Activating Red Hat Enterprise Linux


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The university has a Red Hat Site Subscription entitling all students, faculty, staff, and departments to use most Red Hat software, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). The Division of IT offers RHEL ISOs through TERPware and they can be activated by following the instructions on this page.

Getting an activation key

  1. Log in to the Special Identity Management System (SIMS) using your Directory ID and passphrase.
  2. From the Request New Identity section, click the System drop-down box and select redhat.



  3. Give your activation key a name and description.
    • These fields are only used in the SIMS interface so that if you have multiple keys, like a personal key and a department key, you can tell them apart.
    • You can also provide a list of other people who are responsible for the key in the Administrators field. They will have the ability to renew the key and can take ownership of it if you leave the university.
  4. After submitting the request, SIMS will show you the activation key.
    1. This is the only time it will be displayed, so take note of it. If you lose it, you can submit a reset password request for the key on the SIMS home page and it will give you a new activation key.

      Confirmation screen with activation key in red box.

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Registering a new Red Hat host

  1. Install the Red Hat Satellite 6 CA certificates:

    # rpm -ivh https://www.rhelops.umd.edu/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Retrieving https://www.rhelops.umd.edu/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Preparing...                                      ################################# [100%]
    Updating / installing...
    1:katello-ca-consumer-master.rhelop################################# [100%]

  2. Perform the registration using your activation key:

    # subscription-manager register --org="umd" --activationkey="fake-21af8-0ee62-f6dff-fake"
    The system has been registered with ID: c57127f2-fake-fake-fake-3b970fc8bd12
    The registered system name is: rhel7 Installed Product Current Status:
    Product Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation
    Status:              Subscribed

  3. List enabled and available repositories, and select any new ones you want:

    #   subscription-manager repos

    +----------------------------------------------------------+

    Available Repositories in /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo

    +----------------------------------------------------------+

    Repo ID:   rhel-workstation-rhscl-7-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Software Collections RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/rhscl/1/os Enabled:           0

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation - Optional (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/optional/os Enabled:           0 

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-extras-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation - Extras (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /7Workstation/$basearch/extras/os Enabled:           0 

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/os

    Enabled:           1

     # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms
    Repository 'rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms' is enabled for this system.

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Migrating from Red Hat Satellite 5 (rhsat.umd.edu)

  1. Install the migration tools on the target host:

    # yum install subscription-manager-migration
    ...
    Installed:
       subscription-manager-migration.x86_64 0:1.21.10-3.el7_6

    Dependency Installed:
       subscription-manager-migration-data.noarch 0:2.0.45-1.el7

  2. Install the Red Hat Satellite 6 CA certificates:

    # rpm -ivh https://www.rhelops.umd.edu/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Retrieving https://www.rhelops.umd.edu/pub/katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm
    Preparing...                                      ################################# [100%]
    Updating / installing...
    1:katello-ca-consumer-master.rhelop################################# [100%]

  3. Execute the migration using your activation key:

    # rhn-migrate-classic-to-rhsm --destination-url=master.rhelops.umd.edu --org=umd --activation-
    key=THE_ACTIVATION_KEY_FROM_SIMS
    Legacy username: DIRECTORY_ID@umd.edu
    Legacy password: DIRECTORY_PASSWORD 

    Retrieving existing legacy subscription information... 

    +-----------------------------------------------------+
    System is currently subscribed to these legacy channels:
    +-----------------------------------------------------+
    rhel-x86_64-workstation-7

    +-----------------------------------------------------+
    Installing product certificates for these legacy channels:
    +-----------------------------------------------------+

    rhel-x86_64-workstation-7

    Product certificates installed successfully to /etc/pki/product.
    Preparing to unregister system from legacy server...
    System successfully unregistered from legacy server. Stopping and disabling legacy services...
    rhnsd.service is not a native service, redirecting to /sbin/chkconfig.
    Executing /sbin/chkconfig rhnsd off

    Attempting to register system to destination server...
    The system has been registered with ID: 3f48e314-1df2-40e0-8736-f6476a1e8d01
    The registered system name is: rhel7ws
    Installed Product Current Status:
    Product Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation
    Status:              Subscribed 

    System 'rhel7ws' successfully registered.

  4. List enabled and available repositories, and select any new ones you want:

    +----------------------------------------------------------+
    Available Repositories in /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo
    +----------------------------------------------------------+

    Repo ID:   rhel-workstation-rhscl-7-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Software Collections RPMs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/rhscl/1/os Enabled:   0

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation - Optional (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/optional/os
    Enabled:   0

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-extras-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation - Extras (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /7Workstation/$basearch/extras/os
    Enabled:   0

    Repo ID:   rhel-7-workstation-rpms
    Repo Name: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Workstation (RPMs)
    Repo URL:  https://master.rhelops.umd.edu/pulp/repos/umd/Library/daily/content/dist/rhel/workstation/7
    /$releasever/$basearch/os
    Enabled:   1 

    # subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms
    Repository 'rhel-7-workstation-optional-rpms' is enabled for this system.

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Usage information

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