Support Policies for RHEL High Availability Clusters - Subscriptions, Support Services, and Software Access

Updated -

Contents

Overview

Applicable Environments

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) with the High Availability Add-On

Useful References and Guides

Introduction

This guide describes Red Hat's policies and requirements regarding access to RHEL High Availability software repositories, and support services for that software.

Policies

Software repository access: Red Hat grants access to a repository containing RHEL High Availability software to Red Hat accounts that have valid RHEL High Availability Add-On subscriptions AND a subscription that covers the underlying RHEL Operating System. With both the RHEL Server product and the RHEL High Availability products covered by the 2 attached subscriptions. Once attached to these subscriptions, the "Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability (for RHEL X Server)" repository can be enabled to grant access to the software using yum or other package managers that interact with Red Hat repositories.


Subscriptions required for support services: Red Hat requires organizations to have valid, active subscription coverage for RHEL and the RHEL High Availability Add-On in order to have access to Red Hat support services for any High Availability software (see policies below for details on which components this applies to). The RHEL subscription that a RHEL High Availability Add-On subscription is associated with specifies the level of support that is to be granted to the organization in relation to RHEL High Availability Add-On software. Self-support RHEL subscriptions do not entitle an organization to receive assistance with RHEL High Availability Add-On from Red Hat Support.
L3 RHEL subscriptions entitle an organization to receive assistance for RHEL High Availability Add-On from Red Hat support if they've purchased L1-L3 High Availability add-on.

Without a valid RHEL subscription that includes support services, Red Hat is unable to assist with the usage of RHEL High Availability Add-On software. The basic subscriptions necessary to receive support for a RHEL High Availability Add-On environment are a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Standard Subscription and a Red Hat Enterprise Linux High-Availability Add-On Subscription, 1 each per member of the High Availability Cluster. Please keep in mind that these subscriptions may be bundled with your purchase of other Red Hat products, so please speak with your sales representative to clarify your current products before making any purchases.


Number of subscriptions - every RHEL HA system must be covered: In order to receive assistance from Red Hat for any concern relating to the High Availability software running on any RHEL system, an organization must possess valid subscriptions for RHEL and the High Availability Add-On covering every member of the relevant cluster, and/or for any system that runs High Availability software. For instance:

  • If assistance is required with any member of a High Availability cluster, every member that participates in that cluster requires valid subscription coverage -
    whether that member is currently active or not at the time of the investigation. If the account's subscriptions do not cover all configured members of the cluster, then Red Hat cannot assist with concerns relating to that cluster.
  • Some components in the RHEL High Availability Add-On may be able to run on non-cluster members for the purpose of providing administrative functions or supplementary functions for a RHEL High Availability cluster. Any RHEL system that runs High Availability software must have valid subscription coverage in order to receive assistance from Red Hat, even if not a defined member of a cluster.
    • This includes systems running cluster-administration software like pcs or luci.
    • This includes systems running quorum services such as corosync-qnetd
    • This includes systems providing cluster arbitration such as with booth
    • This includes systems that serve as remote members with pacemaker_remote

RHEL High Availability components subject to these policies: The RHEL High Availability Add-On consists of numerous components (RPM packages) that may be distributed through various repositories or other avenues. The following components are considered to be part of the RHEL High Availability Add-On and are subject to the policies defined in this guide, as well as any other Red Hat policies targeting RHEL High Availability.

  • Any component that is obtained from a "Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability" repository provided by Red Hat Subscription Manager.
  • Any component that comes from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability ISO or DVD
  • Any component that is listed in the Red Hat Customer Portal downloads section under the Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Availability product, for example here (RHEL 7) or here (RHEL 8).

Subscriptions and RHEL releases: RHEL and RHEL High Availability subscriptions enable support and access for versions of the RHEL High Availability software in accordance with Red Hat's RHEL Lifecycle and Production Support Scope of Coverage:

With a valid RHEL and RHEL High Availability subscription, Red Hat can provide assistance with RHEL High Availability releases that are in active production support phases according to the RHEL Lifecycle.


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