What specifically does a RHEL Smart Management Add-on include?

Latest response

I've been trying to figure this out for a while now and am coming up empty.  This link doesn't tell me anything:

http://www.redhat.com/products/enterprise-linux-add-ons/smart-management/

And the relevant paragraph on page 3 of this PDF:

http://www.redhat.com/f/pdf/rhel/RHEL6_Add-ons_datasheet.pdf

is maddeningly vague.  Here is what it says:

Smart Management Add-On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Smart Management Add­On includes Red Hat Network Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow you to provision, patch, configure, and fully control your Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, test, and production systems.  You can also purchase an optional Red Hat Network Monitoring module. By proactively automating routine tasks such as patch management, you’ll have time to concentrate on other, higher value-­added tasks.

I am guessing this turns on some modules in an RHN subscription that are included with Satellite?  But what are the modules and what do they allow above and beyond a "normal" subscription?  If the customer has a Satellite subscription, does this add-on even make sense?

When I compare my own subscriptions - that do not include the Smart Management add-on - with a customer that does have the Smart-Management add-on, I don't see much difference.  

thanks

- Greg Scott

Smart Management Add-On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Smart Management Add-­On includes Red Hat Network Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow you to provision, patch, configure, and fully control your Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, test, and production systems.  You can also purchase an optional Red Hat Network Monitoring module. By proactively automating routine tasks such as patch management, you’ll have time to concentrate on other, higher value-­added tasks.
Smart Management Add-On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Smart Management Add-­On includes Red Hat Network Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow you to provision, patch, configure, and fully control your Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, test, and production systems.  You can also purchase an optional Red Hat Network Monitoring module. By proactively automating routine tasks such as patch management, you’ll have time to concentrate on other, higher value-­added tasks.
Smart Management Add-On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Smart Management Add-­On includes Red Hat Network Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow you to provision, patch, configure, and fully control your Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, test, and production systems.  You can also purchase an optional Red Hat Network Monitoring module. By proactively automating routine tasks such as patch management, you’ll have time to concentrate on other, higher value-­added tasks.
Smart Management Add-On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. The Smart Management Add-­On includes Red Hat Network Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow you to provision, patch, configure, and fully control your Red Hat Enterprise Linux development, test, and production systems.  You can also purchase an optional Red Hat Network Monitoring module. By proactively automating routine tasks such as patch management, you’ll have time to concentrate on other, higher value-
 
Smart Management Add-­On
Red Hat’s Smart Management Add-­On, when coupled with Red Hat Network Satellite, allows you
to manage the complete lifecycle of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems.
The Smart Management Add-­On includes Red Hat Network
Satellite management and provisioning modules that allow
GS
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Responses

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
27 June 2013 1:31 PM

Hi Greg,

This add-on is useful when used in an environment with Red Hat Satellite. It doesn't do much without this. Without the add-on installed on the servers, Satellite can't do a lot of its advanced features to the systems.

Does this help?

Andrius.

GS Expert Active Contributor 1269 points
27 June 2013 1:55 PM

> Does this help?

Well, a little bit.  After a bunch more homework yesterday, this how I think it works - tell me if I have this right or not.

If the customer buys Satellite and registers his systems with the local Satellite instead of Red Hat RHN, then those systems have the add-ons because that's all part of Satellite.

If the customor does not have Satellite and instead registers everything with Red Hat RHN, then he needs the add-ons to turn on the extra features coming from RHN.

So I think those add-ons turn on extra RHN subscription features that are included with Satellite.

Here is why I think it works this way.  

At the Satellite training I went to back in May, there was no mention of any add-on over and above Satellite to turn on extra features.  The training implied Satellite came with all the trimmings.  In the labs, I could change entitlements and add Provisioning, Management, and (I think) Updates.

I haven't seen any yum install (anything) to put the add-ons on servers.  So it all has to be a subscription thing, handled by either RHN or Satellite. 

But maybe I have it all backwards?

I wish those descriptions were a little more helpful.  Just a couple sentences about what a customer can do with each of the add-ons would go a long way and might generate some Red Hat revenue.

- Greg

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
27 June 2013 5:45 PM

Hi Greg,

I believe you are really close in your assessment!

The basic jist is that the Smart Management Add-On is to be used exclusively with Satellite. Having the Add-On without Satellite doesn't do you much good.

I'm following up with some of my Satellite contacts for additional info. Stay tuned!

Andrius.

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
27 June 2013 5:51 PM

Hi Greg,

I believe you are really close in your assessment!

The basic jist is that the Smart Management Add-On is to be used exclusively with Satellite. Having the Add-On without Satellite doesn't do you much good.

I'm following up with some of my Satellite contacts for additional info. Stay tuned!

Andrius.

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
27 June 2013 5:56 PM

Hi Greg,

Having the Smart Management Add-On for RHEL allows you to group sets of systems, instead of treating them individually. That's the main feature for having this specific Add-On. Without out, you can still manage your systems, but without the grouping aspect. This is for both Hosted RHN, or Satellite.

Does this help?

GS Expert Active Contributor 1269 points
27 June 2013 8:46 PM

Yes, that helps a bunch.

I'm guessing Smart Management and the other add-ons are just part of Satellite, while they are, well, add-ons, to hosted RHN subscriptions.  Right?  Or would a Satellite customer also want the add-ons to turn on more features?

thanks

- Greg

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
28 June 2013 3:55 AM

Greg,

The Add-Ons are additions on top of the RHEL systems, not Satellite. The Smart Management Add-On is the only one that enables functionality as part of Satellite, but required as part of the RHEL systems, so "the other Add-Ons" aren't all that related in your assumption.

For example, the Scalable File System Add-On enables the XFS file system on the RHEL systems, and have no affect on the Satellite implementation.

Andrius.

GS Expert Active Contributor 1269 points
28 June 2013 4:37 AM

OK, so some add-ons are really RHEL subchannels, software you can install on RHEL such as Scalable File System and so forth.  Others, such as Smart Management, are really subscription things.  These don't come with anything that installs on RHEL, they give more subscription features.  And then others, such as Extended Update Support, are extensions of support for older versions.  The word, "add-on" is not as specific in this context as I was thinking, it's a general term.  

Looking over that PDF referenced in my original post, I see the titles of some of the sections match the titles of some of the RHEL subchannels.  OK, making sense. 

One more question about Smart Management - I think Smart Management is an extra, additional add-on with hosted RHN.  And I think Smart Management is just part of Satellite.  Is this correct - or do I buy Smart Management in addition to Satellite to turn on the ability to group systems?

thanks

- Greg

andriusb's picture Red Hat Guru 3695 points
28 June 2013 5:07 AM

Hi Greg,

Smart Management is purchased in addition to Satellite to enable all the management and provisioning features in the graphic from the datasheet:

http://red.ht/17GyJJs

I'm not aware of the use case to use Smart Management with Hosted RHN. If your environment is big enough to require these features, you probably need Satellite anyway. ;-)

Andrius.

mm Pro 520 points
28 June 2013 2:11 PM

There's a page on the main site that explains what the management add-ons provide when used with RHN and with Satellite:

http://www.redhat.com/rhn/compare/

It uses the old terminology of Management, Provisioning, but it boils down to Update is what you get with a standard RHEL sub and only allows access to RHN, not Satellite.  Management and Provisioning are what's included with Smart Management.  

I have customers who use Smart Management with RHN, but it's an odd use case to me as well.

mm Pro 520 points
28 June 2013 2:16 PM

[Duplicate comment removed - Admin]

AK Community Member 50 points
19 July 2016 12:52 PM

I am planning to deploy only RHEL 7.2 servers in my environment that interact with Satellite 6. If I want to register and yumupdate all future servers, would I need RED HAT ENTERPRISE LINUX SMART MANAGEMENT ADD-ON for each new server?

AM Community Member 58 points
7 September 2016 9:51 PM

As per KB: https://access.redhat.com/articles/1988363

In Satellite 6, the number of RHEL subscriptions is used to determine how many systems can be managed by Satellite. The customer is contractually required to maintain a Smart Management subscription for every RHEL subscription that they wish to manage with Satellite. That remains the same as it has been with previous versions of Satellite.

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