Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 56374
Registering an existing system
Last modified: 2015-01-07 18:52:58 EST
From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1) Description of problem: Registering a machine that was previously registered and under the same name, it includes it twice even if same system/channel Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Run rhn_register 2.View RHN web page 3.Look under systems Actual Results: When you register your system it adds another system Expected Results: It should see if there is a same name system and ask what to do because of it. Such as if to override that system, rename, etc.. This way if it's the same one you keep all your preferences and such and don't have to reentitle it or anything. Additional info: I saw this since RHN began but haven't had to actually try this yet with 7.2. But all others so far previously would just add that system to the database with the same name, so you would have two of the exact same machines on the system and have to delete the old one. If I wasnt' clear, I mainly mean the "system profile name" of the machine. I also wasn't sure which part to file this under so this seemed like the logical choice. Please correct it if you prefer under something else.
This also affects Skipjack beta. Because of problems with up2date (already bugzilla-ed) I registered the same system three times. After this it was not possible to call up2date as it said the system is not entitled. I then manually deleted two system profiles and entitled the one which system id was the same as in /etc/sysconfig/rhn/systemid -> up2date worked. Solution: Before registering a system with RHN there should be a check if the system is already registered!
We are working to come up with a process which will address this. There's really no good way to know for sure (without asking) if the profile is destined to replace an existing profile. There are some ideas that we are poking around with, so look forward to something in the future.
There are some policies things we need to work out before we can allow a system profile to be wiped clean using rhn_register. Basically we have to ask for more credentials before we allow such action (ie, username and passord), Oftentimes people re-register their system because they forget their username and password - and asking them for that will not do much good. On the other hand allowing a system profile to be deleted just because somebody has access to the systemid file is borderline irresponsible IMHO.