Managing 20,000 Systems with a Single SUSE Manager Server: A Success Story with COOP

Managing 20,000 Systems with a Single SUSE Manager Server: A Success Story with COOP

At SUSE, we love Linux. And we also love managing Linux in the best way possible. We do this with SUSE Manager. Our aim is to manage “any Linux anywhere at any scale”.

Introduction to SUSE Manager and COOP

SUSE Manager, based on the Uyuni Project, drives the management of “Any Linux, Anywhere at Any Scale.” What sets SUSE Manager apart is the added support from our SUSE Linux Delivery and Engineering teams. COOP Group, one of Switzerland’s largest retail and wholesale companies, has been a long-time SUSE customer. With over 2,600 stores, nearly 96,000 employees, and sales of 34.7 billion CHF in 2023, COOP is a market leader in organic food sales, representing half of all such sales in Switzerland.

The Challenge

In October 2023, COOP approached SUSE with a challenging issue affecting its SUSE Manager server. While SUSE Manager is already managing 100,000 devices across multiple servers using HUB architecture, COOP required managing 20,000 systems on a single server, pushing beyond typical limits. COOP’s need to centrally manage cash registers and digital scales resulted in rapid system growth, impacting performance as the SUSE Manager server encountered memory issues.

Technical Solution and Collaboration

Our SUSE Premium Support, Engineering, and Consulting teams worked together to resolve these issues. Claus, a Premium Support Engineer, quickly assessed COOP’s environment, helping escalate the issue. SUSE Manager engineer Victor examined each system component, optimizing code and recommending process improvements.

SUSE provided Program Temporary Fixes (PTFs), offering rapid patches to address the urgent need, keeping COOP’s production running. Thanks to the efforts of the Engineering team and architect Ricardo, we introduced crucial scalability improvements to the underlying code, which enhanced performance for COOP and future SUSE Manager users.

Outcome: Enhanced Scalability for All SUSE Users

As a result, COOP now manages 20,000 systems with a single SUSE Manager server. Beyond benefiting COOP, these improvements were contributed back to the Uyuni Project, enhancing performance, scalability, and resilience for all users.

Ivelina, our Service Delivery Manager, and Claus, our Premium Services Engineer, brought their deep knowledge and dedication to solving this challenging case, fostering open communication and trust with COOP. This collaboration demonstrates the passion and commitment SUSE brings to its partnerships.

At SUSE, we believe in a customer-focused approach, and this partnership with COOP exemplifies our commitment to excellence and innovation in Linux management. Let’s have a lot of fun!

Explore more success stories with SUSE Multi-Linux Manager here to see how other organizations are thriving.