From: Adam Tworkowski (atworkowski_at_masterfile.com)
Date: Tue Mar 14 2006 - 16:00:17 CET
From: Adam Tworkowski <atworkowski@masterfile.com> Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 10:00:17 -0500 Message-Id: <1142348418.11234.16.camel@atworkowski-ubuntu> Subject: Re: [suse-sles-e] SLES License (Upgrade Protection Terms is the clincher)
This certainly is not my reading of Novell Upgrade Protection Terms
(SUSE LINUX Maintenance Terms). It states in clause #4 that "If
Customer purchases Upgrade Protection, it must purchase Upgrade
Protection for all copies of the SUSE LINUX product(s) installed."
(http://www.novell.com/company/policies/suselinux/index.html).
Unless I am mistaken, there is no way to legitimately access Novell's
YOU servers without purchasing "Novell Upgrade Protection" which amongst
other things, buys you the rights to software patches/updates. (If
there is, then is might be the "loop hole" that you are looking for.)
It sure sounds like the following:
Whether you have each server access Novell's YOU server directly, or
whether you use your own repository that is seeded by a single server
connecting to Novell's YOU server, all SLES servers need to have a valid
"Upgrade Protection" license, whether you plan to ever update all of
your servers or not. This means you cannot have a pool of "updated"
productions servers and a pool of (unlicensed) development servers that
go unpatched -- its a violation of the agreement.
If I am misreading this please let me know as we are about to spend a
small fortune on SLES updated. I spent a good deal of time trying to
figure out all of this legalese so wouldn't have an unexpected visit
from our lawyer who is just across the hall ;)
-- Regards, Adam Tworkowski, atworkowski@masterfile.com Systems Administrator, Computer Department Masterfile Corporation, www.masterfile.com On Tue, 2006-14-03 at 12:32 +0100, Paolo Basenghi wrote: > Leo wrote: > > Sure the online update and patch is more convenient and easier, it > > will save a lot of time. I want to know is it possible to build an > > update server by myself, say for example, I have one server has the > > account and be able to get all the updated RPM files, and the other > > servers without the license just copy the RPM files from the server, > > without connecting to the website, is this possible or popular? > Yes, it is possible AND popular. You can use YaST to create an > installation server and/or a YOU server on the machine connected to the > Internet, then configure YaST on the internal servers to download > updates from your YOU server. Read the manual, SuSE already has > everything you need. > > About licensing doubts: you should read the Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise > Server 9 Software License Agreement > (http://www.novell.com/licensing/eula/sles_9.pdf), it's very clear: > "The Software is a collective work of Novell. You may make and use > unlimited copies of the Software for > Your distribution and use within Your Organization. The term > “Organization” means a legal entity, excluding > subsidiaries and affiliates with a separate existence for tax purposes > or for legal personality purposes." > > So Novell says that you can buy a _single_ maintenance subscription to > access online updates and use it to update an arbitrary number of SLES > installations within your organization. > > You must only pay attention to that packages that have more restrictive > licenses: > "The Software is a modular operating system. Most of the components are > open source packages, > developed independently, and accompanied by separate license terms. Your > license rights with respect to > individual components accompanied by separate license terms are defined > by those terms; nothing in this > Agreement shall restrict, limit, or otherwise affect any rights or > obligations You may have, or conditions to > which You may be subject, under such license terms." > > So, for example, OpenLDAP is not under GPL, but it permit unlimited copy > and redistribution if the original copyright notice and license is also > redistributed. > > I don't know if SLES9 contain any commercial bundled software that don't > permit multiple installations. I think that Novell should insert a list > directly in the license agreement. > > Regards > Paolo > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-sles-e-unsubscribe@suse.com > For additional commands, e-mail: suse-sles-e-help@suse.com > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: suse-sles-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands, e-mail: suse-sles-e-help@suse.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.7 : Tue Mar 14 2006 - 16:00:38 CET