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Subscription

Subscription#

Note

Available only on Rocky Linux based systems

A NethServer 8 cluster can be registered to a web portal to enable additional services.

When a cluster has an active subscription, the following services are enabled:

  • Remote support by Nethesis

  • Resources monitoring and alerting

  • Upload of leader node inventory

  • Scheduled updates for node operating systems, core components, and applications

  • Upload of cluster backup (Enterprise only)

Regarding software repositories, only the subscription repository remains enabled.

Hint

Please avoid enabling third-party repositories and refrain from installing software not covered by the subscription plan

Register the cluster#

Depending on your subscription type, log in to my.nethserver.com or my.nethesis.it and obtain a unique subscription token for the cluster. Follow the portal-documented procedures to obtain it.

Warning

The subscription token is a secret: never communicate or share it with someone else

Once you have copied the token to the clipboard, go to the Settings page and click the Subscription card. Paste the token in the Authentication token field, then click the Register button.

If the procedure is successful the Subscription page displays the System ID, Plan type and Expiration date.

Scheduled updates#

An overnight scheduled task installs software updates available from managed software repositories. The task runs daily, from Tuesday through Friday, within a randomly selected time slot between midnight and 6 AM. This variability helps distribute the load on the network and servers. Updates concern:

  • Operating system: updates are sourced from Nethesis managed repositories, specifically from DNF repositories labeled as ns-baseos and ns-appstream. These repositories provide delayed snapshots of Rocky Linux repositories, aiming to prevent the distribution of updates that may lead to unexpected issues.

  • Core components: Updates are fetched from the subscription repository

  • Applications: Updates are fetched from the subscription repository

Remove the subscription#

Go to the Settings page and click the Subscription card. Alternatively, go to the cluster dashboard page and click the Go to Subscription link.

In the Subscription page, click the Remove subscription button. The action must be confirmed.

Remote support#

Note

Available in Nethesis Enterprise only

Depending on the subscription type and plan, the Subscription page can allow starting and controlling a remote support session:

  • Click Start session to activate a special access for the Nethesis support team. Both SSH and cluster-admin administrative access are granted to the support team. Support connections are routed in a private VPN tunnel.

    When the access is granted, a unique Session ID secret is displayed: copy and paste it in your support request.

  • To end the support session, close the VPN tunnel and revoke any granted access, click End session.

The support session is valid only to reach the leader node. The support team can access worker nodes by starting individual support sessions in the worker nodes. For example, if node 2 is a worker node, this is a command to start a support session for it:

api-cli run node/2/start-support-session

The Session ID is printed to the standard output. To stop the session:

api-cli run node/2/stop-support-session

Check the support session status for any node with:

api-cli run node/2/get-support-session

If a worker node (e.g., node 2) becomes unreachable from the leader node, you can manually start a support session for it with the following procedure:

  1. Log in on the worker node, using the console or SSH access.

  2. Run the following command to start the support session:

    systemctl start support

  3. Obtain the session ID with:

    systemctl status support

    The Session ID is always recorded in the system journal and node log.

  4. To end the support session:

    systemctl stop support
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