SUSE YES Certification bulletin exposed – part 2

This is the second blog (of four) in the series “SUSE YES Certification bulletin exposed” – designed to help SUSE Linux Enterprise customers and partners better understand what they can learn from an online published SUSE YES Certification bulletin. The goal is to lessen the stress of future hardware purchases.

Last time, we covered the following information in the system bulletin: the system name and possible configuration data, the type of certification (Network Server or Workstation), certified operating system and/or service pack version and virtualization certification content. You can read part 1 if you missed it at SUSE YES Certification bulletin exposed – part 1, (– part 3) (– part 4).

Product Description

Now let’s jump back in. If you want to bring up a bulletin to follow along as you read, go here: https://www.suse.com/yessearch/. The next section of the bulletin is the Product Description. This is the place where the SUSE partner certifying their hardware product can insert their marketing or sales pitch. This section does not always contain information about the exact “tested or certified” configuration but can include what “is available or optionally available” on that system. There are basic requirements for partners who want this information included in a bulletin. For example, the system was certified with the basic on-board graphics controller, the partner cannot include information in the product description about all the high-end graphics controllers optionally available. They would need to be certified to be included. It cannot include comparisons to competitors or terms such as “best” or “fastest.” So there should not be any outrageous or misleading claims in the product description.

Tested Configuration

The next section is the Tested Configuration. This is where the meat of the bulletin begins and where SUSE shines in the certification arena. The tested configuration contains the specifics of the system (server or desktop) that were certification tested. The first field is the Computer Type, specifically whether the system is a tower, desktop, rack mount, laptop, blade, etc.—or even a System z mainframe. The next field is the Motherboard Revision, which is self-explanatory.

BIOS/uEFI

Next is the BIOS/uEFI field. Here you’ll learn the exact version and date of system firmware tested during certification; it also states how SUSE Linux Enterprise was installed/booted. Traditional (older) systems use a BIOS for system basic boot and I/O interaction. Newer systems use uEFI, which replaces the BIOS and provides advanced features and enhanced functionality. These interact directly with the operating system. The bulletin shows whether the operating system install/boot is BIOS, UEFI or UEFI-Legacy. “UEFI-Legacy” means the system has uEFI firmware, but SLE was installed and booted using the legacy BIOS routines in the new uEFI firmware, similar to a compatibility mode. The BIOS/uEFI field provides the certified install/boot method.

CPU/Processor(s)

The next field contains the processor or CPU specifics: the number of processors (or populated sockets), the exact model and generation of the processor and the speed or frequency of the processor. (For the number of processor cores you will need to look up the processor model on the manufacturer’s web site.) The next field is the total amount of RAM or memory tested during certification. On a third-party virtualization host bulletin this field will also contain guest memory configurations.

You can find more information about SUSE YES Certification at https://www.suse.com/partners/ihv/yes/ or search for certified hardware at https://www.suse.com/yessearch/. Stay tuned for my next blog entry (SUSE YES Certification bulletin exposed – part 3) to continue where we left off. For other YES Certification topics, check out my other blogs.