Migrating from RHN to RHSM in Red Hat Enterprise Linux [Master Article]

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.8 or later
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.2 or later
  • Please note this is NOT for a Red Hat Satellite 5.x

Issue

  • How to move a system from RHN Classic to RHSM
  • How do I migrate from RHN Classic to RHSM?
  • How can I move existing systems on RHEL 5.7 from RHN Classic to Certificate Management?
  • Getting entitlement errors when trying to register a new system through the portal or command line when I have systems in both systems, how do I migrate my systems to Red Hat Subscription Management?

Resolution

Pre-requisite

How to migrate the system from RHN to RHSM
1. Check the version of subscription-manager package.

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -qa | grep subscription-manager

2. If the package does not exist setup local repository to install the package. Refer to: This content is not included. Creating a Local Repository and Sharing With Offline Systems

(Skip step 2 if the package subscription-manager already exist).

[root@localhost ~]# yum install subscription-manager

3. Change directory to edit plugins.

[root@localhost ~]# cd /etc/yum/pluginconf.d

4. Edit plugins on system : enable plugins needed for RHSM ( enabled=1 ) and disable for RHN ( enabled=0 )

  • RHN Classic Plugins:
  • rhnplugin.conf
  • refresh-packagekit.conf
  • RHSM Plugins:
  • product-id.conf
  • refresh-packagekit.conf
  • subscription-manager.conf

For Example :-

[root@localhost pluginconf.d]# vim rhnplugin.conf
[main]
enabled = 0
gpgcheck = 1

5. Clean yum

[root@localhost ~]# yum clean all
Loaded plugins: refresh-packagekit, subscription-manager
Cleaning up Everything

6. Remove (or rename) the systemid file

[root@localhost ~]# cd /etc/sysconfig/rhn
[root@localhost ~]# mv systemid rhnclassic.systemid

7. Register system to RHSM via command-line

[root@localhost ~]# subscription-manager register

I have a Virtual Datacenter Subscription , systems migrate but won't subscribe
Virtual Datacenter Subscription follows a different registration approach. So, in order to register and subscribe the system, configure the virt-who agent using Red Hat access lab. Refer to: Using RHEL Virtual Data Center Subscription.

Common FAQs

  1. How would I know if the system is successfully migrated?
    Simply execute the following commands and check the system status and attached subscription :-

For Example :-

# subscription-manager list

+-------------------------------------------+
    Installed Product Status
+-------------------------------------------+
Product Name:   Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
Product ID:     69
Version:        7.3
Arch:           x86_64
Status:         Subscribed          >> Status has to be Subscribed
Status Details: 
Starts:         10/14/2016
Ends:           10/14/2017

# subscription-manager list --consumed
+-------------------------------------------+
   Consumed Subscriptions
+-------------------------------------------+
Subscription Name:   Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite
Provides:     Oracle Java (for RHEL Server)
                     Red Hat Enterprise Linux High Performance Networking (for RHEL Server) - Extended Update Support
                     Red Hat EUCJP Support (for RHEL Server) - Extended Update Support
                     dotNET on RHEL Beta (for RHEL Server)
                    ......
                    ......
                
SKU:                 RH123456
Contract:            11223344
Account:             123456
Serial:              1234567890123456
Pool ID:             1b234ab678g90123ab
Provides Management: Yes
Active:              True
Quantity Used:       1
Service Level:       Self-Support
Service Type:        L1-L3
Status Details:      Subscription is current            
Subscription Type:   Standard
Starts:              10/14/2016
Ends:                10/14/2017
System Type:         Virtual

# yum repolist
Loaded plugins: product-id, search-disabled-repos, subscription-manager
repo id                                                                                               repo name                                                                                status
rhel-7-server-rpms/7Server/x86_64      Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Server (RPMs)                                14,606
rhel-7-server-rt-beta-rpms/x86_64        Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time Beta (RHEL 7 Server) (RPMs)         15
repolist: 14,621
SBR
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