Registering Amazon Linux Clients

This section contains information about registering clients running Amazon Linux operating systems.

When created at AWS, Amazon Linux 2 instances always have the same machine-id id at /etc/machine-id. If you are creating Amazon Linux 2 instances, make sure you regenerate the machine-id after the instances are created. For more information, see Troubleshooting Registering Cloned Clients.

Amazon Linux 2023 is not affected by this.

1. Add Software Channels

Before you register Amazon Linux clients to your Uyuni Server, you need to add the required software channels, and synchronize them.

The architectures currently supported are: x86_64 and aarch64. 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.

The channels you need for this procedure are:

Table 1. Amazon Linux Channels - CLI
OS Version Base Channel Client Channel

Amazon Linux 2023

amazonlinux2023

amazonlinux2023-uyuni-client

Amazon Linux 2

amazonlinux2-core

amazonlinux2-uyuni-client

For Amazon Linux 2, make sure you also add and synchronize amazonlinux2-extra-docker channel if you plan to use Docker at your Amazon Linux instances.

For Amazon Linux 2023, make sure you also add and synchronize amazonlinux2023-kernel-livepatch channel if you plan to use Kernel Live patches at your Amazon Linux instances.
Procedure: Adding Software Channels at the Command Prompt

  1. At the command prompt on the Uyuni Server, as root, use the spacewalk-common-channels command to add the appropriate channels:

    spacewalk-common-channels \
<base_channel_label> \
<child_channel_label_1> \
<child_channel_label_2> \
... <child_channel_label_n>

  2. If automatic synchronization is turned off, synchronize the channels:

    spacewalk-repo-sync -p <base_channel_label>

  3. Ensure the synchronization is complete before continuing.

The client tools channel provided by spacewalk-common-channels is sourced from Uyuni and not from SUSE.

2. Check Synchronization Status

Procedure: Checking Synchronization Progress from the Web UI

  1. In the Uyuni Web UI, navigate to Software  Manage  Channels, then click the channel associated to the repository.

  2. 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 Uyuni 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 Amazon Linux 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. Because a software channel cannot be used when the GPG key is not trusted, the decision of assigning a channel to a client depends on the decision of trusting the key.

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.