SUSE Manager 4.3 Server Deployment

Table of Contents

1. Hardware Requirements for SUSE Manager
2. Persistent Volumes
3. Prepare SUSE Manager Server Host
- 3.1. Prepare SL Micro 6.1 Host
- 3.2. Prepare SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm} host
4. Configure Custom Persistent Storage
5. Deploy SUSE Manager with mgradm
6. Connect SUSE Manager 4.3 to {scclongform}
7. Entering the Container for Management

This guide shows you how to install and configure a SUSE Manager 4.3 container on SL Micro 6.1 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}.

1. Hardware Requirements for SUSE Manager

These tables shows the software and hardware requirements for deploying SUSE Manager Server on your bare metal machine. For the purposes of this guide your machine should have 16 GB of RAM, and at least 200 GB of disk space. For background information about disk space, see Hardware Requirements.

Table 1. Software Requirements
Software	Recommended
Operating System	SL Micro 6.1 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}

Table 2. Hardware Requirements
Architecture	x86-64, ARM, s390x, ppc64le
Processor (CPU)	Minimum of four (4) 64-bit CPU cores
RAM	16 GB
Disk Space	200 GB
Channel Requirements	50 GB per SUSE or openSUSE product 360 GB per Red Hat product
Swap space:	8 to 12 GB

Supported operating system for the Server Container Host

The supported operating system for the container host is SL Micro 6.1 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}.

Container host: A container host is a server equipped with a container engine like Podman, which lets it manage and deploy containers. These containers hold applications and their essential parts, such as libraries, but not a full operating system, making them lightweight. This setup ensures applications run the same way in different environments. The container host supplies the necessary resources such as CPU, memory, and storage for these containers.

Server deployment mandates the use of a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). In the absence of automatic DNS provision of an FQDN by your router or network, the deployment process will not proceed successfully. An FQDN typically follows the format <host>.<domain>.com.

For instance:

mlm.example.com
mlm.container.lab

For more information, see the section on network requirements in Network Requirements.

2. Persistent Volumes

SUSE Manager 4.3 defines the required persistent storage volumes by default. These are created during installation by the mgradm tool if they do not already exist.

These volumes are created in /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes/, where Podman stores its volumes by default.

Recommendations

You can leverage the simplicity of storage by mounting an external storage device to this directory. Because it will store the PostgreSQL database, binary packages for repositories, caches, operating system images, autoinstallation distributions, and configuration files, we have three recommendations:

Fast Storage: This mount point should ideally be NVMe or SSD-class devices. Slower storage will adversely affect SUSE Manager performance.
Large Capacity: Recommended minimum size for this is at least 300 GB, and larger if there will be multiple Linux distributions or architectures to manage.
Recommended Filesystem: XFS (though any supported filesystem for SL Micro 6.1 could work).
Optional: You can provide custom storage for the volumes by mounting disks on the expected volume path inside it such as /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes/var-spacewalk. This adds to the complexity of a SUSE Manager deployment, and may affect the resilience the default storage recommendation provides.

For a list of all persistent volumes in the container, see Persistent Container Volumes.

3. Prepare SUSE Manager Server Host

You can deploy SUSE Manager on SL Micro 6.1 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}. SL Micro is a transactional system, while SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a full server operating system.

Depending on your decision, either continue with Prepare SL Micro 6.1 Host or with Prepare SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm} host and skip the not selected section.

3.1. Prepare SL Micro 6.1 Host

3.1.1. Download the installation media

Procedure: Downloading the installation media

Locate the SL Micro 6.1 installation media at https://www.suse.com/download/sle-micro/, and download the appropriate media file.

Prepare a DVD or USB flash drive with the downloaded .iso image for installation.

3.1.2. Install SL Micro 6.1

Procedure: Installing SL Micro 6.1

Insert the DVD or USB flash drive (USB disk or key) containing the installation image for SLE Micro 6.1.

Boot or reboot your system.

Use the arrow keys to select Installation.

Adjust Keyboard and language.

Click the checkbox to accept the license agreement.

Click Next to continue.

Select the registration method. For this example, we will register the server with {scclongform}.

The SUSE Manager 4.3 containers are installed as extensions. Depending on the specific extension needed from the list below, additional {scclongform} registration codes will be required for each.

SUSE Manager 4.3 Server

SUSE Manager 4.3 Proxy

SUSE Manager 4.3 Retail Branch Server

The SL Micro 6.1 entitlement is included within the SUSE Manager entitlement, so it does not require a separate registration code.

Enter your {scclongform} email address.

Enter your registration code for SL Micro 6.1.

Click Next to continue.

To install a proxy, select the SUSE Manager 4.3 Proxy extension; to install a server, select the SUSE Manager 4.3 Server extension Checkbox.

Click Next to continue.

Enter your SUSE Manager 4.3 extension registration code.

Click Next to continue.

On the NTP Configuration page click Next.

On the Authentication for the System page enter a password for the root user. Click Next.

On the Installation Settings page click Install.

This concludes installation of SL Micro 6.1 and SUSE Manager 4.3 as an extension. For more information about preparing your machines (virtual or physical), see the SL Micro Deployment Guide.

3.1.3. OPTIONAL: Registration from the command line

If you added SUSE Manager 4.3 as an extension during SL Micro 6.1 installation then you can skip this procedure. However, optionally you may skip registration during SL Micro 6.1 installation by selecting the Skip Registration button. This section provides steps on registering your products after SL Micro 6.1 installation.

The following steps register a SUSE Manager 4.3 extension with the x86-64 architecture and thus require a registration code for the x86-64 architecture. To register ARM or s390x architectures use the correct registration code.

Procedure: Registering from the command line

List available extensions with the following command:
transactional-update --quiet register --list-extensions
From the list of available extensions, select the one you wish to install:
If installing the Server, use your SUSE Manager Server Extension 4.3 x86_64 registration code with following command:
transactional-update register -p Multi-Linux-Manager-Server/5.1/x86_64 -r <reg_code>
If installing the Proxy, use your SUSE Manager Proxy Extension 4.3 x86_64 registration code with following command:
transactional-update register -p Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy/5.1/x86_64 -r <reg_code>
Reboot.

3.1.4. Update the system

Procedure: Updating the system

Log in as root.
Run transactional-update:
transactional-update
Reboot.

SL Micro is designed to update itself automatically by default and will reboot after applying updates. However, this behavior is not desirable for the SUSE Manager environment. To prevent automatic updates on your server, SUSE Manager disables the transactional-update timer during the bootstrap process.

If you prefer the SL Micro default behavior, enable the timer by running the following command:

systemctl enable --now transactional-update.timer

To continue with deployment, see Configure Custom Persistent Storage.

3.2. Prepare SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm} host

Alternatively, you can deploy SUSE Manager on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}.

The following procedures describe the main steps of the installation process.

3.2.1. Install SUSE Manager extensions on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Procedure: Installing SUSE Manager Extensions on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Locate and download SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm} .iso at https://www.suse.com/download/sles/.

Make sure that you have registration codes both for the host operating system (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}) and extensions

Start the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}.

On the Language, keyboard and product selection select the product to install.

On the License agreement read the agreement and check I Agree to the License Terms.

Select the registration method. For this example, we will register the server with SUSE Customer Center.

Enter your {scclongform} email address.

Enter your registration code for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}.

Click Next to continue.

Please note that for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server {bci-mlm}, you are required to have a valid SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription and corresponding registration code, which you must provide on this screen. You will be required to enter the SUSE Manager Extension registration code below.

In the screen Extensions and Modules Selection check the following:

Select the SUSE Manager Server Extension to install the Server, or the SUSE Manager Proxy Extension to install the Proxy.

Basesystem Module

Containers Module

Click Next to continue.

Enter your SUSE Manager 4.3 extension registration code.

Click Next to continue.

Complete the installation.

When the installation completes, log in to the newly installed server as root.
Update the System (optional, if the system was not set to download updates during install):
zypper up
Reboot.

3.2.2. OPTIONAL: Registration from the command line

If you added SUSE Manager 4.3 as an extension during SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation then you can skip this procedure.

However, optionally you may skip registration during SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation by selecting the Skip Registration button. This section provides steps on registering your products after SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation.

The following steps register a SUSE Manager 4.3 extension with the x86-64 architecture and thus require a registration code for the x86-64 architecture.

To register ARM or s390x architectures use the correct registration code.

Procedure: Registering from the command line

List available extensions with the following command:
SUSEConnect --list-extensions
From the list of available extensions, select the one you wish to install:
If installing the Server, use your SUSE Manager Server Extension 4.3 x86_64 registration code.

For example for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7, use the following commands:
SUSEConnect -r <regcode>
SUSEConnect -p sle-module-containers/15.7/x86_64
SUSEConnect -p Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-SLE/5.1/x86_64 -r <regcode>
If installing the Proxy, use your SUSE Manager Proxy Extension 4.3 x86_64 registration code with the following command:
SUSEConnect -p Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-SLE/5.1/x86_64 -r <regcode>

3.2.3. Install and enable `podman`

Procedure: Installing podman

Log in as root and install the product package.
On the server:
zypper in podman
zypper in -t product Multi-Linux-Manager-Server-SLE
On the proxies:
zypper in podman
zypper in -t product Multi-Linux-Manager-Proxy-SLE
Make sure that package podman is installed. Additionally, on the server mgradm and mgradm-bash-completion or on the proxies, mgrpxy and mgrpxy-bash-completion also need to be installed.
Start the Podman service by rebooting the system, or running a command:
systemctl enable --now podman.service

To continue with deployment, see Configure Custom Persistent Storage.

4. Configure Custom Persistent Storage

Configuring persistent storage is optional, but it is the only way to avoid serious trouble with container full disk conditions. It is highly recommended to configure custom persistent storage with the mgr-storage-server tool.

For more information, see mgr-storage-server --help.

This tool simplifies creating the container storage and database volumes.

Use the command in the following manner:

mgr-storage-server <storage-disk-device> [<database-disk-device>]

For example:

mgr-storage-server /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1

This command will create the persistent storage volumes at /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes.

For more information, see

5. Deploy SUSE Manager with `mgradm`

If you want to use third-party SSL certificates instead of the self-signed certificates, import them in the run of the following deployment procedure.

For more information about the requirements of third-party SSL certificates, see Import SSL Certificates.

SUSE Manager server hosts that are hardened for security may restrict execution of files from the /tmp folder. In such cases, as a workaround, export the TMPDIR environment variable to another existing path before running mgradm.

For example:

export TMPDIR=/path/to/other/tmp

In SUSE Manager updates, tools will be changed to make this workaround unnecessary.

Procedure: Deploying SUSE Manager 4.3 Using mgradm

Deploy SUSE Manager.

If you use VM images as a migration target, here as the last step, execute the command mgradm migrate instead of mgradm install.

Execute one of the following commands, depending on the SSL certificate variant (self-signed or third-party). Replace <FQDN> with your fully qualified domain name of the SUSE Manager Server:

Using self-signed certificates provided by SUSE Manager:
```
mgradm install podman <FQDN>
```

With importing SSL certificates using third-party SSL certificate flags (the example can adjusted if not all these certificates are needed):

mgradm install podman <FQDN> \
  --ssl-ca-intermediate <strings> \
  --ssl-ca-root <string> \
  --ssl-server-cert <string> \
  --ssl-server-key <string> \
  --ssl-db-ca-intermediate <strings> \
  --ssl-db-ca-root <string> \
  --ssl-db-cert <string> \
  --ssl-db-key <string>

For more information, see mgradm install podman --help.

If the executed command fails ensure that you have registered SUSE Manager 4.3. If you skipped registration during installation and now need to register from the command line, follow the steps below to log in to the registry:

set +o history
echo SCC_MIRRORING_PASSWORD | podman login -u "SCC_MIRRORING_USER" --password-stdin registry.suse.com
set -o history

Use the SUSE Manager 4.3 registration key when prompted.

Enter CA key (certificate authority) and administrator account password when prompted.

The administrator account password must be at least 5 characters and less than 48 characters in length.
Press Enter.
Enter the email address of the administration account.

Press Enter.
Wait for deployment to complete.
Open a browser and proceed to your servers FQDN.
Enter your username (default is admin) and the password you set during the deployment process.

In this guide you deployed SUSE Manager 4.3 Server as a container. Proceed to the next section to add your organization credentials for syncing with {scclongform}.

6. Connect SUSE Manager 4.3 to {scclongform}

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

Procedure: Entering Organization Credentials

Open a browser and proceed to your servers FQDN.
Enter your username (default is admin) and the password you set during the deployment process.
In the SUSE Manager Web UI, select Admin Setup Wizard.
From the Setup Wizard page select the Organization Credentials tab.
Click Add a new credential.
Point your browser to the {scclongform}.
Select your organization from the left navigation.
Select the users tab from the top of the page then Organization Credentials.
Make a note of your Mirroring credentials.
Back in the SUSE Manager Web UI enter your Username and Password, and confirm with Save.

When the credentials are confirmed with a green check-mark icon, proceed with Procedure: Synchronizing with {scclongform}.

Procedure: Synchronizing with {scclongform}

In the Web UI, navigate to Admin Setup Wizard.
From the Setup Wizard page select the SUSE Products tab.

If you recently registered with {scclongform} a list of products will begin populating the table. This operation could take up to a few minutes.

You can monitor the progress of the operation in section on the right Refresh the product catalog from {scclongform}.

The table of products lists architecture, channels, and status information. For more information, see Wizard.
Use the Filter by product description and Filter by architecture to filter the list of displayed products.

The channels listed on the Products page provide repositories for clients.
- 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.
- Click Add Products at the top of the page to start product synchronization.

After adding the channel, SUSE Manager will schedule the channel to be synchronized. This can take a long time as SUSE Manager will copy channel software sources from the SUSE repositories located at {scclongform} to the local /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes/var-spacewalk/ directory of your server.

When the channel is fully synchronized, a bootstrap repository for it will be automatically generated. This step is crucial for successfully bootstrapping clients, ensuring that the channel synchronization and distribution are operational on the client side. This completes the installation and configuration of SUSE Manager, along with preparing the channels necessary for bootstrapping clients.

When the channel synchronization process is complete, you can proceed with registering the SUSE Manager 4.3 Proxy or additional clients.

For more instructions, see Client Registration.

7. Entering the Container for Management

To get to a shell inside the container, run on the container host:

mgrctl term