SLE 11 SP2 and the ISV Partner Community

The release of SLE 11 SP2 has happened and consistent with SUSE policy, ISV partners do not need to re-certify their SLE 11 SP1 user-space applications in order to support SLE 11 SP2. But also consistent with our policy, we invited our SUSE ISV partners to download SP2 Release Candidates, test their applications, and provide feedback.  The ISV partner feedback for SLE 11 SP2 has been extremely positive.  Our ISV partners are excited about the many improvements that are part of SP2.

One of the key improvements in SLE 11 SP2 is the inclusion of Linux kernel version 3.0 using our new forward looking development model.  Most importantly for ISVs, even though we include the Linux 3.0 kernel with all its improvements, we have maintained the user-space library interfaces in order to guarantee application compatibility. Our Engineering and QA teams have run extensive tests to verify this compatibility. In addition, we have used the Linux Standard Base Distribution Testkit to verify that SLE 11 SP2 is still LSB 4.0 certified.

The SUSE ISV Relations team has worked with our largest ISV partners IBM, Oracle, and SAP, as well as with several other ISV partners like Bacula Systems, to test their applications on SLES 11 SP2. The SUSE ISV Engineering team has tested Oracle DB and Oracle Fusion Middleware with SLES 11 SP2, and has found no issues. The SUSE team in the SAP Linux Lab has successfully tested a wide range of SAP NetWeaver products with the MaxDB, IBM DB2, and Oracle databases with SLES 11 SP2 on different hardware platforms. Even though some SAP NetWeaver versions had compatibility issues by detecting the new Linux Kernel 3.0, we were able to provide a robust and non-invasive Linux Kernel 2.6 compatibility environment with the ‘uname26’ command. This solution doesn’t affect the functionality and performance of SAP NetWeaver, so SLES 11 SP2 is SAP ready.

Helge Deller, head of the SAP LinuxLab at SAP says: “SLES 11 SP2 with its new Linux Kernel version 3.0 offers many new features and enhancements that will help SAP customers utilize the newest technology improvements with their SAP infrastructures today. Together with SUSE we developed easy installation and migration paths for existing SAP installations to support the Linux Kernel 3.0, and are now happy to announce the full availability of SAP NetWeaver on SLES11 SP2 with Linux Kernel 3.0.”

The SUSE ISV Team is confident that our ISV partners and customers will find SLE 11 SP2 to be an excellent platform for running their products. We look forward to hearing from other ISVs on their experience with SLE 11 SP2 or to answer any frequently asked questions.