters of the RAID:

Name

Enter a unique name of the RAID.

RAID level

Select one of the following RAID levels:

RAID 0

has the data split evenly to two or more disks. Such a solution provides higher performance because you can read data from several disks simultaneously, but does not provide any fault tolerance. You need to have at least 2 disks.

RAID 1

is a mirror. Data are kept in exact copies on several disks. If there is a failure on one disk, you can use data on another disk. Typically, this RAID level uses 2 disks.

RAID 4

provides striping and a dedicated disk for parity. You need to have at least 3 disks.

RAID 5

provides striping, the parity data are distributed on all disks. The minimum number of disks is 3.

RAID 6

provides striping and two parity blocks distributed across disks. The minimum number of disks is 4.

RAID 10

is a combination of striping and mirroring. Each stripe is mirrored to another disk. The minimum number of disks is 4.

Chunk size

The size of chunks. A chunk is the minimum amount of data read or written to each data disk in the array during a single read/write operation.

Disks

Select the disks that should be included in the RAID. The required number of disks depends on the selected RAID level.

Confirm the parameters by clicking Create. The RAID then appears in the Devices part.

6.4.2 Modifying RAIDS

Click the RAID in Devices to open the RAID details view. In the detailed view, you can stop or delete the RAID, add or remove disks and format the device.

RAID details
Figure 7: RAID details

With some RAID levels, you can switch on the Bitmap option that enables you to synchronize only the changes after a disk is temporarily disconnected. If the Bitmap is off, all data on the disk will be synchronized.

You can remove and add disks in the Disks part. After any change to the array, the system undergoes resynchronization that might take some time. Keep in mind that each RAID level requires a minimum number of disks, therefore, Cockpit does not allow removing the disks that are required by the particular RAID level.

The Content view enables you to create a partition table (either MBR or GPT), format the disks and mount the RAID.

6.5 Logical volume management

Using Cockpit, you can create thinly provisioned logical volumes or logical block devices. To do so, create a volume group of disks by selecting Create volume group in the hamburger menu in Devices.

Volume group
Figure 8: Creating a volume group

Enter the volume group name and select disks that will be part of the volume group. Confirm the data with Create. The volume group appears in the Devices view. Now you can create a logical volume (either a block device or a pool of thinly provisioned volumes). To create a logical volume, proceed as follows:

Procedure 1: Creating a logical volume
  1. Click on the volume group in Devices.

  2. In the volume group details, click Create new logical volume.

    Cockpit logical volume
  3. Specify a logical volume name, select either a block device or a pool of thinly provisioned volumes and select the size to use.

  4. Click Create to confirm the details.

If you created a block logical volume, you need to format the volume by clicking Format and filling the details as described in Formatting partitions parameters.

If you created a pool of thinly provisioned volumes, you can create a thin volume by clicking Create thin volume.

Volume thin
Figure 9: Creating a thinly provisioned volume

Enter a unique name, select the size of the volume, and confirm by clicking Create. You can create several volumes of the particular volume group by clicking Create thin volume again. Format the volumes by clicking Format and filling the details as described in Formatting partitions parameters.

Other actions on a particular volume are available in the three dots menu: Deactivate, Create snapshot or Delete.

Shrinking or growing a volume is available by clicking on Shrink or Grow in the particular volume details. These features are not available for all file systems and volume types.

7 Managing networking

After clicking Networking, you can view traffic on your system, manage firewall, manage network interfaces or view network logs.

Cockpit networking
Figure 10: Networking

7.1 Firewall

Important
Important: Firewall and Podman

Using firewall along with Podman may result in missing Podman-related firewall rules after reloading the firewalld service. Therefore, it is recommended to keep the firewall in its default setting (disabled) if you intend to use Podman.

Note
Note: The cockpit service is not included in the public zone

If you turn on the firewall, add the cockpit service to the public zone, otherwise the Cockpit web UI might get disconnected.

The Firewall view enables you turn on the firewall, which is off by default. After turning it on, you can edit firewall rules and zones by clicking Edit rules and zones.

Cockpit firewall
Figure 11: Firewall settings

To add a service to an existing zone, click Add services. Then select a service from the list and confirm with Add services.

If you need to define a zone on top of the currently available zones, click Add zone. In the Add zone window, select Trust level. Each trust level of network connections has a predefined set of included services (the Cockpit service is included in all trust levels). You can also allow addresses from the entire subnet within the particular trust level, or you can define a specific range of allowed IP addresses as a comma-separated list.

Cockpit firewall
Figure 12: Add firewall zone

7.2 Interfaces

In the Interfaces part, you can add, modify or delete VLANs, bridges or bond interfaces.

7.2.1 Managing bonds

A bond interface is a combination of several network interfaces into one bond. Depending on the Mode (described further), network bonding can increase performance by increasing the network throughput and bandwidth. Network bonding can also increase fault tolerance by keeping overall connectivity even if some of the bonded interfaces stopped working. To add a bond interface, click Add bond.

Cockpit adding bond
Figure 13: Adding a bond

Specify the following parameters of the bond interface:

Name

Enter a unique name of the interface.

Interfaces

Select which network interfaces should be grouped in the bond.

MAC

You can either select a specific MAC address of the underlying interface, or you can use any of the following options:

Permanent

Use the permanent hardware address if the device has a MAC address.

Preserve

During the bond activation, the MAC address is not changed.

Random

A random MAC address is created on each connection attempt.

Stable

Creates a hashed MAC address.

Mode

Keep the default mode or select any of the following modes:

Round Robin

Transfers packets from the first available interface to the last. The mode offers fault tolerance and load balancing.

Active Backup

Only one interface in the bonding is active. If the active interface fails, the backup will be activated.

Balance XOR

Balancing using a transmit hash policy. The default is a modulo device count. To select a different policy, specify the xmit_hash_policy option in the Option field.

Broadcast

Everything is transmitted on all interfaces.

802.3ad Dynamic Link Aggregation

Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings.

Adaptive Transmit Load Balancing

A channel bonding that does not require any special switch support. The outgoing traffic is distributed according to the current load on each interface.

Adaptive Load Balancing

Includes adaptive transmit load balancing and receive load balancing, no special switch support is required.

Primary

This selection is available only for the Active Backup mode. You can select a particular interface that will be used as primary, while other interfaces in the bond are used as secondary.

Link monitoring

Select the type of link monitoring.

Monitoring interval

Specifies the intervals at which the particular link monitor performs checks. The value is in ms.

Link up delay

Define the time in ms for how long the bond is disabled after a link has been activated. The value should be a multiple of the Monitoring interval value, otherwise it will be rounded to the nearest value. Available only for the MII link monitor.

Link down delay

Define the time in ms for how long the bond is disabled if a link failure has been detected. The value should be a multiple of the Monitoring interval value, otherwise it will be rounded to the nearest value. Available only for the MII link monitor.

Monitoring targets

Specify the list of host IP addresses that you want to monitor. Available only for the ARP link monitor.

To modify or delete a bond interface, click on the particular bond name to open the details. There you can change the parameters of the bond described below.

Cockpit modifying bond
Figure 14: Modifying a bond
Bond

Select a MAC address from the list.

Connect automatically

The bond connects automatically by default. Uncheck the box to disable the automatic connection.

IPv4 and IPv6

After clicking edit, you can set an IP address and configure a specific DNS, DNS search domain and Routes.

MTU

After clicking edit, you can specify a particular value of the maximum transmission unit in bytes.

Bond

After clicking edit, you can edit the same parameters as when you were creating the bond interface.

7.2.2 Managing bridges

A network bridge is a device that creates a single aggregated network from multiple networks. To create a bridge, click Add bridge.

Cockpit adding bridge
Figure 15: Adding a bridge

Specify the following:

Name

Specify a unique name of the bridge.

Ports

Select interfaces to be included in the bridge.

Spanning tree protocol (STP)

STP is a network protocol used for Ethernet networks that prevents bridge loops by setting a preferred link whenever network switches are connected with several links. This preferred link is used for all Ethernet traffic unless it fails. In that case, a redundant link is used instead. For details regarding STP, see STP.

If you enable the STP protocol, you can edit the following settings:

STP priority

the lower the priority, the higher the probability of the switch to become the root switch.

STP forward delay

Specify the time spent in the listening and learning state (in seconds). The default value is 15 s, but you can use any value between 4 and 30 s.

STP hello time

Specify the time between each bridge protocol data unit (BDPU) that is sent on a port (in seconds). The default value is 2 s, but the recommended range is 1 to 10 s.

STP maximum message age

Specify the maximum length of time that passes before a bridge port saves its configuration BPDU information.

To modify or delete a bridge, click the bridge name to open the details.

Cockpit modifying bridge
Figure 16: Modifying a bridge

There you can edit the following details:

General

The bridge connects automatically by default. To disable the automatic connection, uncheck the option.

IPv4 and IPv6

After clicking edit, you can set the IP address and configure a specific DNS, DNS search domain and Routes.

Bridge

By clicking edit, you can edit all parameters of the bridge.

7.2.3 Managing VLANs

A virtual local area network is a logical subnetwork that groups devices from different physical LANs.

To create a VLAN, click Add VLAN and select the parent interface, assign an ID number and provide a name for the VLAN.

Cockpit adding VLAN
Figure 17: Adding VLAN

To modify or delete a VLAN, click the VLAN name.

Cockpit adding VLAN
Figure 18: Adding VLAN

8 Working with containers

After the first login to Cockpit, you need to start Podman. Keep the default check box selected to start Podman automatically on each boot.

The Podman containers page enables you to pull images from registries and manage your container. You can also filter the view by entering a filter criterion into the filter field.

Cockpit containers
Figure 19: Containers

8.1 Getting container images

To start a container, you need a container image. Click Get new image to open a search box for images.

In the search box:

  • choose a preferred image registry or proceed with All registries

  • define the Tag. The default value is latest

  • fill in the image name or description

Cockpit suggests possible images according to the entered name, registry and tag. Select the desired image and click Download.

Podman getting images
Figure 20: Getting images
Note
Note: Adding custom registry

SLE Micro comes with a predefined set of registries. If you need to use a custom registry, configure Cockpit to display them. Add the custom registry to the file /etc/containers/registries.conf to the registries list. For example, you can add registry.example to the list as follows:

registries = ["registry.opensuse.org", "docker.io", "registry.example"]
Tip
Tip: Pulling images using Podman

You can also get container images using Podman by running the podman pull command. For details, refer to Podman Guide.

8.2 Managing containers

After you get an image, you can start a container based on that image by clicking the button next to the image information.

Podman running images
Figure 21: Running a container

In the Run image window, enter the container details as described below.

Podman running containers
Figure 22: Container details
Name

You can define a custom name for the container. If not specified, the generated value is used.

Command

Defines a command that is run inside the container, for example, /usr/lib/systemd/systemd or /bin/bash.

Memory limit

You can limit maximum memory consumption of the container by checking the box and specifying the limit.

With terminal

The container will not run in the detached mode.

CPU shares

specify the weight of the container to use CPU time. The default weight is 1024. The weight applies only if containers are under high load. If tasks in one container are idle, other containers may use its CPU time.

If you have four containers, two of them have CPU shares of 512 and the other two have 1024. Thus, under high load the containers with lower CPU shares get only 16,5% of CPU time, while those with 1024 CPU shares get 33% of CPU time.

Ports

You can publish ports of the container to the host. If you do not provide the host IP address, the port will be bound to all host IP addresses. If you omit the host port number, a random port is assigned.

To publish a port for both protocols (TCP and UDP), enter the same port number twice, just select different protocols.

Volumes

Maps the volumes on the host system to the paths in the container. The Container path must be an absolute path inside the container. If it does not exist, the directory will be created.

Environment

Enables passing environment variables to the container.

After expanding the container details, you can perform the following tasks:

  • access a terminal of the container in the Console tab

  • view the container logs in the Logs tab

  • delete the container by clicking the trash bin button

  • commit changes performed to the container, for example, installing packages to the container

  • start the container by clicking Start

  • restart the container, either by regular Restart, where processes running inside the container are stopped, or by Force restart, where the processes are killed, and you might lose data

  • stop the container, either by regular Stop, Force stop or Checkpoint. When using Checkpoint, the state of all processes in the container is written to the disk and after the next start, the container is restored to the same point before stopping.

9 Users administration

Note
Note: Users administration only for server administrators

Only users with the Server administrator role can edit other users.

Cockpit enables you to manage the users of your system. Click Accounts to open the user administration page. Here you can create a new account by clicking Create new account or manage already existing accounts by clicking on the particular account.

The Accounts screen
Figure 23: The Accounts screen

9.1 Creating new accounts

Click Create new account to open the window that enables you to add a new user. Fill in the user's login and/or full name and password, then confirm the form by clicking Create.

To add authorized SSH keys for the new user or set the Server administrator role, edit the already created account by clicking on it. For details, refer to Section 9.2, “Modifying accounts”.

9.2 Modifying accounts

After clicking the user icon in the Accounts page, the user details view opens, and you can edit the user.

User details
Figure 24: User details

In the user's details view, you can perform the following actions.

Delete the user

Click Delete to remove the user from the system.

Terminate user's session

By clicking Terminate session, you can log a particular user out of the system.

Change user's role

By checking/unchecking the Server administrator check box, you can assign or remove the administrator role from the user.

Manage access to the account

You can lock the account, or you can set a date when the account will expire.

Manage the user's password

Click Set password to set a new password for the account.

By clicking Force change, the user will have to change the password on the next login.

Click edit to set whether or when the password expires.

Add SSH key

You can add an SSH key for passwordless authentication via SSH. Click Add key, paste the contents of the public SSH key and confirm it by clicking Add.

10 Managing services

In the Services view, you can view the status of systemd units, start or stop particular units and create systemd timers.

Services management
Figure 25: Services management

To manage a systemd unit, select the appropriate tab, then click on the particular unit. In the unit details, you can view relations to other systemd units, the status of the unit, or you can perform the following actions that can be found in the three dots menu:

  • Start if the unit is not running

  • Restart the running unit

  • Stop the running unit

  • Disallow running—that will stop the service permanently including all its dependencies. Keep in mind that the dependent service can be used by other units, and disallowing the unit might cause serious troubles for the system.

10.1 Creating new timers

To create a new timer, click Create timer in the Timers tab. Fill in the details described below in the opened Create timer window.

Creating timers
Figure 26: Creating timers
Name

The name of the timer that will be used in the unit name and in the service unit name as well. For example, specifying the name example will create the following unit files: /etc/systemd/system/example.timer and /etc/systemd/system/example.service.

Description

You can provide a short description of the timer.

Command

The command to be invoked when the timer is triggered

Trigger

the timer can be triggered each time you reboot your machine or at a specific time. For the After system boot option, you can define the delay of the service invocation. For the At specific time option, specify when the service should be invoked.

Note
Note: Overriding existing timers

The default set of systemd timers is stored in /usr/lib/systemd. If you create a timer with already existing names, the default unit file is not overwritten, but a new one is created in /etc/systemd/system/ that overrides the default unit file. If you want to restore the timer to the default one, delete the timer unit file in /etc/systemd/system/.

If you try to create a timer that already exists in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory, the unit file will be overwritten, and the previous changes are lost.

11 Managing SELinux mode and policy

The SELinux tool enables you to switch between SELinux modes and view current modifications of the SELinux policy.

SELinux tool
Figure 27: SELinux tool

On SLE Micro, SELinux is in the enforcing mode by default. To temporarily switch to the permissive mode, click the button with the Enforcing label. Bear in mind that the change persists only until the next boot. If you need to perform a persistent change of the mode, edit the configuration file /etc/selinux/config as described in Section 1.2, “SELinux modes”.

The System modifications lists all modifications performed on the default SELinux policy. If you want to export the modifications and reuse them on different servers, click View automation script. In the new window, you can copy a shell script or the ansible configuration file that can be applied on other servers.

12 Managing SLE Micro updates and snapshots

Important
Important: No system updates without registering your system

If your system is not registered, the updates are not available and the check for updates fails. Therefore, register your system to view available updates. For details, refer to Chapter 10, Post-deployment steps.

Note
Note: Snapshots and updates management only for system administrators

Only users with the Server administrator role can update the system or perform a rollback to another snapshot.

Cockpit enables you to update your SLE Micro instance or perform a rollback from the Software Updates menu.

Software Updates view
Figure 28: Software Updates

12.1 Managing updates

Click Check for Updates to get a list of new package updates and patches available for your system. You can view each package update or patch information by clicking the blue icon next to the package update/patch. It is recommended to install the patches marked as important as soon as possible.

To apply the updates and patches, click Update and Reboot. The equivalent of the transactional-update up command is called, and a new snapshot of your system is created. After the update completes successfully, your system will be rebooted and the new snapshot set as default.

You can postpone the reboot of your system after the update process by selecting Update without Reboot from the three dots menu. Bear in mind that you need to reboot the system to activate the snapshot with updates. If you perform further changes without rebooting the system beforehand, a new snapshot will be created from the same point as the snapshots with updates. Therefore, the new snapshot will not include the updates.

You can also update SLE Micro using CLI. For details, refer to Section 3.1, “transactional-update usage”.

12.2 Performing rollbacks

In Snapshots & Updates you can perform a rollback to one of older snapshots by clicking Rollback and Reboot, or Rollback without Reboot in the three dots menu.

After rebooting the system, the snapshot you rolled back to will be set as active. Do not make any changes (install updates, packages, etc.) before rebooting your system, as the snapshot you rolled back to is not active. Any changes performed before you reboot your system will start from the currently active snapshot.

For a system rollback procedure performed using CLI, refer to Section 3.3, “System rollback”.