SUSE Linux Enterprise

Maintenance and Service Packs

Through maintenance updates and service packs, Novell proactively provides security updates and bug fixes, hardware enablement, and enhancements to existing features.

These updates provide timely resolutions to improve stability and optimize performance of the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform. Maintenance updates and service packs are rigorously tested by Novell's Quality Assurance group prior to release. Through service packs and software updates, Novell ensures that security threats are identified and resolved quickly and properly and our customer requests for new hardware enablement and enhanced features work flawlessly and are delivered promptly.

Timing of Maintenance and Service Packs

Maintenance updates are released periodically and Novell recommends that maintenance updates are applied regularly as all our updates are created using previously released maintenance updates. Historically, Novell schedules service pack releases every 12-18 months during the General Support phase of a major version release. As part of the support included with a subscription, customers are expected to apply platform service packs within 6 months of their release.

Accessing maintenance updates and service packs

Through Novell Customer Center, Novell provides a repository for each version of SUSE Linux Enterprise where customers with an active subscription can access and receive notification of new updates. Additionally, Novell includes the Subscription Management Tool with each subscription of SUSE Linux Enterprise. The Subscription Management Tool is integrated with the Novell Customer Center and establishes a proxy system with repository and registration targets, so you can centrally manage software updates within the firewall on a per-system basis, while maintaining your corporate security policies and regulatory policies.

Customers can upgrade to the latest service pack via two methods. First, the service pack can be accessed through the Novell Customer Center or Subscription Management Tool for a live upgrade. Second, the service pack can be deployed using media obtained from either download.novell.com or from a Novell produced DVD.

New with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Service Pack 1

Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Service Pack 1, Novell will keep all future service pack maintenance repositories active throughout the general support phase of SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Service Pack 1 will be the first repository that will remain active and will serve as the General Update repository. Novell will provide maintenance for the latest version of a package and provide updates to the repository where it resides, so long as the update maintains compatibility. Moving forward, only those packages where updates do not maintain compatibility will be staged for release in the next Service Pack. Otherwise, Novell will release updates to the appropriate repository once thorough testing is completed. Novell expects the majority of updates to be maintained in the General Update repository.

Customers will now have access not only to the repository of the current service pack of SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 they are running, but also service pack repositories back to SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Service Pack 1. To get access to the latest service pack repository, customers mustfirst apply the service pack in its entirety. Once this is completed and as maintenance updates are released, users can choose which updates to apply. This gives them the flexibility to handpick only the updates that they need and the control to update their systems at their own pace, so they can maintain compliance with their internal policies. Plus, customers will be able to consume innovation faster because Novell will release updates more regularly without holding maintenance updates for the next Service Pack.

Novell will only hold updates that do not maintain compatibility from one service pack to another, so customers can be confident updates to packages in earlier repositories are compatible and they can feel comfortable applying them. Additionally, by reducing the size and scope of future service packs, upgrading to the latest service pack will be faster and require less resources..