Public Cloud

Some public cloud environments provide images for SUSE Manager Server and Proxy. This section discusses what you will require to run SUSE Manager in a public cloud, and how to set up your installation.

Public clouds provide SUSE Manager under a Bring Your Own Subscription (BYOS) model. This means that you must register them with the SUSE Customer Center. For more information about registering SUSE Manager with SUSE Customer Center, see installation:general-requirements.adoc.

Depending on the public cloud network you are using, you can locate the SUSE Manager installation images by searching for the keywords suse, manager, proxy, or BYOS.

Instance Requirements

Select a public cloud instance that meets the hardware requirements in installation:hardware-requirements.adoc.

In addition, be aware of these important considerations:

  • The SUSE Manager setup procedure performs a forward-confirmed reverse DNS lookup. This must succeed in order for the setup procedure to complete successfully and for SUSE Manager to operate as expected. Therefore, it is important that the hostname and IP configuration be performed prior to running the SUSE Manager setup procedure.

  • SUSE Manager Server and Proxy instances are expected to run in a network configuration that provides you control over DNS entries, but cannot access the wider internet. Within this network configuration DNS resolution must be provided, such that hostname -f returns the FQDN. DNS resolution is also important for connecting clients. DNS is dependent on the cloud framework you choose, refer to the cloud service provider documentation for detailed instructions.

  • We recommend that you locate software repositories, the server database, and the Proxy squid cache on an external virtual disk. This prevents data loss if the instance is unexpectedly terminated. Instructions for setting up an external virtual disk are contained in this section.

Network Setup

On a public cloud service, you must run SUSE Manager within a restricted network, such as VPC private subnet with an appropriate firewall setting. The instance must only be able to be accessed by machines in your specified IP ranges.

A world-accessible SUSE Manager instance violates the terms of the SUSE Manager EULA, and it will not be supported by SUSE.

When you are setting up your networking environment, you will need to ensure that you allow https, in order to be able access the SUSE Manager Web UI.

Set the hostname

SUSE Manager requires a stable and reliable hostname. Changing the hostname at a later point can create errors.

In most public cloud environments, the method shown in this section will work correctly. However, you will have to perform the same modification for every client.

You might prefer to manage DNS resolution by creating a DNS entry in your network environmentinstead.

You can also manage hostname resolution by editing the /etc/resolv.conf file. Depending on the order of your setup, if you start the SUSE Manager instance prior to setting up DNS services the file may not contain the appropriate search directive. Check that the proper search directive exists in /etc/resolv.conf and add it if it is missing.

Procedure: Setting the host name locally
  1. Disable hostname setup by editing the DHCP configuration file at /etc/sysconfig/network/dhcp, and adding this line:

    DHCLIENT_SET_HOSTNAME="no"
  2. Set the hostname locally with the hostnamectl command. Ensure you use the system name, not the FQDN. For example, if the FQDN is system_name.example.com, the system name is system_name, and the domain name is example.com.

    hostnamectl set-hostname system_name
  3. Create a DNS entry in your network environment for domain name resolution, or force correct resolution by editing the /etc/hosts file:

    $ echo "${local_address} suma.cloud.net suma" >> /etc/hosts

    You can find the local address by checking your public cloud web console, or from the command line :

    • Amazon EC2 instance:

      $ ec2metadata --local-ipv4
    • Google Compute Engine:

      $ gcemetadata --query instance --network-interfaces --ip
    • Microsoft Azure:

      $ azuremetadata --internal-ip

Set up DNS resolution

You will need to update the DNS records for the instance within the DNS service of your network environment. Refer to the cloud service provider documentation for detailed instructions: * DNS setup on Amazon EC2 * DNS setup on Google Compute Engine * DNS setup on Microsoft Azure

If you run a SUSE Manager Server instance, you can run YaST after the instance is launched to ensure the external storage is attached and prepared correctly, and that DNS resolution is set up as described:

$ /sbin/yast2 susemanager_setup