Red Hat Knowledgebase

Installation numbers are a feature under development for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. They are used to:

1. Determine which packages are available for installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5;
2. Determine the software channels a system should be subscribed to when connected to Red Hat Network;
3. In some cases, activate subscriptions in a customer's Red Hat Login.

Several sample installation numbers have been provided in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Beta 2 release notes. These numbers will work with the installer (anaconda) to determine the packages available for installation. The installer will also save this number to /etc/sysconfig/rhn/install-num. The software update setup tool (rhn_register), used to connect systems to Red Hat Network (RHN), reads this file to determine the system's properties for creating its RHN profile. These numbers do not yet interact with RHN (nor will they activate subscriptions) for Beta 2.

Note: The installation numbers will interact with RHN closer to the official release date of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

What The Error Messages Mean

When attempting to connect the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Beta 2 system to RHN, an error message is received in the subscription review screen. The message will state:

"A subscription-activating installation number was found on disk, but we were not able to activate it (An unknown error occurred.)"

The system will still successfully connect to RHN as long as the account has sufficient subscriptions ('entitlements'). The error message is RHN simply informing that it cannot interpret the installation number provided during installation at the moment.

Additionally, a message might be received, stating:

"The installation number you provided is invalid."

This message is received if there are not enough sufficient Red Hat Enterprise Linux Beta 2 software channel subscriptions and/or sufficient RHN service level (update or management) subscriptions available in the RHN account. This can be determined by logging into https://rhn.redhat.com/ using a Red Hat Login with organization administrator access to the account.

To determine if there is a free update or management subscription, consult https://rhn.redhat.com/rhn/systems/SystemEntitlements.do

To determine if there is an available subscription for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Beta software channels, consult https://rhn.redhat.com/rhn/channels/software/Entitlements.do.

Note: The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client 5 Beta and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 Beta channels are not interchangeable. Connecting a system to RHN requires an available subscription for the product installed on the system. For example, the system will not be able to connect a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 Beta system to RHN if the only subscriptions available for system is the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client 5 Beta software channel.

To free an update or management subscription, transfer an entitlement from another system. http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_58_226.shtm has instructions on how to do so.

If there is no access to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux channel, request it by contacting Red Hat Customer Service at customerservice@redhat.com.