About This Guide #
This guide is intended for use by professional network and system administrators during the operation of SUSE® Linux Enterprise. As such, it is solely concerned with ensuring that SUSE Linux Enterprise is properly configured and that the required services on the network are available to allow it to function properly as initially installed. This guide does not cover the process of ensuring that SUSE Linux Enterprise offers proper compatibility with your enterprise’s application software or that its core functionality meets those requirements. It assumes that a full requirements audit has been done and the installation has been requested, or that a test installation for such an audit has been requested.
This guide contains the following:
SUSE Linux Enterprise offers a wide range of tools to customize various aspects of the system. This part introduces a few of them. A breakdown of available device technologies, high availability configurations, and advanced administration possibilities introduces the system to the administrator.
Learn more about the underlying operating system by studying this part. SUSE Linux Enterprise supports several hardware architectures and you can use this to adapt your own applications to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise. The boot loader and boot procedure information assists you in understanding how your Linux system works and how your own custom scripts and applications may blend in with it.
SUSE Linux Enterprise is designed to be a network operating system. It offers a wide range of network services, such as DNS, DHCP, Web, proxy, and authentication services. It also integrates well into heterogeneous environments, including MS Windows clients and servers.
Laptops, and the communication between mobile devices like PDAs, or cellular phones and SUSE Linux Enterprise need some special attention. Take care for power conservation and for the integration of different devices into a changing network environment. Also get in touch with the background technologies that provide the needed functionality.
Provides an overview of finding help and additional documentation when you need more information or want to perform specific tasks. There is also a list of the most frequent problems with explanations of how to fix them.
1 Available Documentation #
Documentation for our products is available at http://www.suse.com/documentation/, where you can also find the latest updates, and browse or download the documentation in various formats. The latest documentation updates are usually available in the English version of the documentation.
The following documentation is available for this product:
Lists the system requirements and guides you step-by-step through the installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from DVD, or from an ISO image.
Shows how to install single or multiple systems and how to exploit the product-inherent capabilities for a deployment infrastructure. Choose from various approaches, ranging from a local installation or a network installation server to a mass deployment using a remote-controlled, highly-customized, and automated installation technique.
Covers system administration tasks like maintaining, monitoring and customizing an initially installed system.
Describes virtualization technology in general, and introduces libvirt—the unified interface to virtualization—and detailed information on specific hypervisors.
Provides information about how to manage storage devices on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
AutoYaST is a system for unattended mass deployment of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server systems using an AutoYaST profile containing installation and configuration data. The manual guides you through the basic steps of auto-installation: preparation, installation, and configuration.
Introduces basic concepts of system security, covering both local and network security aspects. Shows how to use the product inherent security software like AppArmor or the auditing system that reliably collects information about any security-relevant events.
Deals with the particulars of installing and setting up a secure SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and additional post-installation processes required to further secure and harden that installation. Supports the administrator with security-related choices and decisions.
An administrator’s guide for problem detection, resolution and optimization. Find how to inspect and optimize your system by means of monitoring tools and how to efficiently manage resources. Also contains an overview of common problems and solutions and of additional help and documentation resources.
An administrator’s guide to Subscription Management Tool—a proxy system for SUSE Customer Center with repository and registration targets. Learn how to install and configure a local SMT server, mirror and manage repositories, manage client machines, and configure clients to use SMT.
Introduces the GNOME desktop of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server . It guides you through using and configuring the desktop and helps you perform key tasks. It is intended mainly for end users who want to make efficient use of GNOME as their default desktop.
The release notes for this product are available at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/.
2 Improving the Documentation #
Your feedback and contributions to this documentation are welcome. The following channels for giving feedback are available:
For services and support options available for your product, see https://www.suse.com/support/.
To open a service request, you need a SUSE subscription registered at SUSE Customer Center. Go to https://scc.suse.com/support/requests, log in, and click Create New .
Report issues with the documentation at https://bugzilla.suse.com/. To simplify this process, you can use the Report Documentation Bug links next to headlines in the HTML version of this document. These preselect the right product and category in Bugzilla and add a link to the current section. You can start typing your bug report right away. A Bugzilla account is required.
To contribute to this documentation, use the Edit Source links next to headlines in the HTML version of this document. They take you to the source code on GitHub, where you can open a pull request. A GitHub account is required.
The Edit Source links are only available for the English version of each document. For all other languages, use the Report Documentation Bug links instead.
For more information about the documentation environment used for this documentation, see the repository’s README https://github.com/SUSE/doc-sle/blob/master/README.adoc.
You can also report errors and send feedback concerning the documentation to . Include the document title, the product version, and the publication date of the document. Additionally, include the relevant section number and title (or provide the URL) and provide a concise description of the problem.
3 Documentation Conventions #
The following notices and typographical conventions are used in this documentation:
- /etc/passwd : directory names and file names
- PLACEHOLDER: replace PLACEHOLDER with the actual value
- PATH : the environment variable PATH
- ls , —help : commands, options, and parameters
- user : users or groups
- package name : name of a package
- Alt , Alt – F1 : a key to press or a key combination; keys are shown in uppercase as on a keyboard
- File , File › Save As : menu items, buttons
- AMD/Intel This paragraph is only relevant for the AMD64/Intel 64 architecture. The arrows mark the beginning and the end of the text block. IBM Z, POWER This paragraph is only relevant for the architectures z Systems and POWER . The arrows mark the beginning and the end of the text block.
- Dancing Penguins (Chapter Penguins , ↑Another Manual): This is a reference to a chapter in another manual.
- Commands that must be run with root privileges. Often you can also prefix these commands with the sudo command to run them as non-privileged user.
root #commandtux >sudo command
Vital information you must be aware of before proceeding. Warns you about security issues, potential loss of data, damage to hardware, or physical hazards.
4 Product Life Cycle and Support #
SUSE products are supported for up to 13 years. To check the life cycle dates for your product, see https://www.suse.com/lifecycle/.
For SUSE Linux Enterprise, the following life cycles and release cycles apply:
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server has a 13-year life cycle: 10 years of general support and three years of extended support.
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop has a 10-year life cycle: seven years of general support and three years of extended support.
- Major releases are published every four years. Service packs are published every 12-14 months.
- SUSE supports previous SUSE Linux Enterprise service packs for six months after the release of a new service pack.
For some products, Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) is available. Find information about our support policy and options at https://www.suse.com/support/policy.html and https://www.suse.com/support/programs/long-term-service-pack-support.html.
Modules have a different life cycle, update policy, and update timeline than their base products. Modules contain software packages and are fully supported parts of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server .
4.1 Support Statement for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server #
To receive support, you need an appropriate subscription with SUSE. To view the specific support offerings available to you, go to https://www.suse.com/support/ and select your product.
The support levels are defined as follows:
Problem determination, which means technical support designed to provide compatibility information, usage support, ongoing maintenance, information gathering and basic troubleshooting using available documentation.
Problem isolation, which means technical support designed to analyze data, reproduce customer problems, isolate problem area and provide a resolution for problems not resolved by Level 1 or prepare for Level 3.
Problem resolution, which means technical support designed to resolve problems by engaging engineering to resolve product defects which have been identified by Level 2 Support.
For contracted customers and partners, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is delivered with L3 support for all packages, except for the following:
- Technology Previews
- Sound, graphics, fonts and artwork.
- Packages that require an additional customer contract.
- Some packages shipped as part of the module Workstation Extension are L2-supported only.
- Packages with names ending in -devel (containing header files and similar developer resources) will only be supported together with their main packages.
SUSE will only support the usage of original packages. That is, packages that are unchanged and not recompiled.
4.2 Technology Previews #
Technology previews are packages, stacks, or features delivered by SUSE to provide glimpses into upcoming innovations. The previews are included for your convenience to give you the chance to test new technologies within your environment. We would appreciate your feedback! If you test a technology preview, please contact your SUSE representative and let them know about your experience and use cases. Your input is helpful for future development.
However, technology previews come with the following limitations:
- Technology previews are still in development. Therefore, they may be functionally incomplete, unstable, or in other ways not suitable for production use.
- Technology previews are not supported.
- Technology previews may only be available for specific hardware architectures.
- Details and functionality of technology previews are subject to change. As a result, upgrading to subsequent releases of a technology preview may be impossible and require a fresh installation.
- Technology previews can be dropped at any time. For example, if SUSE discovers that a preview does not meet the customer or market needs, or does not prove to comply with enterprise standards. SUSE does not commit to providing a supported version of such technologies in the future.
For an overview of technology previews shipped with your product, see the release notes at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/.