SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack

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Paravirtualization dramatically increases the performance of your virtual machines. A paravirtualized system gives you access to up to 95% of your virtual machine's computing power by forcing the operating system and hypervisor to work together more efficiently. It does this by opening additional channels of communication between the Xen and KVM hypervisors in SUSE Linux Enterprise and the unmodified guest operating systems running in a virtual environment, thus accelerating network and storage input/output and improving overall efficiency. The paravirtualized drivers in the SUSE Virtual Machine Driver Pack deliver the performance benefits of paravirtualization, with the wider availability of full virtualization.

Key Features
  • Improved performance of virtualized systems
  • Full enterprise support
  • Extended life of legacy & custom applications
  • Increased flexibility & control
  • Comprehensive assortment of compatible drivers
Customer Success Story
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Version 12

System Requirements

  • To use the paravirtualized drivers in SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack 2.4, the underlying hardware must be Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel-VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) enabled. Furthermore, the host operating system must be SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 using Xen 3.2 at a minimum, though the recommended host is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and Xen 4.4 or KVM 3.12.
Minimum system requirements for installation & operation
  • The requirements for the Virtual Machine Driver Pack are the same as the requirements for fully-virtualized Windows. For further details, please refer to the specific documentation for your guest operating system.
  • Drivers themselves use very minimal disc space (less than 5 MB).
Recommended system requirements
  • Minimum 512 MB RAM for Xen or KVM virtual host server
  • Minimum additional 256 MB RAM per Xen or KVM virtual machine (except for Win 2008 Server which requires 1 GB RAM)
Supported processor platforms (Host)
  • x86-64 - AMD64 (AMD-V) & Intel64 (Intel-VT)
  • Needs AMD-V or Intel-VT hardware-assisted technology
Documentation

What is the SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack?

The SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack is a fee-based bundle of paravirtualized disk, network and balloon drivers. It allows customers to run fully-virtualized Windows workloads on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with near-native performance. It does this by opening additional channels of communication between the Xen and KVM hypervisors in SUSE Linux Enterprise and the unmodified guest operating systems running in a virtual environment, thus accelerating network and storage input/output and improving overall efficiency.

What do customers get with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack?

The driver pack contains 32-bit and 64-bit paravirtualized disk, network, and balloon drivers. Refer to https://www.suse.com/products/vmdriverpack/features/platform-support/ for a list of supported platforms. The Driver Pack also contains an installation wizard, documentation and an End User License Agreement (EULA). The Driver Pack is only available electronically. Customers purchasing the Driver Pack will receive an email directing them to a secure site where they can download the bundle.

Are paravirtualized drivers for SUSE Linux Enterprise included in the Driver Pack?

No. Paravirtualized drivers for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are available, but not included in this Driver Pack. We distribute those drivers under an open source license and include them in both physical and electronic media of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and corresponding SUSE Customer Center update channels. Customers with a valid SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription are automatically entitled to maintenance and support for these paravirtualized drivers. The support terms and conditions for the drivers are inherited from the customer's underlying SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription.

What type of support do customers get with the Driver Pack?

Purchasing the Driver Pack entitles you to maintenance and technical support (installation and break/fix) for the paravirtualized drivers contained in the Driver Pack. The support terms and conditions are inherited from the underlying SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription used to host the virtual servers. You must have a valid SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription to receive support for these paravirtualized drivers. They are not supported in any host environment other than SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The minimum Xen version supported is 3.2, and minimum KVM version supported is 0.12. Purchasing the Driver Pack without a valid SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription does not entitle customers to support for the paravirtualized drivers.

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Success Stories

Extend the Life of Legacy & Custom Applications

The paravirtualized drivers in the Virtual Machine Driver Pack extend the useful life of your legacy and custom applications that are only supported on older operating systems.

A Comprehensive Assortment of Platforms

SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack contains 32-bit and 64-bit paravirtualized disk, network and balloon drivers for a wide variety of platforms.

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Get More Flexibility and Control

The SUSE Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack gives you greater flexibility and control over Windows guest OSs in both Xen and KVM-based host environments.

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