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Certification Levels

YES Certification Requirements

Designated Company Contact

The partner must assign a designated company contact for SUSE Partner Engineering to work with.

Top-level partners are also assigned a Technical Account Manager (TAM) who will interface with the designated company contact.

Contact Responsibilities

  • Manage all correspondence between partner and SUSE Partner Engineering
  • Provide partner product support to the TAM and/or SUSE Partner Engineering
  • Provide access to systems for debugging and testing as needed
  • Be available for on-site debugging support to resolve compatibility issues
  • Coordinate with the SUSE Partner Engineer for test result submission
  • Facilitate final customer review of YES Certification bulletin submissions
  • Release YES Certification bulletin to the public
  • Manage pre-release testing of SUSE operating systems and related YES Certification kits (based on partnership level)

Product Configuration Requirements

Partner-developed hardware products must meet the minimum configuration requirements for the SUSE product being used during YES Certification.

For systems being tested at a SUSE facility, partners must provide SUSE with an itemized list of products to be certified, along with any installation instructions, interface techniques or associated licensed required to facilitate any SUSE testing.

Test Lab Requirements

The establishment of a SUSE approved testing lab is required for all partner self-testing. Approved Test Lab Requirements are described below:

  • A copy of the current YES System Certification Kit (SCK) including documentation
  • All necessary hardware and software needed to perform the YES Certification testing, including current SUSE products and support packs
  • Personnel qualified to perform YES Certification testing on pre-release and released versions of partner product line
  • Partner shall maintain an individual or team currently trained to use SUSE Linux for purposes of installing, configuring, maintaining, and administering SUSE products in the lab.

Test Lab Sites

The partner may establish a test lab at a single site or, upon mutual written agreement, multiple sites (based on partnership level).

As new or updated SUSE products (including the YES System Certification Kit) become available, the partner shall obtain and upgrade 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.

Test Lab Inspections

The partner agrees to allow SUSE to perform site inspections, upon 48 hours verbal notice, to examine the test lab facilities and/or testing records to determine compliance or noncompliance with the Testing Lab Requirements.

If the partner fails any periodic site inspection, authorization for YES Certification self-testing may be suspended and the partner will be required to schedule another site inspection with SUSE.

Additional site inspections 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 non- compliance 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 calendar year.

YES Certification Authorization

Once a partner testing facility meets test lab requirements, SUSE will inform the partner that it may begin YES Certification 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 Certification 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 the SUSE requirements or which SUSE deems inadequate will not be licensed to use the YES Certification logo or other licensed marks nor will it have a YES Certification bulletin issued on 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 certification status for any developed product that does not meet the SUSE requirements. In addition, the partner acknowledges that SUSE may revoke certification status of a partner-tested product 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 SUSE One Partner 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 to authorize the partner for continued YES Certification 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 Certification mark or other licensed mark(s) for the affected product and shall require entirely new YES Certification testing and fees, if applicable.

YES Certification Training

When a partner joins the SUSE One Partner program to participate in YES Certification, they gain access to all System Certification Kit (SCK) tools and documentation. The documentation is broken up into sections that correspond to each SCK test project and are written to follow each test suite sequentially.

This layout makes our documentation a great training companion for YES Certification. In addition to the documentation, SUSE also provides a series of training videos that are hosted on the SUSE YouTube channel under the Partner Engineering playlist.

Further, onsite YES Certification training is available for INNOVATE partners at the 250+ partner levels. Ask your SUSE Partner Engineering contact for more information.

SUSE Authorized Testing Center (SATC)

A SUSE Authorized Testing Center is a testing facility run by independent companies who have been trained and authorized by SUSE to perform YES Certification testing. An Authorized Testing Center provides the convenience of having the testing facilities, test kits, and training needed to perform the YES certification process. Some Authorized Testing Centers may have the added convenience of being able to offer custom development services to Partners whose products fail to meet the rigorous YES Certification requirements.