Applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5

A Additional Software for SLES for SAP #

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications makes it easy to install software that is not included with your subscription:

Extensions and modules allow installing additional software created and supported by SUSE. For more information about extensions and modules, see Deployment Guide, Part “Initial System Configuration”, Chapter “Installing Modules, Extensions, and Third Party Add-On Products” at https://documentation.suse.com/sles-12.
SUSE Connect Program allows installing packages created and supported by third parties, specifically for SLES for SAP. It also gives easy access to third-party trainings and support. See Section A.2, “SUSE Connect Program”.
SUSE Package Hub allows installation of packages created by SUSE Linux Enterprise community without support. See Section A.3, “SUSE Package Hub”.

A.1 Identifying a Base Product for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications #

To identify and distinguish SUSE products, use one of the following files:

/etc/os-release

A text file with key-value pairs, similar to shell-compatible variable assignments. Each key is on a separate line.

You can search for the CPE_NAME key; however, between different releases and service packs, the value have been changed. If you need further details, refer to the article at https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=7023490.

/etc/product.d/baseproduct

A link to an XML file. The /etc/product.d/ directory contains different .prod files.

Depending on which products you have purchased and how you installed your system, the link /etc/product.d/baseproduct can point to a different .prod file, for example, sle-module-sap-applications.prod. The same information as CPE_NAME is stored in the tag <cpeid>.

Among other information, both files contain the operating system and base product. The base product (key CPE_NAME and tag <cpeid>) follow the Common Platform Enumeration Specification.

Basically, you can extract any information from the file /etc/product.d/baseproduct either with the commands grep or xmlstarlet (both are available for your products). As XML is also text, use grep for “simple searches” when the format of the output does not matter much. However, if your search is more advanced, you need the output in another script, or your would like to avoid the XML tags in the output, use the xmlstarlet command instead.

For example, to get your base product, use grep like this:

> grep cpeid /etc/products.d/baseproduct
<cpeid>cpe:/o:suse:sle-module-sap-applications:RELEASE:spSP_NUMBER</cpeid>

The RELEASE and SP_NUMBER are placeholders and describe your product release number and service pack.

The same can be achieved with xmlstarlet. You need an XPath (the steps that lead you to your information). With the appropriate options you can avoid the <cpeid>/</cpeid> tags:

> xmlstarlet sel -T -t -v "/product/cpeid" /etc/products.d/baseproduct
cpe:/o:suse:sle-module-sap-applications:RELEASE:spSP_NUMBER

A more advanced search (which would be difficult for grep) would be to list all required dependencies to other products. Assuming, basename points to sle-module-sap-applications.prod, the following command will output all product dependencies which are required for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications:

>> xmlstarlet sel -T -t -v "/product/productdependency[@relationship='requires']/@name" /etc/products.d/baseproduct
SUSE_SLE
sle-ha

A.2 SUSE Connect Program #

Start SUSE Connect Program from the YaST control center using SUSE Connect Program. Choose from the available options. To enable a software repository, click Add repository.

All software enabled by SUSE Connect Program originates from third parties. For support, contact the vendor in question. SUSE does not provide support for these offerings.

Note: SUSEConnect command-line tool

The SUSEConnect command-line tool is a separate tool with a different purpose: It allows you to register installations of SUSE products.

A.3 SUSE Package Hub #

SUSE Package Hub provides many packages for SLE that were previously only available on openSUSE. Packages from SUSE Package Hub are created by the community and come without support. The selection includes, for example:

The R programming language
The Haskell programming language
The KDE 5 desktop

To enable SUSE Package Hub, add the repository as described at https://packagehub.suse.com/how-to-use/.

For more information, see the SUSE Package Hub Web site at https://packagehub.suse.com.