[SOLVED] Can't resolve Landscape (Quickstart) Server name on local network

thethinker · 06-08-2016, 04:51 PM

I am trying to set up a small network inside of our University network, using Canonical's Landscape to manage the machines. I've got the Landscape server up and running, but I am having trouble connecting the clients. When I try to register the client, I get the following message:

Code:

sudo landscape-config --computer-title "PHY13" --account-name standalone --url https://PHY15/message-system --ping-url http://PHY15/ping
...
...(answering some questions...)
...
Request a new registration for this computer now? (Y/n): 
Please wait... We were unable to contact the server. Your internet connection may be down. The landscape client will continue to try and contact the server periodically.

Messages about connection in Landscape are stored in /var/log/landscape/broker.log:

Code:

2016-06-08 09:13:57,435 INFO     [MainThread] Starting urgent message exchange with https://PHY15/message-system.
2016-06-08 09:13:57,945 ERROR    [PoolThread-twisted.internet.reactor-1] Error contacting the server at https://PHY15/message-system.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/landscape/broker/transport.py", line 71, in exchange
    message_api)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/landscape/broker/transport.py", line 45, in _curl
    headers=headers, cainfo=self._pubkey, curl=curl))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/landscape/lib/fetch.py", line 109, in fetch
    raise PyCurlError(e.args[0], e.args[1])
PyCurlError: Error 6: Could not resolve host: PHY15
2016-06-08 09:13:57,946 INFO     [MainThread] Message exchange failed.
2016-06-08 09:13:57,946 INFO     [MainThread] Message exchange completed in 0.51s.

Ok, so the host can't resolve. However, I *can* ping it by using

Code:

ip addr show

on the server, and then

Code:

ping XX.XX.XX.XX

(XX.XX.XX.XX is the ip, I just don't know what is safe to share or not...). Anyway, I get answers to the ping. But, as you can see from the above, the name of the machine is:

Code:

hostname -f
PHY15

and I can ping this machine with PHY15.local, but I can't get the landscape-config to find it. I guess this looks like some kind of name search error on the client, or maybe something about the network. Anyone have any ideas on how to debug this?

EDIT: I am aware of some silliness with the self-signed certificates, although I am following the quickstart guide exactly I would like to point out that I have tried that fix. On the landscape server, I created my own CA, generated an SSL, and signed it with the new CA. Then I copied that certificate into the /usr/local/share/ca-certificates. directory on the client and ran sudo update-ca-certificates. Same response. Just for good measure, I also copied that .crt into /etc/landscape/ (which is pointed to by ssl_public_key in /etc/landscale/client.conf), with no success.

Further Edit: Full disclosure, I've posted this to the Ubuntu forums but not having much success over there.

nini09 · 06-10-2016, 02:58 PM

You can ping PHY15.local or PHY15, which on is it? Look like your host full name is PHY15, doesn't it?

thethinker · 06-13-2016, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

You can ping PHY15.local or PHY15, which on is it? Look like your host full name is PHY15, doesn't it?

I can ping PHY15.local, but *not* PHY15. Does that tell me something about name resolution or my local network which is screwing up Landscape's ability to find the server? (rather, Curl is the actual program doing the looking I guess)

nini09 · 06-13-2016, 02:34 PM

Your host name is messed up. The "hostname -f" should display full name, PHY15.local.

thethinker · 06-14-2016, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

Your host name is messed up. The "hostname -f" should display full name, PHY15.local.

Do you mean the command "hostname" isn't fetching the right thing, right? I'm pretty confident that if I go into /etc/hostname and simply change PHY15 to PHY15.local, I would then be able to ping PHY15.local.local but not PHY15.local. Is that your guess as well?

This means it's some kind of network configuration, which I can't do anything about except talk to the network admin?

(Thanks for your help!)

nini09 · 06-14-2016, 03:20 PM

My meaning is your host name is messed up. For host name, it could be saved in /etc/hostname or /etc/sysconfig/network : HOSTNAME="something". For network name, it could be used, netBIOS name in /etc/samba/smb.conf : netbios name = something.

thethinker · 06-15-2016, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

My meaning is your host name is messed up. For host name, it could be saved in /etc/hostname or /etc/sysconfig/network : HOSTNAME="something". For network name, it could be used, netBIOS name in /etc/samba/smb.conf : netbios name = something.

Ok, on the server I changed the /etc/hostname to read

Code:

PHY16.local

(adding the .local) and I changed the /etc/hosts file to read

Code:

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 PHY16.local PHY16

(which was adding the ".local PHY16"). Still no dice. hostname (with or without -f) now returns "PHY16.local", but other computer still can't ping PHY16, just PHY16.local. And Landscape responds in exactly the same way.

nini09 · 06-15-2016, 03:11 PM

Then you should use PHY16.local to access Landscape.

thethinker · 06-16-2016, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nini09

Then you should use PHY16.local to access Landscape.

Ok this might have actually lead me to the solution, although there was a bit more too it then this. Changing *all* references of PHY16 to PHY16.local seems to have allowed the clients to talk to the server. It was complicated, because I also had to do this for the apache server and for the SSLs and CA that everyone was using. The server itself still has a couple of bugs, but I think it's a Landscape problem that might have unrelated solutions.

In back of all this, I did switch to a different wifi network. IT tells me the two networks are equivalent in terms of DNS and nameserver, so I would rate what's gone on in this thread as the real fix.

Thanks very much for staying with me on this!