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Chapter 6. Using 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 what subscriptions to attach to new systems, while simplifying the registration process for users.
6.1. About Activation Keys
Activation keys provide a way to apply predetermined subscription configuration to a system, specifically in two areas:
- Attaching predefined subscriptions
- Assigning the system to identified system groups
Activation keys provide more control over the initial setup of a system over autoattaching when a system is registered because autoattaching only evaluates what is currently installed on a system. An activation key can contain and attach a subscription for a product which is not yet installed.
Even more, using activation keys allows administrators to plan what products will be (initially) installed and subscribed for systems which do not yet exist.
The same activation key can be applied to multiple systems, as long as there are sufficient quantities on the subscriptions themselves.
Note
Activation keys only set the initial configuration for a system. Once it is registered to an organization, all of the products and subscriptions which that organization possesses can be attached to the system.
For example, if an activation key contains a subscription to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and then the organization contains an additional subscription for JBoss Enterprise Application Platofrm (EAP), the system can install EAP and have a subscription attached for it, even though its initial activation key did not cover it.
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