Hello,
we are currently thinking about using SLES for VMware. Anyone with customer experience about using SLES for VMware instead of the normal SLES?
What about the quality of the VMware Support are there any disadvantages? And what about differences in the operating system? The only difference mentioned in the release notes is the VMware branding and the removal of XEN and KVM.
Thank you!
Achim
On 02/10/2014 12:24 PM, A13923 wrote:[color=blue]
we are currently thinking about using SLES for VMware. Anyone with
customer experience about using SLES for VMware instead of the normal
SLES?[/color]
No idea on this part. My personal preference is to get support from a
vendor directly, but that’s just me. The licensing bits of SLES for
VMware may be very compelling; I would not know as I use KVM and Xen
primarily.
[color=blue]
What about the quality of the VMware Support are there any
disadvantages? And what about differences in the operating system? The
only difference mentioned in the release notes is the VMware branding
and the removal of XEN and KVM.[/color]
This is the real reason I’m responding. The technical side should be all
but identical (branding). I have not compared package-by-package, but I’d
be surprised of the Xen/KVM bits were anything more than not supported,
particularly since KVM is part of the mainline kernel that you’ll be using
in any case.
–
Good luck.
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I think if you want to install KVM or Xen you could use the packages from the normal SLES repository. But you won’t get updates aside from the SPs. But probably it’s more a safety mechanism to avoid support requests regarding undesired nested virtualization 
But I’m still wondering why I couldn’t find more information about “SLES for VMware” in the net. And personally I haven’t seen a running version yet. Reading the presentations from the VMware website I would say it’s a good solution for customers using vSphere so where did they hide the disadvantages?
One question is could you buy normal SLES support with an subscription from VMware or is the only possibility to buy support from VMware. And what about special cases like the SAP LinuxLab. In some cases you need a premium support to get support from the Lab. Is this also possible with VMware support?
On 10/02/2014 19:24, A13923 wrote:
[color=blue]
What about the quality of the VMware Support are there any
disadvantages?[/color]
Kind of ironic that you’re asking the above question in a SUSE Forum …
perhaps you’re answering your own question? 
[color=blue]
And what about differences in the operating system? The
only difference mentioned in the release notes is the VMware branding
and the removal of XEN and KVM.[/color]
That pretty much sums it up - SLES for VMware is essentially SLES
branded for VMware with non-VMware virtualisation options removed.
Simon
SUSE Knowledge Partner
On 11/02/2014 08:34, A13923 wrote:
[color=blue]
I think if you want to install KVM or Xen you could use the packages
from the normal SLES repository. But you won’t get updates aside from
the SPs. But probably it’s more a safety mechanism to avoid support
requests regarding undesired nested virtualization ;)[/color]
If you (ever) want to install KVM or Xen with SLES for VMware then SLES
for VMware is not for you. You certainly wouldn’t be supported by either
VMware or SUSE.
Note that it’s possible to convert SLES for VMware to “regular” SLES (or
at least with 11 SP1) - see TID 7007761[1] (which also gives an idea of
what’s missing/different).
[color=blue]
But I’m still wondering why I couldn’t find more information about “SLES
for VMware” in the net. And personally I haven’t seen a running version
yet. Reading the presentations from the VMware website I would say it’s
a good solution for customers using vSphere so where did they hide the
disadvantages?[/color]
That’s really down to VMware. Presumably you’ve seen
http://www.vmware.com/products/sles-for-vmware/
[color=blue]
One question is could you buy normal SLES support with an subscription
from VMware or is the only possibility to buy support from VMware. And
what about special cases like the SAP LinuxLab. In some cases you need a
premium support to get support from the Lab. Is this also possible with
VMware support?[/color]
SLES for VMware is supported by VMware. “Regular” SLES is supported by SUSE.
HTH.
Simon
SUSE Knowledge Partner
A couple of customers sites are running the SLES for VMware version, and those run fine. Other than the branding (and that you are only supposed to run that version within a vSphere environment), all the other bits work the same. Customers have been using it for general purpose web services or are running their own applications on it. I’ve also used it successfully within my customer base (that did not have any SLES licenses) to supply them with an updated/supported bases SLES server with Novell Vibe running ontop (which has a free starterpack license).
I also see it as a good sign that most of the VMware own appliances are running on SLES VM’s 
All in all I’ve had good experiences with it, and don’t have any objections against it in in such environments.
Cheers,
Willem
Hi Simon,
no I’m not interested in running XEN oder KVM in an vSphere environment :). It was only a respond to the post from ab about the removal of the two components.
You said “SLES for VMware is supported by VMware. “Regular” SLES is supported by SUSE”. Is this a “yes” to my question if you could buy support only directly from VMware if you use “SLES for VMware”? Or could I use the subscriptions from VMware and buy support directly from SUSE?
Thank you
Achim