This chapter is addressed mainly to corporate system administrators who face the task of having to deploy SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop at their site. Rolling out SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop to an entire site should involve careful planning and consideration of the following questions:
Determine the purpose for which SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop should be used and make sure that hardware and software with the ability to match these requirements are used. Consider testing your setup on a single machine before rolling it out to the entire site.
Determine the scope of your deployment of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Depending on the number of installations planned, consider different approaches to the installation or even a mass installation using SUSE Linux Enterprises unique AutoYaST or KIWI technology. For more information about this subject, refer to Chapter 2, Deployment Strategies.
All patches provided by Novell for your product are available for download to registered users. Register and find the patch support database at http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/portal/index.html.
Novell provides training, support, and consulting for all topics pertaining to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Find more information about this at http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/.
For a standard installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, including the desktop environment and a wealth of applications, the following configuration is recommended:
Intel Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz or higher or any AMD64 or Intel 64 processor
1–2 physical CPUs
512 MB physical RAM or higher
3 GB of available disk space or more
1024 x 768 display resolution (or higher)
Let the following items guide you in your selection of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and determining the purpose of the installed systems:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop's broad offer of software makes it appeal to both professional users in a corporate environment and to home users or users in smaller networks.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop comes with two enterprise-ready desktop environments, GNOME and KDE. Both enable users to comfortably adjust to a Linux system while maintaining their efficiency and productivity. To explore the desktops in detail, refer to the KDE User Guide (↑KDE User Guide) and the GNOME User Guide (↑GNOME User Guide).
With the NetworkManager technology fully integrated into SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and its two desktop environments, mobile users will enjoy the freedom of easily joining and switching wired and wireless networks.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop was designed to be a versatile network citizen. It cooperates with various different network types:
Pure Linux Networks. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is a complete Linux client and supports all the protocols used in traditional Linux and Unix* environments. It integrates well with networks consisting of other SUSE Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise machines. LDAP, NIS, and local authentication are supported.
Windows Networks. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop supports Active Directory as an authentication source. It offers you all the advantages of a secure and stable Linux operating system plus convenient interaction with other Windows clients, as well as the means to manipulate your Windows user data from a Linux client. Explore this feature in detail in Chapter 5, Active Directory Support (↑Security Guide).
Windows and Novell Networks. Being backed by Novell and their networking expertise, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop naturally offers you support for Novell technologies, like GroupWise, Novell Client for Linux, and iPrint, and it also offers authentication support for Novell eDirectory services.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop enables you to secure your applications by enforcing security profiles tailor-made for your applications. To learn more about AppArmor, refer to http://www.novell.com/documentation/apparmor/.