Product Lifecycle Support Policies

Choose a product from the list below to read more about its unique support policies.

Rancher Support Matrix

View supported Kubernetes platforms for Rancher including downstream cluster support and applications.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE provides a thirteen year product lifecycle for most products in SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 releases.

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing

As with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 has modular packaging.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

SUSE supports all SLES for SAP Applications 12 and higher offerings during the General Availability (GA) of a version for 4.5 years.

SUSE Manager

SUSE supports the current release (N) and the previous release (N-1). SUSE releases a new version of SUSE Manager roughly every 12 months.

SUSE Enterprise Storage

SUSE supports the current release (N) and the previous release (N-1).

SUSE on the Public Cloud

Moving to the Public Cloud, take SUSE with you. SUSE support policies are dependent on whether you use SUSE on demand or you "bring your own service.

Long Term Service Support

Long Term Service Pack Support provides up to 3 years of access to technical support, maintenance and security patches for selected products.

SUSE Liberty Linux

Zero migration; complete compatibility. SUSE Liberty Linux is a technology that lets you get uninterrupted support and security patches for CentOS and RHEL.

Long Term Service Support

Support conditions:

  • Support shall be provided only for existing systems or replacements on identical hardware (in case of system recovery)
  • Changes to the virtualization platform are considered hardware changes and are not supported
  • Systems running on public cloud frameworks not using “Bring Your Own Subscription” are not supported
  • Issues must occur during the active time of the subscription and not before the order is booked at SUSE

The following items are excluded from LTSS Extreme and LTSS Reactive, and are not supported:

  • All Java related components
  • All databases
  • All web browsers and email clients
  • All 3rd party binaries such as fonts, sounds, artwork and branding

Summary table - Long Term Service Support

Topic General Support / Overlap LTSS (ESPOS) LTSS Reactive LTSS Extreme
Technical Support Yes Yes Yes Yes
Access to Patches and Fixes Yes Yes No4 No4
Access to Documentation and Knowledge Base Yes Yes Yes Yes
Support for Existing Stacks and Workloads Yes Yes Yes Yes
Support for New Deployments Yes No No No
Additional Cryptography Functionality Yes No No No
Critical Security Updates¹ Yes SUSE CVSS level³ 7 + SUSE CVSS level³ 7 + SUSE CVSS level³ 7 +
Defect resolution¹ Yes Severity Level² 1 + 2 Severity Level² 1 + 2 Severity Level² 1
Style Proactive Proactive Reactive Reactive

1 SUSE makes all economically reasonable effort to resolve a bug or a CVE Request. If SUSE does not believe it is necessary to resolve a CVE Request or if SUSE does not believe it is feasible to fix a bug, SUSE shall not be required to resolve the error and shall provide the customer with a reasonably detailed response setting out SUSE's position.

2 Severity levels are defined in the SUSE Support Handbook pages. In certain cases and at SUSE’s discretion, SUSE may choose to do a version upgrade instead of a backport of a patch resp. do backports from more recent releases.

3 SUSE CVSS is available here https://www.suse.com/security/cve/ and may differ from the NVD score.

4 By request only through a support case

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

SUSE provides a thirteen year product lifecycle for most products in SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 releases. Please check our Product Support Lifecycle table for information about your specific product lifecycle. Technical Support is provided as illustrated in the table below.

General Support Extended Support
Years 1-5 Years 6-7 Years 8-10 Years 11-13
Maintenance Patches 1. LTSS2
Technical Support 3. LTSS4
Security Patches LTSS5
Defect Resolution 6 LTSS7
Service Packs
Hardware Enablement and Software Enhancements

This applies to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension (Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server v15, GEO Clustering is included with High Availability), SUSE Linux Enterprise for High Performance Computing and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop

1. Access to previously released patches with an active subscription with LTSS.

2. Access to patches for earlier product versions possible with optional Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS).

3. Limited migration and configuration assistance provided with standard or priority subscription.

4. More comprehensive migration, configuration and break fix technical support available with optional LTSS.

5. Only available with LTSS.

6. Limited to severity level 1 and 2 defects.

7. Only available with LTSS. Limited to severity level 1 and 2 defects.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 Modules

As with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 has modular packaging. The modules are distinct sets of packages grouped into their own maintenance channel and updated independently of service pack life cycles. This allows you to get timely and easy access to the latest technology in areas where innovation is occurring at a rapid pace, like cloud.

Refer to https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP1/#Intro.ModuleExtensionRelated for module specific lifecycle and update timeline.

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing

SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 GA is supported throughout the life cycle of SLE 15 GA. Any release package is fully maintained and supported until the availability of the next release. As with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing includes 6 months of overlap support for each service pack.

Because of the complexity of HPC environments, SUSE recommends that you consider purchasing your subscription with either LTSS, which provides up to 3 years continued general support, or ESPOS, which provides an additional year of support (a total of 18 months). These options give you significantly more time to upgrade and/or skip a service pack completely.

Unlike SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing Level 1 and Level 2 technical support is generally provided by the IHV that sells the subscription; while Level 3 support is provided by the SUSE Technical Support Team.

Here is an example of the support timeline for SLES HPC:

Product Version
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
SLE HPC vX
General Support
ESPOS
LTSS
SLE HPC vX SP1
General Support
ESPOS
LTSS

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

SUSE supports all SLES for SAP Applications 12 and higher offerings during the General Availability (GA) of a version for 4.5 years. This includes 1.5 years of General Support plus 3 years of Extended Service Pack Overlap Support (ESPOS) for each service pack. This eliminates the need for customers to purchase LTSS (Long Term Service Pack Support) until the final service pack of a release.

Here is an example of the SLES for SAP Applications timeline:

Product Version
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6
Year 7
Year 8
Year 9
Year 10
SLES for SAP vX
General Support
ESPOS
SLES for SAP vX Sp1
General Support
ESPOS
SLES for SAP vX Sp2
General Support
ESPOS
SLES for SAP vX Sp3
General Support
ESPOS
SLES for SAP vX Sp4
General Support
ESPOS
SLES for SAP vX Sp5
General Support
Long Term Service Pack Support

SUSE Manager

SUSE supports the current release (N) and the previous release (N-1). SUSE releases a new version of SUSE Manager roughly every 12 months.

Product Version
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
SUSE Manager vX
General Support
L 1/2 Support
SUSE Manager vY
General Support
L 1/2 Support
SUSE Manager vX
General Support
L 1/2 Support

SUSE Enterprise Storage

SUSE supports the current release (N) and the previous release (N-1). SUSE releases a new version of SUSE Enterprise Storage every 12 months. When the new release (N+1) comes out, we will continue to support the N-1 version for 3 months so that you have time to upgrade to the latest version of SUSE Enterprise Storage.

This means each release is supported for a minimum of 27 months after it is first shipped (FCS). We provide general support for the entire 27 months, including patches, fixes and maintenance.

The SUSE Enterprise Storage is based on the upstream Ceph project.

Product Version
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
SUSE Enterprise Storage vX
General Support
SUSE Enterprise Storage vY
General Support
SUSE Enterprise Storage vZ
General Support

SUSE Images on the Public Cloud

Regardless of the public cloud you use, SUSE has you covered with world-class support. Support is dependent on whether you “bring your own subscription" (BYOS) or you use SUSE on demand or "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG).

All images follow a refresh cycle up to the point of deletion. The refresh cycle follows a 'rolling' three month time frame. What this means:

  • Images in an active state are refreshed every three months. Replaced images are moved to the deprecated state.
  • If a critical security vulnerability occurs, images in active and inactive states are updated as soon as possible once the fix for the affected code is available. For images in active state the three month timer restarts with this forced replacement.
  • SUSE is committed to address all security vulnerabilities disclosed through the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures process (CVE) and a score of 9.0 or greater in the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). For more information about the effects and rating of CVEs, refer to the SUSE CVE database.
Active

Active images are fully supported and refreshed at least every three months. The duration lasts until the image is replaced by a newer image version.

Inactive

Inactive images are supported following the rules of LTSS or ESPOS and will only get refreshed for critical security updates. The duration term is defined by the product. For more information, refer to specific product lifecycles above.

Deprecated

Deprecated images may no longer be supported. The status of support depends on the support status of the product in the image. Deprecated images are not made available in regions added after an image has been set to deprecated and images do no longer get refreshed. At the end of the six month deprecation period, images are subject to deletion. It is strongly discouraged to use deprecated images to create new instances.

Deleted

Deleted images are no longer supported or available for instance creation.

 

SLES PAYG

Product Version Image
6m
Yr1
18m
yr2
30m
yr3
42m
yr4
54m
yr5
yr6
yr7
yr8
yr9
SLES V(SP)
Active
Deprecated
Deleted
SLES V(SP+1)
Active
Deprecated
Deleted
SLES V(SP+2)
Active
Deprecated
Deleted
* Swipe to read the full graph >>

SLES for SAP PAYG

Product Version Image
6m
Yr1
18m
yr2
30m
yr3
42m
yr4
54m
yr5
yr6
yr7
yr8
yr9
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES for SAP V(SP)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES for SAP V(SP+1)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES for SAP V(SP+2)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
* Swipe to read the full graph >>

SLES BYOS

Product Version Image
6m
Yr1
18m
yr2
30m
yr3
42m
yr4
54m
yr5
yr6
yr7
yr8
yr9
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES v(SP)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES V(SP+1)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
6m prior to the end of LTSS
SLES V(Last service pack)
Active
Inactive
Deprecated
Image deleted
* Swipe to read the full graph >>

SUSE Liberty Linux

SUSE Liberty Linux General Support

General Support means full proactive support. Products in the General Support lifecycle phase receive updates for all packages that are available in the latest minor release, in exactly that version, except the excluded packages1.

Supported versions are Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8 and 9.

A major release normally introduces substantial changes to the software, e.g. new or different features. A minor release on the other hand may introduce more minor changes to the software's functionality or minor changes in features or performance. Whereas a major release is referenced by a version number with a higher digit to the left of the decimal point (e.g. from version 1.1 to version 2.1), a minor release is indicated by a version number with a higher digit to the right of the decimal point (e.g. from version 1.1 to version 1.2).

For each major release, only the latest minor release is fully supported.

Previous minor releases have limited support:

  • SUSE support will, to a commercially reasonable extent2, analyze the case and provide a solution, if needed.
  • The solution might require an update to the latest minor release, or installing a package version available only in the latest minor release.
  • Any potential fixes will be released only for the latest minor release.

SUSE Liberty Linux Long Term Service Support (LTSS)

Support conditions:

  • Support shall be provided only for existing systems or replacements on identical hardware (in case of system recovery)
  • Changes to the virtualization platform are considered hardware changes and are not supported
  • Systems running on public cloud frameworks not using “Bring Your Own Subscription” are not supported
  • Issues must occur during the active time of the subscription and not before the order is booked at SUSE

SUSE Liberty Linux LTSS Reactive

LTSS Reactive can be subscribed per system using subscriptions for 1-2 sockets, or as tiered offering for multiple systems. Tiered offerings are counted per code stream and per architecture.

LTSS Reactive allows customers to continue using the versions of SUSE Liberty Linux identified in this Addendum beyond the end of that version’s base life cycle in accordance with the description provided herein. SUSE will provide access to support engineers for any Critical Incident raised by Customer. During the extended lifecycle under these terms, no maintenance updates will be released. “Critical Incident” means an incident that prevents a major functionality of the product to work as it was designed and/or affects system stability and/or has an important impact for the Customer's business.

LTSS Reactive can be contracted from SUSE in increments of one year, up to a total of maximum 3 years after the end of regular LTSS.

SUSE Liberty Linux LTSS Extreme

LTSS Extreme is available per code stream and per architecture, as a subscription with unlimited systems to cover.


LTSS Extreme allows customers to continue getting support for the versions of SUSE Liberty Linux identified in this addendum beyond the end of that version’s base life cycle in accordance with the description provided herein. SUSE will provide access to support engineers for any Critical Incident raised by Customer. During the extended lifecycle under these terms, no maintenance updates will be released. “Critical Incident” means an incident that prevents a major functionality of the product to work as it was designed and/or affects system stability and/or has an important impact for the Customer's business.

LTSS Extreme can be contracted from SUSE in increments of one year, up to a total maximum of 3 years after the end of other LTSS offerings.

The following items are excluded from SUSE Liberty Linux LTSS Reactive and SUSE Liberty Linux LTSS Extreme, and are not supported1:

  • All Java related components (e.g. IBM Java, openJDK)
  • All databases (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL)
  • All web browsers and email clients (e.g. Thunderbird)
  • All 3rd party binaries such as fonts, sounds, artwork and branding
  • Packages without public available source
  • Packages with non-Open Source license
  • Packages with different Open-Source license to what SUSE is shipping as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (e.g. Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL))
  • General LTSS limits apply as outlined above
Topic General Support LTSS LTSS Reactive LTSS Extreme
Technical Support Yes Yes Yes Yes
Access to Patches and Fixes Yes Yes No6 No6
Access to Documentation Yes Yes Yes Yes
Support for Existing Stacks and Workloads Yes Yes Yes Yes
Support for New Deployments Yes No No No
Enhancement Requests Yes No No No
Additional Cryptography Functionality Yes No No No
Hardware Enablement / Optimization Yes No No No
Critical Security Updates3 Yes SUSE CVSS5 level 7+ SUSE CVSS5 level 7+ SUSE CVSS5 level 7+
Defect resolution3 Yes Severity Level4 1 + 2 Severity Level4 1 + 2 Severity Level4 1
Style Proactive Proactive Reactive Reactive

1 Our SUSE product documentation contains inclusion and exclusion lists for your convenience.

2 What will be commercially reasonable will depend on the specific issue and the context, at the time.

3 SUSE makes all economically reasonable efforts to resolve a bug or a CVE Request. If SUSE does not believe it is necessary to resolve a CVE Request or if SUSE does not believe it is feasible to fix a bug, SUSE shall not be required to resolve the error and shall provide the customer with a reasonably detailed response setting out SUSE's position.

4 Severity levels are defined in the SUSE Support Handbook pages. In certain cases and at SUSE’s discretion, SUSE may choose to do a version upgrade instead of a backport of a patch resp. do backports from more recent releases.

5 SUSE CVSS is available here https://www.suse.com/security/cve/ and may differ from the NVD score.

6 By request only through a support case.