Install Inmanta

This page explain how to install the Inmanta orchestrator software and setup an orchestration server.

Install software

Inmanta requires python3 on your system. If you install it from source, python3 and pip need to be installed. If you install from package, your package manager installs python3 if not yet available on your system.

Systems that run the compiler or agent may require to install python packages with pip. These packages are requirments of configuration modules. Some python packages, such as OpenStack clients have dependencies that require gcc and python3-devel to be availabe as well. The pre-packaged rpms contain the correct dependencies. When Inmanta is installed from source or pypi they need to be installed manually.

With pip

Inmanta can be installed with pip.

pip install inmanta

From source

Either checkout of the code or use the releases page: https://github.com/inmanta/inmanta/releases

git clone https://github.com/inmanta/inmanta.git
cd inmanta
pip install .

Fedora and CentOS 7

For Fedora use dnf:

cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/inmanta_oss_stable.repo <<EOF
[inmanta-oss-stable]
name=Inmanta OSS stable
baseurl=https://pkg.inmanta.com/inmanta-oss-stable/f\$releasever/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://pkg.inmanta.com/inmanta-oss-stable/inmanta-oss-stable-public-key
repo_gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
enabled_metadata=1
EOF
sudo dnf install -y python3-inmanta python3-inmanta-server python3-inmanta-agent mongodb-server

For CentOS use yum and install epel-release:

cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/inmanta_oss_stable.repo <<EOF
[inmanta-oss-stable]
name=Inmanta OSS stable
baseurl=https://pkg.inmanta.com/inmanta-oss-stable/el7/
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://pkg.inmanta.com/inmanta-oss-stable/inmanta-oss-stable-public-key
repo_gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
enabled_metadata=1
EOF

sudo yum install -y epel-release
sudo yum install -y python3-inmanta python3-inmanta-server python3-inmanta-agent mongodb-server

The first package (python3-inmanta) contains all the code and the commands. The server and the agent packages install config files and systemd unit files. The dashboard is installed with the server package.

Configure server

This guide goes through the steps to setup an Inmanta service orchestrator server. This guide assumes a RHEL 7 or CentOS 7 server. The rpm packages install the server configuration file in /etc/inmanta/server.cfg

Optional step 1: Setup SSL and authentication

Follow the instructions in Setup authentication to configure both SSL and authentication. It is not mandatory but still highly recommended.

Step 2: Setup mongodb

Make sure mongodb is started and reachable by the Inmanta server. By default Inmanta tries to connect to the local server and uses the database inmanta. See the database section in the configfile for other options.

Step 3: Set the server address

When virtual machines are started by this server that install the inmanta agent, the correct server.server-address needs to be configured. This address is used to create the correct boot script for the virtual machine.

Set this value to the hostname or IP address that others systems use to connect to the server.

Note

If you deploy configuration models that modify resolver configuration it is recommended to use the IP address instead of the hostname.

Step 4: Configure ssh of the inmanta user

The inmanta user that runs the server needs a working ssh client. This client is required to checkout git repositories over ssh and if the remote agent is used.

  1. Provide the inmanta user with one or more private keys:

    1. Generate a new key with ssh-keygen as the inmanta user: sudo -u inmanta ssh-keygen -N ""
    2. Install an exiting key in /var/lib/inmanta/.ssh/id_rsa Make sure the permissions and ownership are set correctly.
  2. Configure ssh to accept all host keys or white list the hosts that are allowed or use signed host keys (depends on your security requirements). This guide configures ssh client for the inmanta user to accept all host keys. Create /var/lib/inmanta/.ssh/config and create the following content:

    Host *
        StrictHostKeyChecking no
        UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null
    
  1. Add the public key to any git repositories and save if to include in configuration models that require remote agents.
  2. Test if you can login into a machine that has the public key and make sure ssh does not show you any prompts to store the host key.

Step 5: Start the server

Start the server and make sure it is started at boot.

sudo systemctl enable inmanta-server
sudo systemctl start inmanta-server