The openSUSE Leap Micro is a reliable, lightweight operating system purpose-built for edge computing, betting on immutability and transactional updates.
Suppose you are a regular user using Linux for your everyday desktop needs. In that case, you can stop reading further and look at our articles on the other great openSUSE offerings in this area, such as Leap or Tumbleweed.
However, if you are involved in cloud computing or containerization in general, the new openSUSE Leap Micro will catch your attention. Here’s why.
openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 Highlights
To begin with, openSUSE Leap Micro is practically a rebranded SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) Micro version. In other words, you get the best for your edge computing needs.
In this new release, Cockpit v298, a web-based GUI that allows you to monitor and administer the underlying Linux OS, is mature enough to fully manage the operating system without you hardly having to reach the terminal.
In addition, new Cockpit modules have been included. Note that Cockpit does not come preinstalled, so if you want to take advantage of its facilities, you need to add it to your system first by running:
transactional-update pkg install cockpitThen, reboot into the new snapshot (remember, it is an immutable OS) and run it via systemctl.
Next stop – Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux). The new openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 brings some enhancements that promise to make it even more efficient.
As with the previous release, it is set to enforcing mode by default. But now, it brings podman-docker and hyper-v support for AArch64 for an even more robust and secure user computing experience.
We won’t fail to mention another significant highlight of this edition, the Quadlet. openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 comes with Podman version 4.4, which directly integrated it, thus hiding the complexity of running containers under systemd to make it easier to maintain unit files written from scratch.
Do you prefer Docker? The developers have taken care of that. Leap Micro 5.5 also ships with podman-docker, a Podman wrapper that can be used with Docker Compose.
Lastly, take into account that with Leap Micro 5.5 out, 5.3 is now End of Life (EOL), so users are strongly advised to consider upgrading to either the Leap Micro 5.4 or 5.5 releases, this way, ensuring access to the latest features, security enhancements, and ongoing support.
You can refer to the release notes for detailed information about all changes. The new openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 is available for download from the project’s website.
