IPA entitlement can run in online or offline mode depending on network connectivity. In online mode the admin can use CLI/UI to register and consume entitlements. In offline mode the admin must obtain the registration and certificates separately then the certificates can be imported into IPA via CLI/UI.
The current implementation assumes that the entitlement mode is fixed. So if the initial registration is done online via CLI/UI it's not possible to import certificates offline. Similarly, if the registration is done offline by importing certificate it's not possible to consume entitlement online.
There might be situations where the connectivity changes so regardless how the registration was done, the admin should be able to consume online or import offline.
Did some investigation:
The summary is: Rob did it right. It is either or: the deployment should be either online enabled and then get entitlements from the connection or offline and get everything manually. There is no use case to start offline and then connect or connect and then add entitlements manually. Well... the use cases exist, we just do not need to support them yet because the RHSM will not support them yet.
This is how it is supposed to be. Functions as designed.
Metadata Update from @edewata: - Issue assigned to rcritten
Login to comment on this ticket.