How to install Landscape manually

This is the baseline deployment recommendation we have for Landscape Server when Juju is not used. At a minimum, we have two machines:

• database server, running Ubuntu 20.04 (“focal”) with PostgreSQL 12.
• application server, running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (“focal”) or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (“jammy”), hosting the Landscape services

This is a long document. If you want a quick installation that just works, but doesn’t scale to a large number of machines, then install the landscape-server-quickstart package. For more information, visit how to install Landscape Server with quickstart mode.

Contents:

• Prepare for the installation
• Install the database server
  1. Install PostgreSQL and required libraries
  2. Create a superuser Landscape can use
  3. Configure PostgreSQL
  4. Tune PostgreSQL
     • Landscape-specific tips for tuning PostgreSQL
• Install the application server
  1. Add the Landscape package archive
  2. Install the server package
  3. Install the license file
  4. Configure rabbitmq
  5. Configure database and broker access
  6. Run the Landscape setup script
  7. Configure Landscape services and schema upgrades
  8. Configure web server
  9. Start Landscape services
  10. Create the first user
  11. Configure the first client
  12. Add an email alias

Prepare for the installation

What you will need:

• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (“focal”) or Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (“jammy”) server install media.
• An Ubuntu Pro subscription
• Server X509 certificate and key, signed by a publicly known Certificate Authority, and issued for the FQDN hostname of the application server.
• Custom CAs can be used, but this is not documented here as it’s considered an advanced topic. Administrators deploying custom CAs most likely know what needs to be done. In any case, this quick how-to may help: SSL-creating a simple CA and issuing a certificate.

Install the database server

After having installed the basic server profile of Ubuntu Server, we need to install the PostgreSQL database and configure it for use by Landscape. Please follow these steps:

Install PostgreSQL and required libraries

On an Ubuntu 20.04 (“focal”) database server, run this command to install the database software.

sudo apt-get install postgresql-12 python-apt postgresql-plpython3-12 postgresql-contrib postgresql-12-debversion

However, on an Ubuntu 22.04 (“jammy”) database server, the command is

sudo apt-get install postgresql-14 python3-apt postgresql-plpython3-14 postgresql-contrib postgresql-14-debversion

Create a superuser Landscape can use

Landscape needs a database superuser in order to create the lower privilege users it needs to perform routine tasks and access the data, as well as alter the database schema whenever needed:

sudo -u postgres createuser --createdb --createrole --superuser --pwprompt landscape_superuser

You should use a strong password.

If this database is to be shared with other services, it’s recommended that another cluster is created instead for those services (or for Landscape). Please refer to the PostgreSQL documentation in that case.

Configure PostgreSQL

We now need to allow the application server to access this database server. Landscape uses several users for this access, so we need to allow them all. Edit the /etc/postgresql/<version>/main/pg_hba.conf file (where <version> is the installed version of postgres for example /etc/postgresql/12/...) and add the following to the end:

host all landscape,landscape_maintenance,landscape_superuser <IP-OF-APP> md5

Replace <IP-OF-APP> with the IP address of the application server, followed by /32. Alternatively, you can specify the network address using the CIDR notation. Some examples of valid values:

• 192.168.122.199/32: the IP address of the APP server
• 192.168.122.0/24: a network address

Now come changes to the main PostgreSQL configuration file. Edit /etc/postgresql/<version>/main/postgresql.conf and:

• Find the listen_addresses parameter, which is probably commented, and change it to:

listen_addresses = '*'

• Set max_prepared_transactions to the same value as max_connections. For example:

max_connections = 400
...
max_prepared_transactions = 400

Finally, restart the database service:

sudo systemctl restart postgresql

Tune PostgreSQL

It is strongly recommended to fine tune this PostgreSQL installation according to the hardware of the server. Keeping the default settings (especially of max_connections) is known to be problematic. For more information, visit PostgreSQL’s guide on tuning your PostgreSQL server.

Landscape-specific tips for tuning PostgreSQL

The following parameters at a minimum should be touched:

• shared_buffers
• effective_cache_size
• wal_buffers
• max_connections

A good starting value for max_connections is 200, even on modest hardware. As your needs grow, this number should be adjusted and re-evaluated carefully. It may be helpful to use a tuning tool like pgtune.

When you adjust max_connections, you are likely to overrun shared memory allowed by the kernel (per process) and may need to increase the SHMMAX parameter.

If the tuning changed the value of max_connections, make sure you also change max_prepared_transactions to the same value.

Install the application server

The application server will host the following Landscape services:

• application server
• message server
• ping server
• job handler
• async-frontend
• combo loader
• api server
• package upload service
• package search

Additionally, other services needed by Landscape will also be running on this machine, such as:

• apache
• rabbitmq-server

Add the Landscape package archive

Landscape is distributed in a public PPA. You can add it to the system with these commands, replacing {LANDSCAPE_PPA} with the appropriate repository:

sudo add-apt-repository {LANDSCAPE_PPA}
sudo apt-get update

• {LANDSCAPE_PPA}: The PPA for the specific Landscape installation you’re using. The PPA for Landscape Beta is: ppa:landscape/self-hosted-beta. The PPA for the most recent stable Landscape LTS is: ppa:landscape/self-hosted-23.03.

Install the server package

Install the server package and its dependencies:

sudo apt-get install landscape-server rabbitmq-server apache2

Install the license file

If you were given a license file, copy it to /etc/landscape/license.d:

sudo cp license.txt /etc/landscape/license.d

Make sure it’s readable by the landscape user and root.

If you have no such file, Landscape will manage machines with Ubuntu Pro subscriptions associated with them. A limited use free license is included by default in Landscape.

Configure rabbitmq

Just run the following commands, replacing <password> with a password of your choice. It will be needed later.

sudo rabbitmqctl add_user landscape <password>
sudo rabbitmqctl add_vhost landscape
sudo rabbitmqctl set_permissions -p landscape landscape ".*" ".*" ".*"

To make rabbitmq listen only on the loopback interface (127.0.0.1), edit the file /etc/rabbitmq/rabbitmq-env.conf with the following content:

NODE_IP_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1

Then restart it:

sudo systemctl restart rabbitmq-server

Configure database and broker access

We now need to make some configuration changes to the /etc/landscape/service.conf file to tell Landscape how to use some other services:

Please make the following changes:

Section [stores]:

• host: the IP or hostname of the database server. If not the default PostgreSQL port (5432), add a :NNNN port definition after the hostname (e.g., 10.0.1.5:3232)
• Ensure a strong password is set for user landscape (this differs from landscape_superuser password from earlier and will be created when setup script is executed)

Section [broker]:

• Replace the password value with the password chosen above when configuring rabbitmq

Section [schema]:

• Change the value of store_user to the landscape super user we created above during the DB installation
• Add an entry for store_password with the password that was chosen in that same step

Run the Landscape setup script

This script will bootstrap the databases Landscape needs to work and setup the remaining of the configuration:

sudo setup-landscape-server

Configure Landscape services and schema upgrades

We need to enable the Landscape services now. Please edit /etc/default/landscape-server and change the RUN_ALL line to yes:

# To run all Landscape services set this to "yes"
RUN_ALL="yes"

The message, application and ping services can be configured to run multiple instances. If your hardware has several cores and enough memory (4Gb or more), running two or more of each will improve performance. To run multiple instances of a service, just set the value in the respective RUN_ line to the number of instances. For example, if you want to run two message servers, just set:

RUN_MSGSERVER="2"

In that same file, the UPGRADE_SCHEMA option needs to be reviewed. If set to yes, whenever the package landscape-server is updated it will attempt to update the database schema too. It is a very convenient setting, but please think about the following before enabling it:

• schema updates can take several minutes
• if the package is updated while the database is offline, or unreachable, the update will fail
• you should have a backup of the database before updating the package

Without this setting enabled, a package update might result in services that won’t start anymore because of a needed schema change. In that case:

• stop all the Landscape services
• backup your database
• Update the schema on the application server:

sudo setup-landscape-server

• start all Landscape services again

Configure web server

Landscape uses Apache to, among other things, redirect requests to each service and provide SSL support. The usual way to do this in Ubuntu is to create a Virtual Host for Landscape.

Below is a suggested configuration file that does just that. Install it as /etc/apache2/sites-available/landscape.conf and change the following values:

• @hostname@: the FQDN of the hostname the clients (browser and machines) will use to connect to Landscape Server. This is what will be in the URL, and it needs to be resolvable via DNS. For example, lds.example.com
• @certfile@: the full filesystem path to where the SSL certificate for this server is installed. For example, /etc/ssl/certs/landscape_server.pem
• @keyfile@: the full filesystem path to where the corresponding private key of that certificate is installed. For example, /etc/ssl/private/landscape_server.key

If you are using a custom certificate authority for your SSL certificate, then you MUST put the CA public certificate in the file /etc/ssl/certs/landscape_server_ca.crt and uncomment the SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl/certs/landscape_server_ca.crt line.

Make sure the user apache runs as can read those files! Also, make sure the private key can only be read by root and that same apache user.

<VirtualHost *:80>

    # This Hostname is the HTTP/1.1 hostname that users and Landscape clients will access
    # It must be the same as your SSL Certificate's CommonName
    # And the DNS Hostname for this machine
    # It is not recommended that you use an IP address here...
    ServerName @hostname@
    ServerAdmin webmaster@@hostname@
    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/landscape_error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/landscape_access.log combined
    DocumentRoot /opt/canonical/landscape/canonical/landscape

    # Set a Via header in outbound requests to the proxy, so proxied apps can
    # know who the actual client is
    ProxyVia on
    ProxyTimeout 10

    <Directory "/">
      Options +Indexes
      Order deny,allow
      Allow from all
      Require all granted
      Satisfy Any
      ErrorDocument 403 /offline/unauthorized.html
      ErrorDocument 404 /offline/notfound.html
    </Directory>

    Alias /offline /opt/canonical/landscape/canonical/landscape/offline
    Alias /static /opt/canonical/landscape/canonical/static
    Alias /repository /var/lib/landscape/landscape-repository


    <Location "/repository">
      Order deny,allow
      Deny from all
      ErrorDocument 403 default
      ErrorDocument 404 default
    </Location>
   <LocationMatch "/repository/[^/]+/[^/]+/(dists|pool)/.*">
     Allow from all
   </LocationMatch>
   <Location "/icons">
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
   </Location>
   <Location "/ping">
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Location>

    <Location "/message-system">
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Location>

   <Location "/static">
      Header always append X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
   </Location>

   <Location "/r">
      FileETag none
      ExpiresActive on
      ExpiresDefault "access plus 10 years"
      Header append Cache-Control "public"
   </Location>

    RewriteEngine On

    RewriteRule ^/r/([^/]+)/(.*) /$2

    RewriteRule ^/ping$ http://localhost:8070/ping [P]

    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/icons
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/offline/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/repository/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/message-system

    # Replace the @hostname@ with the DNS hostname for this machine.
    # If you change the port number that Apache is providing SSL on, you must change the
    # port number 443 here.
    RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://@hostname@:443/$1 [R=permanent]
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName @hostname@
    ServerAdmin webmaster@@hostname@

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/landscape_error.log
    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/landscape_access.log combined

    DocumentRoot /opt/canonical/landscape/canonical/landscape

    SSLEngine On
    SSLCertificateFile @certfile@
    SSLCertificateKeyFile @keyfile@
    # If you have either an SSLCertificateChainFile or, a self-signed CA signed certificate
    # uncomment the line below.
    # Note: Some versions of Apache will not accept the SSLCertificateChainFile directive.
    # Try using SSLCACertificateFile instead in that case.
    # SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/ssl/certs/landscape_server_ca.crt
    # Disable to avoid POODLE attack
    SSLProtocol all -SSLv3 -SSLv2 -TLSv1
    SSLHonorCipherOrder On
    SSLCompression Off
    SSLCipherSuite EECDH+AESGCM+AES128:EDH+AESGCM+AES128:EECDH+AES128:EDH+AES128:ECDH+AESGCM+AES128:aRSA+AESGCM+AES128:ECDH+AES128:DH+AES128:aRSA+AES128:EECDH+AESGCM:EDH+AESGCM:EECDH:EDH:ECDH+AESGCM:aRSA+AESGCM:ECDH:DH:aRSA:HIGH:!MEDIUM:!aNULL:!NULL:!LOW:!3DES:!DSS:!EXP:!PSK:!SRP:!CAMELLIA:!DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:!DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:!aECDH

    # Try to keep this close to the storm timeout. Not less, maybe slightly
    # more
    ProxyTimeout 305

    <Directory "/">
      Options -Indexes
      Order deny,allow
      Allow from all
      Require all granted
      Satisfy Any
      ErrorDocument 403 /offline/unauthorized.html
      ErrorDocument 404 /offline/notfound.html
    </Directory>

    <Location "/ajax">
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
    </Location>

    Alias /offline /opt/canonical/landscape/canonical/landscape/offline
    Alias /config /opt/canonical/landscape/apacheroot
    Alias /hash-id-databases /var/lib/landscape/hash-id-databases

    ProxyRequests off
    <Proxy *>
       Order deny,allow
       Allow from all
       ErrorDocument 403 /offline/unauthorized.html
       ErrorDocument 500 /offline/exception.html
       ErrorDocument 502 /offline/unplanned-offline.html
       ErrorDocument 503 /offline/unplanned-offline.html
    </Proxy>

    ProxyPass /robots.txt !
    ProxyPass /favicon.ico !
    ProxyPass /offline !
    ProxyPass /static !

    ProxyPreserveHost on


   <Location "/r">
      FileETag none
      ExpiresActive on
      ExpiresDefault "access plus 10 years"
      Header append Cache-Control "public"
   </Location>

   <Location "/static">
      Header always append X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
   </Location>

    RewriteEngine On

    RewriteRule ^/.*\+\+.* / [F]
    RewriteRule ^/r/([^/]+)/(.*) /$2

    # See /etc/landscape/service.conf for a description of all the
    # Landscape services and the ports they run on.
    # Replace the @hostname@ with the DNS hostname for this machine.
    # If you change the port number that Apache is providing SSL on, you must change the
    # port number 443 here.
    RewriteRule ^/message-system http://localhost:8090/++vh++https:@hostname@:443/++/ [P,L]

    RewriteRule ^/ajax http://localhost:9090/ [P,L]
    RewriteRule ^/combo(.*) http://localhost:8080/combo$1 [P,L]
    RewriteRule ^/api http://localhost:9080/ [P,L]
    RewriteRule ^/attachment/(.*) http://localhost:8090/attachment/$1 [P,L]
    RewriteRule ^/upload/(.*) http://localhost:9100/$1 [P,L]

    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/robots.txt$
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/favicon.ico$
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/offline/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/(r/[^/]+/)?static/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/config/
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/hash-id-databases/

    # Replace the @hostname@ with the DNS hostname for this machine.
    # If you change the port number that Apache is providing SSL on, you must change the
    # port number 443 here.
    RewriteRule ^/(.*) http://localhost:8080/++vh++https:@hostname@:443/++/$1 [P]

    <Location /message-system>
      Order allow,deny
      Allow from all
    </Location>

    <Location />
        # Insert filter
        SetOutputFilter DEFLATE

        # Don't compress images or .debs
        SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \
        \.(?:gif|jpe?g|png|deb)$ no-gzip dont-vary

        # Make sure proxies don't deliver the wrong content
        Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
    </Location>

</VirtualHost>

We now need to enable some modules:

for module in rewrite proxy_http ssl headers expires; do sudo a2enmod $module; done

Unless you require it and take necessary steps to secure that endpoint, it is recommended to disable mod-status:

sudo a2dismod status

Disable the default http vhost:

sudo a2dissite 000-default

Finally we can enable the new site:

sudo a2ensite landscape.conf
sudo systemctl restart apache2.service

Start Landscape services

Just run the helper script lsctl:

sudo lsctl restart

Create the first user

The first user that is created in Landscape automatically becomes the administrator of the “standalone” account. To create it, please go to https:// and fill in the requested information.

Configure the first client

On the client machine, install the latest landscape-client package.

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:landscape/self-hosted-23.03
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y landscape-client

If you are using the self-signed certificate on your Landscape Server, download your self-signed certificate from Landscape Server to the client machine with this command:

echo -n | openssl s_client -connect LANDSCAPE-SERVER-IP:443 | sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/-END CERTIFICATE-/p' | sudo tee /etc/landscape/server.pem

To configure the Landscape Client package, run:

$ sudo landscape-config --computer-title "My First Computer" --account-name standalone --url https://<servername>/message-system --ping-url http://<servername>/ping

If you used a custom CA, you will need to pass the --ssl-public-key parameter pointing to the CA file so that the client can recognize the issuer of the server certificate.

You can now accept your client in the Landscape UI, and it will begin to upload data.

Add an email alias

We recommend adding an alias for user landscape on your local environment, to ensure that important system emails get attention.

$ sudo vim /etc/aliases

Add a line landscape: <insert recipient's email address> to this file and rebuild your aliases

$ sudo /usr/bin/newaliases