The update version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP4 has been released

SUSE Linux chameleon logo

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) is a system designed for servers, mainframes and workstations, but it can also be installed on desktop computers for testing purposes.

Major versions are released every 3 to 4 years, while minor versions (called "Service Packs") are released approximately every 18 months.

SUSE Linux Enterprise products, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, receive more intensive testing than the openSUSE community product, with the intention that only mature and stable versions of the included components make it to the released enterprise product.

You should remember that the support time for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 is 13 years (until 2024 + 3 years of extended support), and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 is 7 years (until 2021).

For those who want to get newer versions, it is recommended to switch to using the newly released branch of SUSE Linux Enterprise 15.

The new version of Service Packs 4 for SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 arrives

Recently the SUSE developers presented the new update version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 arriving this with its new SP4.

As in the previous updates of the SUSE 12 branch, the distribution kit proposes the Linux kernel 4.4, GCC 4.8, the desktop based on GNOME 3.20 and previous versions of the system components.

Changes are primarily focused on new hardware support and virtualization.

Expanded hardware support, for example, it added support for Intel Optane DC non-volatile memory (NVDIMM) and improved support for the newer Intel processors, AMD Zen 2, IBM Z14, IBM LinuxONE Rockhopper II, and IBM POWER9 (Little Endian).

The range of supported ARM SoCs has increased, including support for Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and a separate SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for ARM 12 SP4 for Raspberry Pi.

As an option, a package was introduced with the Linux kernel 4.12, it was carried over from SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 and made it easier to prepare for migration to SUSE 15 (by default, the branch-based kernel 4.4 is still offered in SUSE 12).

Builds for IBM Z systems added support for KVM hypervisor-based virtualization, making it possible to migrate IBM KVM environments to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Experimental support has also been added to the AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (AMD SEV) protection mechanism.

This enables transparent memory encryption of virtual machines, in which only the current guest system has access to the decrypted data, and the rest of the virtual machines and the hypervisor obtain encrypted data by accessing this memory.

Raspberry Pi with openSuSE Linux logo

Added support for encrypting individual memory pages using Secure Memory Encryption (SME) technology introduced in AMD processors.

SME allows memory pages to be marked as encrypted, after which these pages will be automatically encrypted when written to DRAM and decrypted when read from DRAM.

SME is compatible with AMD processors from the 17h family. To use the new feature, you need to install an alternative package with Linux kernel 4.12.

Important changes in version 12 SP4

Added support for the OpenSSL 1.1.1 library and the TLS 1.3 protocol. OpenSSL 1.0 remains the default, and OpenSSL 1.1.1 is offered as an option.

On the other hand, YaST module to configure an SSH server was removed which was deprecated in SUSE 12 and provided only a limited set of features.

Instead of this module, it is recommended to use the / etc / sysconfig editor and the Service Manager.

The TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) stack was also updated, proposing a new implementation of the resource manager.

As well as several applications were updated in this new update including Samba 4.4.2, Python 2.7.9, Python 3.4.1, Perl 5.18.2, Ruby 2.1, KIWI 9.15.3.

The distribution is free to download and use, but access to updates and fixes is limited to a 60-day trial period.

The release is available in versions for the x86_64, ARM64, Raspberry Pi, IBM POWER8 LE, and IBM System z architectures.


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