Licensing and Pricing Policies for SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server

Subscription Licensing Policy

For machines with x86, x86-64, Itanium or POWER processors, one subscription is required per physical machine (with a maximum of 32 CPUs) on which SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is installed, in order to receive maintenance updates (security fixes, patches and product enhancements). For IBM System z mainframes, one subscription is required per mainframe engine on which SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is installed.

Virtual Machine Guests

To encourage adoption of Xen, Novell offers unique pricing for SUSE Linux Enterprise. One subscription to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server covers all virtual images on the same physical server. While each physical server requires the purchase of a subscription to be activated and receive ongoing updates and patches, you can create an unlimited number of virtual server images in Xen or other virtualization technologies on each activated physical server. No additional subscriptions are required for virtual images.

Multi-core Processors

Multi-core processor technology, the placement of multiple processor cores in one physical socket, is an exciting development in the enterprise server market. Multi-core processors are essentially a performance upgrade to an existing single-core processor, and as such conform to general licensing policy. Novell considers a multi-core processor as a single processor for licensing and maintenance of its Linux operating system products.

Hyperthreading Processors

While some software applications may recognize hyperthreaded processors as two processing units, Novell considers hyperthreaded processors as a single CPU socket for licensing and maintenance of its Linux operating system products.

High Performance Computing Pricing

High performance computing (HPC) is often used in academic and scientific research, and is now experiencing greater adoption within enterprise data centers. Novell offers special HPC pricing for dedicated workloads. Please contact your Novell sales representative or your HPC Cluster hardware vendor for further information.