SLES for System z subscriptions are counted incorrectly in SMT/NCC

This document (7007622) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z

Situation

Subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z are counted per IFL. You are entitled to run as many SLES for System z instances per IFL as the workload allows - theoretically an unlimited number of instances. The issue you are experiencing is that those subscriptions are counted wrong when registering them against the Novell Customer Center (NCC) or against a Subscription Management Tool (SMT) server.

When running "smt-report" on an SMT server you are getting a message like the following:
"5 machines use too many 'SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (Z-Series)' subscriptions."

Resolution

SLES for System z instances are not supposed to count as single entities in NCC. In order to prevent this the parameter named hostGUID in /etc/suseRegister.conf must be set.

Please go ahead as follows:

- Pick one of the SLES for System z instances and note the GUID of the system. For SLES 10 you find it in /etc/zmd/deviceid, for SLES 11 you find it in in the variable "username=" in the file /etc/zypp/credentials.d/NCCcredentials.

- If you registered against an SMT server, log in to SMT and run "smt-list-registrations | grep Z-Series". Delete all "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (Z-Series)" registrations except for the one with the GUID you noted above. You can delete them via the following command: "smt-delete-registration --guid" followed by the respective GUID.

- If you registered directly against the NCC, log in to your NCC account and delete all SLES for System z instances except for the one with the GUID you noted above.

- Edit the file /etc/suseRegister.conf on each of the systems (except for the one with the GUID you noted above) and set the parameter
hostGUID=<guid>
to the value you copied in step 1.
E.g. : hostGUID=9bcbafd04c0847faa87dd63eb2cefd62

- Execute "suse_register -L /root/.suse_register.conf". This will send above <guid> as host-GUID to the SMT server, so no subscriptions are counted wrong. Please note, that you also have to specify an activation code when activating a virtual system directly against NCC. Otherwise no update catalogs would be added.

- When using SMT, run "smt-register -L /var/log/smt/smt-register.log". This will correct the subscription information. Then check the output of "smt-report".

Disclaimer

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