SUSE Studio General FAQs

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What is SUSE Studio?

• SUSE Studio is a simple and fast appliance builder.
• It provides an easy to use, web-based user interface and will run in your browser without other needed software.
• One great feature is the SUSE Studio Testdrive. You can boot, configure and test your appliance in a browser window without download.

What is a software appliance?

• A software appliance is a pre-configured combination of
  • an application (e.g. a database)
  • it's configuration
  • and an operating system (e.g. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server)

• The parts are integrated into a single image and deployable on industry standard hardware.

• If it is intended for deployment on a server, it is a software appliance.
• If it is intended for deployment on a hypervisor or in a cloud computing environment, it is a special type of software appliance called a virtual appliance.

• You can read more details at http://www.novell.com/linux/appliance/

What are the benefits of appliances?

• Appliances...
  • are easy to run.
  • are small.
  • own a well defined software selection and configuration.
  • fit perfectly to the often clearly defined system environment.
  • are easy to maintain.

Who should use SUSE Studio?

• Everyone who is interested in creating a well tailored openSUSE or SUSE Linux Enterprise appliance.
• You will need basic knowledge in the use of repositories and software packages and some knowledge in Linux configuration.

How much does it cost?

• http://www.susestudio.com is for free.
• Of course you must take care of the legal stuff that will come along with the applications and the Linux system.

How can I get access to SUSE Studio?

• Open your browser and go to http://www.susestudio.com . Sign in or create account via the link in the upper right corner.

• Note: We are currently in the beta phase and we are testing SUSE Studio with a limited number of users.
  • We are ready to send out more and more invitations week by week.
  • Send us your email via the SUSE Studio login page and we will put you on our invitation list.

How can I cancel my account?

• You may cancel your use of the Services by providing notice to Novell at "studio-feedback [at] suse.de".

Is it difficult to create appliances?

• No, it is easy. The development team focused strongly onto the "easy of use".

• After your first sign in you will not own an appliance. The system offers the template selector where you can choose to create an appliance based on different templates.

• In the appliance editor simply use the tabs to navigate
  • Software: Add/Remove packages and repositories (you will have access to the openSUSE build service) or upload your own rpms.
  • Configure: Configure locale settings, startup options, database use, storage management and other things like the look and feel via logo and wallpaper
  • Overlay files: Add "overlay files" to fine tune the application and system configuration
  • Build: Start the build run to create
    • a Disk Image
    • a LiveCD/DVD
    • a VMware Image
    • or a Xen Image
  • Testdrive: If the build is finished, launch and interact with your creation in a virtual machine in your browser window, make changes and commit those changes to the appliance. To do this, use the Modified files tab in the testdrive.
  • Then implement your changes via a new build run and download the resulting image via the Build tab.

What do I get with SUSE Studio?

(The items described here may change.)

• You will be able to create appliances within the license agreement terms and to store them in your SUSE Studio Home.
• Your Home will have a certain amount of disk space depending on the number of SUSE Studio users.
• Inactive images will be deleted after a while, but this is no problem, it's easy to restore them again with the appliance configuration file.

• The appliances are based on one of the following base systems
  • JeOS, openSUSE 11.1, SUSE Linux Enterprise
• The templates offer different combinations of
  • Server, Desktop, KDE, Gnome, Minimal X, 32 or 64 bit architecture
• The openSUSE build service repositories are shared with SUSE Studio and you can upload private rpms to your private repository
• You will be able to create
  • Live CDs/DVDs, e.g. to demonstrate projects like Marble, Mono, etc. or Installation medias for special hardware, e.g. EeePC
  • Disk Images like Live USB sticks, e.g. running openSUSE 11.1 with KDE or Gnome without touching the hard disk of the machine
  • Server-appliances based on Xen Image or VMware Image, e.g. LAMP, Joomla, SUGARCRM, Wordpress, etc.

• Look at the examples in the download section.

Which hardware and software do I need to work with SUSE Studio?

• Currently SUSE Studio only supports
  • Firefox 2 and 3 browser on Linux, OS/X and Windows.
  • Safari 3 on OS/X.
• Other browsers can show problems.

Can I lose my data in SUSE Studio?

• Every change in your appliance configuration will be stored at once. SUSE Studio is using "instant apply", the web interface does not need special "OK" actions.
• The appliance configuration file is a XML-file and will not need much space. So it will not be deleted.
• Only your images will be removed after some days to save space on the servers. The system will restore them automatically if you need them.

How secure is my private work in SUSE Studio?

• Your work is stored in your private SUSE Studio Home.
  • Your appliances (including your configurations and uploaded rpms and overlay files) are not shared with other users of SUSE Studio.
  • Of course every SUSE Studio administrator will have access to your appliance and your uploaded files.
• You are able to add new repositories and this repositories are shared with other users.
• If you don't want to share software, use the rpm upload, this will create a private repository.
• Your privacy is important to Novell. The Novell’s Privacy Statement describes the information practices for Novell web sites, including what type of information is gathered and tracked, how the information is used, and with whom the information is shared.

Where can I read the SUSE Studio licence agreement text?

• A copy of the license agreement text is placed here: SUSE Studio terms of use

Can I report inappropriate appliances?

• If you detect an appliance with inappropriate content send an email to "studio-feedback [at] suse.de" .

Where can I talk to experienced SUSE Studio users?

• Go to the SUSE Studio Forum or enter the SUSE Studio Chat. You will find the links in the SUSE Studio footer.

What is the relationship between SUSE Studio and the openSUSE project?

• SUSE Studio enhances the openSUSE infrastructure with building appliances based on the latest stable openSUSE release.
• SUSE Studio is integrated with the openSUSE Build Service to create appliance out of Build Service projects and packages.