SUSE Linux Enterprise
Support Lifecycle for SUSE Linux Enterprise Platform Products
SUSE Linux Enterprise Platform Products provide customers 10 years of support and maintenance options for their enterprise solutions.
The product lifecycle is broken out into 3 areas:
- General Support—7 years
- Extended Support—not offered
- Self-support—10 years
Lifecycle Breakdown
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Platform Products Lifecycle Breakdown | |||||
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| Feature | Year 1-4 | Year 5 | Year 6-7 | Year 8-9 | Year 10 |
| General Support | |||||
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| Feature Enhancements | |
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| Hardware Enablement | |
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| Hardware Optimization | |
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| Defect Resolutions | |
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| Security Updates | |
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| Self-Support | |
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General Support
General Support period for SUSE Linux Enterprise Platform Products is 7 years, beginning on the first date of general availability for a product.
During the general support period, Novell provides updates for improving the stability and performance of the platform, addressing security vulnerabilities, enabling hardware and enhancing features requested by our customers. As a product matures, the number of changes made will decrease. For more details, please refer to the Lifecycle Breakdown above.
Changes to the platform are delivered several ways.
- Service Packs
- Maintenance Updates
- Program Temporary Fix (PTF)
Service Packs
The most common method for platform updates are scheduled service pack releases. Historically, service pack releases are planned every 12-18 months during the General Support phase. A service pack is a consolidation of security updates and defect resolutions, hardware enablement, optimization for existing hardware features and on occasion enhancements to existing features. As part of the support included with a subscription, customers are expected to apply platform service packs within 6 months of their release. Updates to the platform are made against the latest available service pack release. For customers who need additional time to plan and migrate to the latest release, Novell has created a Long Term Service Pack program to extend the update period beyond 6 months. For more details on the terms and conditions of this program, please refer to the Long Term Service Pack Support Page.
Maintenance Updates
Maintenance Updates are releases Novell provides for delivering resolutions to existing defects, security vulnerabilities and could also include support for new features such as hardware enablement. These are consolidated and tested by Novell's Quality Assurance group prior to release. Novell recommends that customers apply maintenance updates regularly. New updates are created using the previously released maintenance updates.
Program Temporary Fix (PTF)
A PTF is created to address a specific customer related issue. As customers report issues against the product, Novell will evaluate what is necessary to address the issue and release the fix as a PTF to the end customer. Novell will also consolidate the PTF into a maintenance update for public release.
Extended Support
Extended Support is not currently offered for SUSE Linux Enterprise Platform Products.
Self-Support
Self-support options are offered from the first date of general availability for a product and will remain available for a total of 10 years.