Chapter 4. Certification Workflow

4.1. Creating Red Hat Enterprise Linux Certification Requests

4.1.1. Open a New System or Component Certification Request

To create a new certification request, complete the following steps:

  1. In your test server, launch Red Hat Certification web user interface in a browser using the http://<machine-IP> link.
  2. Type your Red Hat account credentials previously enabled for certification in the Username and Password fields. Click Login.
  3. Click the New Certification button. This will take you to Choose the Red Hat Certification web page.
  4. From the Product drop-down list, select Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The Version and Platform value gets generated automatically. However, partners can select the version and platform fields according to their requirement. Click Next. This will take you to Choose the product to be certified web page.
  5. Select the Vendor, Make, and Name items from the drop-down list. Click Next.
  6. A notification of the requested Hardware certification for the new product is displayed.
  7. To publish the certificate and change the status from In Progress to Passed, click the Publish tab, check the option Publish this certification on and from the drop down list, select the appropriate Year, Month, and Day. Click Save.

After the request is created, monitor the request for questions from the review team as they create the official test plan.

Testing can begin as described in section Layered Product Certifications when the test plan is complete.

4.1.2. Add Certifications to Previously Certified Hardware

This process is used, for example, when creating a certification request for RHEL 7 on a system that already has an in-progress or completed RHEL 6 certification request.

  1. Log in to Red Hat Certification and click the New Certification button.
  2. Select the Red Hat product, version, and platform for certification and click Next.
  3. Select a vendor, make, and name of the product to be certified from the dropdown lists and click Next.

After the request is created, monitor the request for questions from the review team as they create the official test plan. Testing can begin as described in section Layered Product Certifications when the test plan is complete.

4.1.3. Change Features or Hardware in an Existing Certification

A supplemental certification is used when new hardware or features are added to an existing certified system or component. To create supplemental certification Red Hat certification team will initially add the supplemental components to the specification file. Perform the following steps to attach the specification file:

  1. Click on the existing hardware cert this will take you to the hardware cert web page that have sections Product and Certification.
  2. Click Product.
  3. Click the Product Details tab.

  4. In the Attachment field, click Browse to attach the specification file for the new supplemental component. Select the checkbox is this a specification.

    Once the Red Hat certification team adds the supplemental components based on the specification file, perform the following steps to create the Supplemental certification:

  5. Go to the hardware cert web page that have two sections Product and Certification.
  6. Click Certification.

  7. Click the Related Certification tab for creating supplemental certification.

    Red Hat certification team adds the test plan to the newly generated certification.

  8. In the Related Certification tab go to the Supplemental Certifications section click the New Certification button to create a new Supplemental certification.

After the supplemental certification is successfully created, Partners can start testing on it.

4.2. Creating and Publishing a System Certification

A system pass-through certification essentially creates a copy of a certified system, listing it under a different vendor name, a different make, or a different model.

Pass-through is used when a vendor sells their system to a partner who then rebrands it, or if a vendor sells two or more systems where one system is a superset of the other(s).In such situation, the vendor should have tested the existing system certification as that covers all the hardware in the new Pass through certification.

  1. To create a system certification refer Steps 1 to 4 of Open a New System or Component Certification Request
  2. Select the Vendor, Make, and Name. Click the New Product button. This will take you to Choose the Certification Program web page.
  3. Select the Vendor and Program as Hardware. Click the Next button. This will take you to Define the Red Hat Hardware Certification Vendor Product web page.
  4. Fill in all the relevant details. From the drop down list of the Category field, select the category as System.

This creates the System Certification. The Red Hat certification team certifies and publishes the newly created System Certification. After the certificate is certified and published, it becomes public for other partners to refer it as a pass through component.

4.2.1. Copying an Existing System Certification to a New Entry

  1. To create the Pass through certification, go to the Red Hat certification web user interface, click the existing hardware system certification that is certified. Click the Certification Section. In the, Related Certification tab, go to the Pass through Certification section and click the New Certification button.
  2. In the Vendor field select the Vendor whose product you need to pass-through. In the Make field select the make that you need to pass through.
  3. Click the Create button. This will generate a request to create a pass through system specification and a pass through certification for the generated specification.

If the original system specifications and the pass-through system specifications are identical or have no differences, no additional testing will be required. If differences are found, the Red Hat certification team will discuss with you what should be done to account for them.

4.2.2. Creating a System Pass Through Certificate Using Exisiting Specification File

Following are the steps to create a system pass through certificate for a new model using the existing model specification file:

  1. Go to the Red Hat certification web user interface, click the existing hardware system certification that is certified. Click the Certification Section.
  2. In the Related Certification tab, go to the Pass through Certification section and chose the pass through specification file that has been created.

This will create the second pass-through certificate using the same specification entry.

4.3. Creating and Publishing a Component Certification

A component pass-through certification essentially creates a copy of a certified component, listing it under a different vendor name, a different make, or a different model. This type of pass-through is used when a system vendor wants to include a component that has already been certified by a component vendor, when a component vendor sells their components to a third party who rebrands them, or if a vendor sells two or more components where one system is a superset of the other(s).

  1. To create a component certification refer Steps 1 to 4 Open a New System or Component Certification Request
  2. Select the Vendor, Make and Name. Click the New Product button.This will take you to Choose the Certification Program web page.
  3. Select the Vendor and Program as Hardware. Click the Next button. This will take you to Define the Red Hat Hardware Certification Vendor Product web page.
  4. Fill in all the relevant details. From the drop down list of Category, select the category as Component/Peripheral.

This creates the Component certification. The Red Hat certification team certifies and publishes the newly created Component certification. After the certificate is certified and published, it becomes public for other partners to refer it as a pass through component.

4.3.1. Copying an Existing Component Certification to a New Entry

Following are the steps to copy an existing component certification to a New Entry:

  1. To copy the Component certification, go to the Red Hat Certification web user interface, click the existing hardware system certification that is certified. Click the Certification section. In the Related Certification tab, go to the Pass through Certification section and click the New Certification button.

  2. In the Vendor field select the Component Vendor whose product you need to pass-through. In the Make field select the Component Make that you need to pass through.

    Note

    Here, the Component Vendor and the Component Make are the fields that gets generated while performing Steps 1 to 4 of Creating and Publishing a Component Certification.

    If the original component specifications and the pass-through component specifications are identical then, no additional testing will be required. If there are differences found, the Red Hat certification team will discuss with you what should be done to account for them.