Introducing SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 Service Pack 2 as a public beta also allows users to influence future development and will enable them to more quickly deploy when the software reaches general availability.
"The exciting infrastructure capabilities in Service Pack 2 will help keep customers ahead of the innovation curve," said Raj Meel, SUSE product marketing manager. "To introduce these capabilities more widely, we've made this a truly open beta, not just for customers only. All developers, users and Linux community members can try out Linux kernel 4.4 updates in a top enterprise distribution, seeing firsthand how it will continue to help them meet the changing needs of their businesses."
Solutions based on SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 SP2 will feature first-to-market enhancements including:
* Enterprise production support for Open vSwitch with DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit), which improves Open vSwitch performance by more than 12 times to meet the demands of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) solutions. Open vSwitch with DPDK accelerates the user space data plane and provides the packet processing capabilities needed for SDN and NFV solutions.
* Time- and resource-saving upgrades with "skip service packs" functionality, which lets customers skip upgrades of prior service packs and jump straight to SP2 from SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.
Additional enhancements include:
* Improved system performance using Intel Skylake technology to deliver high-performance graphics, improved system responsiveness and longer battery life.
* Hardened system security through secure cryptoprocessor standard TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0. TPM is now built into most computers to enable trusted server-side computing.
* Enhanced productivity with GNOME 3.20 using integrated Google Drive, redesigned notifications and new development environment GNOME Builder for GTK applications.
* Improved business continuity with near-zero downtime through expanded clustering capabilities using additional Distributed Replicated Block Device (DRBD) nodes. These capabilities are delivered with SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension along with a new, enriched Hawk2 user interface.
