The Wombelix Post - SLEShttps://dominik.wombacher.cc/2023-10-05T00:00:00+02:00SUSECON 2023 recordings public available on YouTube2023-10-05T00:00:00+02:002023-10-05T00:00:00+02:00Dominik Wombachertag:dominik.wombacher.cc,2023-10-05:/posts/susecon-2023-recordings-public-available-on-youtube.html<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Since <a class="reference external" href="https://dominik.wombacher.cc/posts/my-sessions-from-susecon-digital-23-are-online.html">July</a> the
SUSECON 23 session recordings were available on-demand but required a registration. They now became public
available on <a class="reference external" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2Uwm1Un8aZr7KcAUlwnHqfYx2JE7Ql_&feature=shared">YouTube</a>!</p>
<p>I talked about
<a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/CG7jb92ZZSA?feature=shared">Rancher integration with AWS services, possibilities ... </a><a class="read-more" href="/posts/susecon-2023-recordings-public-available-on-youtube.html"> [read more]</a></p><!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Since <a class="reference external" href="https://dominik.wombacher.cc/posts/my-sessions-from-susecon-digital-23-are-online.html">July</a> the
SUSECON 23 session recordings were available on-demand but required a registration. They now became public
available on <a class="reference external" href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2Uwm1Un8aZr7KcAUlwnHqfYx2JE7Ql_&feature=shared">YouTube</a>!</p>
<p>I talked about
<a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/CG7jb92ZZSA?feature=shared">Rancher integration with AWS services, possibilities, challenges and outlook (PROD 1178)</a>
and
<a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/6x64B7K1VFE?feature=shared">SUSE ALP prototype on AWS, Experimental, but fun (TUT 1179)</a>.</p>
<p>The sessions from my peers at AWS I want to highlight are
<a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/4fTbakJM_dk?feature=shared">SUSE Maintenance Operations on AWS Demystified (TUT 1137)</a>
and
<a class="reference external" href="https://youtu.be/szXBCuyZLn4?feature=shared">How SUSE and AWS partner to drive customer success (TBO 1042)</a>.</p>
<p>I'm looking forward to next years SUSECON and hope I have the opportunity to speak again about SUSE on AWS.</p>
SUSE forks RHEL, SUSE Liberty Linux reloaded?2023-07-11T00:00:00+02:002023-07-11T00:00:00+02:00Dominik Wombachertag:dominik.wombacher.cc,2023-07-11:/posts/suse-forks-rhel-suse-liberty-linux-reloaded.html<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>I will not go into details about the recent announcement from Red Hat to stop publishing RHEL
sources on git.centos.org and the millions of reactions from all sides ... <a class="read-more" href="/posts/suse-forks-rhel-suse-liberty-linux-reloaded.html"> [read more]</a></p><!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>I will not go into details about the recent announcement from Red Hat to stop publishing RHEL
sources on git.centos.org and the millions of reactions from all sides of the community.</p>
<p>What I want to quickly comment on, but from a probably very different view, is the announcement
that SUSE made today about a hard-fork of RHEL, as communicated in
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com/news/SUSE-Preserves-Choice-in-Enterprise-Linux/">SUSE Preserves Choice in Enterprise Linux</a>
(Archive: <a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230713102107/https://www.suse.com/news/SUSE-Preserves-Choice-in-Enterprise-Linux/">[1]</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="https://archive.today/2023.07.11-155928/https://www.suse.com/news/SUSE-Preserves-Choice-in-Enterprise-Linux/">[2]</a>)
and
<a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com/c/at-suse-we-make-choice-happen/">At SUSE We Make Choice Happen</a>
(Archive: <a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230712045257/https://www.suse.com/c/at-suse-we-make-choice-happen/">[1]</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="https://archive.today/2023.07.12-045227/https://www.suse.com/c/at-suse-we-make-choice-happen/">[2]</a>)</p>
<p>I saw a lot of reactions and comments about it on various platforms and realized, most people
doesn't seem to be aware, that SUSE already has a <em>"RHEL Clone"</em> and provides commercial support
for Enterprise Linux compatible systems, for many years.</p>
<p>Until last year, the offering was called <strong>Expanded Support</strong> and was then basically just renamed into
<strong>SUSE Liberty Linux</strong>. Rumors said, SUSE had in mind to create a own Enterprise Linux compatible Distribution
and to release it under this new name. But then decided to keep it low and proceed with the, in my opinion not
very well known, commercial offering, which mainly targeted customer that want to migrate to SLES at some point.</p>
<p>I also wrote a <a class="reference external" href="https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2022/4/2203310005881141836">letter to the editor (german only)</a>
(Archive: <a class="reference external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220706021422/https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2022/4/2203310005881141836">[1]</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="https://archive.today/2023.07.13-123054/https://www.heise.de/select/ix/2022/4/2203310005881141836">[2]</a>)
about those history, after an Article about SUSE Liberty Linux was released last year in the iX Magazine in Germany.</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Google Translate (german > english) direct link:
<a class="reference external" href="https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/select/ix/2022/4/2203310005881141836?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp">https://www-heise-de.translate.goog/select/ix/2022/4/2203310005881141836?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I really like what SUSE already did all the years and have the feeling it's
a logical step to use the existing knowledge and finally publish SUSE Liberty Linux
(or whatever name they will give it now). I just think we should keep in mind, they not going
to start something from scratch and personally I assume that existing costs for SUSE Liberty Linux
are, to a certain extend, already included in the nice sounding $10+ Million dollar investment :)</p>
<p>Still, SUSE is 30 years in the business and now seem to get serious with SUSE Liberty Linux,
I really hope they moving fast, publishing what they have and start building an
active community around their very own version of an Enterprise Linux compatible Distro.</p>
<p>Maybe at some point, people can get commercial support from SUSE for EL and switching from
a community supported to a commercial supported operating system, and vice versa, as easy
as it's possible today with openSUSE Leap 15 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.</p>
SUSE Certified Deployment Specialist in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 152023-06-28T00:00:00+02:002022-06-28T00:00:00+02:00Dominik Wombachertag:dominik.wombacher.cc,2023-06-28:/posts/suse-certified-deployment-specialist-in-suse-linux-enterprise-server-15.html<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Back at 100% after passing <strong>SCDS in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15</strong> today.
Right now, I'm holding all available SUSE Certifications, a milestone I reached
the first time in November ... <a class="read-more" href="/posts/suse-certified-deployment-specialist-in-suse-linux-enterprise-server-15.html"> [read more]</a></p><!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Back at 100% after passing <strong>SCDS in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15</strong> today.
Right now, I'm holding all available SUSE Certifications, a milestone I reached
the first time in November 2022. I'm proud about it and plan to keep up with whatever
Certification SUSE is going to release next :)</p>
<p>This one was also very special for me because SUSE invited me as BETA tester
for the Exam and I had the opportunity to provide feedback, which was used to further
improve the questions and answers before the official release at SUSECON 23 in Munich.</p>
<p><strong>Summary</strong>: Knowledge and understanding of various deployment methods and techniques,
including manual deployment, automated installation using AutoYaST, image-based
deployment using KIWI and deployment on public cloud platforms.</p>
<p>Source & Copyright: <a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com">https://www.suse.com</a></p>
<div class="section" id="skills">
<h2>Skills</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Supported Platforms</li>
<li>SUSE Customer Center</li>
<li>Product Lifecycle</li>
<li>How to Access the Product Packages</li>
<li>Technology Previews</li>
<li>Products, Modules and Extensions</li>
<li>Deployment Infrastructure</li>
<li>Deployment Services</li>
<li>Manual Deployment of SLES<ul>
<li>Preparation for a Manual Installation</li>
<li>Accessing a System during the Deployment</li>
<li>Remote Installation Process</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Automated Deployment of SLES using AutoYaST<ul>
<li>AutoYaST Components</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Image Based Deployment of SLES Using KIWI<ul>
<li>KIWI Basic Workflow</li>
<li>KIWI Build Host</li>
<li>KIWI Image Description File</li>
<li>Building KIWI Images</li>
<li>KIWI Image Maintenance</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Deployment of SLES to the Public Cloud<ul>
<li>Preparation for Deployment</li>
<li>Bring Your Own Subscription or Pay As You Go?</li>
<li>Cloud Images</li>
<li>Deployment of SLES to the Public Cloud</li>
<li>Manual Instance Deployment in the Cloud</li>
<li>Automated Deployment Tools</li>
<li>Post Deployment Configuration</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Source & Copyright: <a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com">https://www.suse.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="certificate">
<h2>Certificate</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Downloads<ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="/certificates/SCDS_SLES151002.pdf">Certificate (ID 1002)</a> (PDF, 40K)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Links<ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://suse.useclarus.com/view/verify/">Verify Certificate</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://badges.suse.com/93409520-a66c-44cc-ad5c-f51083d2378f#gs.33atsq">SUSE Badges</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
SUSE Certified Engineer in SLES for SAP Applications 152023-02-12T00:00:00+01:002023-02-12T00:00:00+01:00Dominik Wombachertag:dominik.wombacher.cc,2023-02-12:/posts/suse-certified-engineer-in-sles-for-sap-applications-15.html<!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Proud to be <strong>SCE in SLES for SAP 15</strong> number <em>166</em>, after passing the two necessary Exams today.
It's the first time SUSE requires two Exams to get certified and ... <a class="read-more" href="/posts/suse-certified-engineer-in-sles-for-sap-applications-15.html"> [read more]</a></p><!-- SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2023 Dominik Wombacher <dominik@wombacher.cc> -->
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<p>Proud to be <strong>SCE in SLES for SAP 15</strong> number <em>166</em>, after passing the two necessary Exams today.
It's the first time SUSE requires two Exams to get certified and they were really tough ones.
Tackling the <a class="reference external" href="https://dominik.wombacher.cc/posts/suse-certified-administrator-sca-in-sles-for-sap-applications-12.html">SCA+ in SLES for SAP 12</a>
and <a class="reference external" href="https://dominik.wombacher.cc/posts/suse-certified-administrator-sca-in-suse-linux-enterprise-high-availability-12-and-15.html">SCA+ in SLES High Availability</a>
last year as well as previous <a class="reference external" href="https://dominik.wombacher.cc/posts/sap-certified-technology-associate-system-administration-sap-hana-with-sap-netweaver-7-5.html">SAP NetWeaver and HANA</a>
experience definitely helped, but still, these both are the hardest SUSE Exams I took so far.
I also decided to take both Exams in a row, means 3 hours with 140 Questions, very intensive,
I would probably do it again, but not recommend to others doing it like that ;)</p>
<p>But as much I like SUSE, I have the impression that the quality of the Training Material but also Exams drops.
For example, the courses to prepare for the Exam are based on different SLES 15 versions, which leads to situations
where in Course A you learn about a specific version of a tool just to basically learn the opposite, caused by a new release, in Course B.
Also during the Exam lot of questions where just not clear in what is asked for, more than once it was just guessing.</p>
<p>Such things can happen, but I would love to see a little increase in content Quality in future.</p>
<p>Other than that, the Exam isn't only single or multiple choice anymore, there are input fields where you have to
fill in a command including all parameter to solve a problem. There are also screenshots from command output or
web / gui interfaces and you have to place a marker on the right place depending on the question, for example on the
line that provides you a specific information in a CLI output.</p>
<p>I like that there are some more variations but asking commands including arguments isn't that beneficial in my personal opinion.
I'm in the industry my whole life and looking up exact syntax and parameter in the docs and man pages is something I still do all the time.
If you want to test commands, I suggest provide a practical Exam and to let the Student build something in a real environment under real conditions,
including the availability of the standard documentation ;)</p>
<p>Anyway, I passed, with a Score of 84% in part 1 and 86% in part 2, solid numbers given the difficulty of the Exam, the passing score is 70%.</p>
<p>Overall I still can recommend the SUSE Courses and Exam, they might not perfect but can help you to improve
your Skills a lot! And that's at the end good for yourself, your career, the company you working for and most important: Your Customers.</p>
<p><strong>Summary</strong>: "SUSE Certified Engineer in SLES for SAP Applications" is designed for System Architects,
Deployment Engineers and System Administrators. Building on the "SCA+ in SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability",
this certification demonstrates knowledge of how to plan, deploy, test and manage SLES for SAP Applications to
provide High Availability for key SAP workloads, following SUSE Best Practice. The two key SAP workloads included
in the certification are "SAP HANA with System Replication in a Scale Up Performance Optimized configuration" and
"SAP Enqueue and Enqueue Replication Server"</p>
<p>Source & Copyright: <a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com">https://www.suse.com</a></p>
<div class="section" id="skills">
<h2>Skills</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>The Standalone Enqueue Serve</li>
<li>The Enqueue Replication Server</li>
<li>Architectural Overview of ENSA1</li>
<li>Architectural Overview of ENSA2</li>
<li>Deploy the Enqueue Server with High Availability</li>
<li>Configure Storage for the Enqueue Server in an HA Environment</li>
<li>Configure Name Resolution for the ASCS and ERS Instances</li>
<li>Create the Linux Users for the ASCS and ERS Instances</li>
<li>Install the Enqueue and Enqueue Replication Servers</li>
<li>Use saptune to Tune a Host for the SAP NetWeaver Workload</li>
<li>Deploy the SLE HA Cluster</li>
<li>Adapt the SAP Profiles to Match the SAP Certification</li>
<li>Integrate the Cluster Framework with sap-suse-cluster-connector V3.x</li>
<li>Adapt the SAP Profiles to Match the SAP Certification</li>
<li>Create and Configure the Cluster Resources for ENSA2</li>
<li>Overview of a Multi-SID Central Services Cluster Configuration</li>
<li>Design and Perform Cluster Tests</li>
<li>Monitor the HA Components</li>
<li>Monitor the SAP Enqueue Servers</li>
<li>Recovery Procedures after a Fail Over</li>
<li>Applying a Rolling SAP Kernel Switch</li>
<li>Manage and Deploy System Updates</li>
<li>Log Files</li>
<li>Administer the Cluster</li>
<li>SAP HANA Database Terminology</li>
<li>SAP HANA Architecture</li>
<li>SAP HANA Deployment Options</li>
<li>Scale Up and Scale Out</li>
<li>HANA System Replication</li>
<li>Component Redundancy</li>
<li>Server Hardware</li>
<li>Data Centers and HANA System Replication</li>
<li>SAP HANA High Availability Features</li>
<li>Service Auto-Restart</li>
<li>SAP HANA Auto-Restart</li>
<li>SAP HANA Disaster Recovery Support</li>
<li>SAP HANA System Replication</li>
<li>Backing Up SAP HANA</li>
<li>Performance vs Cost Optimized</li>
<li>SAP HANA Hardware and Cloud Measurement Tools</li>
<li>Appliance vs SAP HANA Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI)</li>
<li>SAP HANA Hardware Directory</li>
<li>Supported Operating Systems</li>
<li>Supported File Systems for SAP HANA</li>
<li>Storage for SAP HANA</li>
<li>HANA User and Group Accounts</li>
<li>HA with SAP HANA System Replication</li>
<li>SAP HANA Platform Lifecycle Management Tools</li>
<li>Prepare the SAP HANA Primary System before Configuring System Replication</li>
<li>Configure HANA System Replication</li>
<li>Test a manual SAP HANA System Replication Takeover</li>
<li>Use saptune to Tune Systems for a SAP HANA Workload</li>
<li>Install the SLES for SAP Applications HA Components</li>
<li>Deploy the Cluster</li>
<li>Global Cluster Configuration</li>
<li>Perform Basic Cluster Functionality Tests</li>
<li>Cluster Bootstrap Configuration</li>
<li>Configure SAP HANA HA/DR Providers</li>
<li>Create and Configure the Required Cluster Resources</li>
<li>Design and Perform Cluster Tests</li>
<li>Monitor the HA Components</li>
<li>Monitor SAP HANA System Replication</li>
</ul>
<p>Source & Copyright: <a class="reference external" href="https://www.suse.com">https://www.suse.com</a></p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="certificate">
<h2>Certificate</h2>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Downloads<ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="/certificates/Dominik_Wombacher_SCE_SLES_SAP15166.pdf">Certificate (ID 166)</a> (PDF, 121.5K)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Links<ul>
<li><a class="reference external" href="https://suse.useclarus.com/view/verify/">Verify Certificate</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>