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documentation.suse.com / SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Documentation / SMT Guide / SMT Server Configuration
Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5

3 SMT Server Configuration

  

This chapter introduces the YaST configuration module for the SMT server. This module can be used to set and configure mirroring credentials, SMT database passwords, and e-mail addresses for receiving SMT reports. The module also lets you set the SMT job schedule, and activate or deactivate the SMT service.

To configure SMT with SMT Server Configuration, follow the steps below.

  1. Start the YaST module SMT Server Configuration from the YaST control center or by running yast smt-server from the command line.

  2. To activate SMT, toggle the Enable Subscription Management Tool Service (SMT) option in the Customer Center Access section. For more information about activating SMT with YaST, see Section 3.1, “Activating and Deactivating SMT with YaST”.

  3. If the firewall is enabled, activate Open Port in Firewall.

  4. In the Customer Center Configuration section of Customer Center Access, you can set the custom server URLs. Set and test credentials for the SUSE Update service. Correct credentials are necessary to enable mirroring from the download server and determine the products that should be mirrored. Also set the e-mail address used for the registration and the URL of your SMT server. For more information, see Section 3.2, “Setting the Update Server Credentials with YaST”.

  5. In the Database and Reporting section, set the password for the SMT user in the MariaDB database and specify e-mail addresses for receiving reports. For more information, see Section 3.3, “Setting SMT Database Password with YaST” and Section 3.4, “Setting E-mail Addresses to Receive Reports with YaST”.

  6. In the Scheduled SMT Jobs section, set a schedule for SMT jobs, such as synchronization of updates, SUSE Customer Center registration, and SMT report generation. For more information, see Section 3.5, “Setting the SMT Job Schedule with YaST”.

  7. When you are satisfied with the configuration, click OK. YaST updates the SMT configuration and starts or restarts necessary services.

    If you want to abort the configuration and cancel any changes, click Cancel.

    Note
    Note: Check for Certificate

    When the SMT Configuration applies changes, it checks whether the common server certificate exists. If the certificate does not exist, you will be asked whether the certificate should be created.

3.1 Activating and Deactivating SMT with YaST

  

YaST provides an easy way to activate or deactivate the SMT service. To activate SMT using YaST, follow the steps below.

  1. Switch to the Customer Center Access section in the SMT Configuration.

  2. Activate the Run Subscription Management Tool service (SMT) option.

    Note
    Note: Organization Credentials

    Specify organization credentials before activating SMT. For more information on how to set organization credentials with YaST, see Section 3.2, “Setting the Update Server Credentials with YaST”.

  3. Click Finish to apply the changes and leave the SMT Configuration.

To deactivate SMT with YaST, proceed as follows.

  1. Switch to the Customer Center Access section in the SMT Configuration.

  2. Disable the Run Subscription Management Tool service (SMT) option.

  3. Click Finish to apply the changes and leave the SMT Configuration.

When activating SMT, YaST performs the following actions.

  • The Apache configuration is changed by creating symbolic links in the /etc/apache2/conf.d/ directory. Links to the /etc/smt.d/nu_server.conf and /etc/smt.d/smt_mod_perl.conf files are created there.

  • The Apache Web server is started (or reloaded if already running).

  • The MariaDB server is started or restarted. The smt user and all necessary tables in the database are created, if needed.

  • The schema of the SMT database is checked. If the database schema is outdated, the SMT database is upgraded to the current schema.

  • Cron is updated by creating a symbolic link in the /etc/cron.d/ directory. A link to the /etc/smt.d/novell.com-smt file is created there.

When deactivating SMT, YaST performs the following actions.

  • Symbolic links that were created upon SMT activation in the /etc/apache2/conf.d/ and /etc/cron.d/ directories are deleted.

  • The Cron daemon, the Apache server, and the MariaDB database daemon are restarted. Neither Apache nor MariaDB are stopped, as they may be used for other purposes than the SMT service.

3.2 Setting the Update Server Credentials with YaST

  

The following procedure describes how to set and test the download server credentials and the URL of the download server service using YaST.

Setting the Update Server Credentials with YaST
Figure 3.1: Setting the Update Server Credentials with YaST
  

  1. Switch to the Customer Center Access section in the SMT Configuration. If the credentials have been already set with YaST or via the /etc/smt.conf configuration file, they will be displayed in the User and Password fields.

  2. If you do not have credentials, visit SUSE Customer Center to obtain them. For more details, see Section 4.1, “Mirroring Credentials”.

  3. Enter your user name and password in the appropriate fields.

  4. Click Test to check the credentials. YaST will try to download a list of available repositories with the provided credentials. If the test succeeds, the last line of the test results will read Test result: success. If the test fails, check the provided credentials and try again.

    Successful Test of the Update Server Credentials
    Figure 3.2: Successful Test of the Update Server Credentials
      

  5. Enter the SCC E-mail Used for Registration. This should be the address you used to register to SUSE Customer Center.

    Enter Your SMT Server URL if it has not been detected automatically.

  6. Click OK.

3.3 Setting SMT Database Password with YaST

  

For security reasons, SMT uses its own user in the database. YaST provides an interface for setting up or changing the SMT database password. To set or change the SMT database password with YaST, follow the steps below.

  1. Switch to the Database and Reporting section in the SMT Configuration module.

  2. Enter the Database Password for SMT User. Confirm the password by re-entering it, then click OK.

3.4 Setting E-mail Addresses to Receive Reports with YaST

  

YaST SMT provides an interface for setting up a list of e-mail addresses for receiving reports from SMT. To edit this list of addresses, proceed as follows.

  1. Switch to the Database and Reporting section in the SMT Configuration.

  2. The list of e-mail addresses is shown in the table. Use the appropriate buttons to add, edit, and delete existing address entries.

  3. Click OK.

The comma-separated list of addresses for SMT reports is written to the reportEmail section of the /etc/smt.conf configuration file.

3.5 Setting the SMT Job Schedule with YaST

  

The SMT Configuration module provides an interface to schedule recurring SMT jobs. YaST uses cron to schedule configured jobs. If needed, cron can be used directly. There are five types of recurring jobs that can be set:

Synchronization of Updates

Synchronizes with SUSE Customer Center, updates repositories, and downloads new updates.

Generation of Reports

Generates and sends SMT Subscription Reports to addresses defined in Section 3.4, “Setting E-mail Addresses to Receive Reports with YaST”.

SCC Registration

Registers with SUSE Customer Center all clients that are not already registered or that changed their data since the last registration.

Job Queue Cleanup

Cleans up queued jobs. It removes finished or failed jobs from the job queue that are older than eight days. It also removes job artifacts that are left in the database as result of an error.

SMT Job Schedule Configuration
Figure 3.3: SMT Job Schedule Configuration
  

Use the following procedure to configure the schedule of SMT jobs with YaST.

  1. Switch to the Scheduled SMT Jobs section in the SMT Configuration. The table contains a list of all scheduled jobs, their type, frequency, date, and time to run. You can add, delete, and edit the existing scheduled tasks.

  2. To add a scheduled SMT job, click Add. This opens the Adding New SMT Scheduled Job dialog.

    Choose the synchronization job to schedule. You can choose between Synchronization of Updates, Report Generation, SCC Registration, and Job Queue Cleanup.

    Choose the Frequency of the new scheduled SMT job. Jobs can be performed Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Periodically (every n-th hour or every m-th minute).

    Set the Job Start Time by entering Hour and Minute. In case of a recurring job, enter the relevant intervals. For weekly and monthly schedules, select Day of the Week or Day of the Month.

    Click Add.

  3. To edit a scheduled SMT job (for example, change its frequency, time, or date), select the job in the table and click Edit. Then change the desired parameters and click OK.

    Setting Scheduled Job with YaST
    Figure 3.4: Setting Scheduled Job with YaST
      

  4. To cancel a scheduled job and delete it from the table, select the job in the table and click Delete.

  5. Click OK to apply the settings and quit the SMT Configuration.