rhel-common¶

This element contains the common installation steps between RHEL os releases.

RHEL Registration¶

This element provides functionality for registering RHEL images during the image build process with the disk-image-create script from diskimage-builder. The RHEL image will register itself with either the hosted Red Hat Customer Portal or Satellite to enable software installation from official repositories. After the end of the image creation process, the image will unregister itself so an entitlement will not be decremented from the account.

SECURITY WARNING:¶

While the image building workflow will allow you to register with a username and password combination, that feature is deprecated in the boot process via Heat as it will expose your username and password in clear text for anyone that has rights to run heat stack-show. A compromised username and password can be used to login to the Red Hat Customer Portal or an instance of Satellite. An activation key can only be used for registration purposes using the subscription-manager command line tool and is considered a lower security risk.

IMPORTANT NOTES:¶

The 00-rhsm script is specific to RHEL6. If you use the REG_ variables to use with RHEL7, you do not need to set any DIB_RHSM variables. The scripts named with “rhel-registration” have not been developed or tested for RHEL6. For information on building RHEL6 images, please see the rhel element README.

Environment Variables For Registration during Image Creation¶

The following environment variables are used for registering a RHEL instance with either the Red Hat Customer Portal or Satellite 6.

#### REG_ACTIVATION_KEY Attaches existing subscriptions as part of the registration process. The subscriptions are pre-assigned by a vendor or by a systems administrator using Subscription Asset Manager.

#### REG_AUTO_ATTACH Automatically attaches the best-matched compatible subscription. This is good for automated setup operations, since the system can be configured in a single step.

#### REG_BASE_URL Gives the hostname of the content delivery server to use to receive updates. Both Customer Portal Subscription Management and Subscription Asset Manager use Red Hat’s hosted content delivery services, with the URL https://cdn.redhat.com. Since Satellite 6 hosts its own content, the URL must be used for systems registered with Satellite 6.

#### REG_ENVIRONMENT Registers the system to an environment within an organization.

#### REG_FORCE Registers the system even if it is already registered. Normally, any register operations will fail if the machine is already registered.

#### REG_HALT_UNREGISTER At the end of the image build process, the element runs a cleanup script that will unregister it from the system it registered with. There are some cases when building an image where you may want to stop this from happening so you can verify the registration or to build a one off-image where the boot-time registration will not be enabled. Set this value to ‘1’ to stop the unregistration process.

#### REG_MACHINE_NAME Sets the name of the system to be registered. This defaults to be the same as the hostname.

#### REG_METHOD Sets the method of registration. Use “portal” to register a system with the Red Hat Customer Portal. Use “satellite” to register a system with Red Hat Satellite 6. Use “disable” to skip the registration process.

#### REG_ORG Gives the organization to which to join the system.

#### REG_POOL_ID The pool ID is listed with the product subscription information, which is available from running the list subcommand of subscription-manager.

#### REG_PASSWORD Gives the password for the user account.

#### REG_RELEASE Sets the operating system minor release to use for subscriptions for the system. Products and updates are limited to that specific minor release version. This is used only used with the REG_AUTO_ATTACH option. Possible values for this include 5Server, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 6.1,…6.6, 7.0. It will change over time as new releases come out. There are also variants 6Server, 6Client, 6Workstation, 7Server, etc.

#### REG_REPOS A single string representing a list of repository names separated by a comma (No spaces). Each of the repositories in this string are enabled through subscription manager. Once you’ve attached a subscription, you can find available repositories by running subscription-manager repos –list. No base repos will be added when REG_REPOS is set, so these must be included in REG_REPOS.

#### REG_SERVER_URL Gives the hostname of the subscription service to use. The default is for Customer Portal Subscription Management, subscription.rhn.redhat.com. If this option is not used, the system is registered with Customer Portal Subscription Management.

#### REG_SERVICE_LEVEL Sets the service level to use for subscriptions on that machine. This is only used with the REG_AUTO_ATTACH option.

#### REG_USER Gives the content server user account name.

#### REG_TYPE Sets what type of consumer is being registered. The default is system, which is applicable to both physical systems and virtual guests. Other types include hypervisor for virtual hosts, person, domain, rhui, and candlepin for some subscription management applications.

#### REG_SAT_REPO Sets the repository label for Satellite client tools. The defaults are:

Release	Repository label
RHEL 7	rhel-7-server-satellite-client-6-rpms
RHEL 8	satellite-client-6-for-rhel-8-${arch}-rpms
RHEL 9	satellite-client-6-for-rhel-9-${arch}-rpms

Image Build Registration Examples¶

To register with Satellite 6, a common example would be to set the following variables:

REG_SAT_URL=’http://my-sat06.server.org’ REG_ORG=’tripleo’ REG_ENV=’Library’ REG_USER=’tripleo’ REG_PASSWORD=’tripleo’ REG_METHOD=satellite

To register with the Red Hat Customer Portal, a common example would be to set the following variables:

REG_REPOS=’rhel-7-server-optional-rpms,rhel-7-server-extras-rpms’ REG_AUTO_ATTACH=true REG_USER=’tripleo’ REG_PASSWORD=’tripleo’ REG_METHOD=portal

Configuration¶

Heat metadata can be used to configure the rhel-common element.

rh_registration:

activation_key:
# Attaches existing subscriptions as part of the registration # process. The subscriptions are pre-assigned by a vendor or by # a systems administrator using Subscription Asset Manager.

auto_attach: ‘true’
# Automatically attaches the best-matched compatible subscription. # This is good for automated setup operations, since the system can # be configured in a single step.

base_url:
# Gives the hostname of the content delivery server to use to # receive updates. Both Customer Portal Subscription Management # and Subscription Asset Manager use Red Hat’s hosted content # delivery services, with the URL https://cdn.redhat.com. Since # Satellite 6 hosts its own content, the URL must be used for # systems registered with Satellite 6.

environment:
# Registers the system to an environment within an organization.

force:
# Registers the system even if it is already registered. Normally, # any register operations will fail if the machine is already # registered.

machine_name:
# Sets the name of the system to be registered. This defaults to be # the same as the hostname.

org:
# Gives the organization to which to join the system.

password:
# DEPRECATED # Gives the password for the user account.

release:
# Sets the operating system minor release to use for subscriptions # for the system. Products and updates are limited to that specific # minor release version. This is only used with the auto_attach # option.

repos:
# A single string representing a list of repository names separated by a # comma (No spaces). Each of the repositories in this string are enabled # through subscription manager.

satellite_url:
# The url of the Satellite instance to register with. Required for # Satellite registration.

server_url:
# Gives the hostname of the subscription service to use. The default # is for Customer Portal Subscription Management, # subscription.rhn.redhat.com. If this option is not used, the system # is registered with Customer Portal Subscription Management.

service_level:
# Sets the service level to use for subscriptions on that machine. # This is only used with the auto_attach option.

user:
# DEPRECATED # Gives the content server user account name.

type:
# Sets what type of consumer is being registered. The default is # “system”, which is applicable to both physical systems and virtual # guests. Other types include “hypervisor” for virtual hosts, # “person”, “domain”, “rhui”, and “candlepin” for some subscription # management applications.

method:
# Sets the method of registration. Use “portal” to register a # system with the Red Hat Customer Portal. Use “satellite” to # register a system with Red Hat Satellite 6. Use “disable” to # skip the registration process.

satellite_cert:
# Defines the ssl certificate to be installed when using “satellite” # as register mechanism. Default values of this is # “katello-ca-consumer-latest.noarch.rpm”.

Configuration Registration Examples¶

To register with Satellite 6, a common example would be to use the following metadata:

{
    "rh_registration":{
        "satellite_url": "http://my-sat06.server.org",
        "org": "tripleo",
        "environment": "Library",
        "activation_key": "my-key-SQQkh4",
        "method":"satellite",
        "repos": "rhel-ha-for-rhel-7-server-rpms"
    }
}

To register with the Red Hat Customer Portal, a common example would be to use the following metadata:

{
    "rh_registration":{
        "repos":"rhel-7-server-optional-rpms,rhel-7-server-extras-rpms",
        "auto_attach":true,
        "activation_key": "my-key-SQQkh4",
        "org": "5643002",
        "method":"portal"
    }
}

rhel-common