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​Mirantis and SUSE support multiple Linux OpenStack clouds

OpenStack runs on Linux, but it has many moving parts. SUSE and Mirantis want to be your cloud integrator.
Written by Steven Vaughan-Nichols, Senior Contributing Editor

I like OpenStack, the open-source infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud, but it is not easy to set up.

OpenStack Logo

SUSE and Mirantis are joining forces to support OpenStack and gain more cloud marketshare.

So, some companies, such as Red Hat, offer OpenStack software stacks to help companies with this. SUSE, another Linux pioneer, has also tried this approach with its OpenStack offerings. Now SUSE is trying something a little different. In partnership with Mirantis, the pure-play OpenStack company, the two companies are offering Mirantis OpenStack customers support for both SUSE and Red Hat enterprise Linux distributions.

The two will work on optimizing SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for Mirantis OpenStack. SLES will become a Mirantis OpenStack development platform. At the same time, SUSE and Mirantis will work on supporting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS, the Red Hat's community enterprise operating system.

Specifically, Mirantis will offer support, patches, and updates for current versions of SLES, RHEL, and CentOS. Priority subscriptions are available in single or three-year terms and include security and other updates plus 24x7x365 email and phone-based support -- with guaranteed one-hour response time.

"Many of our larger customers run two or three different Linux flavors. Now OpenStack users can get support for their major Linux distributions in one place from Mirantis," said Mirantis co-founder and CMO Boris Renski in a statement. "Thousands of enterprises worldwide across major industries count on SUSE because they offer enterprise-grade, high reliability, bet-your-business service level agreements. Partnering with SUSE gives Mirantis customers access to this support as they build their private cloud."

SUSE will not be closing the doors on its own OpenStack distribution. According to Michael Miller, SUSE's president of strategy, alliances and marketing, customers can still choose between SUSE OpenStack Cloud and Mirantis OpenStack.

While RHEL, SLES, and CentOS are all popular OpenStack platforms, the most popular OpenStack Linux of all, Canonical's Ubuntu, isn't supporting this new alliance. I foresee much jockeying for position still in the vast collection of companies that support OpenStack.

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