General index of the series: Computer Networks for SMEs: Introduction
Hello friends!.
The Serie "SME Networks»Is designed for all those who, in one way or another, have to deal with this type of very common networks in our companies or work centers on a daily basis. The distributions that we have selected for their development are of proven stability and security. We already explained it in detail in the post Distribution over time of Linux Distributions.
Many readers know of my preference for Debian which I manifest from my first article written -almost 5 years ago- for the blog humaOS.uci.cu dedicated to Free Software, which was Don't let a tree prevent us from seeing the forest!, also published in DesdeLinux for the month of March 2012.
However, and since then, whenever someone asked me about my recommendation of a distribution for the business environment, I invariably replied: openSUSE.
He also explained that a Desktop for the home or for personal use as a Systems Administrator is not the same as Workstations dedicated to being used by workers of a company that embraced the world of Free Software.
I replied that, despite the greater consumption of resources of this distribution with respect to, for example, Debian, I maintained my recommendation. That openSUSE was a distribution conceived by its creators for use in companies, without removing the fact that it is perfectly suitable for use on Servers, Desktops and Workstations, since it is a general purpose distribution.
If we are consistent with all of the above, then we must address this large distribution. We do not have the installation DVD for your version 42.2 openSUSE Leap nor from its repositories, not to mention that we don't have an Internet connection fast enough for direct installation from the web.
Happily we have the DVD of its penultimate version openSUSE 13.2 released on November 24, 2014, as well as a sufficiently complete repository that weighs about 88.5 Gbytes.
Our considerations are ...
- An SME requires Servers and Workstations equipped with stable, secure, and easy-to-use operating systems.
- If you do not have a team of technically well-prepared Linux specialists, you also need the ease of installation, configuration, and integration of each server and workstation, with the different network services -including authentication- that are used in the SME.
- Let us always remember that in the PYMES Series we are talking about business environments or environments -not domestic- whose main purpose is to obtain profits with the lowest possible costs, including training, technical support, software, and so on.
- If the SME does not have the financial resources necessary to pay for the Technical Support Service, and only has technical - computer personnel with basic knowledge, openSUSE is a very good option to consider.
- If the SME is going to migrate from Windows, for example, openSUSE is also a very good option to consider.
- It is a distribution with a very good technical documentation that, among other languages, includes Spanish.
openSUSE 13.2 is… according to its own creators
If we visit the OpenSUSE Wiki in Spanish, on the page openSUSE Portal: 13.2 we will find textually -among other information- the following:
- Stable
Much effort has been put into testing in this post, with enhancements to our openQA automated testing tool, a tool that ensures that the end result is free of unpleasant surprises. The Btrfs file system is the default file system for the root volume, while XFS is the default for the / home volume. The Linux 3.16 kernel also brings improvements in stability and recognition of different hardware. In addition, the YaST source code has matured after being ported to Ruby, a language that facilitates the development of new features and tools.
- Interconnectable
This release comes with AppArmor 2.9 enabled by default, which translates into more security, and has a tight profile in AppArmor. There are also many other updated packages including many other network tools like Samba, AutoYaST and many others.
- Evolved
openSUSE 13.2 comes with GCC 4.8 and the option to install the new GCC 4.9, and Qt 5.3 which brings many improvements to the QT interface. You also have the option to install the new KDE5 (which is still under development).
- Refined
In this release the new YaST "translated" into Ruby language has matured to the point where its codebase is now more secure and packed with great new features than you expected from Yast. ActiveDoc continues to be the place to find documentation for various tools that sooner or later you will find yourself in the world of Linux. Version 13.2 also offers KDE 4.14 which will be the desktop environment while the KDE project continues to develop what will be Plasma 5. While in GNOME you can enjoy its version 3.14. LXDE It has been revamped for this release with updated packages, visual improvements, and a ton of bug fixes.
- Faster
Linux 3.16 comes with enhancements for nouveau, the open source driver for NVIDIA cards and also many more features for graphics from Intel and AMD. This new kernel also improves the performance of Btrfs and XFS.
- Logistics
KDE now comes with support for integrating your mobile devices through the package kdeconnect. The new Btrfs file system that is set by default for the root partition, means that you will have a lot of new features available, more than you ever imagined. YaST also comes with a new Qt interface that has also been updated to Qt5.
- Innovative
This new release has a good number of new experimental technologies available that you can try, such as Wayland 1.4, KDE Frameworks 5, the latest software available from the Build Service and a new color for the distribution theme.
Summary
- We are facing a very good distribution that we can choose for our company.
Links of interest
- Portal: openSUSE 13.2
- Documentation
- How to migrate from Windows
- Last Stable Distribution
- Wiki Terms and Conditions
- openSUSE Rolling Release Tumbleweed
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Upcoming deliveries
We invite you to continue with our next installments: openSUSE Desktop, Qemu-KVM with openSUSE, and DNS - DHCP with openSUSE
As you can see, reader friends, the order of the articles varies depending on the prodeposits and surprises we have for you. 😉
Excellent! I use OpenSuse in my day to day life and I am more than satisfied.
Do not doubt it Leo, that it is one of the Big Three distributions. Wait for the next installments on openSUSE!
Back in 2011 I used OpenSuse for the first time (at the desktop level), it was at that time the distro that started the fastest, then I did not touch it again until I installed opensuse tumbleweed last year (which also works very well) ... Now It's time to do it at the server level, which I'm sure is where this distro can be used the most
openSUSE is a general purpose distribution. With it we can also make a tall desk. I think that your best weapon is YaST, especially for those who are not used to implementing and configuring services through the console. A Windows server administrator must adapt without any problems to use openSUSE, and thus reduce costs in your SME. It also makes daily life easier for a Linux Sysadmin.
Coincidence, I have Leap 42.2 on the laptop, I got Plasma 5 versionitis and I put Stretch but it was very unstable, they recommended Leap and I tried it without much hope but it surprised me, a boutique Plasma desktop. Which I do miss ... the huge Debian repositories.
Hello Dhunter !!!. You were lost in these parts. I have not tried Leap yet because of the repo issue. If they have commented to me, those who install directly from the Internet, that is out of the question. I continue with my Debian Jessie and my MATE. 😉 I'll write about Leap, after Eduardo Noel brings me the happy repos.