This Support Statement applies to CA Directory that offers documented support for one or more Linux Reference Platforms.

CA strives to meet our clients' diverse and ever changing needs. CA products support and manage many of today's leading platforms, operating systems and applications across the IT enterprise.

A Linux Reference Platform is a specific version of a particular Linux variant, such as Red Hat Enterprise Server 5/6, which is used in CA development, QA, and Support, and is documented as a supported environment in which to run CA Directory.

To verify the Linux Reference Platforms supported for CA Directory, review the system requirements section of the respective product documentation, or check with CA Support.

Many of our clients use variants of the Linux operating system as their production operating system platform, for example Oracle Enterprise Linux, SUSE, etc.

Some of those Linux variants claim compatibility (compatibility modes) with CA Directory supported Linux Reference Platforms.

Note: CA does not test every possible configuration of CA Directory running on the many Compatible Linux Variants available and cannot certify specific client configurations.

To facilitate a quick resolution and isolate the root cause of any potential product issue encountered running on Compatible Linux Variants, CA is establishing the following support protocol for CA Directory operated in these environments:

• The current GA version of a Linux Reference Platform and the prior major version of that environment are supported. Any exceptions will be noted in respective product documentation.
• The client is responsible for properly configuring their Linux Variant to be compatible with a Linux Reference Platform supported by CA Directory.
• The client is responsible for having an active maintenance agreement for both their CA Directory and for the Compatible Linux variant.
• While CA does not require that clients recreate each issue on a Linux Reference Platform before contacting support, we can request that the client diagnose and troubleshoot specific issues without the Linux Variant "variable" through reproducing the issue on the Linux Reference Platform. CA will only do this when we have reason to believe the issue is directly related to the Compatible Linux Variant environment.
• While functional problems are rare under Compatible Linux Variants, problems may occur related to the third-party components embedded in applications, and those embedded products' support of Compatible Linux Variants may be limited or unavailable. Diagnosis and resolution of this class of problem may require the client to return to a Linux Reference Platform.
• Compatible Linux Variants are diverse; CA may require extra time to understand, collect data, troubleshoot and possibly reproduce reported issues.
• If CA Support cannot directly identify the root cause as a CA or a Compatible Linux Variant issue, client can open a support issue with their Compatible Linux Variant vendor and any other necessary third-party vendors to expedite the resolution of the issue. CA, the vendor(s), and the client will work together toward a quick resolution where there business relationship mechanism to do so. CA, Novell, and many other software vendors belong to the Technical Support Alliance Network (http://www.tsanet.org) that may be engaged by either CA or the Compatible Linux variant vendor if and when the need for a third-party arises as long as active maintenance exists for the CA and third party vendor's product. Note if the customer does not have a Vendor support agreement for the Linux variant, there is no third party CA may work with.

Any known issues with running CA Directory on specific Compatible Linux Variants will be noted in the respective product documentation.