Red Hat Subscription Management Migration FAQ
General
What is going on?
Red Hat has decommissioned RHN. If you have not transitioned to RHSM yet, you need to do so to continue receiving support for your subscriptions. You can no longer will no receive updates to systems still registered to RHN. Satellite servers will no longer be able to register to or activate against RHN Hosted and will need to use RHSM to do so (see Satellite section below for more information).
What happens to systems that are still registered directly to RHN?
Systems that need tech support but are still registered to RHN need to migrate in order to continue receiving support.
What happens to new systems that attempt to register to RHN? Can I re-register a system that was already registered to RHN using the command line?
Red Hat is preventing all new registrations to RHN. Customers attempting to register systems to RHN will receive an error message that states. ”RHN is in the process of being decommissioned and systems are no longer able to register."
Once a system has been unregistered, it cannot be registered to RHN again. You will need to use RHSM to continue managing that system’s subscriptions.
Will mrepo still work for me after March 31, 2018?
You can no longer update systems that are still connected to RHN. Red Hat can no longer provide assistance for these systems.
What steps do I need to take?
The steps you need to take depends on the subscription services you are currently using. Migration steps for different scenarios are available through the RHSM product page.
Will systems that have not migrated be able to get updates?
Systems that have not migrated can no longer receive updates. Satellite servers will no longer be able to register to or activate against RHN Hosted and will need to use RHSM to do so (see Satellite section below for more information).
Can I still create users, add roles, and disable/remove users?
Yes, through the Customer Portal.
Where can I find downloads for products that have been decommissioned or are otherwise unsupported?
Security Advisories, Bug Fixes, and Enhancements for Unsupported Products
Can I still receive technical support on my systems that have not migrated from RHN post shutdown?
In order to receive support on a system that is registered to RHN, you must migrate to RHSM. Migration steps for different scenarios are available through the RHSM product page. Customer Support can no longer support systems still using RHN, but Red Hat is happy to assist with migrating if necessary.
How do I see the systems I have registered to RHN?
The Red Hat Network (RHN) System List Exporter lab can retrieve a list of all the systems still registereed to RHN on your account. You can use this list to help identify which systems still need to migrate. Systems registered to RHN need to migrate to RHSM to continue receiving support and updates.
Until RHN API shutdown, you can also script and export the list of systems via commandline as outlined in this Knowledge Base Solution: How to export a list of my systems registered to RHN Classic in CSV format?
I am a reseller or ISV how will this impact my customers?
If you have customers that are using RHN to keep systems updated they will need to migrate to RHSM.
Using RHSM
What features are available in RHSM?
What subscription management services are offered by RHSM?
How do I get errata?
How do I get errata notifications from Red Hat Subscription Management?
How do I register a system?
# subscription-manager register --username <username> --password <password>
Also refer to this Knowledge Base Solution "How to register and subscribe a system to the Red Hat Customer Portal using Red Hat Subscription-Manager" and official documentation.
How can I get valid subscriptions for virtual machines?
Setting up virt-who before migrating to RHSM
How do I verify updates are being applied in RHSM?
# yum history list
# yum info [ID]
APIs
Can I continue to use APIs in RHN?
You can continue to use APIs to manage subscriptions using RHN with the exception of registration. Red Hat has decommissioned the RHN web user interface (UI) and is decommissioning APIs, while adopting Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM). We encourage you to migrate to RHSM as soon as possible before Red Hat decommissions RHN APIsl.
When will the API shut down in RHN?
We are targeting 2018 to end API access for RHN.
Red Hat decommissioned the user interface in July 2017 and started blocking new systems from registering. Red Hat now blocks systems that are still checking in from updating, as well as shut down access to all APIs including security patching.
In the meantime, we are building out a robust support for APIs in RHSM and the documentation to support them.
Is there a command line tool to find out list of current registered systems and current users?
You can script and export the list of systems via commandline as outlined in this Knowledge Base Solution: How to export a list of my systems registered to RHN Classic in CSV format?
You can list or find users via the API calls under "User" namespace in RHN API.
Is there an API command that lists inactive systems present in an RHN group?
Yes, in the list Inactive SystemsInGroup.
Is there an API command that lists systems still checking in to RHN?
List current registered machines and current users in RHN from command-line
How to list inactive systems present on Red Hat Network using Web-API?
Can I still access errata through RHN?
Errata data can still be accessed through the RHN API until API access is taken down. We do not have a date for taking down API access yet.
Can I see account-level information about my systems using RHN?
You can use the Candlepin API to view this information.
Can I see system-level detail about which errata affects them?
Not yet. We are still building out API functionality in RHSM, but we do not know how system-level API access will look or behave in RHSM yet.
Satellite
How does this impact my Satellite?
Important Changes Coming to Red Hat Satellite 5
Preparing Satellite 5 systems for Red Hat Network's End of Life
Am I being forced to update to Satellite 5.8?
No. However, if you want to continue to access Satellite 5 Extended Life Cycle, you need to upgrade by early 2019.
If you are using Satellite 5.6 or 5.7, you need to take action before the RHN shutdown even if you plan to stay with Satellite 5.6 or 5.7.
Do I have to take any action at the Satellite client level, or do they still use classic tooling?
Client systems (including Satellite 5.8 clients) still register and communicate with Satellite 5 or Proxy 5 via classic tooling (e.g. rhn_register/rhnreg_ks), not subscription-manager.
If we switch Satellite 5.6 or 5.7 from RHN to RHSM, or upgrade to 5.8, should the clients connected to the Satellite be migrated to RHSM at the same time?
The clients won't see any effect. Client system registration and communication to the Satellite 5 server will continue to use RHN tooling.
If you apply the errata that allows the RHSM support, will it break the current non-RHSM setups?
No. The erratum just enables you to connect to RHSM. It does not disable RHN.
Is there any content you are deprecating in RHN and not moving into the new CDN?
We are not migrating EOL products that are no longer supportable to the CDN. That being said, we do realize some customers need to maintain inventory even if they have very old systems. If that's important to you, talk to your account team so we can see if we can at least register to keep inventory.
When we move Sat 5.6 or 5.7 to RHSM are we required to have virt-who contact from Satellite to all hypervisors like Sat6 requires? Or does the RHSM change not require any Satellite-Client changes?
We are only allowing the ability for the Satellite server to activate, register, and sync in Satellite 5.6 or 5.7. It does not affect any other changes.
If the erratum is applied is there a manual step you have to take to enable using RHSM?
Please see Preparing Satellite 5 systems for Red Hat Network's End of Life
Comments