Independent Hardware Vendors

Products can be YES Certified with the versions of SUSE operating systems detailed below.

Note that YES Certified compatibility tests are only available for current versions of released products, including service pack levels, which receive full support from SUSE. Products can not be YES Certified with any release of openSUSE.

Training

Our System Test Tools For SUSE LINUX Documentation is our training manual. The System Test Tools For SUSE LINUX Documentation is written in the order of the steps needed to successfully test your system. Simply start at the beginning and follow the instructions step by step.

Provide Designated Company Contact

The partner must assign a designated company contact for the SUSE engineer to work with.

Tier one level partners will be assigned a technical account manager (TAM).

To allow SUSE to better meet time-critical needs, the Designated Company Contact will be responsible for managing the partner's matters entrusted to the TAM/Engineer to prevent delays due to excessive demands or demands that are in conflict with or contrary to other demands made by the partner.

The Designated Company Contact must:

  • Provide product support to the TAM and SUSE engineer.
  • Be available for on-site debugging support to resolve testing and compatibility issues.
  • Coordinate with the TAM/Engineer for submission of test results from testing of Developed Products at their site.
  • Interact with the TAM/Engineer for resolving mutual compatibility and certification issues.
Products

The partner will provide the TAM/Engineer with access to all of the companies products within 48 hours notice (servers, workstations, disk drives, etc.) to be used for the following:

The Designated Company Contact must:

  • Problem resolution on Developed Products.
  • Validation of compatibility testing and revision testing on Developed Products.
  • Validation of compatibility testing/debugging on Developed Products with alpha and beta versions of SUSE software.
Configuration Requirements

Partner-developed hardware products must meet the minimum configuration requirements for product Yes certification. These minimum configuration requirements must be met for compliance with SUSE's compatibility criteria.

The tier one partner must provide SUSE an itemized list of the partner's products to be certified. Any instructions for installation or interface techniques with SUSE Products must be provided to facilitate any SUSE testing.

For certification on SUSE Linux Enterprise, the partner must agree to provide access to their product (and associated licenses) or equivalent to that which was tested to SUSE within 48 hours for ongoing support and development.

Testing Lab

The establishment of a testing lab is required for all IHVs self testing hardware solutions. Any such testing lab shall comply with the Testing Lab Requirements described below.

Testing Lab Requirements

The partner's testing lab shall:

Incorporate a reasonable subset or complete set of SUSE's then current standard YES compatibility testing procedures and test suite. These procedures and suite are made available through the SUSE website and respective YES test kits.

Be equipped with all the necessary hardware and software needed to perform the YES Tests as specified in the Testing Lab Requirements and the YES certification kit test documentation. This includes SUSE's most current products and support packs.

Allow the Designated Company Contact or properly trained personnel to perform the YES Tests on pre-release and release versions of the partner's Developed Products. YES test results can only be submitted for, and bulletins released for, currently shipping partner products.

Comply with any specific requirements for self testing labs described in the test suite or testing tools documentation.

The partner shall maintain an individual with currently trained to use SUSE Linux on the partner's testing staff for purposes of installing, configuring, maintaining, and administering SUSE products in the lab.

Test Lab Sites

The partner may establish a test lab at up to 1 site or, upon mutual written agreement, multiple sites. In the event of a change in the hardware and software required under the Testing Lab Requirements, the partner shall comply with the change within 30 days. Acquisition of non-SUSE products required for the testing lab is the partner's responsibility. SUSE will not provide any such items as part of the Program.

Inspections of Testing Lab

The partner agrees to allow SUSE to perform periodic site inspections, upon 48 hours verbal notice, to examine the partners testing lab facilities and/or testing records to determine compliance or non-compliance with the Testing Lab Requirements. Any such periodic examination shall be at the expense of SUSE.

If the partner fails any periodic site inspection, authorization for YES certification self testing may be revoked or withheld. Upon failure of a site inspection, the partner's authorization will be suspended and the partner will be required to schedule another site inspection with SUSE. An additional site inspection shall be conducted at the partner's expense. Fees for additional site inspections shall be at SUSE's current pricing. Initial authorization or authorization renewal may not be granted until the partner successfully passes a SUSE conducted site inspection.

SUSE may also examine partner's support programs, and/or maintenance and support records to determine compliance or noncompliance with the partner's obligations. Any examination shall be at SUSE's expense and for the purposes of ensuring compliance with YES program requirements. All examinations or site inspections shall be solely for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the partner's obligations, including fulfillment of the Testing Lab Requirements. An examination shall occur no more than twice in one year.

Performance of Tests

Once SUSE is satisfied that the partner meets SUSE's requirements, SUSE will inform the partner that it may begin YES compatibility self testing. The partner agrees to conduct YES certification testing in accordance with the Testing Lab Requirements and YES test kit instructions as authorized by SUSE. The partner shall perform the SUSE-prescribed YES certification tests on partner Developed Products as defined in the YES certification test kits. The partner acknowledges that SUSE may at any time and for any reason revoke its authorization for YES certification self testing.

Verification of Test Results

The partner shall submit to SUSE the YES test results for successfully completed partner-performed testing of Developed Product for which the partner desires to have a YES certification bulletin officially released. Such submissions shall include a complete product description and configuration information of the Developed Product. A partner whose YES test results do not meet SUSE's requirements or which SUSE deems inadequate will not be licensed to use the YES mark or other licensed marks nor will it have a YES certification bulletin issued in its behalf.

The partner acknowledges that SUSE alone shall determine whether Developed Products meet SUSE's testing qualifications after verifying receipt of company's test results. SUSE retains the right to refuse compatibility status for any developed products that do not meet SUSE's requirements. In addition, the partner acknowledges that SUSE may revoke a compatibility status at any time for a partner tested products for any reason. Only SUSE is authorized to release and/or generate YES certification bulletins. Additionally, only SUSE is authorized to license the use of the licensed mark(s). Any breach of a partner's obligations regarding testing is a breach of the partner's Partner Portal and/or Developer Service agreement(s).

Audit of Test Results

At SUSE's request, the partner shall provide the Developed Product and associated test results to SUSE to allow SUSE to audit the test results. SUSE will not release a YES certification bulletin for the Developed Product until the audit is successfully completed. If the partner fails any audit or authorization for the Program, self-testing may be revoked or withheld. Upon failure of any such audit, the partner's authorization may be suspended. SUSE, in its discretion, will determine whether or not to authorize the partner for continued Program testing.

Revisions

Any testing conducted by SUSE or the partner shall be valid for the specified product type and revision level only. Functional revisions to the products shall void the partner's right to use the YES mark or other licensed mark(s) for the affected product and shall require entirely new testing and fees, if any.