SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 Launch: Reducing Cost, Risk, and Complexity in Large-Scale Enterprise Operations.

SUSE is proud to announce the general availability of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 (formerly known as SUSE Manager)— including SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail 5.1—a powerful innovation designed to simplify, secure, and scale Linux management across diverse enterprise environments.

Today’s IT environments are increasingly distributed, diverse, and demanding. Retail chains, manufacturers, financial institutions,public sector agencies and other organizations often operate tens of thousands of Linux systems—across data centers, branch offices, edge sites, and cloud infrastructure. Managing these systems consistently, securely, and cost-effectively is no small feat.

Regardless of whether you’re running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu, Amazon Linux, or other distributions, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 provides a consistent view and unified management experience across your entire Linux estate.

That’s why SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 represents more than just a version update—it’s a major step forward in operational efficiency, control, and modernization across the entire Linux estate.

Optimized for retail and large-scale distributed deployments

Retailers and other organizations with vast, decentralized footprints face serious operational challenges:

• Scaling to ever-larger, more dispersed environments
• Keeping systems up to date across thousands of locations
• Rolling out upgrades or policy changes quickly, safely and securely.
• Maintaining compliance and visibility across diverse Linux estates
• Optimizing content delivery and coordinating update rollouts
• Reducing the burden of incident response across thousands of devices

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 is purpose-built for this reality. With Hub Online Synchronization and bulk product migration, organizations can efficiently manage systems across hundreds or thousands of sites—reducing time, effort, and risk in everyday operations.

By centralizing patching, policy enforcement, and lifecycle management, enterprises can:

• Lower support costs
• Minimize downtime
• Streamline compliance
• Eliminate the need for technician dispatches or manual interventions

This release also includes multiple scalability improvements to better support large, distributed environments—enabling seamless expansion without compromising manageability.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager also supports a scalable “Hub” multi-server architecture, enabling organizations to manage hundreds of thousands of systems through a tiered, federated design. Version 5.1 introduces Online Synchronization for Hub and Peripheral Servers, a user-friendly and automated approach to keeping distributed management servers in sync. This federated model is ideal for large-scale or geographically distributed operations—such as retail, banking, or government—where centralized content control must be extended to regional or site-level servers without manual overhead.

More Flexibility and Control for Heterogeneous Linux Estates

Many enterprises embrace Linux heterogeneity, but managing multiple distributions can lead to toolchain fragmentation, siloed teams, and operational inconsistency.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 offers unified management across more than 16 Linux different distributions, including SUSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu. SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 new version adds support to:

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP7
• SUSE Linux Micro and SL Micro 6.1
• Amazon Linux 2023
• Raspberry Pi OS (tech preview)
• OpenEuler (tech preview)

This expanded support allows IT teams to standardize processes, reduce management overhead, and apply consistent automation practices—regardless of distribution or hardware platform.

Greater Control of Your Hybrid Cloud Linux Environment

With support for hyperscalers’ dedicated Linux distros, like Amazon Linux, and deployment availability through major hyperscaler marketplaces, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 enhances hybrid cloud flexibility. Organizations can now extend consistent management practices across on-premises and public cloud infrastructure—supporting diverse environments without fragmentation.

Built for Multi-Department and Multi-Tenant Secure Operations

In large enterprises, IT responsibilities are often divided among specialized teams—each with distinct platforms and operational boundaries. From SAP operations to edge engineering, different teams require secure, isolated access to their own systems.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 introduces Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) designed for multi-tenant and multi-department scenarios, allowing:

• Role-based access aligned with team responsibilities
• Resource isolation between departments or lines of business
• Centralized audit and compliance controls without operational interference

Example scenarios:

• SAP Basis teams manage their SAP infrastructure securely, without exposure to unrelated systems
• Edge infrastructure teams oversee thousands of devices independently
• Critical systems with sensitive data can be isolated to be managed by dedicated teams
• Security teams can enforce and review access policies centrally across departments, ensuring operational compliance and separation of duties.

This ensures both governance and operational autonomy—without compromise.

Improved Risk Management with Advanced Access Control and Support Tools

Building on this governance model, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 also improves risk mitigation and support workflows.

For organizations in regulated industries or mission-critical environments, security and governance are essential.

Version 5.1 introduces a redesigned RBAC system, offering granular permission controls across both the UI and API. This enables organizations to:

• Define system groupings aligned with responsibilities or criticality
• Enforce separation of administrator roles and duties
• Prevent unauthorized actions
• Reduce the risk of operator error—such as executing tasks on the wrong systems at scale
• Simplify compliance and audit workflows

Support workflows are also enhanced:

• Collect diagnostic data from multiple systems in a single action
• Automatically scrub sensitive data like credentials
• Upload securely to SUSE Customer Center—via UI or API

Together, the new RBAC system and staged content distribution capabilities help organizations establish a secure and structured lifecycle for IT operations—enabling clear separation between test, pre-production, and production environments. This foundation supports safer rollouts, repeatable workflows, and lower risk across complex, regulated enterprise estates.

The result: faster support response, reduced manual overhead, and greater confidence in compliance-driven environments improving governance and operational discipline.

Automate on Your Terms: Salt and Ansible Support

Not every team uses the same automation tools. While Salt remains at the core of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, version 5.1 introduces enhanced support for Ansible, including:

• Scheduled playbook execution
• UI-based variable definition
• Improved visibility into execution output and target inventory

This flexibility allows enterprises to modernize workflows using existing tools and skills—without forcing replatforming or retraining.

Further Deployment Flexibility

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 continues SUSE’s vision of a modular, containerized platform that runs where your infrastructure lives—whether in the datacenter, on bare metal, in VMs, in the cloud, or at the edge.

Key advancements include:

• Full support for SLE 15 SP7 as a host OS, enabling deployments on both traditional SLES systems and transactional SUSE Linux Micro
• Introduction of a dedicated database container, improving performance and resilience
• Improved deployment and lifecycle management of containerized Proxy instances
• An upcoming Proxy status dashboard for large-scale deployment monitoring

These advancements, together with availability in major hyperscaler marketplaces, give customers greater flexibility and choice in how and where they deploy SUSE Multi-Linux Manager—making it easier to integrate into existing infrastructure strategies and scale on their own terms.

SAP-Ready operations with Trento integration

Enterprises running mission-critical SAP workloads need consistent validation, visibility, and proactive risk management.

Trento, a specialized console for SAP systems running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP applications, natively provides SAP-aware observability, continuous health checks, best-practice validation, and remediation. Through seamless API integration with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, Trento gains patch status visibility on SAP servers. This enables Trento to provide SAP department visibility into unpatched servers, delivering the insights needed for centralized patch planning and policy validation, ensuring compliant and consistent operations for your SAP landscapes.

Real-World Scenarios: SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 in Action

Use Case 1: Scaling Heterogeneous Linux Infrastructure Across Cloud, Datacenter, and Edge

A global enterprise runs SLES in its core data centers, Amazon Linux in the cloud, and Raspberry Pi OS devices for edge IoT.

With SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1:

• Centralized management across OS variants reduces fragmentation
• Enhanced Ansible support integrates with existing automation practices
• Hub Online Synchronization ensures consistent content across locations

Business impact: Reduced operational complexity, improved time-to-value, and consistent policy enforcement across environments.

Use Case 2: Managing a Multi-Department IT Organization While Isolating SAP Operations

A manufacturing enterprise operates distinct IT departments—including a dedicated SAP Basis team. Security, role separation, and system-level visibility are top concerns.

With SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1:

• Role-based access ensures only SAP admins can view and modify SAP workloads
• Other teams manage their environments independently
• Compliance teams gain unified audit capabilities across departments

Business impact: Clear separation of duties, improved governance, and streamlined compliance reporting.

Use Case 3: Enforcing Policy and Compliance in a Regulated Financial Institution

A financial institution must demonstrate strict access controls and fast incident resolution.

With SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1:

• Namespace-based RBAC ensures only authorized IT groups perform defined actions
• Scalable supportconfig collection simplifies secure diagnostics across thousands of devices
• Sensitive data is automatically scrubbed prior to upload

Business impact: Improved response times, reduced audit risk, and a stronger security posture.

Use Case 4: Managing Thousands of Retail Terminals with Minimal IT Overhead

A national retail chain operates thousands of Linux-based terminals across stores to power POS, signage, and inventory systems.

With SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail 5.1:

• Hub Online Synchronization distributes content and updates to all store locations
• Lightweight, containerized proxies reduce onsite infrastructure
• Bulk migration enables seamless, centrally coordinated upgrades
• Supportconfig tools simplify troubleshooting at scale without on-site staff
• Paired with transactional and immutable SUSE Linux Micro 6.1, terminals remain always-ready-to-serve

Business impact: Lower support costs, higher uptime, and scalable terminal management without added headcount.

Note: SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail 5.1 is a specialized variant optimized for remote and distributed Linux environments. It launches alongside version 5.1 and supports any large-scale point-of-service or terminal deployment.

Why This Matters

Whether you’re managing 100 servers or 100,000 systems, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 brings consistency, control, and clarity to enterprise Linux operations.

With this release, you can:

• Simplify management across diverse Linux distributions and environments
• Reduce the time, cost, and complexity of patching, upgrading, and support
• Improve security, access control, and compliance across the organization
• Support both modern and legacy workloads with a future-ready platform

Learn More

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.1 is now generally available on-premises and via your preferred hyperscaler marketplace.

It can be purchased together with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to take full advantage of the latest SLES 15 SP7 features, and it’s also included in selected SUSE Multi-Linux Support promotions.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager for Retail 5.1 is also available and optimized for remote, distributed, point-of-service environments.

To learn more: https://www.suse.com/products/multi-linux-manager/
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