Linux and Windows Interoperability

You need the Linux that works with Windows. You need the company that works with Microsoft.

You have a variety of software solutions in your data center and you need those technologies to work well together today and in the future. Now they can, when you bring Windows and Linux together securely and reliably with SUSE® Linux Enterprise.

SUSE Linux Enterprise is the fundamental building block of the next generation data center. It's the only Linux distribution Microsoft officially recommends for customers who want Windows and Linux solutions. And the only Linux with complete support from both Novell and Microsoft.

The best Linux for running Windows and Linux together.

If you want the Linux that works best with Windows and that won't constrict your ability to support your business, partner with the company that's partnering with Microsoft.

Get the most from your Linux and Windows investments for the lowest total cost of ownership.

Every enterprise, big and small, wants to achieve new levels of flexibility and agility in their mixed-IT environment—at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Now you can, with Virtualization from Novell.

As part of our partnership with Microsoft, we’re developing an optimized cross-platform virtualization solution that allows Windows Server 2008 to be a virtualized guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to be a virtualized guest on Windows Server 2008.

Run Windows Server 2008 as a virtualized guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and vice versa.

Unprecedented Flexibility

The benefits are clear. You gain the ability to run multiple servers on a single hardware platform. The ability to run legacy applications on commodity hardware. And the assurance that by working together in a joint interoperability lab , Novell and Microsoft will deliver unprecedented flexibility to move virtual machines between the Linux and Windows worlds.

The partnership between Novell and Microsoft also offers you new levels of technical support from both companies.

Microsoft will support Windows running as a guest only on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Xen technology. If you call Microsoft with a technical problem with your Windows guest on non-Novell virtualization platforms, Microsoft will ask you to recreate the problem in a non-virtualized environment.

If you call Microsoft with a technical problem with your Windows guest running on top of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Microsoft will give you the assistance you need.

Cut your workload and complexity in half.

At Novell, our goal is to reduce complexity and eliminate the need to invest in redundant management tools for managing discrete Linux and Windows server environments.

Through the work we're doing in the Novell/Microsoft joint Interoperability Lab, we're making this capability a reality by developing an open-source implementation of the WS-Management-protocol.

This will allow you to use Linux tools like ZENworks® to manage a Windows environment and let you use Windows tools to manage a Linux environment.

Manage Windows and Linux with one set of tools.

Choose Which Tool You Use to Manage

By giving you the ability to manage all of your virtual machines, whether they are Linux- or Windows-based with the tool you choose, Novell is also giving you the ability to standardize on a single management tool across multiple operating environments and to reduce your training costs.

You don't need multiple directories to manage the same amount of users.

Many companies have investments in multiple directory services, whether they like it or not. Today, global enterprises are built by acquisition as well as through organic growth. So multiple directory services that add to both management and complexity are common.

Grant seamless access to Web-based Windows and Linux services.

Making It Easier to Determine Who Should Get What, When

In our joint Interoperability Lab, Novell is working with Microsoft to improve federated identity management between Novell eDirectory™ and Microsoft Active Directory, using web services protocols such as WS-federation and the related WS-Security.

This collaborative work will allow authorized users to seamlessly access Web-based services whether their user accounts principally reside in Novell eDirectory or Microsoft Active Directory.

See Interoperability at Work

View a BrainShare 2007 video where we were able to demonstrate interoperability between Windows and Linux.

Or find out what other identity management issues we'll soon be addressing in the Interoperability Lab at moreinterop.com/.

Two companies. One vision.

The best way to bridge the gap between Linux and Windows is to have Novell and Microsoft engineers working together in one interoperability lab. That’s why in 2006, we opened the Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In this lab, engineers from each company are now working side by side to identify, address and test your most pressing interoperability issues. Novell is the only open source vendor to have such a facility with Microsoft. And the work being done in the lab is already making a difference.

Linux and Windows technical experts collaborating under one roof.

Cross-Platform Virtualization is Just the Start

Thanks to our collaboration, bi-directional virtualization solutions, virtualizing Windows Server 2008 as a guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and virtualizing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a guest on Windows Server 2008, are now supported configurations from both Novell and Microsoft.

Areas of Future Collaboration

Other areas Novell and Microsoft engineers will be exploring include standards-based systems management, identity federation and document format compatibility. You can learn more about the work being done in our interoperability lab at moreinterop.com.