Registering Oracle Linux Clients

This section contains information about registering traditional and Salt clients running Oracle Linux operating systems.

Traditional clients are not available on Oracle Linux 9 and 8. Oracle Linux 9 and Oracle Linux 8 clients are only supported as Salt clients.

Direct synchronizing Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN) repositories with Uyuni are not currently supported. An Oracle Local Distribution for ULN must be used. For more information about setting up a local ULN mirror, see the Oracle documentation provided at https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/software-management/sfw-mgmt-UseSoftwareDistributionMirrors.html#local-uln-mirror.

1. Add Software Channels

Before you register Oracle 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. Oracle Channels - CLI
OS Version Base Channel Client Channel Updates Channel

Oracle Linux 9

oraclelinux9

oraclelinux9-uyuni-client

oraclelinux9-appstream

Oracle Linux 8

oraclelinux8

oraclelinux8-uyuni-client

oraclelinux8-appstream

Oracle Linux 7

oraclelinux7

oraclelinux7-uyuni-client

-
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.

For Oracle Linux 9 and Oracle Linux 8 clients, add both the Base and AppStream channels. You require packages from both channels. If you do not add both channels, you cannot create the bootstrap repository, due to missing packages.

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

The AppStream repository provides modular packages. This results in the Uyuni 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 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 Oracle 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.

For Oracle Linux 9 and Oracle Linux 8 clients use

ol8-gpg-pubkey-82562EA9AD986DA3.key

For Oracle Linux 7 clients use

ol67-gpg-pubkey-72F97B74EC551F0A3.key

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.