SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on IBM Power Systems

What is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12?

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER is an enterprise-grade Linux distribution optimized for IBM Power Systems and designed to deliver increased reliability, reduce costs for mission-critical applications, provide a high-performance platform to meet increasing business demands and accelerate innovation while improving deployment times. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 runs in the POWER processor’s little-endian mode. Support for little endian mode removes a portability barrier for software application vendors that started out on the x86 and x86-64 platforms. With great tools such as the Open Build Service and SUSE Package Hub, SUSE provides an environment that supports partners, enabling them to bring their latest innovation to the dynamic Linux market on IBM Power Systems.

What is big-endian / little-endian?

Endian or endianness refers to how bytes of a data word are ordered in memory (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness). Big-endian systems like POWER6, POWER7 and IBM z Systems store the most significant byte in the smallest address consumed by an integer number or address, and the least significant byte is stored in the largest. In contrast, little-endian systems, such as the x86 and x86-64 architectures, are those in which the least significant byte is stored in the smallest address. POWER8 processors were the first processor generation which can be configured in either big-endian or little-endian mode. Supporting little-endian on Power Systems will simplify source code porting from little-endian x86 Linux applications to little-endian Linux on Power. Data produced by existing x86 Linux applications can be accessed more easily by other little-endian Linux applications. Modern I/O systems (particularly GPUs) assume little-endian access models.

What is new in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 SP3?

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 Service Pack 3 delivers outstanding reliability, performance and faster innovation for data-intensive, mission-critical workloads. Based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3, it’s an operating system for deploying highly available, enterprise-class IT services in mixed IT environments with best-of-breed performance and reduced risk. See what’s new in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3. For SUSE customers running workloads on IBM Power Systems servers this is a maintenance release with fixes to Service Pack 2, new hardware enablement and additional features that improve performance and deployment flexibility. New features in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 SP3 include:

• Support for POWER9 processor-based systems
• Extended virtual address space to support very large SAP HANA environments
• Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) support for faster remote storage device communications
• KVM support for IBM Power Systems S822LC OpenPOWER (technical preview)

Can I run SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 on POWER9?

Yes. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 will operate the POWER8 and POWER9 processor in little-endian mode, which has no effect on the functionality of the OS or the features provided by the processor. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 takes full advantage of POWER’s Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) and other hardware advances made available in the modern 4.4 Linux kernel. POWER8 and POWER9 support SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER as a KVM guest in addition to support for PowerVM. SUSE’s industry-leading features like Full System Rollback, Linux containers, Modules and Package Hub are supported on POWER8- and POWER9-based servers.

Can I run my SAP applications on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12 and POWER8 or POWER9?

Yes, most SAP NetWeaver and other applications will run on POWER8- and POWER9-based servers and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for POWER 12, as long as little-endian mode is supported by that application. SAP has validated SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 (ppc64 - Big Endian mode) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 and SP2 (ppc64le - Little Endian mode) as the first operating system environments for IBM Power Systems to run SAP HANA. SUSE delivers SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications as a distribution with unique features specifically for SAP applications including those built on SAP HANA and S/4HANA. Learn more at www.suse.com/products/power/features/s4-hana/.

Read more on SAP specific features.