SUSE 10 Tastes Sweet to SMBs

SUSE’s German (well, it started out that way). I’m German (well, I started out that way). So I know that suesse means sweet in the mother tongue. And indeed, Novell’s new version of enterprise SUSE is definitely an SMB sweet.

Normally, dropping a different OS into an existing server farm is a problem. Administrators don’t know how to work it, connectivity with other OSes is an issue, yada yada. Novell seems to have worked that out, though.

One of my Linux zealot friends recently proved that to me, showing me his installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10. An install he simply dropped into a mix with two Windows servers running Active Directory, print and a little mission-crit application. He wanted to use SUSE as a base to run Scalix because he was tired of playing with Exchange and moving AD to Small Business Server seemed too much of a pain.

Damn if SUSE didn’t just drop in there and start chugging. Mostly we attribute this to Novell’s yet-again-upgraded YaST–that’s SUSE’s renowned package installer. I thought it was easy back in 9, but version 10 is even more plug and play. Hell, he ran me through a test install on a spare workstation just to show it off. If you can install Windows, you can install SUSE. The only stumbler might be when the install asks you to pick a file system. Windows intermediates may flub that one, but the default selections are good for 80% of the world anyway so when in doubt, just hit OK.

After install, finding the Windows network was as easy as doing so with a PowerBook. Plug it into the network, assign the right domain name and you’re a minute or so away from connected bliss. The server can even be setup to authenticate and respond to AD requests. All point and click. Very slick–should have been that way years ago.

But a base server OS isn’t all that Novell throws into the mix. My friend just wanted the thing to run a low-cost email server he wouldn’t need to upgrade every 18 months, but he got a chunk more for his $800 (he bought the support version and now he’s wondering if he wasted the money). Novell tosses in a few more goodies. Xen virtualization and AppArmor are two biggies.

Xen virtualization is a slick deal. It doesn’t go so far as to allow granular and dynamic resource allocation, but it’s easy and integrated, so setting up a virtual server or two is simple. My friend was touting an Apache server that he wanted to run as an intranet server, but I kinda rolled my eyes on that–nothing is easier than SharePoint for that kind of thing. Still, the Xen stuff was sweet and it may help with his MySQL database.

AppArmor was cooler. This is an app-level intrusion detection program that works with anything running on SLES. This is an upgrade from the app-level stuff that Novell put into the last version. AppArmor has a very simple interface that lets you create threshold and alert profiles in a real sexy point-and-click GUI.

SLES 10 also has a long list of enterprise-level applications for which it’s certified as well as the usual server OS goodies, like a firewall, DNS capability or even its own directory, which is all cool. But for me, it’s ability to see and interact with Windows is it’s primary strength and AppArmor just puts some real sweet icing on top.

For SMB admins who want to begin moving to Linux, maybe experiment with running Linux applications, or work to really save some money on Linux-based applications–all of these lend themselves real well to SLES 10. Check it out.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10

Novell

Price: $349 (base two-CPU); $799 (full support plan)

Verdict: This is one slick GUI-driven Linux server with all the connectivity and application support you need to take advantage of open source price advantages without tech headaches. AppArmor is a sweet bonus.

Screen Shots

Yast Installer

System updates