What's the difference between RHN Classic and Red Hat Subscription Management?
Introduction
With the introduction of Red Hat Subscription Management, Red Hat supports two technologies when registering your Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers. However, for newer release of Red Hat products Red Hat Subscription Management is the preferred method and enabled by default. Red Hat Network continues to be supported for older versions of Red Hat products.
Those technologies are;
- Red Hat Network (RHN) Classic
- Red Hat Subscription Management
Red Hat Network Classic and Red Hat Subscription Management both allow you register your system and download updates. There are however, many differences between the two that deserve consideration by an organization that is considering which technology to implement now, or when to migrate.
Comparison
NOTE: This document is intended for planning Red Hat Subscription Management activities and is subject to change. Nothing in this document is a commitment to deliver any functionality or extend any existing product release cycles. Red Hat product life cycle description is located athttps://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/
Please refer to the following table for comparisons between RHN Classic and Red Hat Subscription Management by Red Hat Enterprise Linux product.
| Feature/Function | RHN Classic | Red Hat Subscription Management |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Product Support | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions supported |
All current products and versions in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 All current products and versions in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Beta supported via Red Hat Satellite 5.6 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (5.7 and newer) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (6.1 and newer) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Beta Intended for future versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
| Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization versions supported | All current products and versions including RHEV 2.1, 2.2, 3.0 | RHEV 3.0 and newer |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Migration to RHSM support? | NO |
YES for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (5.8 and newer) - via migration tooling as described inSubscription Management Guide YES for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (6.3 and newer) - via migration tooling as described inSubscription Management Guide Is migrating from RHN Classic to Red Hat Subscription Management supported? |
| Red Hat Satellite 5 | YES - all versions of 5.x | NO |
| Red Hat Satellite 6 | NO | YES |
| Subscription Management Support | ||
| Default installation method |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (5.7 and older) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (6.1 and older) All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (6.3 and later) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (5.9 and later) future versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
| Content Basis |
RHN Classic |
Red Hat Subscription Managersubscription-manager command to register and add subscriptions |
| Command line utilities | yum update
(Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and later),
(Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4) |
yum update |
| System registration | rhn_register, rhnreg_ks |
How do I register my system using Red Hat Subscription Manager? |
| List subscriptions available to apply to installed system | N/A | subscription-manager list --available |
| Force list all subscriptions | N/A | subscription-manager list --available --allWhy can't I see available subscriptions for my system in Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Smart autosubscribe a subscription | N/A |
How do I subscribe to a channel in Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Graphical user interface utilities | System -> Administration -> RHN Registration | System -> Administration -> Red Hat Subscription Manager |
| Package update utility |
System -> Administration -> Add/Remove Software |
System -> Administration -> Add/Remove Software |
| Yum plugin support | yum-rhn-plugin (provides rhnplugin.conf) |
subscription-manager (provides subscription-manager.conf and product-id.conf) |
| Web-based administration tool for customers | http://rhn.redhat.com | http://access.redhat.com/management |
| Support for updating content through Content Delivery Network | YES | YES |
| Support for offline updating | YES, via Red Hat Satellite 5 | NO |
| Support for proxied updating | YES, via Red Hat Satellite Proxy 5 | YES, via Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager (SAM) and other future offerings |
| Email errata notifications | YES |
YES How do I get errata notifications from Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Support for remote updating | YES |
NO How do I apply updates remotely with Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Support for IP-Based Firewall Rules |
YES |
YES How do I disable Location Aware Updates with Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Support for machine provisioning and monitoring | YES | NO |
Support for sosreport diagnostics logging |
YES | YES |
| Support for all product SKUs | YES, but future product products may not be enabled for RHN Classic |
YES, with a small number of exceptions Why aren't my subscriptions available in Red Hat Subscription Management? |
| Support for Smart Management Red Hat Enterprise Linux Add-On | YES, for use with Red Hat Satellite | NO |
| Optional and Supplementary Channels available? |
YES, but off by default Many *-devel packages are not available in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 |
YES, but off by default |
References
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/63269