Registering AlmaLinux Clients

This section contains information about registering Salt clients running AlmaLinux operating systems.

  • AlmaLinux repository URLs are available from SUSE Customer Center

  • Packages and metadata are provided by AlmaLinux OS Foundation, not by SUSE

  • For supported products, see the support table and the release notes

Traditional clients are not available on AlmaLinux. AlmaLinux clients are only supported as Salt clients.

When created at AWS, AlmaLinux instances always have the same machine-id id at /etc/machine-id. Make sure you regenerate the machine-id after the instance is created. For more information, see Troubleshooting Registering Cloned Clients.

1. Add Software Channels

Registering AlmaLinux clients to SUSE Manager is tested with the default SELinux configuration of enforcing with a targeted policy. You do not need to disable SELinux to register AlmaLinux clients to SUSE Manager.

Before you can register AlmaLinux clients to your SUSE Manager Server, you need to add the required software channels, and synchronize them.

The architectures currently supported are: x86_64 and aarch64, on version 9 additionally ppc64le and s390x. For full list of supported products and architectures, see Supported Clients and Features.

In the following section, descriptions often default to the x86_64 architecture. Replace it with other architectures if appropriate.

For example, when working with x86_64 architecture, you need this product:

Table 1. AlmaLinux Products - WebUI
OS Version Product Name

AlmaLinux 9

AlmaLinux 9 x86_64

AlmaLinux 8

AlmaLinux 8 x86_64
Procedure: Adding Software Channels

  1. In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to Admin  Setup Wizard  Products.

  2. Locate the appropriate products for your client operating system and architecture using the search bar, and check the appropriate product. This will automatically check all mandatory channels. Also all recommended channels are checked as long as the include recommended toggle is turned on. Click the arrow to see the complete list of related products, and ensure that any extra products you require are checked.

  3. Click Add Products and wait until the products have finished synchronizing.

Alternatively, you can add channels at the command prompt. The channels you need for this procedure are:

Table 2. AlmaLinux Channels - CLI
OS Version Base Channel

AlmaLinux 9

almalinux9-x86_64

AlmaLinux 8

almalinux8-x86_64
Procedure: Adding Software Channels at the Command Prompt

  1. At the command prompt on the SUSE Manager Server, as root, use the mgr-sync command to add the appropriate channels:

    mgr-sync add channel <channel_label_1>
mgr-sync add channel <channel_label_2>
mgr-sync add channel <channel_label_n>

  2. Synchronization starts automatically. If you want to synchronize the channels manually, use:

    mgr-sync sync --with-children <channel_name>

  3. Ensure the synchronization is complete before continuing.

If you are using modular channels, you must enable the Python 3.6 module stream on the AlmaLinux 8 client. If you do not provide Python 3.6, the installation of the spacecmd package will fail.

You might notice some disparity in the number of packages available in the AppStream channel between upstream and the SUSE Manager channel. You might also see different numbers if you compare the same channel added at a different point in time. This is due to the way that AlmaLinux manages their repositories. AlmaLinux removes older version of packages when a new version is released, while SUSE Manager keeps all of them, regardless of age.

The AppStream repository provides modular packages. This results in the SUSE Manager Web UI showing incorrect package information. You cannot perform package operations such as installing or upgrading directly from modular repositories using the Web UI or API.

Alternatively, you can use Salt states to manage modular packages on Salt clients, or use the dnf command on the client. For more information about CLM, see Content Lifecycle Management.

2. Check Synchronization Status

Procedure: Checking Synchronization Progress from the Web UI

  1. In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to Admin  Setup Wizard and select the Products tab. This dialog displays a completion bar for each product when they are being synchronized.

  2. Alternatively, you can navigate to Software  Manage  Channels, then click the channel associated to the repository. Navigate to the Repositories tab, then click Sync and check Sync Status.

Procedure: Checking Synchronization Progress from the Command Prompt

  1. At the command prompt on the SUSE Manager Server, as root, use the tail command to check the synchronization log file:

    tail -f /var/log/rhn/reposync/<channel-label>.log

  2. Each child channel generates its own log during the synchronization progress. You need to check all the base and child channel log files to be sure that the synchronization is complete.

3. Create an Activation Key

You need to create an activation key that is associated with your AlmaLinux channels.

For more information on activation keys, see Activation Keys.

4. Manage GPG Keys

Clients use GPG keys to check the authenticity of software packages before they are installed. Only trusted software can be installed on clients.

Trusting a GPG key is important for security on clients. It is the task of the administrator to decide which keys are needed and can be trusted. A software channel cannot be assigned to a client when the GPG key is not trusted.

For more information about GPG keys, see GPG Keys.

5. Register Clients

To register your clients, you need a bootstrap repository. By default, bootstrap repositories are automatically created, and regenerated daily for all synchronized products. You can manually create the bootstrap repository from the command prompt, using this command:

mgr-create-bootstrap-repo

For more information on registering your clients, see Client Registration.

6. Manage Errata

When you update AlmaLinux clients, the packages include metadata about the updates.