How to Install & Set Up Foreman

Install Foreman for full lifecycle management — provisioning, configuration, and monitoring — of physical and virtual servers.

Updated 20264-step setupDownload Foreman →

Prerequisites

✓A dedicated host with a resolvable FQDN (Foreman is picky about DNS)
✓Ubuntu 22.04 or Enterprise Linux 8/9, 4 GB+ RAM
✓Ports 80/443 and provisioning ports open

Add the repositories on Ubuntu

terminal

echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ jammy 3.12" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list
echo "deb http://deb.theforeman.org/ plugins 3.12" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/foreman.list
wget -q https://deb.theforeman.org/foreman.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt update

Add the repositories on RHEL / Enterprise Linux 8 or 9

terminal

sudo dnf install -y https://yum.theforeman.org/releases/3.12/el9/x86_64/foreman-release.rpm
sudo dnf module enable -y foreman:el9

Swap el9 for el8 if you're on Enterprise Linux 8.

Run the installer

The foreman-installer is a Puppet-based wrapper that configures Foreman, its proxy, and dependencies in one shot — identical command whether the packages came from apt or dnf.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install -y foreman-installer
sudo foreman-installer

RHEL / Enterprise Linux

sudo dnf install -y foreman-installer
sudo foreman-installer

The installer prints the initial admin username and password at the end — copy them before clearing your terminal.

Verify the installation

Browse to https://your-fqdn and log in with the credentials from the installer output.

Documentation & Knowledge Base

Official DocumentationForeman Manual →Knowledge Base & CommunityForeman Community →

Download Foreman— all versions & official links→

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