Register a system for Red Hat support

$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

Skills in this chapter

Know why you register

Registration proves that the system belongs to an account with a subscription. Then Red Hat gives it software, updates and support.

After registration the system gets:

Content: the repositories BaseOS and AppStream for dnf install and dnf update.
Red Hat Lightspeed (earlier called Red Hat Insights): checks the system for known problems, security risks and bad settings, and shows them in the Hybrid Cloud Console (console.redhat.com).
Support: you can open support cases for this system.
AI help: the command-line assistant c works only on registered systems.

Note

Red Hat uses Simple Content Access: you do not "attach" a subscription to each system any more. A registered system can use all content of the account.

4.2

Register during the installation

The easiest way: register in the installer. Then the system is ready for updates at the first boot.

In the installation summary, open Connect to Red Hat.
Choose Account (user name and password) or Activation key (organization ID + key).
Click Register. The installer can now also install packages from the Red Hat CDN.

At work

In a company, use activation keys instead of a personal password. A key can be shared with a team, and it never shows anyone's password.

4.3

Register with rhc

rhc connect registers the system, turns on Red Hat Lightspeed and connects it to the Hybrid Cloud Console — all in one command.

#rhc connect --username anna.admin
Password:
Connecting server1.example.com to Red Hat.
This might take a few seconds.
...
Successfully connected to Red Hat!

With an activation key (good for scripts and many machines):

#rhc connect --organization 12345678 --activation-key web-servers
#rhc status
#rhc connect --organization 12345678 --activation-key web-servers --disable-feature remote-management

Feature	What it gives	Turn it off with
`content`	The Red Hat repositories	`--disable-feature content`
`analytics`	Data for Red Hat Lightspeed	`--disable-feature analytics`
`remote-management`	Run fixes and tasks from the web console	`--disable-feature remote-management`

Watch out

The organization ID and the activation key name can register machines to your account. Treat them like a password: do not put them in a public Git repository.

4.4

Register with subscription-manager

subscription-manager is the classic tool. It registers only the subscription part (content and support), and it works with Red Hat Satellite.

#subscription-manager register --username anna.admin
Registering to: subscription.rhsm.redhat.com:443/subscription
Password:
The system has been registered with ID: 6b1e0c6a-4f2d-4a3b-9d7e-1f2a3b4c5d6e
The registered system name is: server1.example.com
#subscription-manager register --org 12345678 --activationkey web-servers
#subscription-manager identity
#subscription-manager status

Check that the repositories are there:

#subscription-manager repos --list-enabled
#dnf repolist
repo id                                     repo name
rhel-10-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms           Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)
rhel-10-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms              Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)

Remember

rhc connect = registration + Lightspeed + remote management. subscription-manager register = only registration (also for Satellite).

4.5

Register in the web console

The RHEL web console (Cockpit) can register a system with a few clicks — handy when you manage a server from a browser.

#dnf install cockpit
#systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket
#firewall-cmd --add-service=cockpit --permanent
#firewall-cmd --reload

Open https://server1:9090, log in, and click Not registered on the overview page, then Register.

4.6

Unregister a system

Unregister a machine before you delete it or give it away. Then it does not count in your account any more.

#rhc disconnect
#subscription-manager unregister
#subscription-manager clean

rhc disconnect undoes rhc connect.
subscription-manager unregister removes the system from the account.
subscription-manager clean removes the local registration data only (use it when the system was already deleted from the account in the web portal).

Check it

#subscription-manager status
#dnf repolist

At work

Clones of a registered virtual machine have the same identity. Before you clone a template VM, unregister it — or run subscription-manager clean and register each clone again.

All commands in this chapter