Improved hardware-based data security - This release offers full support for AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) technology. SEV enables guest virtual machines to run in encrypted memory, helping to protect them from memory scrape attacks from the hypervisor. Enhanced Arm server support - In SP1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for Arm 15 has doubled the number of supported System-on-a-Chip (SoC) processor options. Reduced downtime for updates - Transactional updates (a tech preview with SP1) offer a significant reduction in the maintenance window for updates, providing more production uptime. Simplified installation with enhanced Modular+ - The Unified Installer can now be used to install more portfolio products, including SUSE Manager, SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time and SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service. Faster and easier transition from community Linux to enterprise Linux - It now takes just a few clicks for developers and operations to move a openSUSE Leap system to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Recent Related News and Releases

Distribution Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP2 The SUSE team has announced the release of a new service pack (SP) for SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE). The new update, SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP2, offers security improvements, techniques to reduce downtime, and improvements to ARM platforms. " Greater security for federal government and public sector organizations as well as others running high-security environments with FIPS 140-2 certification-ready packages. Ensure protection against outsider threats for IBM Z installations with support for IBM Secure Execution and Secure Boot. Support for a complete and secure offline installation for air-gapped deployments, which are typical for military and healthcare environments. Protect data at rest without additional software cost using cryptctl. Local and Remote disk encryption can be setup for all on-premises, cloud and hybrid installations along with enterprise key management KMIP standard. Increase Linux system uptime by up to 12 months while maintaining highest security standards with SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching, now also available for IBM Z and LinuxONE. " Further details can be found in the company's release announcement. A 60-day free trail can be found on the company's download page.

Distribution Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP5 Raj Meel has announced the availability of the fifth service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12, the current legacy branch of the company's commercial, enterprise-class distribution with long-term support for over 10 years. " SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 5 is now generally available. This release consolidates all the fixes and updates that were introduced since SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4. As you know, SUSE Linux Enterprise service packs are released on a yearly cadence. Service Pack 5 is the next service pack since the release of Service Pack 4 in Dec 2018. In addition, Service Pack 5 is also the last service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 release. With the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 5 on December 9th, general support for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4 will end on June 30th, 2020. Customers wishing to maintain support of their SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4 installations after June 30, 2020 can continue support through the purchase of Long Term Service Pack Support. " Further detaisl can be found in the company's release announcement and in the release notes. A 60-day trial edition of both SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP5 (pkglist) are available from SUSE's download page (registration required).

Development Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP1 RC 1 SUSE has announced the availability of the first release candidate for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP1. The new snapshot includes many bug fixes and several package updates. " SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Service Pack 1 is entering the Release Candidate Phase since we are closer and closer to the official release date (so called First Customer Shipment) scheduled for mid-June 2019. SUSE Engineering Team has a special mindset regarding the Release Candidate phase, because we are targeting to have FCS quality with those milestones. We have the constraints of considering RC milestones like FCS releases, in term of bug fixing and providing security fixes, which means that we are focusing on stability but there is also less room for intrusive changes. Of course, exceptions happen and developing, stabilizing, building and testing an entire operating system and products around it are complex tasks. Nevertheless with the help of our talented engineers, powerful tool like Open Build Service and openQA, and the ability for external parties to participate in the development phase, we will be able to deliver the best SUSE Linux Enterprise version yet. " A list of package updates and changes can be found in the distribution's release announcement and in the release notes. Download links are also in the release notes.

Distribution Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP4 Raj Meel has announced the availability of the fourth service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12, the current legacy branch of the company's commercial, enterprise-class distribution with long-term support of over 10 years: " SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 4 is now generally available. Service Pack 4 marks the fourth generation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, a major code stream and product foundation with a lifecycle from 2014 to 2024 plus long-term support (10 + 3 years). This release consolidates all fixes and updates introduced since SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 3. Key features of this release include: persistent memory enhancements - Intel Optane DC persistent memory (NVDIMM) with SAP HANA is supported for faster recovery from planned and unplanned outages; new hardware support - latest Intel processors, AMD's 'Zen 2' core processor generation, IBM Z14, IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper II, IBM POWER9 (Little Endian) enhancements, Arm SoC/ODM support for selected vendors including Raspberry Pi devices.... " See the brief release announcement and the detailed release notes for further information. A 60-day trial edition of both SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4 (pkglist) are available from SUSE's download page (registration required).

Distribution Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SUSE has announced the availability of a new version of the company's SUSE Linux Enterprise distribution. The latest release, which was originally announced on June 25 with the trial download becoming available on July 17, is version 15 and includes a focus on lowering the barrier for transitioning between the openSUSE community distribution and SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE). " SUSE today launched SUSE Linux Enterprise 15, the latest version of its flagship operating platform that bridges next-generation software-defined infrastructure with traditional infrastructure technologies. The modern, modular operating system helps simplify multimodal IT, makes traditional IT infrastructure more efficient and provides an engaging platform for developers. As a result, organizations can easily deploy and transition business-critical workloads across on-premise and public cloud environments. SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 accelerates enterprise transition from free developer subscription or community Linux (openSUSE Leap) setups to production deployments of fully supported enterprise Linux. Designed to be integrated into commonly used modern development methodologies like DevOps and CI/CD, it boosts users with a faster time to market leveraging open source technology, methods and expertise. " Further information can be found in the company's press releases and in the release notes. The new release is available through SUSE Download (registration required).

Development Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Beta 1 Frederic Crozat has announced the availability of the first beta release of SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) 15, an enterprise-class Linux distribution based on openSUSE. This will be SUSE's first major release since October 2014 when SLE 12 was made available: " We are happy to announce our first beta release for SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED), SUSE Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension (SLE-WE), SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability (SLE-HA). SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 Beta will be our new major release designed for IT Transformation. SLE 15 is developed with both 'Traditional Infrastructure' and 'Software-Defined Infrastructure' in mind, thus significant and major changes from the previous SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 are made to address both worlds in a more elegant and simpler way. Five key objectives for SLE 15: address traditional and containerized infrastructure and provide a common code base for traditional and agile data center; install all SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 products starting from a single medium.... " See the release announcement and release notes for detailed information about the new product, known issues and bug reporting procedures. Interested beta testers can download the product (available for aarch64, ppc64le, s390x and x86_64 architectures) from SUSE's download server (registration required, pkglist).

Distribution Release: SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP3 SUSE has announced the release of a new service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise. The new update, SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 3, runs on x86, ARM, PowerPC and z Systems architectures. The release announcement states the new update includes a number of improvements to virtualization and security: " SUSE Linux Enterprise has always been part of any 'zero downtime' solution. Now you can further enhance uptime with: Improved geo recovery management with a geo cluster bootstrap kit that simplifies cluster implementation. The ability to increase visibility and improve management of the high availability environment with an updated graphical user interface. Faster time to value with quick start guides for the High Availability and Geo Clustering extensions to help you get up and running quickly. Faster data access, increased database performance and optimized SAP applications all help drive agility, performance and security. " Further information can be found in SUSE's Highlights (PDF) document. SUSE Linux Enterprise is a commercial product and is available with a 60-day free trial, available from the company's download page.