This document provides information about Ubuntu Advantage services, which include Landscape systems management tools, comprehensive technical support, access to a knowledge base, and legal assurance. Ubuntu Advantage provides these services for server, desktop, and cloud environments. Landscape allows for centralized management and monitoring of physical, virtual, and cloud machines. Technical support is available by phone and online for issues resolution. The knowledge base contains articles written by Canonical engineers.

1. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Invest in your
business with
Ubuntu Advantage.
Expert advice.
Specialist tools.
Dedicated support.

3. Contents
04 Introducing Ubuntu Advantage
05 Ubuntu Advantage
06 Landscape systems management
07 Landscape features
08 Comprehensive support
09 Enterprise systems management for Ubuntu
11 Knowledge
12 Server
13 Service level agreements
14 Cloud
14 Landscape management
14 Cloud support
14 Knowledge transfer
15 Service level agreements
16 Desktop
17 Service level agreements
18 Additional services
18 Landscape dedicated server
18 Premium service engineer
19 Support systems
19 Severity levels
19 Entitled systems
20 Support collaboration
22 Ubuntu releases and support

4. Introducing
Ubuntu Advantage
Open source is playing an increasingly important role
in business IT. The flexibility, efficiency and power of
open-source tools and systems are critical parts of the
puzzle for a growing number of businesses, large and small.
Ubuntu is used globally by organisations that trust its
security, reliability and performance as part of their
critical infrastructure.
Ubuntu Advantage gives you the tools and access to expertise
to make the most of Ubuntu in your business. Included in the
subscription is the Landscape systems management tool,
which can help you run your systems more efficiently.
Landscape simplifies manual and repetitive administration
tasks. It offers all the systems management and monitoring
capabilities to easily manage your physical, virtual and cloud
machines through a single, easy-to-use web interface.
Ubuntu Advantage also gives you access to Canonical’s global
support team, along with service guarantees to implement
Ubuntu with ease and success. The team provides the skills
and knowledge that business users can depend on to resolve
the most difficult problems. Ubuntu Advantage also includes
legal assurance so that you can deploy Ubuntu without
complex legal concerns.
If you have any questions, we’d love to hear from you. You
can contact us at ubuntu.com/business/services/contact
04

5. Ubuntu Advantage
Ubuntu Advantage is your gateway to saving time and
money in your business. It gives you online tools to help
you run Ubuntu machines at scale 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.
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6. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Landscape systems management
Ubuntu Advantage includes the Landscape systems management and monitoring
service to help you manage a multitude of 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 Ubuntu
across many machines at once.
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 internally-maintained package repository. Because Landscape is web-based, it is
easy to set up and use, it requires no special hardware or advanced skills to operate
and it can be accessed from mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Each
Ubuntu Advantage subscription allows you to register one machine to the Landscape
service, whether a server, desktop, or a cloud infrastructure host.
Each managed system connects to and securely exchanges information with the Landscape server. Package updates are downloaded directly from either the Ubuntu public repository or
your own locally managed package repository. Landscape is available in two versions: a hosted service managed by Canonical or the Dedicated Server Edition residing within your firewall’s
security perimeter.
06

7. Landscape features
Package Package profiles: Define sets of packages for common profiles such as ‘sales desktop’ or
management ‘web server’. Package profiles build on Ubuntu’s package management. Import and export package
sets from dpkg or other tools, or snapshot a managed device to create a re-usable profile.
Group machines to match your needs: not all machines need to form a single group. You can split
machines into multiple groups for different requirements but all can be administered through
a single interface. Dynamically group machines using saved search queries. Leverage access to
hardware and software data to form advanced capability-based queries.
Scheduling: schedule scripts and package updates in advance so you can implement changes
to your systems during maintenance windows.
Release upgrades: remotely upgrade the version of Ubuntu from one standard release to
the next or from one long term support (LTS) release drectly to the next LTS release.
Administrator delegation: group your systems to meet your needs then assign permissions
to different administrators as necessary. Define functional roles and limit machine access and
operational permissions as needed.
Manage packages across the network: see a package inventory for each computer and allow
administrators to install, upgrade or remove packages from one or more computers. Roll back
upgrades to restore a previous software state. Place version holds on crucial packages to stop
them from being accidentally upgraded. Configure systems with automatic update policies to
maintain security.
Integrate custom repositories: configure Landscape to securely update systems from your
own private package repository or from the public Ubuntu package repository. Locally manage
repositories through Landscape, and stage updates through a testing integration pipeline.
Manage Apt’s sources.list remotely on your managed devices.
Support disconnected systems: systems that are disconnected from the network will be
properly handled when they next get online. Enables the seamless management of a highly
mobile laptop fleet.
Automation Create scripts that automate
routine work: deliver custom
configuration settings to
managed devices.
Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Systems
monitoring
Remotely script the Landscape server itself, through its
comprehensive open API, creating custom automation uniquely
suited to your site’s needs.
Leverage API calls to integrate Landscape with the rest of your
infrastructure, including monitoring systems, paging devices
and more.
Export system and audit data for processing in reporting systems
or external compliance tools.
Customise trend information: customise the display of the parameters that you need to track.
System info tool: update the status of your system information at sign-in without having to look for it.
Hardware inventory: maintain a detailed hardware inventory through an easy-to-understand
hardware information display.
Simplify security audits: access detailed history logs which display actions performed by
all administrators. Export compliance reports on machine patching and security posture of your
managed infrastructure.
Bare metal Integration with Ubuntu’s Metal-as-a-Service (MAAS): enables provisioning of physical systems
provisioning and cloud images to leverage the same mechanism and configuration data.
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8. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Comprehensive support
The Canonical Support & Services (CSS) team was set up to provide outstanding
support for Ubuntu business users. We provide around-the-clock coverage
for Ubuntu deployments all over the world from our support centres.
Our distribution engineers provide backup to the support team ensuring that
even the most complex issues can be resolved. Engineers are based around
the world in a range of time zones ensuring that we can provide 24/7 coverage
for the toughest engineering issues. Canonical engineers are the primary
maintainers of the core packages in Ubuntu, which means that Canonical can
provide enterprise-level support.
Key benefits
Support for common applications
We provide installation assistance and help you resolve issues with any of
the thousands of applications that are included with Ubuntu, ensuring your
business gets maximum productivity from your Ubuntu servers or desktops.
Support for advanced technologies
Ubuntu Advantage provides your business with support for complex
configurations, including clustering and high-availability failover, as well
as virtualisation on Ubuntu servers and desktops. It also offers support
from industry experts for the latest technologies such as cloud computing.
Ubuntu Advantage helps you deploy a fully supported cloud platform,
ensuring that any issues you encounter can be swiftly resolved.
Phone and online support portal
You speak directly with our technical support engineers when you phone CSS,
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
support portal, which allows you to see the progress of submitted cases in real
time. The portal enables both you and Canonical’s support engineers to view
opened and closed cases in a single location for more rapid issue resolution.
Problem resolution
Support engineers in the CSS team are industry experts who can resolve your
issues with speed and certainty. As Canonical is the leading force behind Ubuntu,
we have the in-depth platform expertise to solve difficult issues that may arise.
Flexible service
Ubuntu Advantage offers different service levels so that you can choose the
level of support that is right for your workload. It gives you the flexibility to
receive a higher level of support for complex configurations such as virtual
private networks and cloud computing, as well as standard support for
common workloads such as file and print serving.
08

9. Enterprise systems
management for Ubuntu
Manage Ubuntu at scale
Landscape enables a single administrator to manage
thousands of machines as easily as one, freeing up
valuable time for other tasks. And by eliminating human
error from mundane management tasks, it can make your
department even more cost-effective. Landscape provides
a centralised view of your entire IT infrastructure, yet
allows an administrator to drill down into the specifics
of a single device.
Complete API
All of Landscape’s functionality is available via its server
API, remotely scriptable through a Python library or a Bash
shell client. Automation can be customised to your site’s
exact needs, using Landscape as a powerful set of building
blocks that you don’t have to develop, test and maintain
in-house. The API is also a flexible conduit for integrating
Landscape with other parts of your enterprise
infrastructure, such as user provisioning, trouble ticketing,
or other management tools.
Role-based access control (RBAC)
Landscape makes it easy to assign different levels of
administration privileges to different individuals, enabling
you to maintain strict controls over which operator does
what on your machines. The built-in RBAC features give you
the flexibility to create custom profiles, with a default
configuration included to ensure that these capabilities
can be easily used out-of-the-box.
Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Compliance reporting
Landscape produces standardised compliance reports,
showing which machines are up-to-date with security
patches. For non-compliant machines, further detail is
also available, including the total number of days for which
they have been non-compliant (or out of contact with the
Landscape server). Listing the specific vulnerabilities
applicable to a system is also possible, as is tracking the
speed with which they are brought into compliance,
accelerating the audit process.
All report data is published to the web console by
default, but it can also be exported in CSV format
or accessed via the API.
Bare-metal provisioning
In combination with Canonical’s Metal-as-a-Service (MAAS)
technology, Landscape delivers a centralised console for
rapid system provisioning. This gives you a unified view
that’s centrally controlled, while delivering the bits using
the local network, closer to their destination and shielding
your wide-area links from unnecessary traffic.
09

10. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Determine at a glance the patch compliance status of your entire fleet of Ubuntu assets
10

11. Knowledge
Knowledge Base
Ubuntu Advantage customers have exclusive access to
the Canonical Knowledge Base. This gives you access to
technical articles written and audited by Canonical’s CSS
senior engineers. The database provides you with a library
of technical articles to solve common issues immediately
without having to log a support case and wait for an answer.
Key benefits
Immediacy
The Knowledge Base helps you find solutions to your
problems faster by giving you a central repository and a
single reference point for tried-and-tested solutions to
common issues. Solution categories include technical articles
on security, migration and networking.
Best practices
Our Knowledge Base and training courses help you reduce
potential issues so you can run your Ubuntu systems
according to best practices. We provide easy-to-follow
guidelines to support you in the process of configuring and
implementing specific workloads on Ubuntu.
Skills transfer
Quickly gain the skills necessary to confidently use and
manage Ubuntu in your business so that you can see a quick
return on your investment. The Ubuntu Certified Professional
course will help you efficiently install and configure Ubuntu
systems, maintain system security and configure network
connectivity and key network services.
Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
11

12. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
There are three subscription levels for Ubuntu Advantage
on the server:
• Essential: for basic server workloads including file and
print, email, network, web and application serving.
Server features Essential Standard Advanced
Landscape systems management
Legal assurance
Knowledge
Support
Installation
• Hardware setup Yes Yes Yes
• Package and task selection
• Network infrastructure serving
• Windows integration
• Network/Automated installation
Applications
• Standard: for standard enterprise usage including
integration into existing Windows infrastructure,
virtualisation, and directory and authentication services.
• Advanced: for more advanced configurations such
as high-availability failover and clustering.
Server
Package management Yes Yes
Task automation Yes Yes
Systems monitoring Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Ubuntu Assurance Programme Yes Yes Yes
Online Knowledge Base Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes
• File serving Yes Yes Yes
Systems administration
• Package tools usage Yes Yes Yes
• Server security – Yes Yes
• Clustering – – Yes
• Setting up package repositories – – Yes
12
– Yes Yes
– Yes Yes
• Web serving Yes Yes Yes
• Network serving Yes Yes Yes
• Enterprise Java – Yes Yes
• Virtualisation – Yes Yes
• Kernel support Yes Yes Yes
• Firewall configuration Yes Yes Yes
• Updates and upgrades Yes Yes Yes

13. Service-level agreements
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
Server SLAs
Hours of support
Number of cases
Support channels
Response times
Severity 1
Severity 2
Severity 3
Standard
Local business hours
Unlimited
Phone and online
Essential
Local business hours
Unlimited
Phone and online
4 hours
1 business day
2 business days
Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Advanced
24/7
Unlimited
Phone and online
1 hour
4 hours
4 hours
2 hours
4 hours
1 business day
Severity 4 4 business days 2 business days 1 business day
Server options Technical contacts
Essential 1
Standard 2
Advanced 3
13
Number of technical contacts
The table below shows how many people can submit support cases based on the
server option covering your systems.

14. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Cloud is fast becoming an alternative solution to many
traditional server platforms. Ubuntu Advantage gives you
the necessary tools to help you make the most of cloud
technology in Ubuntu. To successfully deploy and use an
Ubuntu cloud, Ubuntu Advantage provides you with cloud-management
tools, enterprise-level support, access to
knowledge and legal assurance to deploy and manage your
Ubuntu cloud platform with ease.
Landscape management
Landscape allows you to manage and monitor your Ubuntu
private cloud, as well as Ubuntu instances on public clouds
such as Amazon EC2. You get a single-pane-of-glass view of
your IT assets, regardless of whether they are in a traditional
datacenter, part of a private cloud, or hosted on a public
cloud.
What’s more, Landscape keeps track of all activities
performed on managed devices, enabling painless
compliance reporting and auditing when necessary.
Cloud support
Ubuntu Advantage gives you the assurance of being able to
contact an Ubuntu cloud expert in Canonical’s support team
who can quickly resolve any issues you encounter. They will
help you maintain the same high IT service levels for your
Ubuntu private cloud as expected by your business with more
traditional platforms.
Knowledge transfer
Through Ubuntu Advantage, you get access to cloud and
Ubuntu platform experts who will help you realise the value
of deploying new cloud technology. They will help you
implement an Ubuntu cloud solution, enabling you to provide
IT services to your business more effectively and efficiently.
They also show you how to maintain your cloud platform
so you can manage it easily and make the most of your IT
resources.
Cloud
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15. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
15
Service-level agreements
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
There are two Ubuntu Advantage Cloud Infrastructure options which provide
support for OpenStack technology that isn’t included with Ubuntu Advantage
Standard Server and Ubuntu Advantage Advanced Server.
There are two Ubuntu Advantage Cloud Infrastructure options which include
additional services beyond those provided by Ubuntu Advantage Standard
Server and Ubuntu Advantage Advanced Server.
• Standard: includes Landscape management tools and local business hours
support.
• Advanced: includes Landscape management tools and 24/7 support.
Cloud SLAs
Hours of support
Number of cases
Support channels
Response times
Severity 1
Severity 2
Severity 3
Standard
Local business hours
Unlimited
Phone and online
Key benefits
Systems management
Ubuntu Advantage Server options include the Landscape management tools
for you to simply and quickly manage your Ubuntu private cloud.
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
Ubuntu Advantage Cloud Infrastructure gives you complete coverage for your
entire platform by providing support for Ubuntu cloud instances hosted on top
of each physical node.
Advanced
24/7
Unlimited
Phone and online
1 hour
4 hours
4 hours
2 hours
4 hours
1 business day
Severity 4 2 business days 1 business day

16. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Desktop
There are two Ubuntu Advantage options for the desktop:
• Standard: for general business use, including creating office documents,
email, calendaring and working with web applications.
• Advanced: for more complex desktop use, such as development work.
The table below lists the features included in both services.
Desktop features Standard Advanced
Landscape systems management
Package management Yes
Task automation Yes
Systems monitoring Yes
Legal assurance
Knowledge
Skills training credit Yes Yes
Support
Network/automated installations Yes Yes
Desktop security Yes Yes
16
Yes Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
–
–
Yes
Yes
Yes
Ubuntu Assurance Programme Yes Yes
Online Knowledge Base Yes Yes
Certified applications
Desktop virtualisation
Developer tools

17. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
17
Service-level agreements
The table below shows hours of coverage, support channels and response times.
Desktop SLAs
Hours of coverage
Number of cases
Support channels
Response times
Severity 1
Severity 2
Severity 3
Standard
Local business hours
Unlimited
Phone and online
2 business days
2 business days
2 business days
Advanced
Local business hours
Unlimited
Phone and online
4 business hours
1 business day
2 business days
Number of technical contacts
The table below shows how many people can submit support cases based on the
desktop option covering your systems.
Desktop options Technical contacts
Standard 2
Advanced 3

18. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Additional services
For customers that require behind-the-firewall systems
management and a higher level of support, there are
two additional services offered for Ubuntu Advantage
Desktop, Server and Cloud.
Landscape Dedicated Server
The onsite Landscape Dedicated Server Edition allows you to run the Landscape
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
Landscape entirely within your security perimeter.
Premium Service Engineer
The Technical Account Manager (TAM) service provides an additional level of care
for large enterprises. It gives you a named Ubuntu expert in Canonical’s worldwide
support team, whose priority is your business needs. As a virtual member of your
team, they know your IT environment and are on hand to resolve any disruptions
in your environment or work on the most complex problems.
Key benefits
Single point of contact
Your TAM is a named contact who builds up knowledge of your environment and
works closely with your team. With this knowledge, they can provide tailored
solutions for your business and technical environment.
Direct access to expertise
Each TAM 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
TAMs have direct access to Ubuntu engineers and developers ensuring they can
escalate and resolve problems quickly.
Collaboration
Your TAM 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 TAM 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.
18

19. Support systems
For all service options, a number of standard rules apply. These
include the way that CSS will determine how serious a problem
is, along with the system that is covered by the support service.
Severity levels
The severity level of an issue determines the priority that the issue receives
from CSS. Severity is agreed between CSS and the customer by judging the
impact of the issue on the customer’s IT environment.
Severity
Level 1
Definition
Core functionality
not available
Responsibilities
Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
Continuous effort will be provided during the coverage hours by the appropriate
support engineer(s) and/or development engineer(s) to produce a work-around.
As soon as core functionality is available the severity level will be lowered to
level 3 and a permanent resolution developed.
Canonical will use reasonable efforts during coverage hours to produce
a work-around.
The support engineer will aim to produce a work-around that is sufficient to adjust
the priority level to level 3 where a permanent resolution will be developed.
Canonical will use reasonable efforts during the coverage hours to provide
the customer with a work-around as soon as possible balanced against high
severity-level cases.
Having provided a work-around, Canonical’s support support engineers will
work on developing a permanent resolution to the case.
Level 2 Core functionality
severely degraded
Level 3 Standard support
request
Entitled systems
Each Ubuntu Advantage subscription entitles you to receive support for a single
physical machine on which either Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server or Ubuntu Cloud
Infrastructure is installed, as well as unlimited hosted Ubuntu virtual machines.
Entitlements can be moved between machines as systems within the organisation
change. For example, it is common to move an entitlement from an old system to
a new system as part of an upgrade process.
19

20. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
When you experience an issue, your first course of action should be to consult
the Knowledge Base through the support portal. The Knowledge Base contains
a range of documentation detailing issues and solutions that have been
experienced by other users.
If there is no appropriate solution, you can either enter the problem through
the support portal ticketing system, or you can telephone CSS directly. Severity
level 1 and level 2 issues should be reported by phone.
Support Tier 1
Initial calls are handled by Tier 1 engineers who have been trained to handle basic
configuration or usage issues. The engineer’s first task is to verify the nature of
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.
If the problem is beyond this tier’s capability, it is escalated to the second tier.
Support Tier 2
Tier 2 engineers have extensive Ubuntu experience and may be specialists in a
particular domain of knowledge. Aside from escalated issues, this tier deals with
complex problems where there are a range of subsystems involved. The engineer
will work to recreate a complex problem and isolate it into a repeatable test case.
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 refer to it in the future.
Support Tier 3
An issue that moves through to the Tier 3 level has been isolated to a repeatable
test case. The third tier works on any code changes that are necessary to resolve
the problem for you. At this stage, an issue is considered a software defect
or a request for an enhancement. The Sustaining Engineering team will focus
on resolving software issues or even design changes at this level. They will be
responsible for delivering fully supported interim builds when necessary (usually
referred to as “Hotfix” in the industry) as well as working with distribution
developers to integrate the change in future Ubuntu update releases.
Support collaboration
It’s often the case that a problem is not isolated to the operating system,
physical hardware or the application itself. Complex issues often exist between
the boundaries making it difficult and time-consuming to isolate and debug
them. This can become more complex when a variety of vendors are involved.
To ensure that our customers receive the highest level of support for these types
of issues, 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 tsanet.org
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21. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
21

22. Ubuntu 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 five years on both the desktop and server.
Ubuntu Desktop includes the core of Ubuntu with a graphical environment
and common applications like Firefox, LibreOffice and Thunderbird email.
Ubuntu Server includes the core of Ubuntu, along with common server
applications such as Apache, Samba and MySQL.
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.
22

23. Ubuntu Advantage Services Guide
23
CSS provides support for any release of Ubuntu that is still within its life-cycle, whether it’s a standard or LTS release. Whenever you are ready to upgrade to the next release of Ubuntu,
the support team is there to provide assistance, should you have any problems or issues.

24. May 2013
Choose Ubuntu Advantage
for your business.
Get in touch today:
canonical.com/sales
+44 207 630 2402
© Canonical Limited 2013. 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.