RH401: Create activation keys

Activation Keys

Activation Keys are used to register systems. Systems registered with an activation key will inherit the characteristics defined by that key.

A management entitlement is required for any system that uses an activation key to register to RHN. If there is no active management entitlement in the account, the Activation Keys option will not be visible under the Systems tab.

Creating an RHN activation key is simple, and it allows you to securely register your systems to RHN or RHN Satellite via the command line. Most commonly, this is used as part of remote kickstart installations in the %post install section.

1. Log in to your RHN account or Satellite server as a user with administrative privileges
2. Go to Systems -> Activation Keys -> Create New Key
3. Fill in the Description field with something meaningful (like "marketing," or "developer")
4. Set the Usage Limit if you wish to enforce a maximum number of systems that can use this key
5. Set Add-On Entitlements to "Provisioning" or "Management" depending on the needs of this system
6. Set Universal Default. Universal Default means that this key will be used for any system 
   registered to this account that does not specify a key. Set this to "yes" if you want this key to 
   be the default key; set this to "no" if you want this key to be used only when specified.

At this point, you can also associate Child Channels, Groups as well as Configuration Channels (provided you have Provisioning Entitlement) with the key so that systems registered with it automatically subscribe to them.

To change information about a key, such as the channels or groups, click its description in the key list, make your modifications in the appropriate tab, and click the Update Key button. To disassociate channels and groups from a key, deselect them in their respective menus by Ctrl-clicking their highlighted names. To remove a key entirely, click the delete key link in the top-right corner of the edit page.

Once you have created your activation key, you can use it to register any Red Hat Enterprise Linux system from the command line.

rhnreg_ks  --activationkey=
rhnreg_ks --profilename=my_rhel_system01 --activationkey=1-2b48feedf5b5a0e0609ae028d9275c93
rhnreg_ks --profilename=my_rhel_system01 --username=myusername --password=mypw1234

sources(requires a redhat account):
Generate a RHN Activation Key ...
How to use rhnreg_ks ...