Register Clients with the Web UI

Bootstrapping clients with the Web UI is using Salt SSH to execute the bootstrap process on the client. Salt SSH uses the Salt Bundle and its included Python interpreter. Therefore, no other Python interpreter needs to be installed on the client.

As Salt Bundle is shipped with the bootstrap repository, the repository must be created before starting the bootstrap process for the client. A shell script detects the operating system on the client and deploys the Salt Bundle from the appropriate bootstrap repository, using the same logic as the bootstrap script. For more information, see Prepare to Create a Bootstrap Repository.

Do not register the SUSE Manager Server to itself. The SUSE Manager Server must be managed individually or by using another separate SUSE Manager Server. For more information about using multiple servers, see Multiple Servers with Hub to Manage Large Scale Deployments.
Procedure: Registering Clients with the Web UI

  1. In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to Systems  Bootstrapping.

  2. In the Host field, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the client to be bootstrapped.

  3. In the SSH Port field, type the SSH port number to use to connect and bootstrap the client. By default, the SSH port is 22.

  4. In the User field, type the username to log in to the client. By default, the username is root.

  5. To bootstrap the client with SSH, in the Authentication field, check SSH Private Key, and upload the SSH private key to use to log in to the client. If your SSH private key requires a passphrase, type it into the SSH Private Key Passphrase field, or leave it blank for no passphrase.

  6. To bootstrap the client with a password, in the Authentication field, check Password, and type the password to log in to the client.

  7. In the Activation Key field, select the activation key that is associated with the software channel you want to use to bootstrap the client. For more information, see Activation Keys.

  8. OPTIONAL: In the Proxy field, select the proxy to register the client to.

  9. By default, the Disable SSH Strict Key Host Checking checkbox is selected. This allows the bootstrap process to automatically accept SSH host keys without requiring you to manually authenticate.

  10. OPTIONAL: Check the Manage System Completely via SSH checkbox. If you check this option, the client is configured to use SSH for its connection to the server, and no other connection method is configured.

  11. Click Bootstrap to begin registration.

When the bootstrap process has completed, your client is listed at Systems  System List.

SSH private keys are stored only for the duration of the bootstrapping process. They are deleted from the SUSE Manager Server as soon as bootstrapping is complete.

When new packages or updates are installed on the client using SUSE Manager, any end user license agreements (EULAs) are automatically accepted. To review a package EULA, open the package details page in the Web UI.

1. Handling of Locally Assigned Repositories

Having repositories assigned directly to clients not served by SUSE Manager is not a common use case. It can cause trouble. Therfore bootstrapping via Salt disables all local repositories at the beginning of the bootstrap process.

Later, during every use of the channel state, for example when executing a Highstate or a package installation, all locally assigned repositories are disabled again.

All software packages which are used on the clients should come from channels served by SUSE Manager. For more information about creating a custom channel, see Custom Channels at Custom Channels.