1 What is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications? #

The current release is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP5. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, both physical and virtual.

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability provides tools for flexible, policy-driven clustering and includes resource agents for managing SAP instances and SAP database back-ends.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications supports SAP HANA System Replication using components of SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability and additional resource agents for SAP HANA Scale-Up, Scale-Out, and for managing topology. Additionally, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications ships with a YaST wizard that simplifies the cluster setup.

The installation workflow offers a guided installation path for both the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system and the SAP application. This workflow can be extended by third-party vendors using Supplementary Media. For more information, see Section 2.4, “Overview of the installation workflow”.

ClamSAP integrates the ClamAV anti-malware toolkit into SAP NetWeaver and SAP Mobile Platform applications to enable cross-platform threat detection.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications additionally provides the package HANA-Firewall which integrates with firewalld to provide a preconfigured setup and rules to make securing SAP HANA as simple as possible.

For information on hardening the underlying operating system, see the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications resource library: https://www.suse.com/products/sles-for-sap/resource-library/. There, find the document OS Security Hardening for SAP HANA.

The system tuning profile provided by sapconf allows you to automatically and comprehensively tune your system as recommended by SAP.

cryptctl allows encrypting sensitive directories using LUKS. Encryption keys are located on a central server which can be located on customer premises. Encrypted partitions are automatically remounted after an unplanned reboot.

To simplify working with software dependencies of SAP applications, SUSE has created patterns that combine relevant dependency RPM packages for specific applications.

ClusterTools2 provides tools that help set up and manage a Corosync/pacemaker cluster.

Subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications include Extended Service Pack Overlap Support (ESPOS). It extends the overlap between the support periods of two consecutive service packs by three years. During this period, you receive support and all relevant maintenance updates under the terms of Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS).

Extended Service Pack Overlap Support allows you to perform service pack migrations within three and a half years instead of only six months. This enables you to schedule migrations more easily and perform testing before a migration under less restrictive time constraints. At an additional cost, SUSE also offers LTSS. With LTSS, you receive support for a particular service pack after the ESPOS period ends. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications includes one and a half years of general support and three years of ESPOS for each service pack.

The last service pack in each SLE family does not have ESPOS. Instead of ESPOS, it includes a longer general support period. Because of that, LTSS is available only for the last service pack. All other service packs already include three years of ESPOS, which equals LTSS.

For more information, refer to the following resources:

Subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications include SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Priority Support for SAP Applications. It offers technical support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications directly from SAP. The joint support infrastructure is provided by support engineers from SUSE Technical Support and SAP. It is based upon SAP Resolve and offers seamless communication with both SAP and SUSE. This “One Face to the Customer” support model reduces complexity and lowers the total cost of ownership.

For more information, see SAP Note 1056161: SUSE Priority Support for SAP Applications (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/1056161).