I cant access freeipa web interface

It's hard to say why you're not able to access your FreeIPA web interface without the domain name and your configuration you've set up. That said, I followed the guide on how to set up FreeIPA and was successful.

I believe the most important steps are to ensure that you've set up your A/AAAA and entering the correct values for your FreeIPA configuration for the FreeIPA server and client. You may want to review the requirements in case there was a step you've missed.

It's likely that there was an issue with configuring the hostname and domain name on your /etc/hosts file, entering incorrect values when configuring your FreeIPA server/client and/or not setting an A/AAAA record for your subdomains. I won't go over every detail of the guide since it's pretty straight forward besides the configuration aspect of your hostname, system's host file, and configuring the FreeIPA software.

What tripped me up initially was configuring the FreeIPA server and client to work with my subdomains. It's crucial that you've set your hostname to match the domain you will be using for the FreeIPA server or client. Personally, I've set my domain name, example.com to my hostname for both my client and FreeIPA server. Then I added my subdomain for my client and server into my /etc/hosts file. My configuration for my /etc/hosts file looks something like this:

Server:

127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4

::1         localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6

$Server_IP_Address server.example.com example.com

Client:

127.0.0.1   localhost localhost.localdomain localhost4 localhost4.localdomain4

::1         localhost localhost.localdomain localhost6 localhost6.localdomain6

$Server_IP_Address client.example.com example.com

In the example above, server_IP_Address is your Linode's public IP address, example.com is the local hostname, and client.example.com/server.example.com is the subdomain. If you need guidance with updating your system's host file, I recommend reviewing our guide here.

Once I've set up my host file, and completed the initial steps on preparing the server and client, I was able to move forward and Set Up my FreeIPA Server. Once you're at the FreeIPA configuration part, it's important that you enter the correct domains depending on the prompt, specifically for these questions:

Server host name    ipaserver.example.com
Please confirm the domain name.    example.com
Please provide a realm name.    When used with Kerberos, a Realm represents the domain that the server has authority over. The realm name should be the same as the primary domain being used for the FreeIPA server.

Here is my configuration for my FreeIPA server:

Hostname: server.example.com
Domain name: example.com
Real name: example.com

At this point, I was able to successfully navigate to my web interface from my subdomain, server.example.com. However, if you need guidance with the client configuration, here is my set up for the following prompts:

Provide the domain name of your IPA server (ex: example.com)    The primary domain used for the server installation.
Provide your IPA server name (ex: ipa.example.com).    The full domain used for the server installation including the subdomain.
Client Hostname    

Client FreeIPA Configuration:

example.com
server.example.com
client.example.com

Afterwards, I was able to successfully install the FreeIPA software on to my Linode. Hopefully, this information points you in the right direction. If you need assistance, you may also wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic:

• Documentation — FreeIPA documentation
• Kerberos: The Network Authentication Protocol

do I need to register a domain like in godaddy?
I dont want to purchase a domaine
I'm just doing things for testing
do I need also to edit the hosts file in my local laptop in order to access the freeipa web interface that is hosted outside of my local network

Yes, you will need to register a domain with a domain registrar like GoDaddy. FreeIPA requires that the user has possession of their own fully qualified domain name (FQDN) with an active subdomain for both the client and server as stated here.

do I need also to edit the hosts file in my local laptop in order to access the freeipa web interface that is hosted outside of my local network

No, you do not need to edit your hosts file on your local laptop. This is only mandatory for your client and server Linodes that will be hosting the FreeIPA software.

since I'm using local domain name record (in /etc/hosts I added linode public ip address with ipa.example.com), that is why I cant access the web interface from my laptop
I can access the web interface If I use virtual machine since they will be in the same network so accessing the domain wont issue in this case