Chapter 9. Managing activation keys

1. Activation key that attaches subscriptions automatically.

   With no subscriptions specified and auto-attach enabled, hosts using the activation key search for the best fitting subscription from the ones provided by the content view associated with the activation key. This is similar to entering the subscription-manager --auto-attach command. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 hosts, you can configure the activation key to set system purpose on hosts during registration to enhance the automatic subscriptions attachment.

2. Activation key providing a custom set of subscription for auto-attach.

   If there are subscriptions specified and auto-attach is enabled, hosts using the activation key select the best fitting subscription from the list specified in the activation key. Setting system purpose on the activation key does not affect this scenario.

3. Activation key with the exact set of subscriptions.

   If there are subscriptions specified and auto-attach is disabled, hosts using the activation key are associated with all subscriptions specified in the activation key. Setting system purpose on the activation key does not affect this scenario.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys and click Create Activation Key.
2. In the Name field, enter the name of the activation key.
3. If you want to set a limit, clear the Unlimited hosts checkbox, and in the Limit field, enter the maximum number of systems you can register with the activation key. If you want unlimited hosts to register with the activation key, ensure the Unlimited Hosts checkbox is selected.
4. Optional: In the Description field, enter a description for the activation key.
5. From the Environment list, select the environment to use.
6. From the Content View list, select a content view to use.

7. If Simple Content Access (SCA) is enabled:

   1. In the Repository Sets tab, ensure only your named repository is enabled.

8. If SCA is not enabled:

   1. Click the Subscriptions tab, then click the Add submenu.
   2. Click the checkbox under the subscription you created before.
   3. Click Add Selected.
9. Click Save.
10. Optional: For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 hosts, in the System Purpose section, you can configure the activation key with system purpose to set on hosts during registration to enhance subscriptions auto attachment.

CLI procedure

1. Create the activation key:

   # hammer activation-key create \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --unlimited-hosts \
   --description "Example Stack in the Development Environment" \
   --lifecycle-environment "Development" \
   --content-view "Stack" \
   --organization "My_Organization"

2. Optional: For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 hosts, enter the following command to configure the activation key with system purpose to set on hosts during registration to enhance subscriptions auto attachment.

   # hammer activation-key update \
   --organization "My_Organization" \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --service-level "Standard" \
   --purpose-usage "Development/Test" \
   --purpose-role "Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server" \
   --purpose-addons "addons"

3. Obtain a list of your subscription IDs:

   # hammer subscription list --organization "My_Organization"

4. Attach the Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription UUID to the activation key:

   # hammer activation-key add-subscription \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --subscription-id My_Subscription_ID \
   --organization "My_Organization"

5. List the product content associated with the activation key:

   1. If Simple Content Access (SCA) is enabled:

      # hammer activation-key product-content \
      --content-access-mode-all true \
      --name "My_Activation_Key" \
      --organization "My_Organization"

   2. If SCA is not enabled:

      # hammer activation-key product-content \
      --name "My_Activation_Key" \
      --organization "My_Organization"

6. Override the default auto-enable status for the Red Hat Satellite Client 6 repository. The default status is set to disabled. To enable, enter the following command:

   # hammer activation-key content-override \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --content-label rhel-7-server-satellite-client-6-rpms \
   --value 1 \
   --organization "My_Organization"

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys and click the name of the activation key.
2. Click the Subscriptions tab.
3. To remove subscriptions, select List/Remove, and then select the checkboxes to the left of the subscriptions to be removed and then click Remove Selected.
4. To add subscriptions, select Add, and then select the checkboxes to the left of the subscriptions to be added and then click Add Selected.
5. Click the Repository Sets tab and review the repositories' status settings.
6. To enable or disable a repository, select the checkbox for a repository and then change the status using the Select Action list.
7. Click the Details tab, select a content view for this activation key, and then click Save.

CLI procedure

1. List the subscriptions that the activation key currently contains:

   # hammer activation-key subscriptions \
   --name My_Activation_Key \
   --organization "My_Organization"

2. Remove the required subscription from the activation key:

   # hammer activation-key remove-subscription \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --subscription-id ff808181533518d50152354246e901aa \
   --organization "My_Organization"

   For the --subscription-id option, you can use either the UUID or the ID of the subscription.

3. Attach new subscription to the activation key:

   # hammer activation-key add-subscription \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --subscription-id ff808181533518d50152354246e901aa \
   --organization "My_Organization"

   For the --subscription-id option, you can use either the UUID or the ID of the subscription.

4. List the product content associated with the activation key:

   # hammer activation-key product-content \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --organization "My_Organization"

5. Override the default auto-enable status for the required repository:

   # hammer activation-key content-override \
   --name "My_Activation_Key" \
   --content-label content_label \
   --value 1 \
   --organization "My_Organization"

   For the --value option, enter 1 for enable, 0 for disable.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Hosts > Register Host.
2. From the Activation Keys list, select the activation keys to assign to your host.
3. Click Generate to create the registration command.
4. Click on the files icon to copy the command to your clipboard.
5. Connect to your host using SSH and run the registration command.
6. Check the /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo file and ensure that the appropriate repositories have been enabled.

CLI procedure

1. Generate the host registration command using the Hammer CLI:

   # hammer host-registration generate-command \
   --activation-keys "My_Activation_Key"

   If your hosts do not trust the SSL certificate of Satellite Server, you can disable SSL validation by adding the --insecure flag to the registration command.

   # hammer host-registration generate-command \
   --activation-keys "My_Activation_Key" \
   --insecure true

2. Connect to your host using SSH and run the registration command.
3. Check the /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo file and ensure that the appropriate repositories have been enabled.

API procedure

1. Generate the host registration command using the Satellite API:

   # curl -X POST https://satellite.example.com/api/registration_commands \
   --user "My_User_Name" \
   -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   -d '{ "registration_command": { "activation_keys": ["My_Activation_Key_1, My_Activation_Key_2"] }}'

   If your hosts do not trust the SSL certificate of Satellite Server, you can disable SSL validation by adding the --insecure flag to the registration command.

   # curl -X POST https://satellite.example.com/api/registration_commands \
   --user "My_User_Name" \
   -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   -d '{ "registration_command": { "activation_keys": ["My_Activation_Key_1, My_Activation_Key_2"], "insecure": true }}'

   Use an activation key to simplify specifying the environments. For more information, see Managing Activation Keys in Managing content.

   To enter a password as a command line argument, use username:password syntax. Keep in mind this can save the password in the shell history. Alternatively, you can use a temporary personal access token instead of a password. To generate a token in the Satellite web UI, navigate to My Account > Personal Access Tokens.

2. Connect to your host using SSH and run the registration command.
3. Check the /etc/yum.repos.d/redhat.repo file and ensure that the appropriate repositories have been enabled.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.
2. Click the activation key name that you want to edit.
3. Click the Subscriptions tab.
4. Click the edit icon next to Auto-Attach.
5. Select or clear the checkbox to enable or disable auto-attach.
6. Click Save.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.
2. Click the activation key name you want to edit.
3. Click the edit icon next to Service Level.
4. Select the required service level from the list. The list only contains service levels available to the activation key.
5. Click Save.

Procedure

1. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.
2. Select an activation key.
3. Select the Repository Sets tab.
4. From the dropdown, you can filter the Repository type column to Custom or Red Hat, if desired.
5. Select the desired repositories or click the Select All checkbox to select all repositories.
6. From the Select Action list, select Override to Enabled, Override to Disabled, or Reset to Default.