SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a
Linux-based operating system developed
by SUSE. It is designed for servers,
mainframes, and workstations but can be
installed on desktop computers for
testing as well. Major versions are
released at an interval of 3–4 years,
while minor versions are released about
every 18 months. SUSE Linux Enterprise
products, including SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server, receive more intense
testing than the openSUSE community
product, with the intention that only
mature, stable versions of the included
components will make it through to the
released enterprise product.
SLES 11 SP4 was released July 16th,
2015, which is developed from a common
code base with SUSE Linux Enterprise
Desktop and other SUSE Linux Enterprise
products.
History 
SLES has been developed based on SUSE
Linux by a small team led by Marcus
Kraft and Bernhard Kaindl as principal
developer who was supported by Joachim
Schröder. It was first released on
October 31, 2000 as a version for IBM
S/390 mainframe machines. In December
2000, the first enterprise client was
made public. In April 2001, the first
SLES for x86 was released.
SLES version 9 was released in August
2004. Service Pack 4 was released in
December 2007. It is supported by
hardware vendors including IBM, HP, Sun
Microsystems, Dell, SGI, Lenovo, and
Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 was
released in July 2006, and is also
supported by the major hardware vendors.
Service pack 4 was released in April
2011. SLES 10 shares a common codebase
with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
10—Novell's desktop distribution for
business use—and other SUSE Linux
Enterprise products.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 was
released on March 24, 2009 and include
Linux kernel 2.6.27, Oracle Cluster File
System Release 2, support for the
OpenAIS cluster communication protocol
for server and storage clustering, and
Mono 2.0. SLES 11 SP1 rebased the kernel
version to 2.6.32. In February 2012,
SLES 11 SP2 was released, based on
kernel version 3.0.10. SLES 11 SP2
included a Consistent Network Device
Naming feature for Dell servers.
IBM's Watson was built on IBM's Power7
systems using SLES.
The SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 beta
was made available on February 25, 2014,
and the final version was released on
the 27th of October, 2014.
Version history 
Release dates of SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server versions.
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server
for S/390, October 31, 2000
for Sparc, April 2001
for IA32, April 2001
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 7
Initial release, October 13, 2001
For first time, common codebase for all
architectures
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8Initial
release, October 2002
SP1
SP2
SP2a
SP3
SP4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
Initial release, 2004-08-03
SP1, 2005-01-19
SP2, 2005-07-07
SP3, 2005-12-22
SP4, 2007-12-12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Initial release, 2006-06-17
SP1, 2007-06-18
SP2, 2008-05-19
SP3, 2009-10-12
SP4, 2011-04-12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
Initial release, 2009-03-24
SP1, 2010-06-02
SP2, 2012-02-15
SP3, 2013-07-01
SP4, 2015-07-16
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
Initial release, 2014-10-28
Hypervisor kernels supported 
SLES 10:
Xen 3.2
SLES 11 SP1:
Xen 4.0
kvm with QEMU 0.12
SLES 11 SP2:
Xen 4.1
kvm with QEMU 0.15
See also 
SUSE Linux distributions
Linux on z Systems
List of Linux distributions
Comparison of Linux distributions
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
References 
Further reading 
Jason Eckert. SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server Administration. p. 760. ISBN
978-1-4188-3731-0. 
Jason Eckert. Advanced SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server Administration. p.
432. ISBN 978-1-4188-3732-7. 
Eckert, Jason. SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server Security. Course Technology. ISBN
978-1-4283-2223-3. 
Kuo, Peter; Jacques Beland. SUSE LINUX
Enterprise Server 9 Administrator's
Handbook. Novell Press. ISBN
978-0-672-32735-3. 
van Vugt, Sander. The Definitive Guide
to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Apress.
ISBN 978-1-59059-708-8. 
Harris, Jeffrey; Mike Latimer. Novell
Open Enterprise Server Administrator's
Handbook, SUSE LINUX Edition. Novell
Press. ISBN 978-0-672-32749-0. 
External links 
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server product
page
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Cool
Solutions – tips & tricks, guides, tools
and other resources submitted by the
SUSE Linux Enterprise community
