The Subscription Management Tool 11 for SUSE® Linux Enterprise helps customers manage their SUSE Linux Enterprise software updates while maintaining corporate firewall policy or regulatory compliance requirements, as well as addresses any bandwidth concerns arising from the software update process due to repeated downloads.

Subscription Management Tool is a package proxy system that is integrated with Novell Customer Center and provides key Novell Customer Center capabilities locally at the customer site. It provides a repository and registration target that is synchronized with Novell Customer Center, thus maintaining all the capabilities of the Novell Customer Center while allowing a more secure centralized deployment.

Subscription Management Tool allows customers to provision updates for SUSE Linux Enterprise devices (server, desktop, or POS terminal) and devices that are based on Red Hat* Enterprise Linux version 3, 4, and 5. By downloading these updates only once and distributing them throughout the enterprise the customer is able to set more restrictive firewall policies and, where applicable, can avoid bandwidth constraints stemming from repeated download of the same updates by each device.

By using Subscription Management Tool, a customer can easily determine how many entitlements are pending renewal at the end of their billing cycle without having to physically walk through the data center to manually update spreadsheets. The same entitlement information is also available through the customer's Novell Customer Center account to completely streamline the process.

Subscription Management Tool provides an infrastructure for several hundred SUSE Linux Enterprise devices per-Subscription Management Tool server installation instance, ensuring more accurate and efficient server tracking.

It supports fully disconnected operations at highly secure sites, such as installations at military or other highly classified deployments.

Subscription Management Tool can be utilized with any SUSE Linux Enterprise software deployment from Novell that is updated through nu.novell.com, beginning with the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 Service Pack 2 (SLE 10 SP2) family of products and future releases.

Installing Subscription Management Tool is optional for customers and although end-user experience remains the same, it improves the interaction among SUSE Linux Enterprise devices within the network and how they receive their system updates.

Subscription Management Tool is available as a download to customers with an active SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscription and is fully supported. It is packaged as an add-on product to be installed on an SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 server. Any SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux product updated from nu.novell.com can be locally supported via an Subscription Management Tool server.