Chapter 2. What are the benefits and limitations of simple content access?
The foundational benefit of simple content access is that it offers a less restrictive and more flexible way to consume your Red Hat subscriptions. However, this flexibility does include some limitations.
2.1. Benefits
Simple content access enables a better experience with the tools that help you manage subscriptions. By removing the need to attach subscriptions at the system level, simple content access streamlines the process of registering systems, enabling repositories, and consuming content so that you can more easily install the products that you want where you want them.
If you are a new Red Hat customer, you might not be familiar with the classic entitlement-level subscription model. However, customer survey data shows that adopting the organizational-level subscription model of simple content access can save system administrators an average of 10 hours per week. If you are an existing Red Hat customer, the time savings and added flexibility provided by simple content access can be demonstrated by a few examples of how the subscription management tools, and common processes for those tools, are changed.
For new customers
For new customers, this new organizational-level enforcement model enables you to consume content in a far more flexible way, without consideration of the artificial and arbitrary boundaries that can arise from the older system-level enforcement model. In turn, this flexibility enables you to design your IT environment in a manner that is more responsive to your business needs.
For existing customers
For existing customers, the new model allows you to consume content on your systems without strict entitlement enforcement. This process change allows a number of workflows to be handled that previously have been considered difficult or impossible, including the following examples:
- Simplified subscription lifecycle management: The subscription management tooling can now support more systems than it has valid subscriptions for, a scenario that is useful in true-up, buffer, and other complex purchasing arrangements. In addition, systems are allowed to consume content that was previously downloaded when some, but not all, of the subscriptions have since expired.
- Simplified renewal process for Satellite: Cumbersome reattachment processes are eliminated. Instead of having to reattach subscriptions to every host, you can simply add new valid subscriptions to a subscription allocation or manifest and refresh within Satellite.
- Simplified activation key setup: You no longer need to create complex activation key configurations to guide subscriptions to systems and to gain access to the repositories. You can register systems, enable the repositories, and install the content that you need where you need it. The subscription-related use of activation keys is removed, leaving only the content-related use of those keys.
- Simplified hypervisor setup: You no longer need to attach subscriptions to new hypervisors or remove them from old hypervisors.
- Changed frequency and purpose for virt-who: You no longer need to run virt-who as frequently (every hour or every few hours) to support fresh host-guest mappings for newly provisioned hosts or to inherit a host-based subscription from a hypervisor. You do need to run virt-who as needed (usually once or twice per day) for proper reporting in the subscriptions service if that service is also being used.
- Elimination of auto-attach: You no longer need to use auto-attach because subscriptions are not required to be attached to systems. Therefore, the challenges associated with unexpected or incorrect auto-attach subscription assignments are eliminated.
2.2. Limitations
Although simple content access allows much more freedom in the consumption of your subscriptions, you should note the following limitations for content access:
Simple content access does not provide access to repositories that you have not previously purchased.
- For example, if you have subscriptions for RHEL only, simple content access does not provide access to any other Red Hat product subscription, such as a Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform subscription.
Simple content access does not provide access within Satellite to repositories that are not included in the subscription manifest. The subscription manifest contains the following information:
- A list of subscriptions and attached quantities.
- Metadata and certificates that Satellite uses to synchronize the repositories.
