Manual linux suse

SuSE Linux 7.2 Professional

If Red Hat is the reigning world champion of Linux distributions, SuSE, Europe's leading distribution, is arguably the prime contender for the title. And there's nothing about this distribution that should prevent its use worldwide. From a technical point of view, choosing between Red Hat and SuSE is like choosing between Coke and Pepsi: It's as much a matter of taste as anything else.

SuSE Linux 7.2 Professional comes with the usual complement of free and open-source software. All the GNU development tools are included, as are the standard network services (Apache, BIND, Samba, and others) and support for most major programming languages. SuSE also comes with StarOffice, a full office suite with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation capabilities.

You can get SuSE as a seven-CD set or on a single DVD, which eliminates the need to swap disks during the otherwise painless installation process. Even before the operating system is installed, users will become acquainted with YaST2 (Yet Another Setup Tool 2), SuSE's distinctive system management utility. YaST2 handles disk partitioning, software selection, and installation. The utility is impressive: It has a nice, clean look and feel, is easy to get around in, and provides a soup-to-nuts Linux administration solution.

One aspect of SuSE that may result in confusion (and controversy among the Linux community) involves the default location for installing software. SuSE puts many programs in the /opt directory instead of the more common /usr. As a result, users familiar with other Linux distributions have to be careful to allocate enough disk space to the partition containing the /opt directory. SuSE's /opt preference will be more familiar to Solaris administrators, but it has fallen out of favor among most Linux admins. Technically, it's an acceptable way to partition and manage a Linux system, but the fact that it may take some by surprise is a negative mark. Few things are more frustrating to an admin than incurring installation problems because of incompatible directory structures.

Like most Linux distributions, SuSE uses the standard Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), so that administrators familiar with Linux can easily work with the operating system once it's up and running. For users, YaST2 configures most aspects of the machine, from network interfaces to firewall rules.

SuSE's hard-copy documentation is arguably the best, with a reference manual and five other books covering every possible topic, including installation, configuration, applications, and networking. SuSE also provides a substantial knowledge base online for times when the answer can't be found on the printed page.

The Professional version of SuSE includes 90 days of installation support. After that, the company offers a number of support contracts, as well as per-incident packs.