Chapter 2. Red Hat Update Agent 35
Thus, channel and group subscriptions can be automated along with registration, thereby bypassing
entitlement and registration through either the Red Hat Network Registration Client or the Red Hat
Update Agent, both of which offer the activation keys utility rhnreg_ks as part of their packages.
Note
Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 need version 2.9.3-1 or higher of the rhn_register
package. It is highly recommended you obtain the latest version before using activation keys.
Before using an activation key, you must first generate one through the RHN website. Refer to Section
6.4.7 Activation Keys —
for precise steps.
Touse anactivation key,as root froma shell prompton the systemto beregistered, run therhnreg_ks
command followed by the key. For example:
rhnreg_ks --activationkey=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b
Systems running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 will use the --serialnumber instead of
--activationkey, like so:
rhnreg_ks --serialnumber=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b
In addition, Provisioning-entitled systems may use multiple activation keys at once, either at the com-
mand line or within kickstart profiles, to include a variety of values without creating a special key for
the desired results. To do this, specify the keys separated by commas, like this:
rhnreg_ks --activationkey=7202f3b7d218cf59b764f9f6e9fa281b,\
39f41081f0329c20798876f37cb9p6a3
Note
The trailing backslash (\) in this command example is a continuation character; it may safely be
omitted.
Refer to Section 6.4.7.2 Using Multiple Activation Keys at Once — to understand how differences
in activation keys are handled.
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 an RHN service offering, and subscribed to the RHN
channels and system groups selected during key generation. The system will not be subscribed to
channels that contain packages not suitable for the system. For example, a Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2.1 system cannot be subscribed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 channel.
The unique Digital Certificate for the system is generated on the system in
/etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid.
When using activation keys to assign channels, a couple of rules should be kept in mind:
