SAP Basis Tech Supports

Symptom
You want to install SAP software on Linux and want to know the official end of maintenance dates for a certain Linux distribution.
Other terms
end of maintenance, support, Red Hat, Novell, SuSE, RHAS2.1, RHEL3, RHEL4, RHEL5, SLES7, SLES8, SLES9, SLES10, Linux, Redhat, ia32, i686, x86, ia64, ia-64, x86_64, x64, ppc64, Linux on Power, s390x, Linux on zSeries
Reason and Prerequisites
You are running SAP software on Linux (Red Hat, Novell/SUSE, Red Flag). SAP strongly recommends run SAP software on Linux distributions which are fully supported and maintained by the respective Linux distributor.
Solution
See the following list for maintenance dates of the Linux distributions which are supported by SAP.
SAP always recommends to install the latest available Linux distribution from a given distributor, e.g. you should prefer RHEL5 over RHEL4.
Furthermore, due to better performance and manageability, SAP recommends to install a 64-Bit Linux distribution for new installations only. All new SAP products which will ship in 2007 and later will not support any 32-Bit Linux distributions.
The given distributions and dates are independend of the processor architecture, nevertheless you should double-check in the Platform Availability Matrix (PAM) if the given distribution and architecture is supported for your desired SAP product.
Red Hat

Reference website (Red Hat Security Updates):
http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/errata/
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5End of Production 1 phase: 31 Mar 2011End of Production 2 phase: No earlier than Q1 of 2012End of Production 3 phase: 31 Mar 2014
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4End of Production 1 phase: 31 Mar 2009End of Production 2 phase: No earlier than Q4 of 2009End of Production 3 phase: 29 Feb 2012
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3End of Production 1 phase: 20 Jul 2006End of Production 2 phase: 30 Jun 2007End of Production 3 phase: 31 Oct 2010
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1End of Production 1 phase: 30 Nov 2004End of Production 2 phase: 31 May 2005End of Production 3 phase: 31 May 2009
The following Red Hat distributions are no longer supported and maintained by Red Hat:
Red Hat Linux 7.1Red Hat Linux 6.2Red Hat Linux 6.1EE

SUSE / Novell

Reference website (Novell Support Lifecycle):
http://support.novell.com/lifecycle/
or
http://support.novell.com/lifecycle/lcSearchResults.jsp?st=enterprise&sl=-1&sg=-1&pid=1000
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (SLES11)General Support End Date: 24 March 2016Extended Support End Date: not offeredSelf-support End Date: 24 March 2019NOTE: A few initial SAP products (e.g. ERP 6) will be certified for SLES11 by Q3/2009 with limited database support (e.g. MaxDB and IBM DB/2 LUW only). The majority of SAP products will become available for SLES 11 by Q2/2010.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SLES10)General Support End Date: 31 Jul 2011Extended Support End Date: 31 Jul 2013Self-support End Date: 31 Jul 2016
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES9)General Support End Date: 30 Jul 2009Extended Support End Date: 30 Jul 2011Self-support End Date: 30 Jul 2014
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (SLES8)General Support End Date: 30 Nov 2007Extended Support End Date: not offered (contact Novell for details) Self-support End Date: 19 Nov 2012
The following SUSE distributions are no longer supported and maintained by SUSE/Novell:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 7SUSE Linux 7.1

Red Flag

Reference website:
chinese: http://www.redflag-linux.com
english: http://www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html
Red Flag offers up to 7 years support (extra fee will be charged)
Red Flag Advanced Server 4.1
Full Support until Dec 31, 2007.End of Support: June, 2011.