PRODUCT UPDATE: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 15

Back in 2016, we introduced SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM as the first commercial enterprise-grade Linux distribution that’s optimized for 64-bit Arm systems (AArch64 architecture). Today we’re launching the newest version built on the world’s first multimodal OS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 15 gives developers and enterprise early adopters of Arm-based solutions a Linux distribution to quickly deliver new solutions for storage, networking, and industrial automation applications. And because these are enterprise applications, we have a continued focus on supporting a broad set of Arm System-on-a-Chip (SoC) vendors, enabling greater reliability and security for Arm solutions, and delivering enterprise-class support. Here’s what’s new!

Raspberry Pi for industrial automation

In March this year, we announced support subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP3 so that the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B could be used as an IoT device for industrial monitoring. If you missed that, I’ll wait here while you check out these two blogs:

A small server for big companies – New Raspberry Pi support in SLES for ARM

Raspberry Pi for Industrial Automation? Why not!

Now with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 15 we’re adding support for the Raspberry Pi Model 3 B+ as well, for solutions that want the advantage of the improved networking, USB connectivity, and other enhancements.

Device support updates

There are constant changes in the market as various Arm System-on-a-Chip vendors enter and leave the market. The MACOM/Applied Micro SoCs supported in the previous release are now owned by Ampere Computing. The X-Gene 1 and X-Gene 2 chips retain the original names, but the X-Gene 3 has been renamed to eMag. Also for completeness, we’ve added that the Broadcom BCM2837 chip used on the Raspberry Pi is also supported, but note that only SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 15 supports both the Model 3 B and Model 3 B+ devices. The latest list is on the product page in the Tech Specs section.

We’ve added support for the Cavium Nitrox5 PCI cards for cryptographic solutions that can benefit from hardware acceleration.

Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS)

Because SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 15 is built on Linux kernel 4.14, solution providers get the advantage of Arm device-specific error handling and resolution commands.

One last change I’ll mention is that in previous releases we talked about support for 64-bit Arm-based HPC solutions and that the HPC module was included. Today we are also announcing SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing as a separate product to address the growing number of HPC use cases. That product will provide a set of tools specifically designed for parallel computing environments, including workload and cluster management on both the x86-64 and AArch64 processor-based platforms. See my colleague Jeff Reser’s blog “Launching SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 – the Ennead of Advantages” to learn more.

But for other Arm workloads check out the web page at suse.com/products/arm. The ISO download will be available in mid-July.

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