SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease)

Release Notes

Abstract

This document provides guidance and an overview to high-level general features
and updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 
(prerelease). In addition to architecture- or product-specific information, it
also describes the capabilities and limitations of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease).

This product will be released in June 2023. 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-slesforsap/
main.

Publication Date: 2023-02-01, Version: 15.5.20230201

1 About the release notes
2 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications
3 Modules, Extensions, and Related Products
4 Changes affecting all architectures
5 New Features, Changes & Fixes
6 Known Issues & Workarounds
7 Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages
8 Obtaining source code
9 Legal notices
A Changelog for 15 SP5 (prerelease)

    A.1 2023-02-01
    A.2 2022-11-30
    A.3 2022-10-18
    A.4 2022-07-14
    A.5 2022-05-11
    A.6 2022-04-21
    A.7 2022-03-23
    A.8 2022-02-16
    A.9 2022-01-19
    A.10 2021-11-03

1 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.

2 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) is the
leading Linux platform for SAP HANA, SAP NetWeaver, and SAP S/4HANA
applications that provides optimized performance, reduced downtime, and faster
SAP landscape deployments. It includes features to secure SAP HANA systems and
ease the transition to SAP S/4HANA for systems administrators. SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server for SAP Applications combines SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
and SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension with additional software
specifically meant to simplify running and managing SAP applications. This
document provides an overview of high-level general features, capabilities, and
limitations of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 
(prerelease) and important product updates.

2.1 What Is New?

2.1.1 General Changes

Media Changes

    The Unified Installer and Packages DVDs known from SUSE Linux Enterprise
    Server for SAP Applications 15 SP1 are deprecated and have been replaced by
    the following media:

      ? Online Installation Media: All SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 products can be
        installed with this stand alone media, after entering a registration
        key. The necessary packages are fetched from online repositories only.
        For information about available modules, see https://www.suse.com/
        releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/15-SP2#Intro.ModuleExtensionRelated

      ? Full Installation Media: All SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
        Applications 15 products can be installed without network connection
        with this media, for offline installation scenarios. The media contains
        all necessary packages. It consists of directories with module
        repositories which need to be added manually as needed. RMT (Repository
        Mirroring Tool) and SUSE Manager provide additional options for
        disconnected or managed installation.

Extended Package Search

    Use the new Zypper command zypper search-packages to search across all SUSE
    repositories available for your product even if they are not yet enabled.
    This functionality makes it easier for administrators and system architects
    to find the software packages needed. To do so, it leverages the SUSE
    Customer Center.

Software Development Kit

    With SLE 15, the Software Development Kit is now integrated into the
    products. Development packages are packaged alongside regular packages. In
    addition, the Development Tools module contains the tools for development.

RMT Replaces SMT

    SMT (Subscription Management Tool) has been removed. Instead, RMT
    (Repository Mirroring Tool) now allows mirroring SUSE repositories and
    custom repositories. You can then register systems directly with RMT. In
    environments with tightened security, RMT can also proxy other RMT servers.

Kernel

    SLE 15 SP5 (prerelease) will come with Kernel 5.3. This new kernel release
    includes upstream features like 16 million new IPv4 addresses, utilization
    clamping support in the task scheduler, power efficient userspace waiting
    with the umwait x86 instructions and many more.

Major updates to the software selection:

Salt

    SLE 15 SP5 (prerelease) can be managed via salt to help integration into
    up-to-date management solutions, such as SUSE Manager.

Python 3

    As the first enterprise distribution, SLE 15 offers full support for Python
    3 development in addition to Python 2.

Directory Server

    389 Directory Server replaces OpenLDAP to provide a sustainable directory
    service.

2.2 Important Sections of This Document

If you are upgrading from a previous SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications release, you should review at least the following sections:

  o Section 2.6, "Support statement for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
    Applications"

2.3 Security, Standards, and Certification

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) has been
submitted to the certification bodies for:

  o Common Criteria Certification, see https://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/

  o FIPS 140-2 validation, see http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/
    140-1/140InProcess.pdf

For more information about certification, see https://www.suse.com/security/
certificates.html.

2.4 Documentation and other information

2.4.1 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 Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease). This
    directory includes PDF versions of the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
    Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) Installation Quick Start Guide.

2.4.2 Online documentation

  o For the most up-to-date version of the documentation for SUSE Linux
    Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease), see https://
    susedoc.github.io/doc-slesforsap/main (draft version).

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

2.5 Support and life cycle

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 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 Server for SAP Applications 15 has a 13-year life cycle,
with 10 years of General Support and 3 years of Extended Support. SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server for SAP Applications comes with Extended Service Pack Overlap
Support by default, this means SP5 will be fully maintained and supported until
3.5 years after the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications 15 SP6.

For more information, check our Support Policy page https://www.suse.com/
support/policy.html or the Long Term Service Pack Support Page https://
www.suse.com/support/programs/long-term-service-pack-support.html.

2.6 Support statement for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications

To receive support, you need an appropriate subscription with SUSE. For more
information, see https://www.suse.com/support/programs/subscriptions/?id=
SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_for_SAP_Applications.

The following definitions apply:

L1

    Problem determination, which means technical support designed to provide
    compatibility information, usage support, ongoing maintenance, information
    gathering and basic troubleshooting using available documentation.

L2

    Problem isolation, which means technical support designed to analyze data,
    reproduce customer problems, isolate problem area and provide a resolution
    for problems not resolved by Level 1 or prepare for Level 3.

L3

    Problem resolution, which means technical support designed to resolve
    problems by engaging engineering to resolve product defects which have been
    identified by Level 2 Support.

For contracted customers and partners, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications is delivered with L3 support for all packages, except for the
following:

  o Technology Previews, see Section 2.7, "Technology Previews"

  o Sound, graphics, fonts and artwork

  o Some packages shipped as part of the module Workstation Extension are
    L2-supported only

  o Packages with names ending in -devel (containing header files and similar
    developer resources) will only be supported together with their main
    packages.

SUSE will only support the usage of original packages. That is, packages that
are unchanged and not recompiled.

2.6.1 General support

To learn about supported features and limitations, refer to the following
sections in this document:

  o Section 5, "New Features, Changes & Fixes"

  o Section 6, "Known Issues & Workarounds"

  o Section 7, "Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages"

2.6.2 Software requiring specific contracts

Certain software delivered as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications may require an external contract. Check the support status of
individual packages using the RPM metadata that can be viewed with rpm, zypper,
or YaST.

Major packages and groups of packages affected by this are:

  o PostgreSQL (all versions, including all subpackages)

2.6.3 SAP Support Statement

Make sure to also review the SAP Product Availability Matrix and/or SAP Note
2235581 - SAP HANA: Supported Operating Systems for official SAP support and
certification statements.

2.6.4 Software under GNU AGPL

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) (and the
SUSE Linux Enterprise modules) includes the following software that is shipped 
only under a GNU AGPL software license:

  o Ghostscript (including subpackages)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) (and the
SUSE Linux Enterprise modules) includes the following software that is shipped
under multiple licenses that include a GNU AGPL software license:

  o MySpell dictionaries and LightProof

  o ArgyllCMS

2.7 Technology Previews

Technology previews are packages, stacks, or features delivered by SUSE which
are not supported. They may be functionally incomplete, unstable or in other
ways not suitable for production use. They are included for your convenience
and give you a chance to test new technologies within an enterprise
environment.

Whether a technology preview becomes a fully supported technology later depends
on customer and market feedback. Technology previews can be dropped at any time
and SUSE does not commit to providing a supported version of such technologies
in the future.

Give your SUSE representative feedback about technology previews, including
your experience and use case.

3 Modules, Extensions, and Related Products

This section comprises information about modules and extensions for SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease). Modules and
extensions add functionality to the system.

3.1 Modules in the SLE 15 SP5 (prerelease) Product Line

The SLE 15 SP5 (prerelease) product line is made up of modules that contain
software packages. Each module has a clearly defined scope. Modules differ in
their life cycles and update timelines.

The modules available within the product line based on SUSE Linux Enterprise
15 SP5 (prerelease) at the release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) are listed in the Modules and Extensions Quick
Start at https://susedoc.github.io/doc-sle/main/html/SLES-modulesquick/ (draft
version).

Not all SLE modules are available with a subscription for SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) itself (see the column 
Available for).

For information about the availability of individual packages within modules,
see https://scc.suse.com/packages.

3.2 Available Extensions

Extensions add extra functionality to the system and require their own
registration key, usually at additional cost. Most extensions have their own
release notes documents that are available from https://www.suse.com/
releasenotes.

The following extensions are available for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease):

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Live Patching: https://www.suse.com/products/
    live-patching

The following extension is not covered by SUSE support agreements, available at
no additional cost, and without an extra registration key:

  o SUSE Package Hub: https://packagehub.suse.com/

3.3 Derived and Related Products

This sections lists derived and related products. Usually, these products have
their own release notes documents that are available from https://www.suse.com/
releasenotes.

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Server: https://www.suse.com/products/server

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise JeOS: https://www.suse.com/products/server/jeos

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop: https://www.suse.com/products/desktop

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise for High-Performance Computing: https://www.suse.com/
    products/server/hpc

  o SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time: https://www.suse.com/products/realtime

  o SUSE Manager: https://www.suse.com/products/suse-manager

4 Changes affecting all architectures

Information in this section applies to all architectures supported by SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease).

5 New Features, Changes & Fixes

Information in this section applies to all architectures supported by SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP5 (prerelease) unless noted
otherwise.

5.1 Silence KillMode=None messages

The log level of the deprecation warnings regarding killmode=None have been
reduced. Instead of warning, they are now logged at the debug log level.

5.2 Enriched system visibility in the SUSE Customer Center (SCC)

SUSE is committed to helping provide better insights into the consumption of
SUSE subscriptions regardless of where they are running or how they are
managed; physical or virtual, on-prem or in the cloud, connected to SCC or
Repository Mirroring Tool (RMT), or managed by SUSE Manager. To help you
identify or filter out systems in SCC that are no longer running or
decommissioned, SUSEConnect now features a daily "ping", which will update
system information automatically.

For more details see the documentation at https://documentation.suse.com/
subscription/suseconnect/single-html/SLE-suseconnect-visibility/.

5.3 SAP native systemd support

In the past for Linux the systemV init service sapinit was starting the SAP
Host Agent and all the sapstartsrv processes listed in /usr/sap/sapservices. A
real systemd integration was not available.

Now the native integration of SAP Host Agent is started via the
saphostagent.service unit. Adaptations to the saphostagent.service unit must be
done by adding a so-called drop-in file.

For any native integrated SAP instance a systemd unit with name schema SAP<SID>
_<INO> (for example, SAPEN1_10) is added. Adaptations should be done using a
drop-in file. It is highly recommended to still use the sapcontrol functions
which guarantees also the functionality of cluster integration like the
sap-suse-cluster-connector.

Before you start your new installation or update to the native systemd
integration, make sure you update the resource agent packages to the newest
available versions. The native SAP systemd integration is supported starting
with the following package versions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP
Applications 15:

  o resource-agents 4.10.0

  o sapstartsrv-resource-agents 0.9.0+git.1645795466.55a8cca-1.12.1

  o SAPHanaSR 0.155.0

  o SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut 0.181.0

For details please refer to the manual pages ocf_suse_SAPStartSrv(7), SAPHanaSR
(7), and SAPHanaSR-ScaleOut(7).

5.4 SAP HANA HADR provider hook script susCostOpt.py

The RPM SAPHanaSR now contains an HANA HADR provider hook script for the method
postTakeover(). This script can be used to change HANA memory limits and table
preload for the replicated HANA database in the scale-up cost-optimized setup.
For details please refer to manual page susCostOpt.py(7).

5.5 SAP HANA HADR provider hook script susTkOver.py

The RPM SAPHanaSR now contains an HANA HADR provider hook script for the method
preTakeover(). This script can be used to block manual HANA sr_takeover as long
as the SUSE cluster is controlling the HANA database. Manual sr_takeover will
be allowed only in context of the described maintenance procedures. For details
please refer to manual pages susTkOver.py(7) and SAPHanaSR_maintenance_examples
(7).

6 Known Issues & Workarounds

This is a list of known issues for this release.

6.1 Workarounds to Enable SAP HANA Workloads on Intel Optane DC Memory

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 supports Intel Optane DC
persistent memory. This enables SAP workloads, such as SAP HANA to benefit from
persistent memory This shortens start times of the system and provides better
system stability.

From a file system perspective, the XFS file system is supported for persistent
memory, with SAP HANA running in DAX mode. Make sure to also check the SAP
instructions for using persistent memory with SAP HANA. SUSE is working closely
with SAP on future developments.

If there are pmem namespaces, these need to be destroyed before the
installation. To mount persistent memory directly on boot, the respective
entries need to be added to /etc/fstab, for example:

/dev/pmem0    /mnt/pmem0    xfs    dax    0  0
/dev/pmem1    /mnt/pmem1    xfs    dax    0  0

Namespaces need to be created individually. Execute the following command for
each namespace you want to create:

ndctl create-namespace --mode=fsdax --map=dev

Because the systemd and udev default timeout may be too short for large memory
setups to become usable, your system may run into a timeout and the boot
process may stop with an emergency shell. To prevent this from happening,
increase the timeout to 1200 seconds. Create the file /etc/systemd/system/
systemd-udev-settle.service.d/00-override.conf with the following content:

[Service]
TimeoutSec=1200s
ExecStart=/usr/bin/udevadm settle -t 300

Important

Important

In an earlier version of this document, we recommended mounting persistent
memory with the nofail option in /etc/fstab. Unfortunately this frequently
required a manual mount of pmem devices on reboot. To automatically mount pmem
file systems after reboot, we strongly recommend removing the nofail option and
modifying the timeout value as described above.

7 Removed and Deprecated Features and Packages

This section lists features and packages that got removed from SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server for SAP Applications or will be removed in upcoming versions.

7.1 Removed Features and Packages

The following features and packages have been removed in this release.

7.1.1 yast2-saptune has been removed

The yast2-saptune module has been removed.

7.2 Deprecated Features and Packages

The following features and packages are deprecated and will be removed with a
future service pack of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications.

7.2.1 sapwmp has been deprecated

The sapwmp package has been deprecated and will be removed in SLES-SAP 15 SP6.

8 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-sap/ 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.

9 Legal notices

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A Changelog for 15 SP5 (prerelease)

A.1 2023-02-01

A.1.1 New

  o Section 7.1.1, "yast2-saptune has been removed" (Jira)

  o Section 5.1, "Silence KillMode=None messages" (Jira)

A.2 2022-11-30

A.2.1 Removed

  o Removed section about SAP HANA HADR provider hook script susChkSrv.py
    because it was incorrectly added to SP5 release notes

A.3 2022-10-18

A.3.1 New

  o Added Section 7.2.1, "sapwmp has been deprecated" (Bugzilla)

  o Added Section 5.2, "Enriched system visibility in the SUSE Customer Center
    (SCC)" (Jira)

A.4 2022-07-14

A.4.1 New

  o Added Section 5.4, "SAP HANA HADR provider hook script susCostOpt.py" (
    Bugzilla)

  o Added Section 5.5, "SAP HANA HADR provider hook script susTkOver.py" (
    Bugzilla)

A.4.2 Removed

  o Removed the section about Trento Agent and Server from the Technology
    Previews (Bugzilla)

A.5 2022-05-11

A.5.1 New

  o Added this changelog

A.5.2 Updated

  o Changed the link in the section about Trento Agent and Server

A.6 2022-04-21

A.6.1 New

  o Added Section 5.3, "SAP native systemd support" (Bugzilla)

A.7 2022-03-23

A.7.1 Updated

  o Changed wording in the section about Trento Agent and Server

    -If you want to use the components of Trento (packages `trento-agent` as well...
    +If you want to use the components of Trento (the agent in package `trento-premium` as well...

A.8 2022-02-16

A.8.1 New

  o Added a section about Trento Agent and Server (Jira)

A.9 2022-01-19

A.9.1 New

  o Added note about yast2-saptune deprecation (Jira)

  o Removed with the addition of Section 7.1.1, "yast2-saptune has been
    removed" in Section A.1, "2023-02-01"

A.10 2021-11-03

  o Initial 15 SP5 (prerelease) release

A.10.1 Updated

  o Changed support length to 3.5 years in Section 2.5, "Support and life
    cycle"

(C) 2023 SUSE

