Red Hat NETWORK 2.9 - MANAGEMENT Reference Manual page 42

34
Note
Systems running versions of Red Hat Linux older than 8.0 need version 2.7.20 or higher of the
package. It is highly recommended you obtain the latest version before using activa-
rhn_register
tion keys.
Before using an activation key, you must first generate one through the RHN website. Refer to Section
4.4.7 Activation Keys for precise steps.
To use an activation key, as root from a shell prompt on the system to be registered, run the
command followed by the key. For example:
rhnreg_ks --activationkey=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b
Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS and older versions of Red Hat Linux will use the
instead of
--serialnumber
rhnreg_ks --serialnumber=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b
This command performs all the actions of the Red Hat Network Registration Client and the regis-
tration function of the Red Hat Update Agent. Do not run either of these applications for registration
after running
rhnreg_ks
A System Profile, including software and hardware information, is created for the system and sent to
the RHN Servers along with the unique activation key. The system is registered with RHN under the
account used to generate the key, entitled to the RHN Management service offering, and subscribed
to the RHN channels and system groups selected during key generation. The system will not be sub-
scribed to channels that contain packages not suitable for the system. For example, a Red Hat Linux
7.2 system cannot be subscribed to the Red Hat Linux 7.1 channel.
The unique Digital
/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid
When using activation keys to assign channels, a couple of rules should be kept in mind:
A key may specify either zero or one base channel. If specified, it must be a custom base channel. If
•
not, the base channel corresponding to the system's RHL distribution will be chosen. For instance,
you may not take a 7.1 system and subscribe it to the 7.2 channel.
A key may specify any number of child channels. For each child channel, subscription is attempted.
•
If the child channel matches the system's base channel, subscription succeeds. If it does not, the
subscription fails silently. Refer to Section 4.6 Software for more information.
Keys created by an Organization Administrator are available for modification and use by other
•
Organization Administrators within the organization. These permissions are set through the Users
tab of the RHN website. Refer to Section 4.8 Users for details.
Systems registered by activation keys are tied to the organization or overall account in which the
•
key was created, not the key itself. After registration, a key can be safely deleted without any affect
on the systems it was used to register.
--activationkey
.
Certificate for the
.
Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent
, like so:
system is generated
rhnreg_ks
on the system in