SUSE Manager 1.7 versus Spacewalk

SUSE Manager
1

Hello,

I have a simple question, but I am sure the answer would be rather complicated, still, here it is:

What is that separates SUSE Manager so much from the its alternative Spacewalk? Are there any additional features that are not present in Spacewalk, and if so, which are they? Is the support or the availability of patchs and updates better? I have tried to look for some information about this on the web but I found nothing but info brochures from Novell and SUSE :slight_smile:

Thanks in advance!

2

SUSE Manager and Spacewalk share the same code base and functionality. All Spacewalk additions and fixes we develop are discussed on the spacewalk-devel mailing list and integrated into the upstream product.
The SUSE Manager product comes with maintenance (regular stream of fixes and new features) and support (ability to file support requests). This is usually the main reason people choose an enterprise Linux offering vs. a community driven one.

Besides that, SUSE Manager provides

  • a radically simpler setup workflow
  • embedded Oracle EE database
  • Integration with Novell Customer Center
  • SLES templates for the openSCAP security scanner
  • SUSE branding

Hth,

Klaus

3

Thanks for the comprehensive answer Klaus!

Cheers,
Konstanitn

4

There is one other difference, which I’ve recently discovered, in that unless one pays for Suse Manager subscriptions, it is limited to managing 10 systems.
Given the cuts in public sector in the UK at the moment, and the need to drive down bottom-line costs, I now need to try Spacewalk as we simply cannot buy subscriptions.