Missing packages from SLES for VMware 11 SP1 distribution

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES Updates
1

Hi forum,

I’m seeing rather little info on the net about people running
SLES4VMware, which surprises me. It’s a sweet deal.

Now to my question; I am missing some essential packages in the SLES
for WMware distribution. For instance are there almost no development
packages available at all. For instance “zlib-devel” is in SLES 11.1 but
not in SLES 11.1 for VMWare. Same goes for Tomcat. I like to build my
installations with SuseStudio, it’s great. And with a normal SLES 11 SP1
I can add for instance a repo called ‘maven’ which contains Sun Java
1.6. This is not available if I create a “SLES for VMware” distro. Why
are VMware so strict when it comes to the packages installed by it’s
customers??

And the people at VMware often have no idea what I’m talking about.
First I have to convince them that they do in fact provide support for
SLES(for VMware). After fiddling around for a while on the computer or
talking to a colleague they finally agree with me. And I have asked them
a few times now without getting a straight answer – will the SLES for
VMWare distribution be expanded to include development packages and
other things like Tomcat 6 from SLES 11 SP1?

OR, will I break the support given from VMware on ‘SLES for VMware’ if
I add a normal SLES, OpenSUSE or a third party RPM-repository and
install packages from there. I need Sun’s JAVA, Tomcat and some
development stuff on my production servers. Would VMware still provide
support for the core OS and even the SLES packages i.e. Tomcat 6 ??

p.s. don’t get me wrong, I am very pleased with the support provided
from VMware on VMware products. On SLES I haven’t been able to get
anything at all! :confused:

Regards,
/Stefan

–
stefan_nordlander

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2

The missing SDK (aka the zlib-devel) problem appears to be a
configuration issue in SUSE Studio. I’ve reported an enhancement request
for this.

Please note that you should use the IBM Java that is provided with SLES
and the tomcat6 packages. Both are maintained with security fixes.
including a community repo that
has been deleted many months ago (The “maven” repo) and is therefore
not being updated is not a good idea.

–
dirkmueller

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3

Hi Dirk and thanks for your reply,

I was not aware of the separate SDK ISO from Novell, good idea to have
it added to SuseStudio. I was told Tomcat is on there too (it’s missing
from Studio as well). I also got a reply from VMware / Novell regarding
their support, I presume it’s OK to relay this info here as it is
current at the time of writing (please note thought that You should
always check up on support issues with your support contact and not
relay soley on info found on community forums on the net :)). What I was
told was that VMware provides 1st line support for the “SLES for VMware”
distribution and 2nd (etc) level support is handeled by Novell. The
“core OS” is supported even if third party repos are added and other
applications installed / compiled, but support technicians reserve the
right to ask the customer to remove any “own” installed application for
troubbleshooting purposes. Which makes totally sense.

So thanks again for your reply, and thanks to VMware for their time in
replying to my questions.

Regards,
/Stefan

–
stefan_nordlander

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