This blog is posted on behalf of Jeff Christy, a project manager on Dell's Linux Engineering team.
The RHEL auto entitlement process is Dell’s method for delivering Red Hat subscriptions to customers. When purchasing a RHEL OEM subscription with a Dell server, instead of using a Red Hat 16-digit code on a piece of paper, customers can use their 7-digit service tag to register their system with the Red Hat Network (RHN) and enable their subscription for that server. The easiest method for doing this is by using the RHN client on their server to connect to RHN. The client software will read the service tag from the system and enable it directly to the customer’s account. Alternatively, customers can visit www.redhat.com/dell/activate, enter their service tag, and register their system directly with RHN over the web. You no longer need to worry about keeping track of a registration card and you no longer have to input a 16-digit registration number to activate your subscription.
The subscription is automatically activated the day it ships from the factory, but we have built in a 30 day grace period to allow for shipment to the customers facility. For example, if you purchased a system with a 1 year subscription, the subscription would not expire until 13 months after the system was shipped. By implementing the Auto Entitlement process worldwide, global customers now have a single process for registering their subscriptions. The new auto entitlement process was implemented with the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (www.redhat.com) on December 8th.
Prior to December 2010, Dell Inc only offered 1 and 3 Year Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions. Several customers have contacted us over the last few months to see about the feasibility of offering a 5 Year Red Hat subscription.We listened to our customers and worked with Red Hat to make this offering happen. Dell Inc launched the new 5 Year Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions worldwide in December. This allows our customers to align their Software subscriptions with their Hardware support, making it easier for budget planning, HW/SW maintenance tracking and product lifecycle and transition management.