User Guide www.suse.com
SUSE Customer Center
October 2014 Table of Contents Introduction...... 3
System Requirements...... 3
Who Should Use SUSE Customer Center?...... 3
Key Features and Benefits...... 4
Administering Your SUSE Customer Center Account...... 4
Creating a SUSE Customer Center Account...... 5
Logging In to SUSE Customer Center...... 7
Managing Account Information...... 7
Working with Organizations...... 8
How Organizations Are Created for You...... 9
Belonging to Multiple Organizations...... 9
Switching to Another Organization...... 9
Viewing Another Organization...... 10
Requesting Access to an Organization’s Account...... 11
Working with Users...... 11
Viewing User Information...... 12
Adding an Organization Administrator or an Organization User to an Organization...... 13
Removing Users from an Organization...... 14
Changing account data...... 15
Managing Products and Systems...... 16
Managing Products and Subscriptions...... 17
Getting Your Activation Code from a Purchase...... 17
Managing the Details of the Registered Systems...... 19
Legal Notice...... 21
p. 2 Introduction SUSE® Customer Center is an online tool designed to make it easy for you to manage your business and technical interactions with SUSE. Via one interface, you can do the following:
• Get a status of available, used and expired subscriptions • Review the status of supported SUSE products, subscriptions, and services • Get access to support The data from Novell Customer Center for SUSE® products has been consolidated into the SUSE Customer Center. SUSE Customer Center brings together customer information to provide an overview of subscriptions, entitlements, system and organizations. As a result, you can better manage your subscriptions, check compliance, and stay informed about your account.
The products available through the SUSE Customer Center are:
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop • SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications • SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time Extension • SUSE Cloud • SUSE Manager • SUSE Studio • LibreOffice • Extensions • Subscription Management Tool If your product is not available in this list, then you can continue to use Novell Customer Center for that product.
System Requirements You can access SUSE Customer Center with any browser, but we have optimized our application for the latest version of Firefox and Chrome/Chromium.
SUSE Customer Center might work, but it’s not tested, with Internet Explorer, Safari and older versions of Firefox and Chromium. SUSE Customer Center will be soon optimized for mobile usage.
Who Should Use SUSE Customer Center? SUSE Customer Center focuses on the following roles within your organization:
• Purchasers of SUSE products • IT manager • System administrators • Resellers Anyone responsible for purchasing, installing or updating SUSE products can benefit from SUSE Customer Center if they are given access rights by an organization administrator, who is the administrative user of the account, or by another user with the same rights. If you do not know who this user is, contact your internal support organization. For further details please contact our customer operational teams at [email protected]
SUSE Customer Center defines two types of users:
p. 3 • Organization administrators control rights for the entire organization. They can add users, grant administrator rights to others and have administrative rights to all subscriptions for that organization. • Entitled users have activated a system by using a subscription owned by the organization or have been granted rights to other subscriptions by a group or organization administrator. To access SUSE Customer Center, you need a Login account. To see information about your account or subscription, you either need to register the product or ask an organization administrator to give you access to the information about the organization. For information about logging on to your account and managing information, see the section below
Key Features and Benefits When you install a SUSE Linux Enterprise product such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, the install process provides an opportunity to automatically register the system with SUSE Customer Center. Registering helps you lower your product maintenance cost by providing the following features:
• Entitlement management
• An overview of available and used subscriptions within an organization
• Automatic access to the latest updates and patches
• Access to additional information about any SUSE Linux Enterprise product
Key Features and Benefits for Purchasers If you are responsible for purchasing SUSE products, SUSE Customer Center helps you do the following:
• Review expiration dates • Review the usage • See entitlements
Key Features and Benefits for IT Managers If you are an IT manager, SUSE Customer Center helps you do the following:
• Compare active subscriptions • Activate subscriptions • View a list of registered systems • View a list of available products based on the purchased subscriptions
Key Features and Benefits for System Administrators If you are a system administrator, SUSE Customer Center has introduced a set of APIs that allow you to access the available products and their repositories directly via your management tools (e.g., SUSE Manager or SUSE Subscription Tool)
More details about the API can be found at https://github.com/SUSE/connect/wiki/SCC-API-(Implemented)
Administering Your SUSE Customer Center Account After you have created an account in Customer Center and are entitled to be an organization administrator, you can add and manage users and control their access to your information.
This section includes the following topics:
• Managing Your Account • Working with Organizations
p. 4 • Working with Users
You must have a Login account to log in to Customer Center. A login account provides access to several services, including access to SUSE Customer Center and Novell Customer Center. In case you already have a Login account for Novell Customer Center, you can use it for SUSE Customer Center. There is no need to create an additional account!
Creating a SUSE Customer Center Account You might already have a Customer Center account under the following circumstances:
• You have installed a system without an activation code or downloaded an evaluation registration code. The first time you install a supported product and choose to register it with Customer Center without a registration code, an account is created for the e-mail address you enter during the registration process. Any additional products you register using that e-mail address or download when logged in are automatically added to your account. (Starting with SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 this feature is dropped.) • You are added as an entitled user or organization administrator by another organization administrator. Your account is registered as a member of that organization. NOTE: You can be a member of multiple organizations. These include the one created when you set up your account and any others to which you are added by that organization’s administrator or to which you are automatically assigned based on a purchase.
Creating a SUSE Customer Center Account Using the Web User Interface If you do not have an account, you must create one the first time you log in to SUSE Customer Center.
To create a Login account:
1. Go to the SUSE Customer Center
2. Click Create an account, which is to the right of the account login fields.
p. 5 3. Fill in the required information and click Create Login.
p. 6 Your Login account is created. Please don’t forget to validate your email in order to be able to further manage your account (e.g., recover your password).
After you have a Login account, you can log in to SUSE Customer Center.
Logging In to SUSE Customer Center 1. Go to the https://scc.suse.com
2. Enter your Login username and password.
You must have a Login account to be able to access SUSE Customer Center. If you do not have an account, click Create an account and follow the instructions presented above.
3. Click Login.
Managing Account Information Your personal account information includes details such as your name and contact information. This information is stored as part of your Login account.
To edit your account information:
1. Log in to Customer Center as described in the section regarding Login into SUSE Customer Center/
2. Click on your name on the top right corner > Login Profile in the left navigation frame.
You will be redirected to a cross-business unit page that will allow you to change your Novell and SUSE Customer Center credentials.
p. 7 Working with Organizations If you are an organization administrator, you can specify who has access to information about products, subscriptions, and other services that are listed your organization. For information on adding organization administrators, see the section below.
The following sections provide more information:
p. 8 • How Organizations Are Being Created for You • Belonging to Multiple Organizations • Viewing Another Organization • Requesting Access to an Organization’s Account
How Organizations Are Created for You In SUSE Customer Center, accounts are placed into organizations. For example, an organization can represent a company and contain the systems and subscriptions registered to that company.
When you create a Login account, you are added to a company’s organization if either of the following is true:
1. The subscription was purchased under a contract tied to that company
2. An organization administrator added you as a user or an organization administrator
An organization is created for you if you:
• Register an evaluation product • Purchase an OEM product and install it
Belonging to Multiple Organizations A user can be associated with multiple organizations in SUSE Customer Center. This is useful, for example, if a reseller needs to use a single SUSE Customer Center login to view and manage information for multiple customers.
A user’s role and access to information changes when switching to a different organization, based on the user’s assigned roles in that organization. For information about the available roles, see the section on who should use SUSE Customer Center.
Switching to Another Organization For information about how to switch to another organization, follow the next steps.
1. Login to SUSE Customer Center.
2. Go on the top right of the page.
3. Click on the current organization name.
4. Select from the drop-down menu the organization.
Viewing Another Organization 1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described above.
p. 9 If you are a member of only one organization, the name of the organization appears on the SUSE Customer Center home page above the information for that organization. In this case, you cannot view another organization.
If you are a member of multiple organizations, a drop-down menu allows you to select the organization you want to view.
2. Select the organization you want to view from the drop-down menu.
The drop-down shows the information for the selected organization. Your role and access to information for this organization changes based on your assigned rights for this organization.
NOTE: You can switch to another organization from within several SUSE Customer Center pages. For example, if you are viewing the systems for one of your organizations, you can use the drop-down menu on the Systems page to switch to the system information for another organization.
Requesting Access to an Organization’s Account 1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described in the section above.
2. If you are a member of more than one organization, select Connect to an Organization from the Management Tools menu and insert at least one registration code connected to the other organization. In case you don’t have one, please contact your organization administrator
p. 10 3. Fill in one of the registration codes that belongs to your organization.
4. Click Connect.
The request is automatically processed, and you will be informed about the status of your request.
Working with Users In many organizations, more than one person needs access to system information. For example, the organization’s purchasers and IT administrators might need information about the organization’s account.
SUSE Customer Center defines two types of users:
• Organization administrators control rights for the entire organization. They can add users, groups and other administrators, and they have administrative rights to all subscriptions for that organization. • Entitled users have activated a system by using a subscription owned by the organization or have been granted rights to other subscriptions by a group or organization administrator. User access to the site is limited to information about that particular system unless the group or organization administrator grants rights to other subscriptions or systems.
This section describes the following tasks:
• Viewing User Information • Adding an Organization Administrator or an Organization User to an Organization
p. 11 • Removing Users from an Organization • Editing a User
Viewing User Information Only organization administrators or organizational users can see information about all users.
To view the Users page:
1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described in relevant section.
2. Click on Manage users under the Management tools on the dashboard
Under this page you can search for a user, export the list of all users, delete users or make a user and admin
3. If you want to invite a user to your organization, add his or her email address in the invitation box that you can find under the user page
An email will be send to the invited user with further details about how to create an account.
Adding an Organization Administrator or an Organization User to an Organization SUSE Customer Center enables you to give access to your organization’s information to anyone you choose. This can include co-workers, other interested people in your company, your Novell sales representatives or resellers.
NOTE: You can add any user to your organization by entering a valid email address. However, to access SUSE Customer Center, each user must have a Login account using the e-mail address you have assigned. Users can create a SUSE Login account the first time they access SUSE Customer Center, as described in “Logging In to SUSE Customer Center.”
To add an organization administrator or organization user:
1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described in “Logging In to SUSE Customer Center.”
2. Click on Manage users under the Management tools on the Dashboard
p. 12 3. Select the user from the available list.
4. Click on the check box under the Owner column.
The new user name appears in the user list, represented by the icon for that type of user. If the user doesn’t have an account, the new user is listed by e-mail only.
p. 13 Removing Users from an Organization To remove an user from an organisation
1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described above“
2. Click on Manage users under the Management tools on the dashboard.
3. Select the user form the available list
4. Click on the red recycle bin icon.
NOTE: In case you are the only administrator for your organization, you will not be able to delete yourself. Please consider adding a new user with administration rights before proceeding with the removal process.
Changing account data 1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as above.
2. Click on the name on the top right corner.
3. Click on the SUSE account link.
p. 14 4. You will be redirected to a page outside SUSE Customer Center where you will be able to update the information. Any changes will be reflected in SCC and NCC.
Managing Products and Systems SUSE Customer Center gives you a single location from which you can manage your products and subscriptions, view and manage your installed systems and perform various other actions that help you manage your accounts.
Additional information is available in the following sections:
• Dashboard • Managing Products and Subscriptions • Managing Systems
p. 15 Dashboard
The dashboard shows you a snapshot of your products and subscriptions, systems and alerts. On the top of the page there is a menu that will help you navigate within SUSE Customer Center. Click Customer Center on the top of the page or on Dashboard to return to the home page.
There are five areas of information:
o Dashboard. This area gives you an overview of your purchased subscriptions, the usage and the recent activities
o Organization. This area gives you an overview of your organization. In case you are part of multiple organizations, you will be able to manage here.
o Subscriptions. This area shows you the number of your organization's subscriptions.. At the moment, the total number of subscriptions includes paid, evaluation and OEM subscriptions.
o Systems. This area gives you an overview of your systems.
o Support. In case your organization has purchased subscriptions which include support, then this area allows you to open a ticket and manage the conversation within an opened request.
Managing Products and Subscriptions The dashboard page provides access to information about your purchased products and product subscriptions.
p. 16 Getting Your Activation Code from a Purchase When you purchase a subscription, it is automatically added to the Subscriptions page in SUSE Customer Center. The primary contact on the order receives an e-mail upon purchase. Click the URL in the e-mail and follow the instructions on the page to get your registration code. At this point, you can use SUSE Customer Center to manage your subscription as described in this section.
Activating a Retail or OEM Purchased Product or Subscription Before using your registration key please activate it using the Customer Center.
1. Log in to SUSE Customer Center as described in Section 2.1.2, Logging In to Novell Customer Center.
2. Click Dashboard > Management tool > Manually activate a subscription.
p. 17 On the page you will have the option to either copy and paste a registration code or upload a list of registration codes and activate them at once.
Viewing Basic Information about Your Subscription You can view basic information about your product or subscription, including the following:
• Start and end date • Registration code • Number of registered systems • Associated products for each subscription.
By clicking on each subscription name, you will be redirected to a dedicated page where you can see additional information regarding the products.
p. 18 By clicking on the product name you can see a list of available repos that you are able to mirror with your subscription.
Managing the Details of the Registered Systems A system, in the context of the customer center, is any device that is using a SUSE product and it's connected via registration to SUSE Customer Center . You can view and edit information for the systems installed under the Systems tab.
p. 19 For systems registered against SCC, you are able to delete the system in order to free up an entitlement.
For details about registering SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 products, use the release notes https://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/12/
p. 20 Legal Notice Copyright© 2006– SUSE LLC and contributors. All rights reserved.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or (at your option) version 1.3; with the Invariant Section being this copyright notice and license. A copy of the license version 1.2 is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.
For SUSE and Novell trademarks, see the Novell Trademark and Service Mark list http://www.novell.com/company/legal/trademarks/tmlist.html. All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A trademark symbol (®, ™ etc.) denotes a SUSE or Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third party trademark.
All information found in this book has been compiled with utmost attention to detail. However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy. Neither SUSE LLC, its affiliates, the authors, nor the translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.
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