How to use updated subscription-management client tools on older versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

This article describes how to update subscription-management client tools on older versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This is needed for customers that want to take full advantage of the 2013 Packaging Model.

Please note that your system must be registered for updates before running any yum commands.

In order to update the client packages on Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions 6.1 to 6.4 please run the following command:

# yum update subscription-manager

You may receive a dependency error when you run that command. If so, please install the following package:

# yum install python-dateutil

If you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux Versions 5.6 to 5.9 and want to use updated client tools, please run the following command:

# yum update subscription-manager

You may run into a dependency error. If so, you most likely will need to install the "virt-who" package, which in turn needs the "libvirt" package from the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization channel.

If you are unsure how to add channels, please review This content is not included.How to add a system to a child channel for detailed information.