NVIDIA Base Command™ Manager Lifecycle and Support#

Base Command Manager Lifecycle and Support#

Enterprise customers require a transparent roadmap and predictable release cycles to plan infrastructure upgrades effectively. This document outlines NVIDIA’s support commitment balancing the requirements of supporting new hardware and Embedded Software updates and the need for predictable releases and stability.

Definitions#

Embedded Software: Additional software from NVIDIA and ISVs that is included and/or installed by Base Command Manager. The software is typically available from external public repositories with a permissive or copyleft license.

Software Lifecycle#

Base Command Manager Lifecycle#

Semantic Versioning: Base Command Manager follows Semantic Versioning (semver.org).
Major Releases: New major Base Command Manager releases are targeting a release cadence of 12 to 18 months. Each release is supported for a period of five (5) years with backwards compatible updates for Base Command Manager and the Embedded Software.
Minor Releases: Minor releases are targeted to be released every two (2) months in the first year of a major release and four (4) months (quarterly) for the remainder of the regular support cycle. These releases contain bug fixes and security updates, and may also provide additional backward-compatible features.
Patch Releases (Hotfix Update): Patch updates may be provided between releases for Base Command Manager and the Embedded Software to address critical issues and security updates. These updates are provided through public repositories from NVIDIA and other vendors between minor releases.
Extended Support: Additional support with patch releases limited to critical maintenance and security updates may be purchased for two (2) years beyond the initial five-year window.
Update Policy: Applying updates to Base Command Manager will by default bring the cluster to the latest available versions of BCM and the Embedded Software.

Release	Release Date	2023				2024				2025				2026				2027				2028				2029
13	TBA
12	TBA
11	06/11/2025
10	09/22/2023
9.2	03/31/2022
9.1	11/15/2020
9.0	01/23/2020

	Five (5) year full support
	Two (2) year extended support

Table 1: Base Command Manager Lifecycle Example

Supported Hardware#

New Product Introduction (NPI): New hardware introductions, such as new GPU or CPU architectures, or next generation network devices, are only supported in the current Base Command Manager release. Changes to support new hardware will not be backported to prior Base Command Manager releases.
Lifecycle Limits: Hardware systems remain supported in subsequent Base Command Manager releases following their initial introduction but may not be supported in any Base Command Manager release in the final year of the official hardware support duration.
Supported Systems: DGX and OEM Hardware support is subject to the following conditions:
1. OEM Compatibility: Base Command Manager supports all OEM hardware certified by NVIDIA AI Enterprise, provided they meet specific criteria outlined in the certification program.
2. Qualification Standards: Base Command Manager is primarily qualified on selected NVIDIA DGX systems (typically only for the latest hardware releases). While results are expected to translate to OEM systems, Base Command Manager relies on self-certification of the supported OEM hardware for hardware and software qualification through the NVIDIA AI Enterprise program.
3. Firmware Requirements: Base Command Manager qualification is performed using current firmware releases for DGX systems. While older firmware may remain functional, it is not officially qualified.
4. Cluster Qualification: End-to-end qualification, including network switches and PDUs, is qualified only on specific NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD configurations.

Supported Linux Distribution#

Supported Linux Distributions: Base Command Manager supports most major Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Rocky Linux, and SUSE Enterprise Linux.
Included Linux Distributions: The Base Command Manager ISO includes a Linux distribution for the head node and which also serves as the default image for worker nodes. Customers can choose the Linux distribution when downloading the ISO. Note that Red Hat Enterprise Linux is currently not available. Deployments of Base Command Manager on Red Hat Enterprise Linux are only supported using the add-on installation method.
Linux Support Lifecycle: Base Command Manager ensures a stable environment by aligning its lifecycle with major Linux distributions.
1. Major Base Command Manager Release: New major Base Command Manager releases support the current major Linux distributions available at the time of the release. In some cases, prior Linux distributions versions might also be included.
2. New Linux Distribution Versions: Support for any new Linux distribution release is added only to the current, active version of Base Command Manager. Once a new major Base Command Manager version launches, no further Linux distribution releases will be added to the previous Base Command Manager versions.
3. Minor Linux Distribution Releases: Base Command Manager typically supports the minor releases of Linux distributions that are active at the time of the Base Command Manager release.
Linux Distribution Licenses: Base Command Manager generally does not include licenses for Linux distributions except as follows.
1. The Base Command Manager includes Ubuntu Pro (license only, excluding support) when purchased with the following SKU:
  1. NVIDIA AI Enterprise
  2. NVIDIA Mission Control
Customers are advised to reach out to the respective vendor of the selected Linux distribution for licensing terms and additional information.

Embedded Software (Slurm, K8s, Operators, etc.)#

Software Licenses: Except as follows, Base Command Manager only includes software that is made available under a permissible or copyleft Open Source license. Software that may require a separate license:
1. Linux distributions (see also section above)
Supported Software Versions:
1. Base Command Manager releases typically include or support the latest version or latest versions of the Embedded Software available at the time of the Base Command Manager release,
2. Minor Base Command Manager releases will continue to support all Embedded Software versions that haven’t reached the End of Support that were included in the major Base Command Manager release.
End of support for an Embedded Software component: When an entire Embedded Software component reaches End of Support, NVIDIA will try to provide a replacement software if feasible or might continue to provide customer support for the affected software without releasing any updates.

NVIDIA Enterprise Support#

Base Command Manager Enterprise Support#

NVIDIA Enterprise Support: Technical support for Base Command Manager is provided by NVIDIA Enterprise Support when purchased through the following SKUs:
1. NVIDIA AI Enterprise
2. NVIDIA Mission Control
3. Support for Base Command Manager
“Free” version of Base Command Manager: The “Free” version of Base Command Manager does not come with technical support. Help in resolving issues or obtaining technical support may be available through:
1. NVIDIA public forums for community support.
2. Software vendors for commercial technical support of the Embedded Software.

Embedded Software Enterprise Support#

Embedded Software Technical Support: NVIDIA Enterprise Support provides technical support only for issues integrating the Embedded Software into Base Command Manager. While issues with the Embedded Software are generally excluded from standard coverage, NVIDIA may provide ‘Best Effort’ support at its sole discretion.
Additional Vendor Support: Additional support for the Embedded Software can typically be purchased from the respective software vendor.
Operating System Support: Except as follows, NVIDIA Enterprise Support does generally not provide technical support for the Linux operating system other than issues with the integration of a supported Linux distribution into Base Command Manager.
1. NVIDIA Enterprise Support provides support for DGX OS on DGX worker nodes.