SUSE, a German company founded in 1992, released SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in 2000. It was one of the first enterprise Linux distributions and ran on IBM mainframes from the start. Ownership passed from Novell to Attachmate, Micro Focus and EQT before SUSE became independent again. SLES is the leading platform for SAP HANA, and each major version is supported for at least ten years, plus paid Long Term Service Pack Support.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
SUSE's enterprise Linux distribution, widely used for SAP workloads and on IBM mainframes, with long-term support for each major release.
- Active project
- Latest 16.0Nov 2025
- Supported 2 versions
At a glance
- Type
- Linux distribution
- Developer
- SUSE
- First release
- 31 Oct 2000
- Release cadence
- Service pack about yearly; major release every few years
- OS family
- Linux
- Package format
- RPM (Zypper)
- Init system
- systemd
- Architectures
- x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x
- Support
- 10 years general + 3 years LTSS per major release
- License
- Subscription
- Website
- suse.com
Newest release
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0
Released 4 Nov 2025
Support status
Release history
| Version | Released | End of life | Extended | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16.0 | 4 Nov 2025 | 30 Nov 2027 | 30 Nov 2030 | Supported |
| 15.7 | 17 Jun 2025 | 31 Jul 2031 | 31 Jul 2034 | Supported |
| 15.6 | 26 Jun 2024 | 31 Dec 2025 | 31 Dec 2028 | Extended support (paid) |
| 15.5 | 20 Jun 2023 | 31 Dec 2024 | 31 Dec 2027 | Extended support (paid) |
| 15.4 | 21 Jun 2022 | 31 Dec 2023 | 31 Dec 2026 | Extended support (paid) |
| 15.3 | 22 Jun 2021 | 31 Dec 2022 | 31 Dec 2025 | End of life |
| 15.2 | 21 Jul 2020 | 31 Dec 2021 | 31 Dec 2024 | End of life |
| 12.5 | 9 Dec 2019 | 31 Oct 2024 | 31 Oct 2027 | Extended support (paid) |
| 15.1 | 24 Jun 2019 | 31 Jan 2021 | 31 Jan 2024 | End of life |
| 12.4 | 12 Dec 2018 | 30 Jun 2020 | 30 Jun 2023 | End of life |
| 15.0 | 16 Jul 2018 | 31 Dec 2019 | 31 Dec 2022 | End of life |
| 12.3 | 7 Sep 2017 | 30 Jun 2019 | 30 Jun 2022 | End of life |
| 12.2 | 8 Nov 2016 | 31 Mar 2018 | 31 Mar 2021 | End of life |
| 12.1 | 15 Dec 2015 | 31 May 2017 | 31 May 2020 | End of life |
| 11.4 | 15 Jul 2015 | 31 Mar 2019 | 31 Mar 2022 | End of life |
| 12.0 | 27 Oct 2014 | 30 Jun 2016 | 1 Jul 2019 | End of life |
| 11.3 | 1 Jul 2013 | 31 Jan 2016 | 30 Jan 2019 | End of life |
| 11.2 | 29 Feb 2012 | 31 Jan 2014 | 30 Jan 2017 | End of life |
| 10.4 | 12 Apr 2011 | 31 Jul 2013 | 30 Jul 2016 | End of life |
| 11.1 | 2 Jun 2010 | 31 Aug 2012 | 30 Aug 2015 | End of life |
| 10.3 | 12 Oct 2009 | 11 Oct 2011 | 31 Oct 2014 | End of life |
| 11.0 | 24 Mar 2009 | 31 Dec 2010 | 31 Dec 2010 | End of life |
| 10.2 | 19 May 2008 | 11 Apr 2010 | 10 Apr 2013 | End of life |
| 10.1 | 18 Jun 2007 | 30 Nov 2008 | 31 Dec 2010 | End of life |
| 10.0 | 17 Jul 2006 | 31 Dec 2007 | 31 Dec 2007 | End of life |
Release data: endoflife.date and vendor announcements, checked 13 Nov 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Support timeline
The 12 most recent releases, from release day to the end of support.
- Active support
- Extended (paid)
- Today
16.0
15.7
15.6
15.5
15.4
15.3
15.2
12.5
15.1
12.4
15.0
12.3
History
Milestones
- 2000SUSE releases SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for IBM mainframes
- 2004Novell acquires SUSE
- 2011SUSE becomes an independent business unit after Attachmate buys Novell
- 2018SLES 15 adopts a modular design
- 2019SUSE becomes independent again
- 2025SLES 16 is released
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server guides
Frequently asked questions
What is the latest version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server?
The newest SUSE Linux Enterprise Server release is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0, released on 4 Nov 2025.
Which SUSE Linux Enterprise Server versions are still supported?
As of 13 Nov 2026, 2 versions are supported: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 (until 30 Nov 2027); SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.7 (until 31 Jul 2031).
Is SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.6 still supported?
No. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15.6 reached end of life on 31 Dec 2025 and no longer gets free security updates. Paid extended support continues until 31 Dec 2028. Upgrade to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0.