Part II System

SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop is available for 64-bit platforms. This does not necessarily mean that all the applications included have already been ported to 64-bit platforms. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop supports the use of 32-bit applications in a 64-bit system environment. This chapter offers …

Booting a Linux system involves different components and tasks. The hardware itself is initialized by the BIOS or the UEFI, which starts the Kernel by means of a boot loader. After this point, the boot process is completely controlled by the operating system and handled by systemd. systemd provides a set of “targets” that boot setups for everyday usage, maintenance or emergencies.

This chapter describes how to configure GRUB 2, the boot loader used in SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop. It is the successor of the traditional GRUB boot loader—now called “GRUB Legacy”. GRUB 2 has become the default boot loader in SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop since version 12. A YaST module is available for configuring the most important settings. The boot procedure as a whole is outlined in Chapter 11, Booting a Linux System. For details on Secure Boot support for UEFI machines, see Chapter 13, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).

UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is the interface between the firmware that comes with the system hardware, all the hardware components of the system, and the operating system.

The program systemd is the process with process ID 1. It is responsible for initializing the system in the required way. systemd is started directly by the Kernel and resists signal 9, which normally terminates processes. All other programs are either started directly by systemd or by one of its chi…

When systemd replaced traditional init scripts in SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 (see Chapter 14, The systemd Daemon), it introduced its own logging system called journal. There is no need to run a syslog based service anymore, as all system events are written in the journal.

Linux offers the necessary networking tools and features for integration into all types of network structures. Network access using a network card can be configured with YaST. Manual configuration is also possible. In this chapter only the fundamental mechanisms and the relevant network configuration files are covered.

SUSE® Linux Enterprise Desktop supports printing with many types of printers, including remote network printers. Printers can be configured manually or with YaST. For configuration instructions, refer to Section 6.3, “Setting Up a Printer”. Both graphical and command line utilities are available for…

The X Window System (X11) is the de facto standard for graphical user interfaces in Unix. X is network-based, enabling applications started on one host to be displayed on another host connected over any kind of network (LAN or Internet). This chapter provides basic information on the X configuration…

FUSE is the acronym for file system in user space. This means you can configure and mount a file system as an unprivileged user. Normally, you need to be root for this task. FUSE alone is a kernel module. Combined with plug-ins, it allows you to extend FUSE to access almost all file systems like remote SSH connections, ISO images, and more.

The kernel can add or remove almost any device in a running system. Changes in the device state (whether a device is plugged in or removed) need to be propagated to user space. Devices need to be configured as soon as they are plugged in and recognized. Users of a certain device need to be informed …

This document describes the basic principles of the kGraft live patching technology and provides usage guidelines for the SLE Live Patching service.

kGraft is a live patching technology for runtime patching of the Linux kernel, without stopping the kernel. This maximizes system uptime, and thus system availability, which is important for mission-critical systems. By allowing dynamic patching of the kernel, the technology also encourages users to install critical security updates without deferring them to a scheduled downtime.

A kGraft patch is a kernel module, intended for replacing whole functions in the kernel. kGraft primarily offers in-kernel infrastructure for integration of the patched code with base kernel code at runtime.

SLE Live Patching is a service provided on top of regular SUSE Linux Enterprise Server maintenance. kGraft patches distributed through SLE Live Patching supplement regular SLES maintenance updates. Common update stack and procedures can be used for SLE Live Patching deployment.

This chapter starts with information about various software packages, the virtual consoles and the keyboard layout. We talk about software components like bash, cron and logrotate, because they were changed or enhanced during the last release cycles. Even if they are small or considered of minor importance, users should change their default behavior, because these components are often closely coupled with the system. The chapter concludes with a section about language and country-specific settings (I18N and L10N).