Chapter 1. Creating and managing activation keys

With the RHC user role, you can view your organization’s numeric identifier (organization ID) and available activation keys on the Activation Keys page in the Hybrid Cloud Console. You can also view additional details, such as the Workload setting and additional enabled repositories for each activation key in your organization.

The Key Name column shows the unique name of the activation key.

The Role column shows the role value for the system purpose attribute set on the key. A potential role value is Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server.

The SLA column shows the service level agreement value for the system purpose attribute set on the key. A potential service level agreement value is Premium.

The Usage column shows the usage value for the system purpose attribute that is set on the key. A potential usage value is Production.

If the RHC administrator sets no system purpose attributes on the activation key, then the Role, SLA, and Usage columns show no values.

With the RHC administrator role, you can use the Hybrid Cloud Console interface to create activation keys that root users in your organization can use as an authentication token. During the creation process, you can configure the activation key to set system-level features, such as system purpose attributes, to host systems. When an authorized user uses the preconfigured activation key to register a system to Red Hat, the selected attributes are automatically applied to the system during the registration process.

The activation key creation wizard guides you through the following fields:

By default, your system has access to content repositories that contain software packages that you can use to set up and manage your system. However, enabling additional repositories gives your system access to features and capabilities beyond the default repositories.

It is no longer necessary to use command line tools to manually enable your system to access additional content repositories or to use automation scripts after the system is registered. With the RHC administrator role, you can use the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console interface to add selected repositories to an exisiting activation key. When a root user uses a preconfigured activation key to register a system from the command line, any content repositories that have been added to the activation key are automatically enabled for system access during the registration process.

Using an activation key to automate the repository enablement process allows you to configure multiple system settings in one place for simplified system management. You can also use activation keys to apply system settings to multiple instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for automated bulk provisioning.

Users with the RHC user role can see all the repositories that are associated with each activation key, but only users with the RHC administrator role can perform management functions, such as adding or deleting repositories on an activation key. If you have questions about your access permissions, contact a user in your organization with the Organization Administrator role in the Hybrid Cloud Console role-based access control (RBAC) system.

With the RHC administrator role, you can use the Hybrid Cloud Console interface to edit the activation keys on the Activation Keys page. Specifically, you can add, change, or remove the following configurations on an existing activation key:

With the RHC administrator role, you can use the Hybrid Cloud Console interface to delete an activation key from the table on the Activation Keys page. You might want to delete an unwanted or compromised activation key for security or maintenance purposes. However, deleting an activation key that is referenced in an automation script will impact the ability of that automation to function. To avoid any negative impacts to your automated processes, complete one of the following actions: