SGI® Altix® and SGI Altix XE® systems are sold with a choice of operating systems such as the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SUSE Linux) or Red Hat® Enterprise Linux. Silicon Graphics Prism® is sold with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 9. SGI ProPack for Linux is proprietary software designed to enhance the Linux experience with these systems. When layered with SUSE Linux or Red Hat Enterprise Server operating systems, SGI ProPack delivers improved application performance, software development, and support for SGI's large scalable HPC systems, clusters, such as the SGI Altix and SGI Altix XE systems, and storage.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SGI ProPack for Linux are sold with upgrade protection included in the purchase price. Upgrade protection provides automated downloads for the latest updates, patches, minor and major releases during the time protection period purchased. Technical support for problem resolution, fault isolation and analysis is not included, but can be obtained by purchasing an SGI Service Contract from SGI. Customers can choose to purchase one or both of the support types. There are two separate processes for purchasing renewals for each of these support types.
Technical Phone Support: The technical phone support is renewed by way of your annual maintenance renewal which is issued by your local SGI Contract Renewal Representative. First level technical phone support is provided by opening a case through Supportfolio or by calling the SGI Hotline at 1-800-800-4744.
Upgrade Protection: Upgrade Protection renewal is quoted by and ordered through your local SGI Sales Representative to maintain and ensure the synchronization of both products. SUSE Linux and SGI ProPack have a revision level dependency which makes it important that both SUSE Linux and SGI ProPack be synchronized and maintained by way of Upgrade Protection.
Support Contract Renewal Process for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SGI ProPack
Since Upgrade Protection and technical phone support are purchased and processed separately, the duration and end-dates of the contracts may not be in sync with each other which make renewal process critical. To ensure proper synchronization of the support coverage, please review the following procedure:
SGI's local Service Sales Representative issues a renewal maintenance quote for the entire system along with the SUSE Linux and SGI ProPack marketing codes which entitles the software to technical phone support only. Software updates are not included.
Request the renewal of the Upgrade Protection for SUSE Linux and SGI ProPack through your local SGI sales representative.
Upon renewal of the SUSE Linux Upgrade Protection, you will receive a letter which references a 14 digit Activation Code.
Register this Activation Code with Novell. It is necessary to report the registration codes for SUSE Linux with Novell/SUSE to ensure appropriate entitlement and tracking. This should be done as soon as possible after receiving the registration codes. Registration can be done by contacting Novell Customer Center directly through their website www.novell.com.
Log into your Novell Account and register. If you do not have an account with Novell, you must create an account and login. You can give Admin and User access to other users so that they will be able to use this same Novell account.
How to Obtain Updates and Patches for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SGI ProPack
If you have a system running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and you wish to add SGI ProPack to your system, you must order SGI ProPack media and online upgrade protection to obtain the software. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 requires SGI ProPack 5; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 requires SGI ProPack 4. For Prism systems, the only option is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 with SGI ProPack 4.
Please reference the SUSE Linux and ProPack Upgrade FAQ at https://support.sgi.com/content_request/255549/index.html for information on how to obtain software upgrades/updates and many other frequently asked questions.
