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Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Invest in your
business with
Ubuntu Advantage.
Expert advice.
Specialist tools.
Dedicated support. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Introducing
Ubuntu Advantage
Contents Open source is playing an increasingly important role in
business IT. The flexibility, efficiency and power of open-
02 Introducing Ubuntu Advantage source tools and systems are critical parts of the puzzle
03 Ubuntu Advantage for a growing number of businesses, large and small.
04 - Landscape systems management Ubuntu is used globally by organisations that trust its
06 - Comprehensive support security, reliability and performance as part of their
07 - Legal assurance critical infrastructure.
07 - Knowledge
Ubuntu Advantage gives you the tools and access to
08 Server
expertise to make the most of Ubuntu in your business.
10 Cloud
Included in the subscription is the Landscape systems
10 - Landscape cloud management
management tool, which can help you run your systems more
10 - Cloud support
efficiently. It simplifies manual and repetitive administration
10 - Knowledge transfer
tasks, and offers all the systems management and monitoring
12 Desktop
capabilities to easily manage your physical, virtual and cloud
14 Additional services
machines through a single, easy-to-use web interface.
14 - Landscape Dedicated Server
14 - Premium Service Engineer Ubuntu Advantage also gives you access to expertise and
15 Support systems service guarantees to implement Ubuntu with ease and
15 - Severity levels success. Our Linux experts provide the skills and knowledge
15 - Entitled systems that business users can depend on to resolve the most
16 Support collaboration difficult problems. It also includes legal assurance so that
17 Support workflow you can deploy Ubuntu without complex legal concerns.
18 Ubuntu releases and support
If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear
from you. You can contact us at http://www.canonical.com/
enterprise-services.
02Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Ubuntu Advantage Landscape systems management
Ubuntu Advantage includes the Landscape systems management and monitoring
service to help you manage multiple Ubuntu machines (physical, virtual and cloud)
as easily as one through a simple web-based interface. It provides powerful,
automated systems administration tools to manage, monitor and provision
packages across multiple machines.
Each managed system connects to, and securely exchanges information about,
packages and system operational parameters with the Landscape server. Package
updates are downloaded directly from either the Ubuntu public repository or your
own private package repository. Because Landscape is web-based, it is easy to set up
and use and requires no special hardware or specialised skills to operate. Each Ubuntu
Advantage subscription allows you to register one physical machine to the hosted
Landscape service.
Ubuntu Advantage is your gateway to saving time and
money in your business. It gives you online tools to help
you run multiple Ubuntu machines with less effort and
access to experts to rapidly resolve any issues. Available
for the desktop, server and cloud, Ubuntu Advantage
provides the following:
• Landscape systems management – offers systems
management and monitoring tools for physical, virtual
and cloud machines.
• Comprehensive support – gives you direct access to
technical support engineers to quickly rectify any problems
with your Ubuntu systems.
• Legal assurance – provides legal indemnification for claims
of intellectual property (IP) infringements.
• Knowledge – gives you access to definitive and exclusive
knowledge for running Ubuntu according to best practices.
Figure 1 – Each managed system connects to and securely exchanges information about packages and system operational parameters with the Landscape server. Package updates are
downloaded directly from either the Ubuntu public repository or your own private package repository. Landscape is available in two versions: a hosted service managed by Canonical or
the Dedicated Server Edition that gives you complete control over your environment.
03 04Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Landscape features Comprehensive support
The Global Support & Services (GSS) team was set up to provide outstanding
Category Features support for Ubuntu business users. We provide around-the-clock coverage for
Ubuntu deployments all over the world from our support centre.
Package Package profiles: Define sets of packages for common profiles such as ‘sales desktop’ or ‘web server’.
Our distribution engineers provide backup to the support team ensuring that
management Package profiles build on Ubuntu’s package management features to allow easy automated configura-
even the most complex issues can be resolved. Engineers are based around the
tion of managed computers.
world in a range of time zones ensuring that we can provide 24/7 coverage for the
Group machines to match your needs: not all machines need to form a single group. You can split toughest engineering issues. Canonical engineers are the primary maintainers of
machines into multiple groups for different requirements but all can be administered through the core packages in Ubuntu, which means that Canonical can provide enterprise-
a single interface. level support.
Scheduling: schedule scripts and package updates in advance so you can implement changes to your Key benefits
systems during maintenance windows. Support for common applications
We provide installation assistance and help you resolve issues with any of the
Release upgrades: remotely upgrade the version of Ubuntu from one standard release to the next or
thousands of applications that are included with Ubuntu, ensuring your business
from one long term support (LTS) release drectly to the next LTS release.
gets maximum productivity from your Ubuntu servers or desktops.
Administrator delegation: group your systems to meet your needs then assign permissions to Support for advanced technologies
different administrators as necessary. Ubuntu Advantage provides your business with support for complex
configurations, including clustering and high-availability failover, as well as
Manage packages across the network: see a package inventory for each computer and allow virtualisation on Ubuntu servers and desktops. It also offers support from
administrators to install, upgrade or remove packages from one or more computers. industry experts for the latest technologies such as cloud computing. Ubuntu
Advantage helps you deploy a fully supported cloud platform, ensuring that any
Integrate custom repositories: configure Landscape to securely update systems from your own issues you encounter can be swiftly resolved.
private package repository or from the public Ubuntu package repository.
Phone and online support portal
Support disconnected systems: systems that are disconnected from the network will be You speak directly with our technical support engineers when you phone GSS,
properly handled when they next get online. ensuring you receive help from someone who has first-hand knowledge of how
to resolve your issue. All support issues are tracked through Canonical’s online
Automation Create scripts that automate routine work such as: support portal, which allows you to see the progress of submitted cases in real time.
• starting and stopping services The portal enables both you and Canonical’s support engineers to view opened and
• performing backups closed cases in a single location for more rapid issue resolution.
• profiling hardware Problem resolution
Support engineers in the GSS team are industry experts who can resolve
Systems Customise trend information: customise the display of the parameters that you need to know. your issues with speed and certainty. As Canonical is the distributor of Ubuntu,
monitoring we have the in-depth platform expertise to solve difficult issues that may arise.
System info tool: update the status of your system information at sign-in without having to
look for it. Flexible service
Ubuntu Advantage offers different service levels so that you can choose the
Hardware inventory: maintain a detailed hardware inventory through an easy-to-understand level of support that is right for your workload. It gives you the flexibility to
hardware information display. receive a higher level of support for complex configurations such as virtual
private networks and cloud computing, as well as standard support for
Simplify security audits: access detailed history logs which display actions performed by common workloads such as file and print serving.
all administrators.
Auditing: Landscape stores information about operations performed by all administrators and eases the
process of auditing for security or other purposes. Activity information provides administrators insight
into the changes going on around them.
Cloud Start, stop, manage and monitor cloud systems from within Landscape, alongside your
management physical systems.
Manage public and private cloud systems on Amazon EC2 and those based on Eucalyptus.
05 06Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Legal assurance Knowledge Server
The Ubuntu Assurance Programme, included in Ubuntu Knowledge Base
Advantage, covers your business for claims of intellectual Ubuntu Advantage customers have exclusive access to There are three subscription levels for Ubuntu Advantage • Standard: for standard enterprise usage including
property (IP) infringements arising from your use of Ubuntu. the Canonical Knowledge Base. This gives you access to on the server: integration into existing Windows infrastructure,
This offer is designed to safeguard your business and make technical articles written and audited by Canonical’s GSS virtualisation, and directory and authentication services.
• Essential: for basic server workloads including file and
deploying Ubuntu even easier. senior engineers. The database provides you with a library
print, email, network, web and application serving. • Advanced: for more advanced configurations such
of technical articles to solve common issues immediately
It provides the assurance that in the unlikely event of an as high-availability failover and clustering.
without having to log a support case.
IP issue in Ubuntu, Canonical will replace or modify the
infringing portion of the software so that it becomes Training credits
non-infringing, or obtain the rights for you to continue Training credits are included with Ubuntu Advantage Server features Essential Standard Advanced
using the software. Desktop and Ubuntu Advantage Server. Credits are allocated
according to the size of your order. They can be redeemed Landscape systems management
Should an IP claim be made against you for using Ubuntu,
against any of the training products sold through the
Canonical will assume the legal defence and cover the legal Package management Yes Yes Yes
Canonical shop https://shop.canonical.com/.
costs that are incurred. Terms and conditions apply. Task automation Yes Yes Yes
Please refer to the table below to determine which training
Systems monitoring Yes Yes Yes
credits you can qualify for.
Legal assurance
Minimum spend Training credit
Ubuntu Assurance Programme Yes Yes Yes
$1,360 $200
Knowledge
$2,975 $400
Online Knowledge Base Yes Yes Yes
$5,100 $650
Support
$10,000 16 hour online course
Installation
$50,000 16 hour online course
• Hardware setup Yes Yes Yes
• Package and task selection Yes Yes Yes
Key benefits
• Network infrastructure serving Yes Yes Yes
Immediacy
The Knowledge Base helps you find solutions to your • Windows integration – Yes Yes
problems faster by giving you a central repository and a • Network/Automated installation – Yes Yes
single reference point for tried-and-tested solutions to
common issues. Solution categories include technical articles Applications
on security, migration and networking. • File serving Yes Yes Yes
Best practices • Web serving Yes Yes Yes
Our Knowledge Base and training courses help you reduce
• Network serving Yes Yes Yes
potential issues so you can run your Ubuntu systems
according to best practices. We provide easy-to-follow • Enterprise Java – Yes Yes
guidelines to support you in the process of configuring and • Virtualisation – Yes Yes
implementing specific workloads on Ubuntu.
Systems administration
Skills transfer
• Kernel support Yes Yes Yes
Quickly gain the skills necessary to confidently use and
manage Ubuntu in your business so that you can see a • Firewall configuration Yes Yes Yes
quick return on your investment. The Ubuntu Certified
• Updates and upgrades Yes Yes Yes
Professional course will help you efficiently install and
configure Ubuntu systems, maintain system security and • Package tools usage Yes Yes Yes
configure network connectivity and key network services. • Server security – Yes Yes
• Clustering – Yes Yes
• Setting up package repositories – Yes Yes
07 08Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Service-level agreements Cloud
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
Cloud is fast becoming an alternative solution to many Cloud support
Server SLAs Essential Standard Advanced traditional server platforms. Ubuntu Advantage gives you
the necessary tools to help you make the most of cloud Ubuntu Advantage gives you the assurance of being able
technology in Ubuntu. To successfully deploy and use an to contact an Ubuntu cloud expert in GSS who can quickly
Hours of support Local business hours Local business hours 24/7 Ubuntu cloud, Ubuntu Advantage provides you with cloud- resolve any issues you encounter. They will help you
management tools, enterprise-level support, access to maintain the same high IT service levels for your Ubuntu
knowledge and legal assurance to deploy and manage your private cloud as expected by your business with more
Number of cases Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited
Ubuntu cloud platform with ease. traditional platforms.
Support channels Phone and online Phone and online Phone and online
Landscape cloud management Knowledge transfer
Response times Landscape allows you to start, stop, manage and monitor Through Ubuntu Advantage, you get access to cloud and
your Ubuntu private cloud, as well as Ubuntu machine Ubuntu platform experts who will help you realise the
Severity 1 4 hours 2 hours 1 hour images on public clouds such as Amazon EC2. It is the only value of deploying new cloud technology. They will help
management platform that ensures that you can manage you implement an Ubuntu cloud solution, enabling you to
physical and cloud systems from the same console. With provide IT services to your business more effectively and
Severity 2 1 business day 4 hours 4 hours
Landscape, you can provide behind-the-firewall IT resources efficiently. They also show you how to maintain your cloud
to customers as they are needed, deploy resources outside platform so you can manage it easily and make the most of
Severity 3 2 business days 1 business day 4 hours the firewall or tap into an external cloud when additional your IT resources.
resources are required.
Severity 4 4 business days 2 business days 1 business day
Number of technical contacts
The table below shows how many people can submit support cases based on the
server option covering your systems.
Server options Technical contacts
Essential 1
Standard 2
Advanced 3
1
1 – Package information
09 10Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Service-level agreements Desktop
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
There are two Ubuntu Advantage cloud options which are offered as additional There are two Ubuntu Advantage options for the desktop:
services to Ubuntu Advantage Standard Server and Ubuntu Advantage Advanced
• Standard: for general business use, including creating office documents,
Server. Both options include Landscape cloud management tools.
email, calendaring and working with web applications.
• Standard: purchased in addition to Ubuntu Advantage Standard Server, this
• Advanced: for more complex desktop use, such as development work.
option includes Landscape cloud management tools and local business hours
support. The table below lists the features included in both services.
• Advanced: purchased in addition to Ubuntu Advantage Advanced Server, this
option includes Landscape cloud management tools and 24/7 support. Desktop features Standard Advanced
Landscape systems management
Cloud SLAs Standard Advanced Package management Yes Yes
Task automation Yes Yes
Hours of support Local business hours 24/7 Systems monitoring Yes Yes
Legal assurance
Number of cases Unlimited Unlimited
Ubuntu Assurance Programme Yes Yes
Support channels Phone and online Phone and online Knowledge
Online Knowledge Base Yes Yes
Response times Skills training credit Yes Yes
Support
Severity 1 2 hours 1 hour
Network/automated installations Yes Yes
Severity 2 4 hours 4 hours Desktop security Yes Yes
Yes Yes
Severity 3 1 business day 4 hours Certified applications Yes Yes
Desktop virtualisation – Yes
Severity 4 2 business days 1 business day
Developer tools – Yes
Key benefits
Cloud systems management
Ubuntu Advantage Server options include the Landscape cloud management tools
for you to simply and quickly manage your Ubuntu cloud platform.
Access to expertise
You receive 24/7 or business hours phone and online access to cloud technical
experts to help you resolve issues quickly.
Comprehensive support
The Ubuntu Advantage Cloud add-on gives you complete coverage for your entire
platform by providing support for all cloud instances on top of each physical node.
11 12Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Service-level agreements Additional services
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
For customers that require behind-the-firewall systems
management and a higher level of support, there are two
Desktop SLAs Standard Advanced additional services offered with Ubuntu Advantage Desktop,
Server and Cloud.
Hours of coverage Local business hours Local business hours
Number of cases Unlimited Unlimited Landscape Dedicated Server
The onsite Landscape Dedicated Server Edition allows you to run the Landscape
Support channels Phone and online Phone and online systems management and monitoring service from behind your firewall. It offers
all the features of the hosted service, but with the added security of running
Response times Landscape on your own site.
Severity 1 2 business days 4 business hours Premium Service Engineer
Severity 2 2 business days 1 business day The Premium Service Engineer (PSE) service provides an additional level of care
for large enterprises. It gives you a named Ubuntu expert in the GSS team whose
priority is your business needs. As a virtual member of your team, they know your
Severity 3 2 business days 2 business days IT environment and are on hand to resolve any disruptions in your environment or
work on the most complex problems.
Key benefits
Number of technical contacts Single point of contact
Your PSE is a named contact who builds up knowledge of your environment and
The table below shows how many people can submit support cases based on the
works closely with your team. With this knowledge, they can provide tailored
desktop option covering your systems.
solutions for your business and technical environment.
Direct access to expertise
Desktop options Technical contacts Each PSE is an expert in Ubuntu technologies and enterprise deployments.
This means you have direct access to expert help as and when you need it.
Responsiveness
Standard 2 PSEs have direct access to Ubuntu engineers and developers ensuring they can
escalate and resolve problems quickly.
Advanced 3
Collaboration
Your PSE will work closely with your team providing advice and expertise on
Ubuntu technologies and best practices. This close collaboration ensures you get
the most from your Ubuntu investment and reduces the number of issues you’ll
face by helping you to implement best-practice solutions.
Regular communication
Your PSE will ensure that you’re aware of new Ubuntu developments and
technologies. Additionally, they’ll represent your needs and priorities to the
Ubuntu development community. This means you’ll be able to plan and deploy
new capabilities as soon as they become available.
13 14Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Support systems
For all service options, a number of standard rules apply. These
include the way that GSS will determine how serious a problem
is, along with the system that is covered by the support service.
When you experience an issue, your first course of action should be to consult
Severity levels the Knowledge Base through the support portal. The Knowledge Base contains
a range of documentation detailing issues and solutions that have
The severity level of an issue determines the priority that the issue receives from
been experienced by other users.
GSS. Severity is agreed between GSS and the customer by judging the impact of
the issue on the customer’s IT environment. If there is no appropriate solution, you can either enter the problem through the
support portal ticketing system, or you can telephone GSS directly. Severity level 1
and level 2 issues should be reported by phone.
Severity Definition Responsibilities Support Tier 1
Initial calls are handled by Tier 1 engineers who have been trained to handle basic
Level 1 Core functionality Continuous effort will be provided during the coverage hours by the appropriate configuration or usage issues. The engineer’s first task is to verify the nature of
not available support engineer(s) and/or development engineer(s) to produce a work-around. the issue and the severity level of the problem. Having done so, they will work
with you to undertake basic debugging and deliver an appropriate resolution.
As soon as core functionality is available the severity level will be lowered to If the problem is beyond this tier’s capability, it is escalated to the second tier.
level 3 and a permanent resolution developed.
Support Tier 2
Tier 2 engineers have extensive Ubuntu experience and may be specialists in a
Level 2 Core functionality Canonical will use reasonable efforts during coverage hours to produce particular domain of knowledge. Aside from escalated issues, this tier deals with
severely degraded a work-around. complex problems where there are a range of subsystems involved. The engineer
The support engineer will aim to produce a work-around that is sufficient to adjust will work to recreate a complex problem and isolate it into a repeatable test case.
the priority level to level 3 where a permanent resolution will be developed. In general, issues that involve advanced configuration are resolved at this level.
Any resolved issue is then added to the Knowledge Base so you and other users
will be able to resolve it in the future.
Level 3 Standard support Canonical will use reasonable efforts during the coverage hours to provide
request the customer with a work-around as soon as possible balanced against high Support Tier 3
severity-level cases. An issue that moves through to the Tier 3 group has been isolated to a repeatable
test case. The third tier works on any code changes that are necessary to resolve
Having provided a work-around, Canonical’s support support engineers will the problem for you. This generally involves developing and testing a custom
work on developing a permanent resolution to the case. patch for you and delivering this as a customer package. If this is successful, the
engineer will work with the distribution developers to integrate the package into
future releases of Ubuntu.
Entitled systems
Support collaboration
Each Ubuntu Advantage subscription entitles you to receive support for a single
physical machine on which either Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server or Ubuntu It’s often the case that a problem is not isolated to the operating system,
Enterprise Cloud is installed. physical hardware or the application itself. Complex issues often exist between
the boundaries making it difficult and time-consuming to isolate and debug them.
Entitlements can be moved between machines as systems within the organisation
This can become more complex when a variety of vendors are involved. To ensure
change. For example, it is common to move an entitlement from an old system to
that our customers receive the highest level of support for these types of issues,
a new system as part of an upgrade process.
we are members of the Technical Support Alliances Network (TSANet). With
members such as IBM, HP, Dell, VMware and EMC, you are assured that multi-
vendor issues will be co-ordinated and resolved. More information on TSANet
is available at http://www.tsanet.org/.
15 16Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Ubuntu releases and support
New versions of Ubuntu are released every six months for both the desktop and server.
The standard releases are maintained with critical fixes and security updates for 18 months.
Every two years, a long-term support (LTS) release is issued, which is maintained for three
years on the desktop and five years on the server.
Ubuntu Desktop includes the core of Ubuntu with a GSS provides support for any release of Ubuntu that is still
graphical environment and common applications like Firefox, within its life-cycle, whether it’s a standard or LTS release.
OpenOffice.org and Evolution email. Ubuntu Server includes Whenever you’re ready to upgrade to the next release of
the core of Ubuntu, along with common server applications Ubuntu, the support team is there to provide assistance
such as Apache, Samba and MySQL. should you have any problems or issues.
All releases follow the same development process ensuring
they reach the same high-quality standard. Each release also
comes with security updates and commercial support from
Canonical. This means you can choose the release that is
most appropriate for you.
17Choose Ubuntu Advantage
for your business.
Get in touch today:
www.canonical.com/sales
+44 207 630 2402
© Canonical Limited 2010. Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Canonical and their associated logos are the registered trademarks
of Canonical Ltd. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Any information referred to
in this document may change without notice and Canonical will not be held responsible for any such changes.You can also read
