Managing activation keys

Activation keys automate host configuration during registration to orcharhino by assigning content view environments and enabling repositories. Create and configure your activation keys to scale consistent content access across many hosts.

You can use activation keys during host registration to improve the speed, simplicity and consistency of the process. Note that activation keys are used only when hosts are registered. If changes are made to an activation key, it is applicable only to hosts that are registered with the amended activation key in the future. The changes are not made to existing hosts.

Activation keys can define the following properties for hosts:

  • Available products and repositories

  • Content view environments

  • Host collection membership

    Content view conflicts between host creation and registration

    When you provision a host, orcharhino uses provisioning templates and other content from the content view that you set in the host group or host settings. When the host is registered, the content view environments from the activation key overwrite the original content view from the host group or host settings. Then orcharhino uses the content view environments from the activation key for every future task, for example, rebuilding a host.

    When you rebuild a host, ensure that you set the content view that you want to use in the activation key and not in the host group or host settings.

    Using multiple activation keys with a host

    A host can be associated with multiple activation keys that are combined to define the host settings. In case of conflicting settings, the last specified activation key takes precedence. You can specify the order of precedence by setting a host group parameter as follows:

    $ hammer hostgroup set-parameter \
--hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
--name "My_Activation_Key" \
--value "name_of_first_key", "name_of_second_key", ...

Best practices for activation keys

Plan dedicated activation keys per use case, use descriptive names, and automate key management with Hammer or Ansible to keep host content modular and consistent.

  • Create an activation key for each use case. This structures, modularizes, and simplifies content management on hosts.

  • Use a naming convention for activation keys to indicate the content and lifecycle environment, for example, oracle_linux-webserver.

  • Automate activation key management by using a Hammer script or an Ansible Playbook.

Creating an activation key by using orcharhino management UI

Create an activation key and associate content view environments and repository overrides for host registration.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.

  2. Click Create Activation Key.

  3. In the Name field, enter the name of the activation key.

  4. If you want to set a limit, clear the Unlimited hosts checkbox, and in the Limit field, enter the maximum number of systems you can register with the activation key. If you want unlimited hosts to register with the activation key, ensure the Unlimited Hosts checkbox is selected.

  5. Optional: In the Description field, enter a description for the activation key.

  6. On the Content view environments card, click Assign content view environments.

  7. Select a lifecycle environment.

  8. Select a content view.

  9. Optional: Click Assign another content view environment to assign additional content view environments to the activation key.

  10. Optional: Drag and drop the content view environments to change the order of the content view environments.

  11. Click Save to save the content view environments.

  12. Click Save to save the activation key.

  13. On the Repository Sets tab, override repositories to Enabled or Disabled as desired. For more information, see Enabling and disabling repositories on activation key content-management.

  14. Optional: On the Host Collections tab, click Add to view a list of available host collections. Select your host collection and click Add Selected. This ensures that hosts become part of your host collection during the host registration process.

Creating an activation key by using Hammer CLI

Create an activation key and associate content view environments and repository overrides for host registration.

Procedure

  1. Create the activation key:

    $ hammer activation-key create \
--name "My_Activation_Key" \
--unlimited-hosts \
--description "Example Stack in the Development Environment" \
--content-view-environments "Development/Stack" \
--organization "My_Organization"

  2. List the product content associated with the activation key:

    $ hammer activation-key product-content \
--content-access-mode-all true \
--name "My_Activation_Key" \
--organization "My_Organization"

  3. Override the default auto-enable status for the orcharhino Client for Oracle Linux repository:

    $ hammer activation-key content-override \
--name "My_Activation_Key" \
--content-label "My_Content_Label" \
--value 1 \
--organization "My_Organization"

    For a repository, the content label consists of your organization label, product label, and repository label split by underscores. For example, Example_orcharhino_Client_Oracle_Linux_10.

    The default status is set to disabled.

  4. Optional: Assign a host collection to your activation key:

    $ hammer activation-key add-host-collection \
--host-collection-id My_Host_Collection_ID \
--id _My_Activation_Key_ID \
--organization-id _My_Organization_ID

    This ensures that hosts become part of your host collection during the host registration process.

Enabling and disabling repositories on activation key

Override repository set status on an activation key to control which repositories are enabled when hosts register with the activation key.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.

  2. Select an activation key.

  3. Select the Repository Sets tab.

  4. Optional: Clear the Limit to Environment checkbox to view repositories that are available in the lifecycle environment of the activation key.

  5. Optional: Use the Repository type dropdown menu to filter repositories by type.

  6. Optional: Use the Status dropdown menu to filter repositories by status.

  7. Select the desired repositories or click the Select All checkbox to select all repositories.

  8. From the Select Action list, select Override to Enabled, Override to Disabled, or Reset to Default.

Activation keys and host registration

Use activation keys during provisioning or when registering existing Oracle Linux hosts to apply subscription and content settings automatically.

The Kickstart provisioning templates in orcharhino contain commands to register the host, using an activation key that is defined when creating a host.

You can use multiple activation keys when registering a host. For example, you can use one activation key to enable specific repositories and another to assign content view environments.

If there are conflicting settings in activation keys, the rightmost key takes precedence.

  • Settings that conflict: Service Level, Release Version, Environment, Content View, and Product Content.

  • Settings that do not conflict and the host gets the union of them: Host Collections.

  • Settings that influence the behavior of the key itself and not the host configuration: Content Host Limit.

Additional resources

Multiple activation keys and content view environments

When you register a host with multiple activation keys, orcharhino merges their settings and resolves conflicts by key order and the Allow multiple content views setting.

When multiple activation keys assign the same attributes, orcharhino decides how to resolve conflicts. In general, the host receives the union of non-conflicting settings and the setting from the last activation key for conflicting settings.

Conflicting settings, where the setting from the last activation key wins, include:

  • System purpose attributes

  • Release version

Non-conflicting settings, where the host receives the union of them, include:

  • Host collections

Activation key behavior regarding multiple content view environments depends on the Allow multiple content views setting. If you enable Allow multiple content views, content view environments are treated as non-conflicting. If you disable Allow multiple content views, content view environments are considered conflicting.

When you enable Allow multiple content views and register a host with multiple activation keys, the host receives all content view environments from each activation key, in the order they are passed.

Example 1. Example with Allow multiple content views enabled

Assuming that:

  • Activation key ak_multi assigns content view environments dev/cv2, dev/cv3.

  • Activation key ak4 assigns content view environments dev/cv4.

A host registered with activation keys ak_multi and ak4 receives content view environments dev/cv2, dev/cv3, and dev/cv4.

If the order is reversed, with ak4 followed by ak_multi, the host receives content view environments dev/cv4, dev/cv2, and dev/cv3.

When you disable Allow multiple content views and register a host with multiple activation keys, the host receives the content view environments from the last activation key with any content view environments. If any of the activation keys is a multi-environment activation key, registration fails with an error, regardless of the order.

Example 2. Example with Allow multiple content views disabled

Assuming that:

  • Activation key ak_multi assigns content view environments dev/cv2, dev/cv3.

  • Activation key ak4 assigns content view environment dev/cv4.

  • Activation key ak5 assigns content view environment dev/cv5.

  • Activation key ak_none assigns no content view environments.

If you attempt to register a host with activation keys ak_multi, ak4, registration fails because ak_multi is a multi-environment activation key.

If you register a host with activation keys ak4, ak5, the host receives dev/cv5, as ak5 is the last activation key with content view environments.

If you register a host with activation keys ak4, ak5, ak_none, the host receives dev/cv5 because ak5 is the last activation key with content view environments.

If you register a host with activation keys ak5, ak4, the host receives dev/cv4, as ak4 is the last activation key with content view environments.

Assigning content view environments to an activation key by using orcharhino management UI

Assign content view environments to an activation key so registered hosts receive content from the content view environments you specify, in the order you define.

Prerequisites

  • If you want to assign multiple content view environments, the Allow multiple content views setting must be enabled. For more information, see Content view environments overview.

  • You have created an activation key.

Procedure

  1. In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Content > Lifecycle > Activation Keys.

  2. Click the name of the activation key to which you want to assign content view environments.

  3. On the the Content view environments card, click Assign content view environments.

  4. Select a lifecycle environment.

  5. Select a content view.

  6. Optional: Click Assign another content view environment to assign additional content view environments to the activation key.

  7. Optional: Drag and drop the content view environments to change the order of the content view environments.

  8. Click Save.

Verification

  • The Details tab of the activation key displays the assigned content view environments in order.

Additional resources

Assigning content view environments to an activation key by using Hammer CLI

Assign content view environments to an activation key so registered hosts receive content from the content view environments you specify, in the order you define.

Prerequisites

  • If you want to assign multiple content view environments, the Allow multiple content views setting must be enabled. For more information, see Content view environments overview.

  • You have created an activation key.

Procedure

  1. Display the available content view environments to obtain their labels or IDs:

    $ hammer content-view-environment list

  2. Assign content view environments to an activation key:

    • By using their labels:

      $ hammer activation-key update \
--id My_Activation_Key_ID \
--organization-id My_Organization_ID \
--content-view-environments "My_env1/My_cv1,My_env2/My_cv2"

    • By using their IDs:

      $ hammer activation-key update \
--id My_Activation_Key_ID \
--organization-id My_Organization_ID \
--content-view-environment-ids [My_content_view_env_ID_1, My_content_view_env_ID_2]
Additional resources

Removing all content view environments from an activation key

Remove all content view environments from an activation key when you need to clear assignments before reconfiguring the activation key.

Procedure

  • Remove all content view environments from the activation key by passing an empty array:

    $ hammer activation-key update \
--content-view-environment-ids [] \
--name My_Activation_Key \
--organization-id My_Organization_ID

  • Remove all content view environments from an activation key by passing an empty string:

    $ hammer activation-key update \
--content-view-environments "" \
--name My_Activation_Key \
--organization-id My_Organization_ID

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