With SLES15 SUSE introduced the Multimodal OS and the unified installer. Means, you only get what you really need. Your OS is flexible and you can easily add features you need and remove them as well. But this article shouldn’t be an explanation of the multimodal OS, it will show you some of the new features of SLES15 SP1.<\/p>\n
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SUSE supports the migration from SLES15 to SLES15 SP1 in online mode.
\nYou can upgrade using two possibilities, YaST migration (GUI) and Zypper migration (command line).
\nBe sure that your system is registered at the SUSE Customer Center or has a local RMT server. Afterwards, just use “zypper migration”, type the number of the product you want to migrate and accept the terms of the license. That’s it.
\nThe best way to check, if the installation was successful.<\/p>\n
\nsles15:~ # cat \/etc\/os-release | grep PRETTY_NAME\nPRETTY_NAME=\"SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1\"\n<\/pre>\nSo let’s have a look at the new features and improvements of SLES15 SP1 .<\/p>\n
Unified Installer<\/h3>\n
SUSE Manager Server and Proxy are now available as base products. Both can be installed using the unified installer.
\nPoint of Service and SLE Real Time are also included in the unified installer now.<\/p>\nTransactional Update<\/h3>\n
In OpenSUSE Leap and SUSE CaaS transactional update was already implemented, now it is also possible to run transactional updates with SLE. To install transactional update, the Transactional Server Module needs to get activated first (no additional key is needed). Afterwards the transactional-update package and its dependencies can be installed.<\/p>\n
\nsle15:~ # SUSEConnect --product sle-module-transactional-server\/15.1\/x86_64\nRegistering system to SUSE Customer Center\n\nUpdating system details on https:\/\/scc.suse.com ...\n\nActivating sle-module-transactional-server 15.1 x86_64 ...\n-> Adding service to system ...\n-> Installing release package ...\n\nSuccessfully registered system\nsle15:~ # zypper install transactional-update\nRefreshing service 'Basesystem_Module_15_SP1_x86_64'.\nRefreshing service 'SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_15_SP1_x86_64'.\nRefreshing service 'Server_Applications_Module_15_SP1_x86_64'.\nRefreshing service 'Transactional_Server_Module_15_SP1_x86_64'.\nLoading repository data...\nReading installed packages...\nResolving package dependencies...\n\nThe following 6 NEW packages are going to be installed:\n attr bc openslp psmisc rsync transactional-update\n\n6 new packages to install.\nOverall download size: 686.6 KiB. Already cached: 0 B. After the operation, additional 1.3 MiB will be used.\nContinue? [y\/n\/v\/...? shows all options] (y): y\n\n<\/pre>\nAs you maybe know, SUSE uses btrfs with snapper as default for the file systems. This builds the basis for the transactional updates. Transactional updates are applied into a new snapshot, so the running system is not touched. Using this technology, the updated snapshot will be activated after the next reboot. So this is an update, that is
\n– Atomic: either fully applied or not.
\n– Easily revertabled: after a failed update the return to the previous (running) system is easy.<\/p>\nSimplified btrfs layout<\/h3>\n
There is only one single subvolume under \/var not 10 for simplified and consistens snapshots. This takes only effect for fresh installations. Upgraded systems still use the old layout.
\nStartings with SLES15 SP1 there is also the possibility to have each home-directory as single subvolume. But this is not the default.<\/p>\nSecure encrypted virtualization (SEV)<\/h3>\n