Registering Ubuntu Clients

Table of Contents

1. Add Software Channels
2. Check Synchronization Status
3. Manage GPG Keys
4. Root Access
- 4.1. Grant Root User Access
- 4.2. Bootstrap as Install-created User via SSH
5. Register Clients

This section contains information about registering clients running Ubuntu operating systems.

Ubuntu repository URLs are available from SUSE Customer Center.
Packages and metadata are provided by Ubuntu, not by SUSE.
Canonical does not endorse or support SUSE Manager.
For supported products, see the release notes and the support table at Supported Ubuntu Features.

Ubuntu is supported for Salt clients only. Traditional clients are not supported.

Bootstrapping is supported for starting Ubuntu clients and performing initial state runs such as setting repositories and performing profile updates. However, the root user on Ubuntu is disabled by default, so to use bootstrapping, you require an existing user with sudo privileges for Python.

1. Add Software Channels

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

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

The products you need for this procedure are:

Table 1. Ubuntu Products - WebUI
OS Version	Product Name
Ubuntu 24.04	Ubuntu 24.04
Ubuntu 22.04	Ubuntu 22.04

Procedure: Adding Software Channels

In the SUSE Manager Web UI, navigate to Admin Setup Wizard Products.
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.
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. Ubuntu Channels - CLI
OS Version	Base Channel
Ubuntu 24.04	ubuntu-2404-amd64-main-amd64
Ubuntu 22.04	ubuntu-2204-amd64-main-amd64

Procedure: Adding Software Channels at the Command Prompt

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>

Synchronization starts automatically. If you want to synchronize the channels manually, use:
```
mgr-sync sync --with-children <channel_name>
```
Ensure the synchronization is complete before continuing.

2. Check Synchronization Status

Procedure: Checking Synchronization Progress from the Web UI

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.
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

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
```
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.

Ubuntu channels can be very large. Synchronization can sometimes take several hours.

3. 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.

4. Root Access

The root user on Ubuntu is disabled by default for SSH access.

To be able to onboard using a regular user, you need to edit the sudoers file.

This issue happens with self-installed versions of Ubuntu. If the default user has been granted administrative privileges during installation time, a password is required to perform privilege escalation using sudo. With cloud instances this does not happen because cloud-init automatically creates a file under /etc/sudoers.d and grants privilege escalation through sudo without the need for a password.

4.1. Grant Root User Access

Procedure: Granting Root User Access

On the client, edit the sudoers file:
```
sudo visudo
```
Grant sudo access to the user by adding this line at the end of the sudoers file. Replace <user> with the name of the user that is bootstrapping the client in the Web UI:
```
<user>  ALL=NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/python, /usr/bin/python2, /usr/bin/python3, /var/tmp/venv-salt-minion/bin/python
```

This procedure grants root access without requiring a password, which is required for registering the client. When the client is successfully installed it runs with root privileges, so the access is no longer required. We recommend that you remove the line from the sudoers file after the client has been successfully installed.

4.2. Bootstrap as Install-created User via SSH

To bootstrap an Ubuntu client via SSH you must add the install-created user to the sudo group. Then run the bootstrap script from the client.

Procedure: Adding Install-created User to sudo Group and Bootstrapping via SSH

On the client, as root, run from the command line (replace <username> with the name of the install-created user):
```
sudo usermod -aG sudo <username>
```
Bootstrap the client system from its command line (replace <SERVER_FQDN> with the fully qualified domain name of the SUSE Manager Server):
```
sudo su -
curl -Sks https://<SERVER_FQDN>/pub/bootstrap/bootstrap-script.sh | /bin/bash
```

Ubuntu can only be bootstrapped using the corresponding Ubuntu bootstrap script run from the client system’s command line after issuing sudo su - as above. It cannot be bootstrapped via the SUSE Manager Web UI due to the fact that the root user is disabled on Ubuntu by default, and that the Web UI does not permit for privilege escalation of the Ubuntu install-created user.

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.