14 DAY TRIAL // Today, May 17, 2016, SUSE, a pioneer in open source software and the maker of the SUSE Linux operating system, has had the great pleasure of announcing the availability of SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching.
SUSE was one of the first open source companies to offer live patching of their Linux kernel-based operating system, a technology that has been implemented in the major 4.0 series of the Linux kernel, as announced by Linus Torvalds one year ago, on April 2015.
Since then, only a few GNU/Linux operating system have adopted live kernel patching in their infrastructure because it appears that the technology is mostly useful for enterprise users, big companies that don't want to interrupt their uptime when attempting to upgrade the kernel, which is the core of any Linux OS.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching is available starting today for all SUSE customers who run their workloads on the SAP NetWeaver technology platform, the SAP HANA platform, or any other SAP (Systems Applications Products) applications, helping them save money and keep their customers happy by offering 100% uptime.
"As business becomes increasingly reliant on real-time data and analytics, maintaining access to application servers is critical," said Michael Miller, president of Strategy, Alliances and Marketing, SUSE. "We believe business shouldn't have to grind to a halt just because a server needs updating."
Live kernel patching rescues businesses from planned downtime
In the past, many businesses suffered money loss due to the interruption of their online services caused by planned downtime, which was needed in a highly secure IT environment. But that can end today, thanks to SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching, which lets enterprise Linux customers perform kernel patching without the need to reboot their systems.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching is also perfect for any critical SAP business application, as well as enterprises running SAP HANA. The technology is built into the kernel and will allow SUSE Linux customers to update a running Linux kernel without service interruption or rebooting the server, thus shutting down their SAP HANA platform.
SUSE offers the SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching technology starting today for existing customers that have purchased a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Priority Support subscription. SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching will only work on 64-bit (x86-64) and it is delivered by SUSE on top of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 1 for SAP Applications.