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Version revision history

  • March, 2026: 5.2 Beta 1

  • February, 2026: 5.2 Alpha 2

  • December, 2025: 5.2 Alpha 1

About SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2, the latest release from SUSE Multi-Linux Manager based on the Uyuni Project, delivers a best-in-class open source infrastructure management and automation solution that is designed to seamlessly manage and automate your infrastructure. It helps lower costs, reduce complexity, and enhance availability across Edge, Cloud, and Datacenter environments.

As an integral part of modern software-defined infrastructure, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 brings forth the following new or improved capabilities to your Edge, Cloud, and Datacenter environments.

Installation and Upgrade

Requirements

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 will not be a base product, similar to pervious 5.x versions. Instead, it will be an extension for SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7, available through the SUSE Customer Center. This extension will include all the necessary tools to install and manage SUSE Multi-Linux Manager.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 Server will be supported on x86_64, s390x, IBM POWER (ppc64le), and ARM64 (AArch64) architectures.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server, Proxy, and Retail Branch Server will be delivered as containers, accessible via the SUSE Registry.

SUSE Linux Enterprise as Host OS requires an additional subscriptions, while SUSE Linux Micro is included.

Additionally, VM images based on SUSE Linux Micro are provided for simplified setup, featuring preloaded configurations for easy customization.

For more details on system requirements, see the Installation Guide on https://documentation.suse.com/multi-linux-manager/5.2/

Important

SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 and and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7 have been chosen as the supported host OS for SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 and will remain so throughout SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 lifecycle. Please do not upgrade the host OS where SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 is running to a newer version unless explicitly instructed otherwise.
Important

In SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2, Netavark is the only supported network management tool for containerized environments. If it does not meet your requirements and you prefer an alternative, please contact our support team for evaluation.
Important

A full database volume can cause significant issues with system operation. As disk usage notifications have not yet been adapted for containerized environments, users are encouraged to monitor the disk space used by Podman volumes themselves, either through tools such as Grafana, Prometheus, or any other preferred method. Pay particular attention to the var-pgsql volume, located under /var/lib/containers/storage/volumes/.
Note

An external database is currently unsupported, despite the option appearing under the mgradm tool’s help section.

Upgrade from previous version of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server

In-place upgrade from SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server 5.0 and 5.1 is supported, if the host operating system remains the same.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server 5.2 includes tools designed to simplify the migration process.

Once the upgrade is complete, all connected clients will seamlessly continue to run without any changes.

For detailed instructions on upgrading, please refer to the Upgrade Guide available at https://documentation.suse.com/multi-linux-manager/5.2/

Upgrading with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy

Although SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server 5.2 works with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy  5.1 and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Retail Branch Server 5.1, we highly recommend upgrading your Proxy and Retail Branch Server when feasible. The product is designed for optimal performance when used in a scenario where all components — SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy, and Retail Branch Server — are of the same version. It’s generally advised to avoid using mixed versions long-term in production environments.

When upgrading, upgrade the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server first, followed by the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy and Retail Branch Servers.

For instructions on upgrading when SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy or SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Retail Branch Servers are in use, see the Upgrade Guide on https://documentation.suse.com/multi-linux-manager/5.2/.

Important

Only the containerized versions of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Proxy and Retail Branch server will be available for SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2.

Major changes since SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server 5.2 GA

Features and changes

Patches

The SUSE Patch Finder is a simple online service to view released patches.

Major changes since SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server 5.1

Removed features

Deprecated features

Unsupported products

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Expanded Support 6

  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

  • Oracle Linux 6

  • CentOS 6

  • CentOS 7

  • CentOS 8

  • CentOS Stream

  • Ubuntu 16.04

  • Ubuntu 18.04

  • Ubuntu 20.04

  • Debian 9

  • Debian 10

  • Debian 11

We encourage you to migrate your workload to a newer version of each distribution, or to an alternative distribution that is still supported, so you can continue managing your infrastructure with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager.

Please note that we will not break things on purpose for these unsupported products, and there is a possibility that they could still continue to work. But if things break, there will not be any support provided, not even on a best-effort basis.

Deprecated products

The support policy of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager clients can be summarized as: "If the operating system is under general support by its vendor, then SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports it as a client".

After the EOL of a product, for a grace period of 3 months, a product will be considered as deprecated before moving to unsupported.

For deprecated products, support will only be provided on a best-effort basis.

Support

Supportconfig confidentiality disclaimer

When handling Service Requests, supporters and engineers may ask for the output of the supportconfig tool from SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Server or clients.

This disclaimer applies:

Detailed system information and logs are collected and organized in a
manner that helps reduce service request resolution times.
Private system information can be disclosed when using this tool.

If this is a concern, please prune private data from the log files.

Several startup options are available to exclude more sensitive
information. Supportconfig data is used only for diagnostic purposes
and is considered confidential information.

When you run supportconfig or mgradm support, the output will contain information about your clients as well as about the Server. In particular, debug data for the subscription matching feature contains a list of registered clients, their installed products, and some minimal hardware information (such as the CPU socket count). It also contains a copy of the subscription data available from the SUSE Customer Center.

If this is a concern, please prune data in the subscription-matcher directory in the spacewalk-debug tarball before sending it to SUSE.

Supportability of embedded software components

All software components embedded into SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, like Cobbler for PXE booting, are only supported in the context of SUSE Multi-Linux Manager. Stand-alone usage (e. g. Cobbler command-line) is not supported.

Support for older products

The SUSE Multi-Linux Manager engineering team provides best effort support for products past their end-of-life date. For more information about product support, see Product Support Lifecycle.

Support for products that are considered past their end-of-life is limited to assisting you to bring production systems to a supported state. This could be either by migrating to a supported service pack or by upgrading to a supported product version.

Support for SUSE Liberty Linux

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports SUSE Liberty Linux 7, 8 and 9. SUSE Liberty Linux clients are sometimes also called SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Expanded Support (SLESES) or simply RES.

SUSE has offered LTSS support for SUSE Liberty Linux 7, and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager will continue to support it throughout the LTSS phase.

For a detailed list of supported features, check the Client Configuration Guide.

Support for RHEL, CentOS and Oracle Linux Clients

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports RHEL/Oracle Linux 8 and 9.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager has the ability to mirror all entitled content for the supported operating systems. Although SUSE Multi-Linux Manager doesn’t assign content for specific systems using subscription-manager, it does rely on it initially to retrieve the list of repositories that are available. By utilizing the same EUS channels that Red Hat provides, customers can limit content to individual dot releases.

CentOS Stream is explicitly not supported by SUSE.

Note: Direct sync’ing ULN repos with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager are not currently supported. An Oracle Local Distribution for ULN must be used. To set up a local ULN mirror, please consult the Oracle documentation provided at the following link

Support for Rocky Linux & AlmaLinux

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports Rocky Linux 8/9 and AlmaLinux 8/9.

For a detailed list of supported features for AlmaLinux, check the Client Configuration Guide. For a detailed list of supported features for Rocky Linux, check the Client Configuration Guide.

Support for Ubuntu Clients

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS clients using Salt.

Support for Ubuntu is limited to a growing list of specific features. For a detailed list of supported features, check the Client Configuration Guide.

Support for Debian Clients

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager supports Debian 12 "bookworm" clients using Salt.

Support for Debian is limited to a growing list of specific features. For a detailed list of supported features, check the Client Configuration Guide.

Support Policy for Non-SUSE Client Operating Systems

The Multi-Linux Manager supports multiple major versions of non-SUSE client operating systems, such as RHEL, Rocky Linux, Debian and others. However, only the latest minor release of each supported major version is fully supported.

For example:

  • For Rocky Linux 8, only the most recent minor release is supported. Older minor releases are not supported.

Older minor releases might still work but will only be supported on a limited and reasonable-effort basis. If issues arise on an outdated minor release, users will be asked to upgrade to the latest available minor version before further support is provided.

L1 support for RHEL ppc64le clients

For RHEL clients on the ppc64le architecture, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager offers the same functionality that is supported for the x86_64 architecture. Client tools are not available yet from SCC but the RHEL 9 client tools from Uyuni can be enabled using spacewalk-common-channels.

RHEL ppc64le are only supported at L1 level support. L1 support is limited to problem determination, which means technical support designed to provide compatibility information, usage support, on-going maintenance, information gathering, and basic troubleshooting using available documentation. At the time of writing, any problems or bugs specific to RHEL on ppc64le will only be fixed on a best-effort basis.

Please contact your Sales Engineer or SUSE Consulting if you need additional support or features for these operating systems.

SCAP Security Guide support

SUSE provides scap-security-guide package for different OpenSCAP profiles. In the current version of scap-security-guide, SUSE supports the following profiles:

  • DISA STIG profile for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and 15

  • PCI-DSS profile for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and 15

  • HIPAA profile for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and 15

Other profiles, are community supplied and not officially supported by SUSE.

For Non-SUSE OSs, please note that the included profiles are community supplied and not officially supported by SUSE.

Podman Secret Driver support

Only the file Podman secret driver has been tested and is officially supported for SUSE Multi-Linux Manager container deployments at this time. Other drivers, such as pass or any custom or external secret providers, have not been tested and are not supported.

Browser support

To effectively manage your SUSE Multi-Linux Manager environment via the Web UI, it’s essential to use an up-to-date web browser. SUSE Multi-Linux Manager is compatible with:

  • The latest Firefox browser provided with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

  • The latest Chrome browser across all operating systems

  • The latest Edge browser provided with Windows

Please note that Windows Internet Explorer is not supported. The SUSE Multi-Linux Manager Web UI may not render correctly when accessed through Windows Internet Explorer.

Please refer to the General Requirements for a list of supported browsers.

SUSE Multi-Linux Manager installation

The only supported methods for installing SUSE Multi-Linux Manager is by utilizing images provided by SUSE, or the tools provided in the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager 5.2 Extension, on top of SUSE Linux Micro 6.2 and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 SP7.

Known issues

Keep Informed

To stay up-to-date regarding information about SUSE Multi-Linux Manager and SUSE products:

Providing feedback

If you encounter a bug in any SUSE product, please report it through your SUSE Customer Service or Sales representatives

Resources

Latest product documentation: https://documentation.suse.com/multi-linux-manager/5.2/.

Technical product information for SUSE Multi-Linux Manager: https://www.suse.com/products/multi-linux-manager/

These release notes are available online: https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/

Visit https://www.suse.com for the latest Linux product news from SUSE.

Visit https://www.suse.com/source-code/ for additional information on the source code of SUSE Linux Enterprise products.

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