How-to enable Ubuntu Pro on your VM

Take advantage of the new Ubuntu Pro offering from the ITS Private Cloud to enable Enhanced Security, Performance Optimization and Streamlined Management by following the next steps.

Virtual Machines running on the following domains are entitled to Ubuntu Pro:

FD1
FD3
FD4

Requirements

ITS Private Cloud Command Line Interface vss-cli v2023.6.1 or higher:
vss-cli upgrade # or pip3 install --upgrade vss-cli # or brew update && brew upgrade vss-cli
VM Running on any Cluster listed above. To verify where your VM is running:
vss-cli compute vm get {vm_id-or-name} domain
If your VM is not currently running on clusters listed above, do not worry, just request a migration to FD3, for example, and proceed to next step:
vss-cli --wait compute vm set {vm_id-or-name} domain FD3
Open VMware Tools installed and running. Install and enable VMware Tools as follows:
sudo apt install open-vm-tools sudo systemctl enable --now open-vm-tools

Obtain your VM id or name by using the following lookup command:: vss-cli compute vm ls -f ip_address=X.X.X.X which search by IP address and vss-cli compute vm ls -f hostname=myhostname searching by Hostname or simply listing all your VMs with vss-cli compute vm ls.

Instructions

Ubuntu Pro activation is recommended via the ITS Private Cloud on-premise server, although connecting to Canonical Cloud servers offers a simpler alternative.

ITS Private Cloud (Recommended)

To activate your existing virtual instances, just execute the following vss-cli command:
vss-cli --wait compute vm set {vm_id-or-name} ubuntu-pro attach
From Ubuntu, execute the following commands to enable Ubuntu Pro:
sudo apt install ubuntu-advantage-pro ubuntu-advantage-tools
Install livepatch from snap as follows:
snap install canonical-livepatch
Update contract_url in /etc/ubuntu-advantage/uaclient.conf with on-premise instance.
sudo echo "contract_url: $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.endpoint")" > /etc/ubuntu-advantage/uaclient.conf
Enable pro with
sudo pro attach $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.token")
Configure on-premise livepatch:
canonical-livepatch config remote-server="$(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.livepatch.endpoint")"
Enable on-premise livepatch:
canonical-livepatch enable $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.livepatch.token")
Run apt update:
sudo apt update

Canonical Cloud

To activate your existing virtual instances, just execute the following vss-cli command:
vss-cli --wait compute vm set {vm_id-or-name} ubuntu-pro attach
From Ubuntu, execute the following commands to enable Ubuntu Pro:
sudo apt install ubuntu-advantage-pro ubuntu-advantage-tools
Enable pro with
sudo pro attach $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.token")
Run apt update:
sudo apt update

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Invalid Token error when running command: sudo pro attach $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.token")

Solution:

Ensure the virtual machine is running on any of the clusters listed above.

vss-cli compute vm get {vm_id-or-name} domain

output:

MOREF               : domain-c5877
NAME                : FD3

Run the following command through the vss-cli to attach Ubuntu Pro to your virtual machine

vss-cli --wait compute vm set {vm_id-or-name} ubuntu-pro attach

output:

id                  : B399A
status              : SUBMITTED
task_id             : 29870123-XXXX-4a03-894a-f350481XXXXX
message             : Request has been accepted for processing
⏳ Waiting for request B399A to complete...
🎉 Request B399A completed successfully:
warnings            : Ubuntu Pro settings have been re-applied.
errors              :

Once you receive the confirmation that the Ubuntu Pro token is set up, proceed with updating packages on the desired virtual machine using the following commands:

sudo apt install ubuntu-advantage-pro ubuntu-advantage-tools
sudo pro attach $(vmware-rpctool "info-get guestinfo.ut.vss.ubuntu_pro.token")

Error: Failed to attach machine. See https://ubuntu.com/pro/dashboard"

Solution:
Ensure you can connect to the contract url: https://vss-ubuntu-pro.eis.utoronto.ca

Try the following command:
curl https://vss-ubuntu-pro.eis.utoronto.ca
output:
404 page not found

If your output is different, this means that you have a firewall or proxy configuration that is not allowing you to connect to our Ubuntu Pro instance. Feel free to contact us to troubleshoot further this issue.

Questions?

Please feel free to reach out at vss-ubuntu-pub@eis.utoronto.ca

Virtualization, Servers and Storage