2.2. Subscribing to Channels

Registration through activation keys — Because of the simplicity and speed of activation keys, this is the preferred method for registering systems as clients of either RHN Proxy Server or RHN Satellite Server. Systems registered using an activation key are subscribed to all channels associated with that activation key. For more information on activation keys, consult the Red Hat Network Client Configuration Guide and the Red Hat Network Reference Guide.

Install registration — When a system is initially registered through either the Red Hat Update Agent or the Red Hat Network Registration Client, it is automatically assigned to the base channel that corresponds to the version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the system. Once a system is registered, its default base channel may be changed to a private base channel on a per-system basis via the RHN website. Alternately, activation keys associated with a custom channel can be used so that systems registering with those keys are automatically associated with the custom channel. For more information on using these applications, refer to the respective chapter of the RHN Reference Guide for your entitlement level (Management or Provisioning).

Website subscription — Various specific child channels are available for subscription, depending on the system's base channel. The system may be subscribed to the child channel through the RHN website. If the organization has created custom base channels, the systems may also be reassigned to these custom channels through the website. For more information on subscribing to channels online, refer to the Red Hat Network Website chapter of the RHN Reference Guide.

Using the spacewalk-channel command-line tool (CLI) — the spacewalk-channel allows you to subscribe systems from specific channels via the command line without logging on to the Red Hat Network website.

For example, to subscribe to two channels:

spacewalk-channel --add -c rhn-tools-rhel-i386-server-5 -c
rhel-i386-server-vt-5 --user username --password password

To unsubscribe from the channel:

spacewalk-channel --remove -c rhn-tools-rhel-i386-server-5 -c
rhel-i386-server-vt-5 --user username --password password

To list subscribed channels:

spacewalk-channel --list