Microsoft surprises with its first server Linux distribution: Azure Linux 4.0

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Microsoft released its archetypal afloat Linux distro: Azure Linux 4.0
• Azure Linux has divided into Azure Container Linux and the caller virtual instrumentality edition: Azure Linux.
• Microsoft efficaciously admits that it's a de facto Linux-based company.

Minneapolis - So, determination I was astatine Open Source Summit North America, listening to Brendan Burns, co-founder of Kubernetes and contiguous Microsoft's Corporate VP of Azure Cloud Native and Management Platform, and Open Source, speech astir the improvement from open-source to agentic AI. Then, successful the mediate of his presentation, helium said, "When I started successful Azure 10 years ago, it was not the bulk operating strategy moving connected the Azure cloud. It has go the majority operating strategy moving connected the Azure cloud successful the past 10 years. And today, I deliberation we're truly excited to denote that we're going to beryllium having Microsoft's open-source Linux distribution, a supported mentation of Linux supported by Microsoft, disposable connected Azure, retired for anybody to use." 

I blinked. Backstage, Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation's CEO, blinked, and each the Linux-savvy radical successful the assemblage went "Huh?"

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Microsoft has released Linux-based programs before. The archetypal was the Azure Sphere borderline computing device. This was followed by CBL-Marnier, a Linux-based instrumentality bundle platform, which was aboriginal renamed Azure Linux. Never, however, had Microsoft released a general-purpose Linux distro… until now. 

That was it. That was each helium said. Zemlin called him backmost onstage and asked if he'd truly conscionable announced a Microsoft Linux distro. Burns replied that yes, helium had. Zemlin continued, "When Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation, determination was this large conspiracy mentation that someway the Linux Foundation was undermining unfastened root successful concern with Microsoft, and present you denote that you're shipping a Linux distribution. That's amazing."

He's right. It is. We've travel a agelong mode from the days erstwhile erstwhile Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called Linux a cancer. Now, Burns said, "It's been a truly large journey, and it's been awesome to spot everybody wrong the institution rally astir it."

So wherefore did the quality drawback america each by surprise? It was due to the fact that the quality was primitively meant to beryllium announced astatine Microsoft Techcon successful 2 weeks. But, astatine the past minute, they decided to fto the quality retired now. 

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Burns near the league earlier I could get further details, but the Linux Foundation's ace PR squad arranged for maine to conscionable Lachlan Everson, Microsoft's Principal Program Manager connected Azure's open-source team. He told maine Microsoft is turning Azure Linux into a full-fledged general-purpose unreality organisation with Azure Linux 4.0 portion simultaneously productizing Flatcar Container Linux arsenic a hardened, immutable instrumentality big called Azure Container Linux (ACL). 

The erstwhile is simply a general-purpose virtual instrumentality (VM) representation for each Azure customers, not conscionable Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) users. Until now, Everson noted, "we had Azure Linux lone disposable to third-party customers done AKS specifically, and that was Azure Linux 3.0." Going forward, this volition beryllium ACL. 

Everson emphasized that Azure Linux 4.0 is the culmination of years of interior usage and the improvement of the earlier Mariner distribution. "So we've been moving Azure Linux for galore years internally, and we got done to 3.0, and we lone allowed it connected arsenic a instrumentality big connected AKS. What we've done is marque it a general-purpose, truthful this is each the learnings that we've had successful the practice of Mariner." 

Fedora-based, unfastened source, Azure-tuned

Under the hood, Azure Linux 4.0 is based connected Fedora Linux and is delivered arsenic an open organisation connected GitHub. This codification is disposable now. Yes, Red Hat knows that Microsoft has done this. Everson continued, "So, we made a determination to usage Fedora arsenic an upstream, truthful it's utilizing RPMs successful the Fedora ecosystem. Microsoft curates the packages and the proviso concatenation to acceptable Azure's unreality platform." Microsoft besides created "it to beryllium purpose-built for Azure, which integrates vertically into each of our infrastructure to springiness you the champion Azure Linux acquisition connected Azure."

While Azure Linux volition vessel arsenic a VM image, Microsoft is already preparing a developer-friendly way onto Windows desktops: "And arsenic of today, we person it arsenic a VM representation for your VM big connected Azure. We're going to denote WSL images arsenic well."

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While developers volition beryllium capable to tally Azure Linux locally done WSL, Microsoft is not positioning it arsenic a accepted desktop Linux. Asked whether helium could tally it connected his laptop, Everson said: "I volition beryllium capable to tally it connected my laptop, oregon what person you. Yes, connected Windows 11." However, erstwhile pressed astir a desktop experience, Everson was wide that determination are "no plans" for a graphical environment.

"It's optimized for server-side successful the cloud," helium said, adding that adjacent connected a developer machine, users should expect a thin environment. "Minimal packages, yeah. The thought is that we connection you a accordant acquisition to bash your improvement connected your machine, and that you tin instrumentality your workloads arsenic you make them connected your instrumentality and tally them with VS Code. You tin tally your applications connected that, and cognize that the level is the aforesaid that you're moving connected the cloud, truthful that you person that benignant of consistency betwixt environments."

Azure Container Linux

Flatcar itself remains the upstream project, but Microsoft is packaging it for Azure customers. Everson described Flatcar arsenic "purpose-built, immutable, unafraid by default, production-ready operating system, and Azure Container Linux is the productization of that, but we're inactive investing successful the upstream Flatcar ecosystem and pulling that downstream into a productized exterior acquisition conscionable for instrumentality workloads, truthful it's a instrumentality hosting successful AKS." 

To underscore the immutable model, helium added that "Everything's baked in, truthful determination is nary bundle manager. We cook the bits into the immutable, and they're successful the immutable version. So Azure Container Linux is the immutable version. So you shouldn't beryllium changing immoderate strategy packages oregon immoderate exertion packages. Anything that you request to alteration is lawsuit workloads tally successful containers."

Lifecycle, support, and upgrades

For existing Azure Linux 3.x users, Microsoft is promising a straightforward way guardant alternatively than a disruptive migration. In effect to a question astir moving from "Azure Linux free," Everson said simply, "Yes," erstwhile asked if users could "just upgrade" without a migration. He past outlined a defined enactment window: "We person 2 years of support."

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Within that window, Microsoft aims to support kernel choices unchangeable portion providing upgrades. "So what we effort to bash is prime circumstantial kernel versions that we're utilizing for implicit the beingness of the 2 years of enactment for that circumstantial version, and past we connection an upgrade pathway for customers arsenic well, truthful it's afloat supported and past upgradable successful the 2 years." This is paired with a predictable monthly information update rhythm. 

That said, information is cardinal to the Azure Linux story, particularly amid a surge of kernel issues successful the AI era. Everson framed Microsoft's worth proposition astir owning the full proviso chain: "So, portion of the worth proposition is that due to the fact that we are taking attraction of the proviso concatenation of each the pieces to physique the distribution, we person minimal aboveground country of the packages, curated kernel, and customizations for moving connected Azure to enactment each the hardware, and we besides person champion successful people security."

Microsoft is committing to monthly patches for Azure Linux -- conscionable don't telephone it Patch Tuesday. However, if a superior Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) appears, Microsoft promises to connection a patched representation "as soon arsenic those patches travel out."

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The caller Azure Linux is besides designed to fto customers offload overmuch of the update absorption if they choose. When asked whether users would request to intervene to enactment current, Everson pointed to built-in automation: "Whether they're VMs oregon AKs, we person the quality to opt successful to automatic upgrades based connected security." In larger, scaled-out deployments, those updates are handled gradually to debar disruption.

For customers with fragile oregon highly customized applications, opting retired remains an option. "So if you opt into that, you volition ever beryllium up to day and unafraid with the latest versions," Everson said, earlier acknowledging the different camp: "You tin decidedly opt retired of it." 

He tied this attack backmost to a doctrine of staying up of nationalist disclosure: "As Jim said, we've got to marque definite that our customers tin support up to day with the complaint of alteration and the complaint of disclosures and patches, truthful we've truly breaked that into the halfway of the operating system, that we tin instrumentality those updates truly quickly, truthful that you're not waiting,"

Positioning successful the AI-native epoch and with partners

Everson formed Azure Linux arsenic a effect to the "AI autochthonal explosion" and the dominance of Linux arsenic the substrate for modern AI applications. "All AI applications are moving connected the Linux stack," helium said. Microsoft, helium argued, has "learned to physique precise hard connected Linux images, and we privation to springiness that to our customers, truthful that they tin beryllium palmy successful the AI autochthonal era."

At the aforesaid time, helium stressed that Azure Linux is meant to complement, not replace, different distributions successful Azure's catalog. Asked whether Red Hat knew astir the caller offering, the reply was unequivocal: "Actually, yes." Everson added, "We inactive person a large ecosystem of partners, right? This changes thing with those relationships. If you privation to tally Red Hat, if you privation to tally Ubuntu, that's perfectly okay. What we saw was an accidental to springiness you a battery-included acquisition connected Azure. We person 8 endorsed distros connected our platform, and we volition proceed to enactment with those."

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As Microsoft announced successful a blog post, "Today, much than two-thirds of lawsuit cores successful Azure tally Linux, and the platforms moving Microsoft 365, GitHub, and OpenAI's ChatGPT each beryllium connected Linux foundations. When ChatGPT scales crossed much than 10 cardinal compute cores worldwide and serves a cardinal queries a day, Linux and Kubernetes are what marque that possible."

So present we are. Microsoft is moving its astir important services connected Linux. Thus, it lone makes consciousness that Microsoft is yet shipping a complete, albeit server-centric Linux distro, portion continuing to enactment aggregate different Linux distros. Today, Microsoft has yet admitted that it is, extracurricular the desktop, chiefly a Linux company.