RT server configuration

This page contains notes on the setup of the MIT krb5 RT server. The current server is krbdev.mit.edu (canonical name krbdev-prod-app-1.mit.edu), which runs Ubuntu 16.04.

Packages

Some of RT's Perl dependencies are too new for Ubuntu 16.04's package repository. Therefore we allow RT's build system to use CPAN to fetch dependencies. Before doing this it is necessary to configure CPAN once with:

   perl -MCPAN -e shell

and then exit out of the shell.

The data in RT is stored in a PostgreSQL database. The postgresql Ubuntu package will install the recommended version of PostgreSQL for the current Ubuntu version.

The mail interface to RT is handled by Postfix, so the postfix package is required. The libsendmail-pmilter-perl package is required for the custom milter script.

The web front end to RT is an Apache2 web server, so the apache2 package is required. RT uses a FastCGI server, so the libapache2-mod-fastcgi package is required.

In sum, the following packages must be installed on the RT server:

 apache2
 apache2-suexec-pristine
 libapache-session-perl
 libapache2-mod-fastcgi
 perl
 perl-base
 perl-modules
 postfix
 postgresql

User accounts

The postgresql package will create a postgres user account.

The following user accounts and group entries must be created manually:

• group rt
• user rt: primary group rt, homedir /var/rt2, shell /bin/false
• user rtcvs: primary group rt, homedir /var/rt2, shell /bin/sh

These accounts could be created with:

 groupadd -r rt
 useradd -r -m -g rt -d /var/rt2 -s /bin/false rt
 useradd -r -g rt -d /var/rt2 rtcvs

Some of the above accounts may be created by ops during provisioning.

/var/rt2 should contain an empty .k5login file, managed by ops. It should contain a .ssh/authorized_keys file, managed by ops, containing the krbsnap key from /git/krb5.git/hooks/krbsnap_rsa_key.pub on drugstore.mit.edu.

The rt user account is not actually needed for the current RT installation (although the rt group is), and the homedir name /var/rt2 is outdated. The following references need to be taken into account when changing the user and group configuration:

• Both the rt and rtcvs accounts have the homedir /var/rt2.
• krb5-daily.sh references the krbsnap.keytab file and dumps directory in /var/rt2.
• A root cron job runs krb5-daily.sh from /var/rt2.
• A root cron job runs rtmilter on boot from /var/rt2.
• The empty /var/rt2/.k5login file is managed by ops.
• The /var/rt2/ssh/authorized_keys file is managed by ops.
• On drugstore.mit.edu, the krb5 git repository rt-ssh-cmd config value references the rtcvs user and /var/rt2/bin/rt-cvsgate.
• On drugstore.mit.edu, the krb5 git repository hooks/krb5-rt-id script references the rtcvs user and /var/rt2/bin/rt-reserve-ticket. This script comes from the krbdev-services repository's githooks/krb5-rt-id.
• Some of the same references are present in the krbdev-services repository, but they aren't used.

RT setup

Our installation of Request Tracker is an unmodified version 4.4.4. The source code is present in /usr/src and is configured as follows:

 ./configure --with-bin-owner=rt --with-libs-owner=rt --with-libs-group=rt \
   --with-db-type=Pg --with-db-host= \
   --with-web-user=www-data --with-web-group=www-data
 make fixdeps  (hit return to accept defaults as necessary)
 make testdeps
 make install

Install the RT_SiteConfig.pm file from the krbdev-services repository in /opt/rt4/etc.

Several scripts come from the krbdev-services repository, in the rt-cvs and rt-scripts directories. All are installed in /var/rt2/bin.

In root's crontab file ("crontab -e" as root), add the following to perform daily maintenance:

 0 3 * * * /var/rt2/bin/krb5-daily.sh

PostgreSQL configuration

Many PostgreSQL files live in directories specific to the PostgreSQL major and minor version, such as /etc/postgresql/8.3 for PostgreSQL 8.3.

The Ubuntu postgresql package will create a "main" cluster with a configuration directory in /etc/postgresql/<version>/main.

In /etc/postgresql/<version>/main/pg_ident.conf, add:

 local		root		root
 local		root		postgres
 local		root		rt_user
 local		rt		rt_user
 local		rtcvs		rt_user
 local		postfix		rt_user
 local		nobody		rt_user
 local         www-data        rt_user

(The entry for "rt" should no longer be needed, but is currently still present.)

In /etc/postgresql/<version>/main/pg_hba.conf, find the line that reads "local all all peer" and add "map=local" to the end, so it reads "local all all peer map=local". Comment out the line that reads "local all postgres peer", despite the warning not to disable it. Run "service postgresql restart" to reread the affected files. Run "psql -Upostgres --list" to verify that the identity map works.

Run "createuser -Upostgres rt_user" to create the rt_user role.

Postfix configuration

In /etc/postfix/main.cf:

• Set myhostname = krbdev.mit.edu
• Set mydestination = krbdev.mit.edu, krbdev-prod-app-1.mit.edu, localhost.mit.edu, localhost
• Add the following to the end:

 # Suppress some headers to avoid leaking internal addresses to spammers.
 prepend_delivered_header =
 enable_original_recipient = no
 
 # RT header milter
 smtpd_milters = unix:private/milter

Copy /etc/aliases from the old server. To avoid aiding spammers, its contents are not reproduced here. In particular, /etc/aliases contains an internal address corresponding to the membership of the krb5-bugs-incoming mailman list; revealing this address could allow spammers to bypass moderation of incoming bug reports.

In root's crontab file ("crontab -e" as root):

 @reboot /var/rt2/bin/rtmilter.pl /var/spool/postfix/private/milter

Run the command by hand (backgrounded) to start the milter process before the next reboot.

Run "newaliases" and "postfix reload" to pick up the changed configuration.

Apache httpd configuration

Create /etc/apache2/ssl.crt and /etc/apache2/ssl.key.

Copy /etc/apache2/ssl.key/server.key and /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/server.crt from the old server, or follow the instructions at http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/display/istcontrib/Obtaining+an+SSL+certificate+for+a+web+server to obtain a new one. server.key and server.crt may be symlinks using whatever scheme seems convenient for renewing certificates every few years.

Install /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/chain.crt from /mit/apache-ssl/certificates/InCommon-chain.crt.txt (requires tokens). Cutting and pasting is effective for transferring certificates as they are represented as short text files.

Install /etc/apache2/ssl.crt/clientCA.crt from /mit/apache-ssl/certificates/mitCAclient.pem (requires tokens).

Install the rt.conf file from the krbdev-services repository as /etc/apache2/sites-available/rt.conf .

Edit /etc/apache2/mods-available/proxy.conf and set:

 ProxyVia On
 
 ProxyPass /buildbot/ http://krbdev-buildbot.mit.edu:8010/
 <Proxy http://krbdev-buildbot.mit.edu:8010/*>
         Allow from all
 </Proxy>

Clean out /var/www and install index.html and robots.txt from the krbdev-www directory of the krbdev-services repository.

Run:

 a2enmod ssl
 a2enmod userdir
 a2enmod rewrite
 a2enmod proxy_http
 a2dissite 000-default
 a2ensite rt
 service apache2 restart