RHN Classic and Red Hat Subscription Management

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 rhn-channel command [Red Hat Enterprise Linux ] What is the command "rhn-channel" and how to use it?	Red Hat Subscription Manager subscription-manager command to register and add subscriptions
Command line utilities	yum update (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and later), up2date (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4)	yum update
System registration	rhn_register, rhnreg_ks	subscription-manager register 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 --all Why can't I see available subscriptions for my system in Red Hat Subscription Management?
Smart autosubscribe a subscription	N/A	subscription-manager register --autosubscribe 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	/usr/bin/yum System -> Administration -> Add/Remove Software	/usr/bin/yum 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 How do I disable Location Aware Updates with RHN Classic?	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 How can I access Optional and Supplementary channels, and -devel packages using Red Hat Subscription Management?

References

https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/63269