Modules and Extensions Quick Start

Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15, the installation medium consists of only the Unified Installer: a minimal system for deploying, updating and registering SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. During deployment you can add functionality by selecting modules and extensions to be installed on top of the Unified Installer.

Technically, modules and extensions are very similar. Both can be managed with YaST or the command line tool SUSEConnect. Both modules and extensions add a set of online repositories (main, update, source, debug) containing all necessary packages. Additionally, both may add partitioning proposals and system roles that can be chosen during deployment.

However, there are significant differences between modules and extensions:

The following modules are available within the SUSE Linux Enterprise Product Family. Note that the availability of modules depends on the product (refer to the column Available for). For more information about lifecycle, release frequency, and the overlay support period, see https://www.suse.com/lifecycle.

Note: L3 support

L3 support is generally provided for packages in modules. However, this excludes PackageHub and third-party modules. Use the zypper info PACKAGE command to check the support level for a specific package.

Name	Module depends on	Available for	Support
	Content
Basesystem	None	Default on all products	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Adds a basic system on top of the Installer. It is required by all other modules and extensions. The scope of an installation that only contains the base system is comparable to the minimal system installation pattern of previous SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versions. This module is selected for installation by default and should not be deselected.
Certifications	Basesystem	SLES, SLED, SLES for SAP, SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains the FIPS 140-2 certification packages.
Containers	Basesystem	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLE HPC	Lifecycle: By package; follows the upstream community of the respective package. Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains packages revolving around containers, including container engine and core container-related tools like on-premise registry. Important: Docker Swarm is not supported SUSE does not provide any support related to use of Docker Swarm orchestration. Related packages are shipped for customer convenience only.
Desktop Applications	Basesystem	SLED (default), SLE WE (default), SLES, SLES for SAP, SLE RT (default), SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Adds a graphical user interface and essential desktop applications to the system.
Development Tools	Basesystem, Desktop Applications	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLED, SLE RT (default), SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains compilers (including gcc) and libraries required for compiling and debugging applications. Replaces the former Software Development Kit (SDK).
High Availability	Basesystem	SLES, SLES for SAP (included), SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Adds clustering support for mission-critical setups. Tools included are Hawk, crm, Pacemaker, and Corosync. High Availability support is included in subscription for SLES for SAP and therefore available as a module on this product. It is also available as an extension for SLES and SLE HPC (see below).
High Performance Computing	Basesystem	SLE HPC (included)	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 1 yr ESPOS2, 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains tools and libraries related to High Performance Computing (HPC).
Legacy	Basesystem, Server Applications	SLES, SLES for SAP	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Helps you with migrating applications from earlier versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and other systems to SLES 15 SP3, by providing packages which are discontinued on SUSE Linux Enterprise. Packages in this module are selected based on the requirement for migration and the level of complexity of configuration. This module is recommended when migrating from a previous product version. Please note that this module has a different lifecycle than some of its packages. Not all packages are supported for the complete lifecycle of the module but depending migration requirements and upstream lifecycles.
NVIDIA Compute	Basesystem	SLES and SLE HPC on AMD64/Intel 64 and AArch64	Software in this module is provided by NVIDIA and is not supported by SUSE
	Contains the NVIDIA CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) drivers. The software in this module is provided by NVIDIA under the CUDA End User License Agreement and is not supported by SUSE. Important: Do not use SUSEConnect to add this module Do not try to add this module with the SUSEConnect CLI tool. SUSEConnect is not capable of handling third-party repositories. During installation, select the module from the Extension and Module Selection screen. Within an installed system, run yast registration, select Select Extensions, then NVIDIA Compute Module and continue with Next. Verify and accept the NVIDIA repository GPG key. Important: Combining Workstation Extension and NVIDIA Compute module is unsupported The Workstation Extension provides drivers for NVIDIA graphics cards. These drivers share some packages with CUDA, however versions may differ. It is therefore neither recommended nor supported to enable both the NVIDIA Compute Module and the Workstation Extension at the same time.
Public Cloud	Basesystem, Server Applications	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains all tools required to create images for deploying SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in cloud environments. For example: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Platform, or OpenStack.
Python 2	Basesystem	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLE HPC, SLED	Lifecycle: 3 yrs Extended: None Level: L3
	SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3 uses Python version 3. This module contains the Python 2 runtime and modules. The module has a different lifecycle than SUSE Linux Enterprise itself. Packages in this module are usually supported for three years.
Real Time	Basesystem, Desktop Applications, Development Tools, Server Applications	SLE RT (included)	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: None Level: L3
	Aims to reduce the latency and increase the predictability and reliability of time-sensitive mission-critical applications. Packages in this module are generally supported until a newer version of the package is released or the package is dropped from the module.
SAP Applications	Basesystem	SLES for SAP (included)	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs ESPOS2, 3 yrs LTSS1 for last SP Level: L3
	Contains packages specific to SLES for SAP. The module has a different lifecycle than SUSE Linux Enterprise itself. Subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications include 1.5 years of General Support plus 3 years of Extended Service Pack Overlap Support (ESPOS) for each service pack. This eliminates the need for customers to purchase Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) until the final service pack of a release.
Server Applications	Basesystem	SLES (default), SLES for SAP, SLE RT (default), SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Adds server functionality by providing network services such as DHCP server, name server, or Web server. This module is selected for installation by default; deselecting it is not recommended.
SUSE Package Hub	Basesystem	All products	Lifecycle: None Extended: None Level: None
	Provides access to packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintained by the openSUSE community. These packages are delivered without L3 support but do not interfere with the supportability of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. For more information, see https://packagehub.suse.com/.
Transactional Server	Basesystem	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLED, SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Transactional Updates provide SUSE Linux Enterprise systems with a method of updating the operating system and its packages in an entirely ‘atomic’ way. Updates are either applied to the system all together in a single transaction, or not at all. This happens without influencing the running system. If an update fails, or if a successful update is deemed to be incompatible or incorrect, you can discard it immediately. This returns the system to its previous functioning state.
Web and Scripting	Basesystem, Server Applications	SLES, SLES for SAP, SLE HPC	Lifecycle: 10 yrs Extended: 3 yrs LTSS1 Level: L3
	Contains packages intended for a running Web server.

The following extensions are available within the SUSE Linux Enterprise Product Family. Note that the availability of extensions depends on the product (refer to the column Available for).

Warning: Unsupported kernel modules

The Workstation Extension installs the kernel-default-extra package, which includes additional kernel modules for desktop usage and enables loading of unsupported modules. If actually loaded, these modules may compromise your SLE support status.

Please evaluate if your hardware really requires additional kernel modules, and if so, test this expanded driver set in addition to the default set from the kernel-default package for possible configuration conflicts.

To prevent installation of the kernel-default-extra package, run zypper addlock kernel-default-extra.

Modules and Extensions can be installed when initially setting up the system and on an existing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server installation.

By default, tools for searching software packages (YaST Software Management or zypper search) are restricted to searching within active repositories. For an extended search including not yet activated remote repositories, you can run zypper search-packages. To find out which module a package belongs to, run

zypper search-packages PACKAGE

If the search-packages subcommand is not available on your system, install the package zypper-search-packages-plugin.

Tip: Searching for packages in the SUSE Customer Center

In case Zypper's package search command is not available on your system, you can also use the SUSE Customer Center Web interface (package search) to check the availability of packages and their respective modules. Visit https://scc.suse.com/packages for this purpose. A SUSE login is not required for this service.

To refine the search results, zypper search-packages offers the following options:

Below are a few examples of how to use zypper search-packages.

> zypper search-packages openjdk nodejs
Following packages were found in following modules:

Package          Module or Repository
---------------  --------------------------------------------------------------------
java-10-openjdk  Legacy Module (sle-module-legacy/15.2/x86_64)
                    SUSEConnect --product sle-module-legacy/15.2/x86_64
java-11-openjdk  Basesystem Module (sle-module-basesystem/15.2/x86_64)
                    SUSEConnect --product sle-module-basesystem/15.2/x86_64
nodejs10         Web and Scripting Module (sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64)
                    SUSEConnect --product sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64
nodejs12         Web and Scripting Module (sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64)
                    SUSEConnect --product sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64
[...]

> zypper search-packages -x java-11-openjdk nodejs12
Following packages were found in following modules:

Package          Module or Repository
---------------  -----------------------------------------------------------------
java-11-openjdk  Basesystem Module (sle-module-basesystem/15.2/x86_64)
                   SUSEConnect --product sle-module-basesystem/15.2/x86_64
nodejs12         Web and Scripting Module (sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64)
                   SUSEConnect --product sle-module-web-scripting/15.2/x86_64
[...]

> zypper search-packages -x vim
Following packages were found in following modules:

Package  Module or Repository
-------  ---------------------------------------------------
vim      Basesystem Module (sle-module-basesystem/15/x86_64)
vim      Installed
vim      Available

> zypper search-packages -x emacs
Following packages were found in following modules:

Package  Module or Repository
-------  ---------------------------------------------------
emacs    Basesystem Module (sle-module-basesystem/15/x86_64)
emacs    Available

Instead of searching for packages, you can also view the list of packages that belong to a module or extension. Start the YaST Software Management module and click View › Services. Select an entry to display the list of packages that belong to this module or extension.

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