1. Client Life Cycle Management Guide for Release 2.10
  2. Working With Activation Keys in Oracle Linux Manager

3 Working With Activation Keys in Oracle Linux Manager

This chapter describes how to create and manage activation keys in Oracle Linux Manager.

About Oracle Linux Manager Activation Keys

An activation key enables a client system to register with Oracle Linux Manager without having to provide a user name and password. After you have configured and synchronized a base software channel and any child channels, create an activation key so that client systems can register with Oracle Linux Manager.

With the spacewalk-common-channels -k command syntax, you can simultaneously set up software channels and repositories and create an activation key to associate with the channels.

If required, you can also use an activation key to define the default parent and child software channel subscriptions and any configuration channels. Oracle Linux Manager subscribes a client to these channels during registration. You can change the channels any time later without changing the activation key.

Note:

Do not oversubscribe client systems to channels. Oracle recommends that you configure activation keys to subscribe a client to a minimal number of channels.

If required, you can create an activation key for each combination of base channel, system architecture, and server type. For example, you would create separate activation keys for web, mail, or application servers running on all Oracle Linux x86_64 releases.

Setting Up Activation Keys

When creating a key, use a meaningful label that is easy to understand, for example, based on the version number and architecture (oraclelinux8-x86_64), or based on the server type (webserver or appserver).

Oracle Linux Manager automatically prefixes the organization ID to the activation key label. For example, if you select oraclelinux-x86_64 as the label, Oracle Linux Manager creates a key named 1-oraclelinux-x86_64. You can create multiple activation keys for the same base channel, each with different configuration options. The name that you use is presented during Oracle Linux Manager client registration. Creating your own key labels helps you to select the correct key.

Using the Oracle Linux Manager Web Interface

Figure 3-1 Activation Keys Page


The image shows the Activation Keys page of the Oracle Linux Manager web interface.

Go to Systems and select Activation Keys:

  • To create an activation key:

    1. Click + Create Key.

    2. On the Create Activation Key page, enter the key settings in the following fields:

      Description

      Enter a description for the key, for example, Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64).

      Key

      Enter a meaningful label for the activation key, for example, oraclelinux8-x86_64.

      Usage

      Leave this field blank to allow unlimited use by clients.

      Base Channels

      Select the base channel with which the key is associated, for example, Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64) Base.

      Add-on Entitlements

      If you are running the KVM hypervisor, enable the Virtualization entitlement. This entitlement installs additional packages on the target host so that Oracle Linux Manager is able to identify and manage virtual guests on that host.

      Universal Default

      Select if the key should be used as the default activation key for all newly-registered systems.

      Note:

      Oracle strongly recommends that you do not associate any channel with a universal default key. Oracle Linux Manager uses the universal default key if a key is not specified so it might be used by any version of any operating system.

    3. Click Create Activation Key to create the activation key.

  • To view an activation key, select its entry to display its details.

  • To modify an activation key:

    1. Select the activation key whose settings you want to edit.

    2. On the Activation Key Details page, modify the key settings.

    3. Click Update Activation Key to save your changes.

  • To delete an activation key:

    1. Select the activation key that you want to delete.

    2. On the Activation Key Details page, click delete key and then click Delete Activation Key to confirm.

Using the activationkey_create Command

Note:

Oracle recommends that you do not use automatic key generation.

When you issue the activationkey_create command, an interactive output is generated where you need to provide specific information, as shown in bold in the following example: 

spacecmd {SSM:0}> activationkey_create
Name (blank to autogenerate): oraclelinux8-x86_64
Description [None]: Oracle Linux 8 (x86_64)

Base Channels
-------------
oraclelinux6-x86_64
oraclelinux7-x86_64
oraclelinux8-x86_64

Base Channel (blank for default): oraclelinux8-x86_64

virtualization_host Entitlement [y/N]: N

Universal Default [y/N]: N
INFO: Created activation key 1-oraclelinux8-x86_64

To list all activation keys, use the activationkey_list command:

To display the details of an activation key, use this syntax: 

activationkey_details key-name

The following example shows how the command to list activation key details and the command's output: 

spacecmd {SSM:0}> activationkey_details 1-oraclelinux8-x86_64
Key:                    1-oraclelinux8-x86_64
Description:            Oracle Linux 8 x86_64
Universal Default:      False
Usage Limit:            0
Deploy Config Channels: False

Software Channels
-----------------
oraclelinux8-x86_64
 |-- ol8_x86_64_addons
 |-- ol8_x86_64-developer_UEKR6
 |-- ol8_x86_64-appstream
 |-- ol8_x86_64-ksplice

Configuration Channels
----------------------

Entitlements
------------

System Groups
-------------

Packages
--------

To delete an activation key, use the activationkey_delete command. Ensure that you confirm the command as prompted. 

spacecmd {SSM:0}> activationkey_delete 1-oraclelinux6-x86_64