I'm new to RHEL. Trying to install software this morning and running into road blocks. Is it required to have a subscription to download packages via yum on RHEL?
I'm coming across different sources on the net, some make it sound like yes, you need a subscription, others making it sound like no, a subscription is only required for support.
In either case I'm stuck unable to install software ATM, because the machines I'm on don't have the subscription registered. Is there a way to install RHEL software without registering a subscription? If so, how?
Best Answer
Yes, you have to have an active RHEL subscription to download packages from RHEL's repositories. If your machine has never been subscribed, or the subscription is expired, you will not be able to use any of the repositories provided by RHEL.
Red Hat states, in relevant part:
And further:
Many other examples can be found...
You can still use third party repositories; however, they often depend on packages in the base repositories provided by RHEL, and thus many packages will fail to install if those dependencies can't be satisfied.
The only way to install base packages without a subscription is to get them off the installation media.
If you're unable or unwilling to purchase a Red Hat subscription, consider migrating to CentOS to avoid the problem.