How to register and subscribe a RHEL system to the Red Hat Customer Portal using Red Hat Subscription-Manager?

Resolution

Red Hat Subscription Management allows users to track their subscription quantity and consumption.

NOTE: Red Hat has moved all the customer to use Simple Content Access (SCA) henceforth you don't have to attach any subscription to any system, just register the system and enable the required repositories.

Red Hat Labs Registration Assistant

We have an online tool to assist you in selecting the most appropriate registration technology for your system. If you would prefer to use this tool, please visit https://access.redhat.com/labs/registrationassistant/.

Register in single step.

Use the following command to register the system:

# subscription-manager register --username <username> --password <password> 

Or

# subscription-manager register
Username: <Submit the username only>  
Password: <Red Hat Customer Portal Password 

• After this, refresh the information on your machine using the following command.

# subscription-manager refresh

• If you want to confirm did this system get properly registered?, use the output of subscription-manager identity instead of the output of subscription-manager status.

# subscription-manager identity
  system identity: 3hskd--acec-4894-9211-0f1f6bb89d46 
  name: xyz-abc                 
  org name:  1234567890     
  org ID: 1234567890   <<<  It shows the host is registered with Red Hat Customer Portal. 

• How to view and verify the Org ID number?

  • Log-into Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console
  • Hover a mouse cursor on your name field and expand to view and verify the org ID details.

• Note:- subscription-manager Overall Status: Disabled is not an error, Kindly refer the article

Registration via GUI

# subscription-manager-gui

• Systems can also be registered with Customer Portal Subscription Management during the first-boot process or as part of the kick-start setup (both described in the Installation Guide)

Connecting through a HTTP Proxy or Firewall

For systems running behind a corporate Firewall or a HTTP based Proxy, the administrators need to follow the steps shared in the Solution: How to access Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) through a firewall or proxy?

Offline Registration

The offline registration feature of an "air-gapped" system is deprecated. Please refer to the article: How to register and subscribe a system offline to the Red Hat Customer Portal?

Registering Using Activation Key

Activation keys in Red Hat Subscription Management allows you to register and enable the repositories associated with your account without having to specify your RHSM Username and Password. Organization administrators can use keys to pre-configure subscriptions before they are registered. Once an organization key is created, users can register systems and have all of their required subscriptions attached to their system at once. This can be done by
Creating Red Hat Customer Portal Activation Keys
How to register a system to Red Hat Subscription Management using an activation key?

Un-registering a system

# subscription-manager remove --all
# subscription-manager unregister
# subscription-manager clean

Also see How to delete System Profiles for those registered with Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM)?

Migrating from RHN Classic to RHSM

• How to migrate a Red Hat Enterprise Linux System from RHN Classic to RHSM

• Subscription-manager for the former Red Hat Network User - a 7-part series

• Additional instructions on registering, un-registering, and re-registering a system using Red Hat Subscription Management can be found in documentation

  • RHEL 6: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Deployment Guide
  • RHEL 7: System Administrator's Guide
  • Subscription Management: Red Hat Subscription Management documentation.
    • Including Using and Configuring Red Hat Subscription Manager
  • Subscription-manager for the former Red Hat Network User - a 7-part series

Troubleshooting

Having trouble? Please check the below solutions for troubleshooting common issues while registering systems:

• How to troubleshoot subscription-manager and yum issues
• Common networking issues while accessing Red Hat Subscription Management (RHSM)
• RHSM Subscription Issues Troubleshooting Dos and Don'ts

RHEL Systems Registration Guide

This document is part of a collection covering RHEL System Registration.
If this is not the right solution for your registration needs and you wish to make a different registration choice, then you can return to the RHEL Systems Registration Guide.