[Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk and Ubuntu

[William Hongach]

Hi Robert,

Thank you very much for taking the time to send along this information.  I was able to successfully register and manage Debian 9 clients using the details you have provided.  Have a great day.

-----Original Message-----
From: spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com <spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com> On Behalf Of Robert Paschedag
Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2019 10:49 AM
To: spacewalk-list at redhat.com; James Krych <james.w.krych at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk and Ubuntu

On 1/4/19 6:06 PM, James Krych wrote:
> Thanks William!
> 
> I have figured as much. Nothing on youtube either!
> 
> Best,
> 
> James
> 
https://www.redhat.com/archives/spacewalk-list/2018-September/msg00059.html

This messages point to a custom "repo" for Debian / Ubuntu clients with the "latest" (2.8) spacewalk tools needed.

Then....the things needed are the same as for every other distribution.

You need

 - the tools (packages).
 - the CA certificate of your spacewalk server. (The certificate, that "signed" the cert of the spacewalk "web server"! This is the RHN-TRUSTED-ORG-SSL.CERT file that should be found within
/var/www/html/pub/)
 - an activation key for the systems you want to register. This activation key should "contain" the "channels", that clients should subscribe, when they register with this specific "activation key"
 - channels: of course you need to create "software channels" for your Ubuntu clients (where you sync the packages to)

Normally, ("traditional xmlrpc clients") there are so called "boostrap scripts" created by the spacewalk server which are used on a client to

 - get all needed packages from a "bootstrap repo" needed to get in touch with the spacewalk server
 - download the CA certificate to verify SSL/TLS certificates
 - register the system with a - possibly - predefined "activation key"

For Ubuntu / Debian, these default bootstrap scripts do not work. You have to create your own.

I describe the steps (from my mind) you need to do on "one" test client.

- Add the repo as mentioned in the old spacewalk mailing archive message (mentioned above) to your client (so you are able to install the needed spacewalk packages). Make sure, you are able to reach the main Ubuntu repos.

- Download the CA certificate (RHN-TRUSTED-ORG-SSL-CERT file) from the spacewalk server and "install" it as "trusted CA certificate" on the system. The instructions vary from distro to distro. See http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man8/update-ca-certificates.8.html
for Ubuntu

- Test the connection (so SSL/TLS communication works as expected) buy running something like "curl -v https://<your_spacewalk_server>". If you get SSL verification errors, fix the error. Nothing will work, until this works.

- If not yet present, create an "activation key" within spacewalk server and add the "channels" you want the new client to subscribe automatically (I use the name "1-ubuntu18" here for example)

- Install the needed packages (read mentioned archive message above)

- Register the system with "rhnreg_ks --activationkey=1-ubuntu18 --serverUrl=https://<your_spacewalk_server>/XMLRPC"

That should be it.

Robert

> --
> --
> James W. Krych
> CCNP, CCNA, Net+, Security+, A+, Linux+
> Mobile: 843-847-1446
> james.w.krych at gmail.com
> 
> 
> On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 11:56 AM William Hongach 
> <William.Hongach at marist.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi James,
>>
>>
>>
>> I posted a similar inquiry a few weeks ago.  I have difficulty 
>> getting Debian clients to play nicely with Spacewalk and I haven’t 
>> found an over abundance of related documentation online for managing 
>> Debian/Ubuntu.  From previous list traffic, I know we have some 
>> active users out there, so if anyone can weigh in with tips or a 
>> documented process for managing updates, configuration files, remote 
>> commands, etc. or any of the other relevant Spacewalk features, it would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com < 
>> spacewalk-list-bounces at redhat.com> *On Behalf Of *James Krych
>> *Sent:* Friday, January 4, 2019 8:39 AM
>> *To:* spacewalk-list at redhat.com
>> *Subject:* [Spacewalk-list] Spacewalk and Ubuntu
>>
>>
>>
>> First, my apologies if this has been beaten to death.
>>
>>
>>
>> I did some preliminary research about this and did find some sites 
>> that had up to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS listed as being able to utilize 
>> Spacewalk. Is there a collection of steps that shows how this can be 
>> done -- especially with Ubuntu 18 now?
>>
>>
>>
>> Very respectfully,
>>
>>
>>
>> James
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> James W. Krych
>> CCNP, CCNA, Net+, Security+, A+, Linux+
>> Mobile: 843-847-1446
>> james.w.krych at gmail.com
>> _______________________________________________
>> Spacewalk-list mailing list
>> Spacewalk-list at redhat.com
>> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/spacewalk-list
> 
> 
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