Chapter 12. Configuring System Purpose

You use System Purpose to record the intended use of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 system. Setting System Purpose enables the entitlement server to auto-attach the most appropriate subscription. This section describes how to configure System Purpose using Kickstart.

Benefits include:

  • In-depth system-level information for system administrators and business operations.
  • Reduced overhead when determining why a system was procured and its intended purpose.
  • Improved customer experience of Subscription Manager auto-attach as well as automated discovery and reconciliation of system usage.

12.1. Overview

You can enter System Purpose data in one of the following ways:

  • During image creation
  • During a GUI installation when using Connect to Red Hat to register your system and attach your Red Hat subscription
  • During a Kickstart installation when using Kickstart automation scripts
  • After installation using the syspurpose command-line (CLI) tool

To record the intended purpose of your system, you can configure the following components of System Purpose. The selected values are used by the entitlement server upon registration to attach the most suitable subscription for your system.

  • Role

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Compute Node

  • Service Level Agreement

    • Premium
    • Standard
    • Self-Support

  • Usage

    • Production
    • Development/Test
    • Disaster Recovery

Additional resources

12.2. Configuring System Purpose in a Kickstart file

Follow the steps in this procedure to configure System Purpose during the installation. To do so, use the syspurpose Kickstart command in the Kickstart configuration file.

Even though System Purpose is an optional feature of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program, we strongly recommend that you configure System Purpose to auto-attach the most appropriate subscription.

Note

You can also enable System Purpose after the installation is complete. To do so use the syspurpose command-line tool. The syspurpose tool commands are different from the syspurpose Kickstart commands.

The following actions are available for the syspurpose Kickstart command:

role

Set the intended role of the system. This action uses the following format: 

syspurpose --role=

The assigned role can be:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Compute Node
SLA

Set the intended SLA of the system. This action uses the following format: 

syspurpose --sla=

The assigned sla can be:

  • Premium
  • Standard
  • Self-Support
usage

Set the intended usage of the system. This action uses the following format: 

syspurpose --usage=

The assigned usage can be:

  • Production
  • Development/Test
  • Disaster Recovery