How to join a domain?

[flossgeek]

Could someone explain me how one would join a domain? I am trying to connect the cockpit UI to a subdomain, but cockpit can't contact it. I also can't find clear documentation about this anywhere, so that would be a great addition :)

[martinpitt]

I'm afraid we need some more information. What does realm discover show? Can it "see" the domain that you want to join? You can't join a "subdomain" of that -- you can join with specifying a DNS subdomain, and cockpit/realmd can then ask DNS about whether there's a matching FreeIPA domain; but that will still join the original FreeIPA domain.

[flossgeek]

Thanks for the fast reply! realm discover "domain" times out and gives a notice that the realm is not found, both with the original domain and the subdomain.
What DNS configurations do I need for the DNS subdomain?

[martinpitt]

What does realm discover show (without arguments)? Normally your FreeIPA and DNS should be set up so that it can be auto-discovered through DNS. Apparently DNS or possibly firewall etc. are broken so that your machine can't talk to the FreeIPA server?

Anything useful in sudo journalctl -f while you run the discover command?

[flossgeek]

Without arguments it outputs realm: No default realm discovered and * No default domain received via DHCP or given by hostname. The domain does not yet have a connection to the server cockpit runs on though. Cockpit now runs on a public IP and I want to substitute that with a subdomain, so I hoped that "Join Domain" in the system configuration could fulfill that purpose.

[martinpitt]

The domain does not yet have a connection to the server cockpit runs on though

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but the machine you want to join must of course have a network connection to the FreeIPA server, and already be in the same DNS domain.

[flossgeek]

Thanks for explaining. This makes me realize that it's probably easier to do it the other way around: pointing the domain to the IP with an A record. Thanks for your time!