3.6. Subscription Asset Manager: Activation Keys

Activation keys are a way to preconfigure subscriptions for a system before it is registered (or, when used with provisioning systems like kickstart, before the system is even created). This grants a great deal of flexibility and control to administrators over which subscriptions to attach to new systems, while simplifying the registration process for users.

3.6.1. The Environment: Preconfigured Systems

Section 3.5, “Subscription Asset Manager: Direct Subscription Assignments” summarizes the benefits of using Subscription Asset Manager in general, and those same benefits apply, generally, to using Subscription Asset Manager to create activation keys.
Additionally, using activation keys makes the overall registration and subscription process simpler, almost transparent, for users. They can pass the activation key to register the system and have all of the configured subscriptions apply and the user never has to know what those subscriptions are or what quantities are required.
Preconfiguring systems allows administrators to define system configuration consistently. For example, using activation keys and pre-configured subscriptions is common when supplying company-configured laptops or workstations to employees.
Activation keys create a set of subscriptions that can be attached to a system, without attaching them directly to a system. The activation key can be associated with a system group, within the Subscription Asset Manager configuration. From there, it can be used with any system. This results in several benefits for both users and administrators:
  • Administrators have control over which subscriptions are installed to a system without having to create and configure every system first.
  • Because activation keys are created within Subscription Asset Manager and do not rely on system settings or architecture, the target system does not have to exist yet.
  • Users can register their system in a single step and automatically have all the proper subscriptions attached, without having to select and attach subscriptions manually and potentially miss a subscription.

3.6.2. Workflow

By default, systems are configured to use Red Hat hosted services. Before activation keys can be created and used, the appropriate backend infrastructure needs to be set up.
Subscription Asset Manager Setup

Figure 9. Subscription Asset Manager Setup

  1. If necessary, create an entry in the Red Hat inventory for the organization. Every organization in Subscription Asset Manager must have a corresponding subscription service entry in the Red Hat inventory.
  2. Assign a bloc of subscriptions to the organization. This bloc of subscriptions is the manifest of subscriptions for that Subscription Asset Manager organization.
  3. Export the manifest.
  4. Import the manifest into Subscription Asset Manager.
  5. Configure the Red Hat Subscription Manager client on the local system to use the Subscription Asset Manager subscription service and, optionally, the Subscription Asset Manager content proxy.
    This can be done at any point before the system is registered, so it can even be performed after the activation key is created.
The backend configuration for Subscription Asset Manager and its manifests only needs to be done once, and the Red Hat Subscription Manager configuration changes only need to be made once per system.
When that is complete, then activation keys can be made.
Registering with Activation Keys

Figure 10. Registering with Activation Keys

  1. Create the activation key. This is a container entry that subscriptions can be attached to.
  2. Attach subscriptions to the key.
  3. Register the local system using the activation key.
    This is basically an autoattach operation, only instead of using the Red Hat Subscription Manager evaluation to select best-matched subscriptions, it attaches the pre-configured subscriptions associated with the key.

3.6.3. Details and Options

After registering a system with Subscription Asset Manager, it can be managed using either Subscription Asset Manager or Red Hat Subscription Manager, but the options set in Red Hat Subscription Manager must match what is available in Subscription Asset Manager.
  • Enable autoattaching for the system and, optionally, set a service level preference.