SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3

Release Notes

Abstract

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro is a modern operating system primarily targeted for
edge computing. This document provides a high-level overview of features,
capabilities, and limitations of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3.

This product will be released in TBD. The latest version of these release notes
is always available at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes. Drafts of the general
documentation can be found at https://susedoc.github.io/doc-sle/main.

Publication Date: 2022-09-23, Version: 5.3.20220923

1 SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
2 About the release notes
3 Changes affecting all architectures
4 General features and fixes
5 Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
6 Known issues
7 Obtaining source code
8 Legal notices

1 SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 is a modern operating system primarily targeted
for edge computing.

1.1 Documentation and other information

1.1.1 Available on the product media

  o Read the READMEs on the media.

  o Get the detailed change log information about a particular package from the
    RPM (where FILENAME.rpm is the name of the RPM):

    rpm --changelog -qp FILENAME.rpm

  o Check the ChangeLog file in the top level of the installation medium for a
    chronological log of all changes made to the updated packages.

  o Find more information in the docu directory of the installation medium of
    SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3. This directory includes PDF versions of
    the SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 Installation Quick Start Guide.

1.1.2 Online documentation

  o For the most up-to-date version of the documentation for SUSE Linux
    Enterprise Micro 5.3, see https://susedoc.github.io/doc-sle/main (draft
    version).

  o Find a collection of White Papers in the SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro
    Resource Library at https://www.suse.com/products/server#resources.

1.2 Support and life cycle

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro is backed by award-winning support from SUSE, an
established technology leader with a proven history of delivering
enterprise-quality support services.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 has a 4-year life cycle. For more information,
see https://www.suse.com/lifecycle and the Support Policy page at https://
www.suse.com/support/policy.html.

1.3 Product Certifications

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro is built upon the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15
SP4 code base. As such, it inherits the hardware certification from SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server 15 SP4.

2 About the release notes

These Release Notes are identical across all architectures, and the most recent
version is always available online at https://www.suse.com/releasenotes.

Entries are only listed once but they can be referenced in several places if
they are important and belong to more than one section.

Release notes usually only list changes that happened between two subsequent
releases. Certain important entries from the release notes of previous product
versions are repeated. To make these entries easier to identify, they contain a
note to that effect.

However, repeated entries are provided as a courtesy only. Therefore, if you
are skipping one or more service packs, check the release notes of the skipped
service packs as well. If you are only reading the release notes of the current
release, you could miss important changes.

3 Changes affecting all architectures

Information in this section applies to all architectures supported by SUSE
Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3.

4 General features and fixes

Information in this section applies to all architectures supported by SUSE
Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3.

4.1 Installation media

There are two types of installation media of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro. The
installer ISO allows to install via YaST or AutoYaST, with the possibility to
fully customize the installation. The pre-built images contain a system image
already pre-configured. Neither of the media is intended to be used for
upgrades from the previous version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro. To upgrade
from the previous version, use the transactional-update command.

There are the following differences between these two types:

  o the software selection for the default installation from the ISO contains
    fewer packages than the pre-built image

  o firewalld is only installed from the ISO if the firewall is enabled during
    installation

In both types of the installation media firewalld is disabled by default.

4.2 NetworkManager

With SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3, the default network management stack has
changed from Wicked to NetworkManager. The raw images are configured to use
NetworkManager. The YaST installer defaults to NetworkManager but allows users
to choose the network management stack. After upgrading from previous versions,
Wicked remains in use. Wicked is still fully supported but will be deprecated
and removed in a future version.

4.3 Cockpit web-based node management system

For web-based management of a single node, Cockpit is included. For details,
refer to https://documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/
article-administration-slemicro.html#sec-admin-cockpit.

There have been new Cockpit modules added to the product. Due to the amount of
dependencies, not all of the Cockpit modules are part of the raw images and
some have to be installed additionally.

When enabling firewall via the Cockpit user interface, be aware that your
connection to the host may be interrupted unless the Cockpit port is configured
to be open in advance.

The new SELinux module for Cockpit provides basic functionality for users to
troubleshoot their configuration. Functionality will be extended with the
introduction of the setroubleshoot-server package in a future SUSE Linux
Enterprise Micro release.

4.4 Managing SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro with SUSE Manager

SUSE Manager can be used to manage SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro hosts. There are
certain limitations:

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro host cannot be monitored with SUSE Manager

  o SUSE Manager does not provide integrated container management yet. As a
    workaround, you can use Salt via cmd.run podman.

  o SUSE Manager can manage the SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro hosts ony with the
    Salt stack; the traditional stack is not supported

  o Ansible control node cannot be instaled on SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro

We intend to resolve these issues in the future maintenance updates of SUSE
Linux Enterprise Micro on SUSE Manager.

4.5 Enabling SELinux Enforcing Mode

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro includes SELinux with base system policies. By
default, SELinux is enabled in the permissive mode in both the ISO installer
and the pre-built images. The permissive mode does not enforce any restrictions
but rather enables additional logging options.

To protect the system with SELinux, you need to enable the SELinux enforcing
mode. Before doing so, make sure to install the necessary policies for your
workload. For detailed information on SELinux modes and policies, refer to the
Security Guide at https://documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/
SLE-Micro-all/article-selinux.html.

If you are running SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro as KVM virtualization host, the
use of SELinux in enforcing mode is strongly discouraged and not supported.

4.6 Change of the internal identifier of the product

The internal identifier of the product has changed from SUSE-MicroOS to
SLE-Micro in order to have the internal identifier name consistent with the
user-visible name of the product. Your AutoYaST profile may need updating.

4.7 toolbox container

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro provides the toolbox container. However, it is not
part of the media and needs to be downloaded from https://registry.suse.com. To
download from the registry, the system needs network access. For details refer
to https://documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/
article-administration-slemicro.html#sec-admin-toolbox.

The toolbox container does not include or inherit a software repository setup
from the underlying system. If the underlying system is registered properly,
zypper will enable a basic set of repositories (Basesystem and Server
Applications modules of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3) when you execute
zypper inside the toolbox container. Then you can install additional software
into the container.

4.8 Kernel Live Patching

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro supports Kernel Live Patching, for details refer to
https://documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/
cha-images-procedure.html#sec-slemicro-live-patching.

Note that kernel live patching is only available for the x86-64 and s390x
architectures. It is also not available for the real-time kernel.

4.9 User Space Live Patching

The User Space Live Patching is available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro as a
technology preview.

When applying user space live patches on the system, running process will get
live patched. Due to the immutable nature of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro, the
underlying filesystem cannot be changed during runtime. Processes started after
the live patch is applied to the system will still be vulnerable. Full
application of the patches to SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro requires a reboot of
the system.

4.10 Intel Secure Device Onboard (SDO)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro includes needed packages for Intel Secure Device
Onboard. Intel Secure Device Onboard helps onboard any device to any device
management system. With this release, the SDO client has been replaced with FDO
client, which is a portable implementation of the FIDO Device Onboard Spec. The
packages are only provided as a technology preview and do not offer full
support. Using Intel Secure Device Onboard needs proper integration into your
target environment and only works on supported hardware.

4.11 System V init scripts

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro does not support init script of system services,
which are usually located in /etc/init.d directory. Even if this directory
still exists, it is empty on purpose. systemd unit files should be used instead
of initscripts. To start system services or to configure their status on boot,
use the systemctl command instead.

4.12 Rename of the microos-sssd_ldap pattern

Compared to version 5.1, the microos_sssd_ldap pattern has been renamed to
microos-sssd_ldap (the first underscore has been replaced with a dash). This
new name is consistent with other pattern names. Note that your AutoYaST
profile may need updating.

5 Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3 can be installed in the following ways:

  o Section 5.1, "Manually installing with YaST"

  o Section 5.2, "Unattended installation with AutoYaST"

  o Section 5.3, "Unattended installation with Yomi (technology preview)"

  o Section 5.4, "Deploying pre-built images"

5.1 Manually installing with YaST

The installation workflow for manual installation is described in https://
documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/
part-manual-installation.html.

5.2 Unattended installation with AutoYaST

Installing SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro with AutoYaST is described in https://
documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/book-autoyast.html.

5.3 Unattended installation with Yomi (technology preview)

To learn how to install a system with Yomi, see the SUSE Manager documentation,
section Install using Yomi. Installation with Yomi is a technology preview.

5.4 Deploying pre-built images

SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro is provided as raw images which can be deployed
directly to a storage device, for example, a memory card, a USB stick, or a
hard drive. SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro is also provided as images for specific
hardware device with a customized software selection.

For a procedure of deploying an image refer to https://documentation.suse.com/
sle-micro/5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/part-raw-image.html

5.5 Upgrade from previous version

Upgrade from SLE Micro 5.2 is only possible via the transactional-update tool.
For the upgrade procedure, refer to https://documentation.suse.com/sle-micro/
5.2/html/SLE-Micro-all/book-upgrade.html.

6 Known issues

6.1 Error on console while booting with SELinux enabled

When booting the system with SELinux enabled, the console reports:

Failed to transition into init label 'system_u:system_r:init_t:s0'

This message is harmless.

6.2 Podman and firewalld

When reloading firewalld via firewall-cmd --reload, all Podman-related rules go
missing. For this reason, firewalld is not enabled by default during
installation. For more information, see https://github.com/containers/podman/
issues/5431.

6.3 Pre-built images report two IP addresses on first boot

When booting the pre-built images the first time, two IP addresses may be
reported by the ip a command or other tools. This issue only happens on the
first boot of the image, on the following boots only a single IP address is
assigned to the network interface.

6.4 VNC package cannot be installed during installation

The YaST installer offers installation via VNC. The installer also tries to
make it possible to use the final system the same way that the system was
initially installed. Therefore, the installer will attempt to install
appropriate software and open appropriate firewall ports for later access to
the system. However, the VNC server package is only available during the
installation, but not for the installed system.

As the VNC server package cannot be installed, the installer will issue a
warning. You can safely ignore this warning.

6.5 AppArmor error messages in log after upgrade

SLE Micro supports SELinux as the security framework, however, some AppArmor
packages are still included because of package dependencies. Since they have
been reduced since SLE Micro 5.1, it may happen that there are error messages
showing in the system journal after upgrade. If this happens, make sure that
the apparmor.service service is not enabled in your system.

7 Obtaining source code

This SUSE product includes materials licensed to SUSE under the GNU General
Public License (GPL). The GPL requires SUSE to provide the source code that
corresponds to the GPL-licensed material. The source code is available for
download at https://www.suse.com/download/sle-micro/ on Medium 2. For up to
three years after distribution of the SUSE product, upon request, SUSE will
mail a copy of the source code. Send requests by e-mail to
sle_source_request@suse.com. SUSE may charge a reasonable fee to recover
distribution costs.

8 Legal notices

SUSE makes no representations or warranties with regard to the contents or use
of this documentation, and specifically disclaims any express or implied
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SUSE reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes to its
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Further, SUSE makes no representations or warranties with regard to any
software, and specifically disclaims any express or implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Further, SUSE reserves
the right to make changes to any and all parts of SUSE software, at any time,
without any obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes.

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Copyright (C) 2021-2022 SUSE LLC.

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