SUSE Linux Enterprise in the Americas

As a follow on to my first post on this subject, here are the patterns for SLED 11.

As you may already know, Novell has tried to offer a simplified way of suggesting the software and configuration needed for certain workloads on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. We refer to these as “installation patterns”. Here’s a list of the installation patterns that ship with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11…

• Desktops
  • GNOME (Default)
  • KDE
  • X Window System
• Graphical Environment
  • Fonts
• Additional Software
  • Novell Applications
  • Help and Support Documentation
  • Novell AppArmor
  • Laptop
  • TabletPC
  • Xen Virtual Machine Host Server
• Development
  • C/C++ Compiler and Tools
• Primary Functions
  • Web-Based Enterprise Management
• Base Technologies
  • Desktop Base System

Of course, if these patterns don’t do it for you, you can always go into the details and choose the specific packages you’re interested in installing.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 has shipped and is now available!! http://www.novell.com/linux

Overview:

* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the highly reliable, scalable and secure server operating system that powers your physical and virtual workloads. Featuring the fastest Linux update stack, diskless server capabilities, Green IT innovations that lower your power consumption, and performance optimizations to run as a virtual guest on VMware, Xen and Hyper-V, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server sets the standard for enterprise-class server computing.

* SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop delivers dozens of essential applications and seamless interoperability with your existing systems, while providing an easy-to-use and highly secure desktop experience. With application and multimedia enhancements, Green IT innovations that reduce desktop power usage, and maximum interoperability with Microsoft Office and Exchange, it will help you lower costs and increase productivity.

Full press release: http://www.novell.com/news/press/novell-ships-suse-linux-enterprise-11/

Key Themes:

• World-class Partner Ecosystem
• Advanced Linux Management
• Ubiquity: Linux how you want it, where you want it
• Interoperability: Leverage existing IT investments
• Mission-Critical Computing: Designed to support your most important business needs

Learn more at our live events  –  http://www.novell.com/evolutiontour

From the article:

Current virtualized desktop solutions have the life expectancy of a fruit fly. Even in computer terms that is very, very short. So short, in fact, that you may want to bypass it completely. So, Mr. Virtualization Guy, what’s your brilliant long-term solution for the Desktop dilemma? Web-based, vendor neutral desktop interfaces—sometimes known as webtops or net tops. There, I said it and somehow I know the hairs on the back of your neck are standing at attention and you’re getting ready to flame me. Allow me to pre-defend myself.

Read More.

As many of you know, I love Adobe Photoshop. Traditionally Photoshop has been one of the most requested ports to a Linux Desktop. Today Adobe released the public beta of “Adobe Photoshop Express” which works on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

Photoshop Express is a Flash 9 based version of the software maker’s popular thick application and is free. To use the application users simply upload their desired picture to Adobe’s server and then utilize the rich web interface to edit the picture. Users get a free 2 gigs of space per account. Adobe also allows you to create albums and share pictures with your friends over the web.

To give it a try on your SLED desktop navigate over to photoshop.com

From the press release:

Novell today announced the availability of SUSE® Linux Enterprise Point of Service, the latest version of Novell’s Linux* solution optimized for retail computing environments. SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service allows retailers to customize and manage point of service (POS) systems, reducing their in-store and data center costs while increasing system flexibility and reliability.

“SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service brings the familiar and proven capabilities of Novell Linux Point of Service onto the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 platform,” said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions for Novell. “SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service further extends the reach of SUSE Linux Enterprise, providing a modern, flexible solution to run today’s advanced POS applications and the centralized management tools needed to minimize administration effort.”

Read More.

Update Jan 30:  Sorry, the authorized SLED 10 SP2 beta program is now full (thanks for all the interest). Please stay tuned for the possibility of a public beta in the coming weeks/months.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) SP2 is on the horizon and we’re looking for folks interested in doing some beta testing. This is not a public beta program, but rather an authorized beta program. You’ve got to participate, you’ve got to provide feedback, you’ve got to participate in scheduled conference calls, etc. – you’ve also got to apply, and you’ve got to be accepted. All the details about the program requirements and the application to the beta program can be found here.

BUT… if you choose to accept this mission – you get a first look at the latest innovations developed by the fine engineers at SUSE, our partners and the open source community in general. You can see the more complete published list here, but here are some of the ones I found most interesting…

General hardware support enhancements

• Latest hardware supported adapted to SLED10 SP2
• Partner provided drivers for latest hardware

Greatly improved OpenOffice.org

• New chart capabilities
• Improved Data Pilot (Microsoft Pivot Table equivalent)

Tablet PC improvement

• On-fly rotation
• Improved digitizer support

Fingerprint authentication support

Update mechanism improvements

• Delta rpm and Patch rpm support
• Network proxy support
• Easier preference settings
• Feature parity between ZENworks updater and YaST

Plus, you get to have input on enhancements, directions, etc. That’s the whole idea — tell us what you like, tell us what you don’t, tell us what ideas you have, tell us what works and what doesn’t….

Are you interested? Then apply today!

Expanding on what the openSUSE Build Service offers for the world of SUSE (and it’s kin), Ubuntu, Fedora and Mandriva — Novell announced that packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS are now available in the openSUSE Build Service.  This is great news and a great contribution to the open source community by Novell !!

What is this Build Service and why do I care?

The answer to that depends on who you are…

If you are an open source developer, how many distributions do you currently build packages for?  One, two, three?  It’s probably not that many, and in most cases is due to a lack of time on your part.  Afterall, you can only do so much.  Besides, wouldn’t you rather spend your time adding new features and improving your code, rather than building packages for all the common distros?  If you were using the openSUSE Build Service (which is completely free, by the way) you could upload your code once and have it built for up to 9 different distros (17 if you count different versions of a distro).  Then your packages could be made easily available to users around the world.  And what about different hardware architectures?  The Build Service allows you to build for multiple architectures as well.  Learn more about the features and benefits here.

If you’re a “user” (consumer of packages) you can find pre-built packages for thousands of open source projects and applications for your favorite distribution all in one place.  If you find that you need to use the latest version of a package, but the version that came with SLES, SLED, RHEL, etc is a bit too old, you can simply grab a package for the newest version from the openSUSE Build Service.  That updated package is not officially supported in the enterprise distros, of course, but it does save you the hassle of developing your own package.  Learn more about the features and benefits here.

Additional Info and Links:

Here’s a great real-world example of how the Build Service can be a big help.  And here’s another example pertaining to enterprise-class Linux. Finally, here’s a recent Novell Open Audio podcast interviewing some of the Build Service developers.

Visit the openSUSE Build Service to learn more, check out the available packages, or to sign up and start posting code.

As of this writing, here are the distributions that openSUSE Build Service creates packages for…

• openSUSE 10.2 and 10.3
• SUSE Linux 10.0 and 10.1
• SLED 10
• SLES 9 and 10
• Fedora 6, 7 and 8
• RHEL 5
• CentOS 5
• Mandriva 2006 and 2007
• Debian Etch
• Ubuntu 6.06 and 7.04

Many customers, particularly those who are security conscious or those who have public terminals like to display a legal notice before users can login.

Randy Palmer, a dedicated support engineer for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED 10), writes in with this how-to. Thanks for this great article Randy!

This note will review how the Gnome login screen can be customized to incorporate a legal notice or to add an additional logo.

The format of the Gnome login screen (gdmgreeter) is governed by an xml file under /opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE:

A659604:/opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE # ls -l

total 492

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 255993 Dec 20 14:25 Background.jpeg

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 210 May 18 2007 GdmGreeterTheme.desktop

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 231 May 18 2007 dots.png

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 8081 Jan 7 11:47 industrial.xml

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 336 May 18 2007 n.png

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 738 May 18 2007 novell.png

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 17096 May 18 2007 screenshot.png

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 2511 May 18 2007 stripe.png

The filename of the xml file being used is referenced by the GdmGreeterTheme.desktop file under that directory:

A659604:/opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE # grep Greeter GdmGreeterTheme.desktop

Greeter=industrial.xml

This default industrial.xml file is responsible for the arrangement of the elements on the gdm login screen. By editing this file, new elements can be added or existing elements repositioned. Be sure to make a backup copy of the industrial.xml file before editing it:

A659604:/opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE # cp industrial.xml industrial.xml-bak

An additional logo can be displayed centered on the screen by specifying a new “pixmap” element referencing a logo graphic file:

<!– additional logo file –>

<item type=”pixmap”>

<normal file=”company_logo.png” alpha=”1″/>

<pos x=”50%” y=”17%” width=”550″ height=”258″ anchor=”c” />

</item>

A legal notice is added to center of the screen by specifying two new “label” elements with two lines of text comprising the desired legal notice:

<!– legal notice, 2 lines –>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line1″>

<pos x=”50%” y=”33%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>Unauthorized access to or use of this system is prohibited.</text>

</item>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line2″>

<pos x=”50%” y=”36%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>All access and use may be monitored or recorded.</text>

</item>

These new lines are inserted after the topright Novell logo and before the “timer” element:

<!– the Novell Logo topright –>

<item type=”pixmap”>

<normal file=”novell.png” alpha=”0.9″/>

<pos x=”-10″ y=”10″ width=”64″ height=”26″ anchor=”ne”/>

</item>

<!– additional logo file –>

<item type=”pixmap”>

<normal file=”company_logo.png” alpha=”1″/>

<pos x=”50%” y=”17%” width=”550″ height=”258″ anchor=”c” />

</item>

<!– legal notice, 2 lines –>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line1″>

<pos x=”50%” y=”33%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>Unauthorized access to or use of this system is prohibited. </text>

</item>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line2″>

<pos x=”50%” y=”36%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>All access and use may be monitored or recorded. </text>

</item>

<!– timer –>

<item type=”rect” id=”timed-rect”>

<show type=”timed”/>

<normal color=”#FFFFFF” alpha=”0.1″/>

<pos anchor=”c” x=”50%” y=”75%” width=”box” height=”box”/>

<box orientation=”vertical” min-width=”400″ xpadding=”10″ ypadding=”5″ spacing=”0″>

<item type=”label” id=”timed-label”>

<normal color=”#ffffff” font=”Sans 12″/>

<pos x=”50%” anchor=”n”/>

<!– Stock label for: User %s will login in %d seconds –>

<stock type=”timed-label”/>

</item>

</box>

</item

After saving the changes to the xml file, either find and kill the gdmgreeter process to allow it to restart:

A659604:/opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE # ps -ef | grep gdmgreeter

gdm 1296 1271 0 12:09 ? 00:00:00 /opt/gnome/lib/gdm/gdmgreeter

root 11421 4563 0 12:10 pts/0 00:00:00 grep gdmgreeter

A659604:/opt/gnome/share/gdm/themes/GDM-SuSE # kill 1296

or simply restart the GUI in order to pick up the change and display the new elements on the Gnome login screen. You may need to adjust the “y” position of your additional elements to produce a pleasing display.

Another approach to displaying an additional logo or legal notice would be to simply recreate the default background image with the legal notice and additional logo embedded within the graphic file, as referenced here in the industrial.xml file:

<greeter>

<!– first we take care of the background stuff –>

<item type=”rect”>

<normal color=”#cccccc”/>

<pos x=”0″ y=”0″ width=”100%” height=”100%”/>

</item>

<item type=”pixmap”>

<normal file=”Background-with-additions.jpeg” alpha=”1″/>

<pos x=”0″ y=”0″ width=”100%” height=”100%”/>

</item>

But the advantage of adding the logo and text as separate elements is that the sharpness of the elements is preserved as the background image is stretched and scaled to fit the current monitor resolution. In a dual-monitor environment where the driver produces a single desktop displayed across both screens, the login dialog box and added elements appear centered on the gutter between the two monitors. These separate elements could then be shifted onto the left monitor only by adjusting their “x” position to 25%:

<!– additional logo file –>

<item type=”pixmap”>

<normal file=”company_logo.png” alpha=”1″/>

<pos x=”25%” y=”17%” width=”550″ height=”258″ anchor=”c” />

</item>

<!– legal notice, 2 lines –>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line1″>

<pos x=”25%” y=”33%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>Unauthorized access to or use of this system is prohibited. </text>

</item>

<item type=”label” id=”legal-notice-line2″>

<pos x=”25%” y=”36%” anchor=”c” />

<normal font=”Sans Bold 16″ color=”#ffffff”/>

<text>All access and use may be monitored or recorded. </text>

</item>

<!– timer –>

<item type=”rect” id=”timed-rect”>

<show type=”timed”/>

<normal color=”#FFFFFF” alpha=”0.1″/>

<pos anchor=”c” x=”50%” y=”75%” width=”box” height=”box”/>

<box orientation=”vertical” min-width=”400″ xpadding=”10″ ypadding=”5″ spacing=”0″>

<item type=”label” id=”timed-label”>

<normal color=”#ffffff” font=”Sans 12″/>

<pos x=”50%” anchor=”n”/>

<!– Stock label for: User %s will login in %d seconds –>

<stock type=”timed-label”/>

</item>

</box>

</item>

<!– the login box contents, positioned freely –>

<item type=”rect”>

<pos y=”50%” x=”25%” width=”box” height=”box” anchor=”c”/>

<box ypadding=”5″ xpadding=”5″ spacing=”25″ orientation=”horizontal”>

Note also that, if desired, elements can be precisely located by specifying their exact position on the screen in pixels rather than a relative position using percentages.

VAR Business has published its list of 10 Technologies to Watch in 2008. I was reviewing the list, when it occurred to me that IMHO at least 3 of these technologies can be easily provided by Novell software offerings. Let me explain…

1. Virtualization

Clearly a hot technology in the IT marketplace today. It still amazes me how many organizations seem to be taking this so lightly. This is a game changing technology – folks. In the short term, sure it can help consolidate servers, improve disaster recovery scenarios, extend the life of legacy OSs, etc. but believe me when I say this is really going to change the way that data centers are managed in the not-too-distant future. This is powerful stuff, and we’ve only scratched the surface of what virtualization brings to the table.

• Virtualization is included (and fully supported) with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and Desktop (SLED) v10. Based on the open source XEN technology you can run Linux (SUSE or Red Hat), Windows and even NetWare on our platform. Our licensing model is extremely generous, offering unlimited virtual machines for not just our high end subscription – but ALL of our Linux server subscriptions. Oh, and we have official support for Windows on SLES – thanks to our interoperability work and our much discussed partnership with Microsoft.

( — NOW, stepping beyond just the basic platform offering… )

• If you’re using XEN to virtualize Windows servers, Novell can significantly enhance the performance of those virtual machines through the Virtual Machine Driver Pack. As the virtual environment grows, management capabilities become more than just important – they’re essential.
• We also offer a management platform to help manage virtual machines, as well as physical machines — ZENworks Orchestrator. So if you aren’t satisfied with the basic virtual machine management tools included with SUSE Linux Enterprise, this is a better option to get powerful data center management capabilities. Did I mention that it will manage not only XEN virtualization, but also VMware and Microsoft virtualization technologies?? Yes, it makes your VMware implementation even better!

2. SaaS-Powered MS Office Killers

Well, technically Novell does not offer “Software as a Service (SaaS)”, but rather technology that addresses much of the same problem – and it could certainly be deployed as SaaS by a hosting organization.  Specifically, “I would like a lower cost alternative to the expensive Microsoft Office – especially considering that most of my users use only 30% of the capabilities…”

OpenOffice.org is an open source alternative to MS Office – freely downloadable, and commercially supported by a few organizations – including Novell. In fact, Novell has it’s own edition of the OpenOffice.org suite that has added enhancements to make it more “enterprise-class”. It’s available for Linux and Windows versions, and both are covered by a subscription to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED). So, if you’re only experience with OpenOffice.org came from downloading the product from www.openoffice.org and you decided there were some barriers to wide-spread use within your organization… give the Novell edition a try. You may be surprised. Heck, the retail cost before any volume discount starts at $50…

8. All Linux, All the Time

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re more than familiar with the fact that Novell offers an enterprise-class Linux distribution – SUSE Linux Enterprise. But are you thinking of Linux tactically or strategically? Are you thinking of how an application can be run on top of Linux, or are you thinking of the benefits of moving new and existing workloads (over time) to Linux?  Is Linux a strategic platform in your meetings?

Yes, we have a Linux distribution that’s got best-of-breed enterprise-class support, enterprise-class features, extremely attractive pricing, and will give you a competitive edge. But SUSE Linux Enterprise offers much more.

It’s a chance for you to have a strategic (and realistic) conversation about Linux in the enterprise. The entire SUSE Linux Enterprise family is designed to give you a complete “desktop-to-data center” Linux opportunity.  It’s up to you to decide how strategic you want it to be – but knowing there’s a choice in Linux distributions and that they don’t all bring this same capability to the table is significant.  With SUSE Linux Enterprise:

• You can run Linux on the edge (web, ftp, dns/dhcp, file/print, etc.)
• You can run Linux in the data center (databases, enterprise applications, mission critical workloads, SAP, Oracle, Lotus Domino, WebSphere, JEE5, time-sensitive “real-time” workloads, HPC clusters, mainframes, etc.)
• You can run Linux on the desktop (general knowledge workers, etc.)
• You can run Linux on thin-clients and point-of-service devices (bank tellers, call centers, kiosks, remote users, etc.)
• You can run Linux on appliances and embedded devices

This is just my opinion, but I can honestly not remember another OS from any vendor ever which offered a more complete strategic vision and more breadth of offerings. Linux is the only OS which could truly offer a monolithic vision of every system in an organization running a single OS – SUSE Linux Enterprise is the strategic choice and is best positioned to fulfill that vision. Prove me wrong and offer your comments.

Watts Water Technologies needed to replace 1000 old shop-floor terminals with more flexible desktops. They ended up choosing SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on Neoware thin client hardwares along with ZENworks to help manage the environment. You can also check out the Open PR blog entry for some info.  From the customer success story…

After evaluating several desktop and thin-client solutions, Watts Water Technologies selected SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop for use in a thin-client deployment, as well as Novell ZENworks to manage more than 1,000 desktops.

“Linux really shines and Novell has a great Linux strategy,” said Ty Muscat, Data Center Manager for Watts Water Technologies. “We have almost every platform imaginable and are moving more and more to SUSE Linux Enterprise desktops and servers. We like having an open platform with a lot of flexibility.”

The results:

“Without Novell, we would have had to invest far more to get anything similar to what we have with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop,” said Muscat. “The ongoing management and maintenance costs of other options would have been overwhelming for us.”