SUSE Support

Here When You Need Us

SUSE only maintains the latest NVIDIA Production Branch GPU drivers for SLES

This document (000021836) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15


Situation

Some SLES users have requested that SUSE provide and maintain NVIDIA’s Long Term Support Branch GPU drivers.

Resolution

NVIDIA maintains three different branches of GPU drivers, each with different characteristics that are evident from their names.  These are:



GPU Branch Name

Characteristic

Support life

New Feature Branch

Newest features.

About 3 months

Production Branch

Qualified for production use

Up to 1 year

Long Term Support Branch

Long support life

3 years



See https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/tesla/drivers/#driver-lifecycle for additional details about these driver branches.

 

SUSE cannot maintain multiple branches of drivers in SLES, and has chosen to maintain the latest Production Branch drivers.  This choice of the Production Branch seems to offer the best balance of  features and support time. This driver is available here: https://download.nvidia.com/suse/

 

SLES users who need newer features than are offered in the latest NVIDIA GPU Production Branch Driver, should consider using the latest New Feature Branch driver.

 

SLES users who need longer support than is offered by the Production Branch, should consider using the current NVIDIA GPU Long Term Support Branch driver.

 

NVIDIA GPU drivers for Feature and Long Term Support branches are available from NVIDIA here: https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/repos/

 

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:000021836
  • Creation Date: 14-May-2025
  • Modified Date:16-May-2025
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

< Back to Support Search

For questions or concerns with the SUSE Knowledgebase please contact: tidfeedback[at]suse.com

tick icon

SUSE Support Forums

Get your questions answered by experienced Sys Ops or interact with other SUSE community experts.

tick icon

Support Resources

Learn how to get the most from the technical support you receive with your SUSE Subscription, Premium Support, Academic Program, or Partner Program.

tick icon

Open an Incident

Open an incident with SUSE Technical Support, manage your subscriptions, download patches, or manage user access.