Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

November 2021

Data centre networking: what is OVS?

In one of our preceding blogs, we spoke about Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and the key drivers behind it. Virtualisation is one of the fundamental aspects that characterises SDN, and has influenced the architecture of network switching in the data centre. OVS (Open vSwitch) is a fundamental component of modern and open data centre SDNs, where it aggregates all the virtual machines at the server hypervisor layer.

Embedded systems: the advent of the Internet of Things - Part II

This is the second part of the two-part blog series covering embedded Linux systems and the challenges brought about by the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In Part I, we surveyed the embedded ecosystem and the role Linux plays within that space. This blog takes you on the next step in the journey, where we explore the most demanding challenges facing manufacturers of tightly embedded IoT devices.

Canonical Achieves AWS Graviton Ready Designation

29 November 2021: Canonical, Publisher of Ubuntu, announced today that it has achieved the AWS Graviton Ready designation, part of the Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) Service Ready Program. This designation recognizes that Canonical + Ubuntu Server and Anbox Cloud Appliance has demonstrated successful integration with AWS Graviton Service.

What is embedded Linux? Part I

“Hello everybody out there using minix – I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. The above is an excerpt from Linus Torvalds’ original announcement of what came to be known worldwide as the Linux operating system (OS), dated August 1991. In hindsight, it is inconceivably modest now that we are in a much better position to appreciate the full revolutionary extent of his post.

Kubernetes 1.23 rc testing with MicroK8s

Today, Kubernetes 1.23 release candidate was made available upstream for testing and experimentation. General availability is planned for December 7th, so now is the time to report back any issues or bugs. Developers, DevOps and open source software enthusiasts can try out the latest features using MicroK8s. MicroK8s is a lightweight, CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution with a streamlined UX.

Cloud-optimized Linux kernels - what makes Ubuntu the top OS across the clouds

Ubuntu is the platform of choice for deploying and running workloads on public clouds. No other operating system gives you better performance and consistency of experience across public clouds, including Amazon, Azure, Google, IBM and Oracle. There is a reason behind this exceptional experience. By design, Ubuntu images in public clouds include an optimized Linux kernel for each cloud, giving you the best performance and functionality across all instance types and services.

Observability vs. monitoring debate: An irreverent view

In the past few years, the word “observability” has steadily gained traction in the discussions around monitoring, DevOps, and, especially, cloud-native computing. However, there is significant confusion about the overlap or difference between observability and monitoring.

History of Open Source Identity Management (part 2)

This is the second blog post (part 1 available here) where we look at the history of open source identity management. This post focuses on Oauth and OpenID, the protocols currently used in modern applications and services. This post does not cover the technical details of the open source identity management standards, which are explained very well in this Okta blog post. Rather, it explains the origins of Oauth and OpenID, and provides insights on the context that led to their creation.

Run your Ubuntu in US Government Clouds

In August 2016, the United States government announced a new federal source-code policy, which mandates that at least 20% of custom source code developed by or for any agency of the federal government must be released as open-source software (OSS). The memo of this policy also states that the Federal Government spends more than $6 billion each year on software through more than 42,000 transactions. Obviously, this is a huge business for all open-source developers.

Top 10 apps to boost your productivity

Winter is rolling in (for those in the Northern Hemisphere at least). Long summer evenings are on hold for now. In these colder months, it can be difficult to get back into work and feel efficient. But whether you are feeling tired, unorganised, or demotivated, there may be an application here to help you refocus and re-energise. Here are a few that have given us the boost we needed to get back on track.

Ubuntu and ROS: a decade of driving robotics innovation

ROS has been powering the future of robotics in academia, industry and enterprise for more than 10 years, from robotics arms, to automotive, drones, and more. But do you know that ROS started with Ubuntu? In this video, we explain how Canonical's tools optimized for ROS and robotics devices can empower your next project.

What is object storage?

Object storage has by far the most simplistic interface out there, with no need for complicated SCSI drivers, HBA drivers, multipathing tools, or volume managers embedded into your Operating System. All you need to do is point your application at an HTTP endpoint, and use a simple set of verbs to describe what you want to do with a piece of data. Do you want to PUT it somewhere for safekeeping? Do you want to GET it so that you can do some work with that piece of data?

CIS-Harden your Ubuntu in Google Cloud

CIS Benchmarks are best practices for the secure configuration of a target system. The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) is the authority backing CIS Benchmarks. Ubuntu Pro is entitled to be CIS compliant and packaged with CIS toolings from Canonical. Let’s SSH into your Ubuntu Pro virtual machine. If you haven’t yet upgrade your Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro, please follow this tutorial.

Canonical Transforms Linux on Mac

November 9th London, UK: On the heels of Apple’s announcement of a new line of game-changing M1 MacBooks, Canonical is bringing fast and easy Linux to the M1 platform. Multipass, the quickest way to run Linux cross-platform, received an update last week allowing M1 users to run Ubuntu VMs with minimal set-up. Multipass can download and launch a virtual machine image with one command, and developers on M1 can now get running on Linux in as little as 20 seconds.

History of Open Source Identity Management (part 1)

Few computing concepts are as ubiquitous as identity and access management. There isn’t a single day that goes by without us being asked for credentials, passwords or pin codes. Yet very few know the origins and the evolution of the technologies behind them. This is the first of two blog posts where we will look at the history of open-source identity management. We will cover the main open-source protocols and standards that shaped it, from its origins to the modern days.

Five reasons to manage your IoT edge devices

The Internet of Things adoption is growing faster than ever before. As connected devices become more affordable, they find their place in many aspects of our lives. Users worldwide can benefit from a large ecosystem of IoT solutions. However, this rapid growth comes at a cost. Different IoT edge devices have different interfaces, speak different languages and many are not supported soon after manufacturing. Over time, this presents challenges not only to usability, but also to security and privacy.

Ubuntu optimised for Intel processors accelerates adoption of IoT innovations

2 November 2021: Canonical published the first Ubuntu images optimised for the next generation of Intel IoT platforms, which address the unique requirements of the intelligent edge across multiple industry verticals. Both companies are dedicated to enabling on Ubuntu the Intel IoT platforms’ specific features such as real-time performance, manageability, security, and functional safety, as well as allowing users to take advantage of their improved CPU and graphics performance.

Kubernetes Fully Managed: Overcoming CIOs challenges

Kubernetes is everywhere! In the public and private cloud, and from the enterprise to startups, the majority of IT executives around the world have explored Kubernetes, and how it has evolved the way many organisations are developing and deploying their applications. But what is scary about it, and how can organisations better leverage one of the greatest tools in the field while overcoming the biggest challenges facing CIOs when adopting Kubernetes?

Ubuntu Pro-based Microsoft SQL Server Instances available for Azure

1st November 2021: Today, Canonical announced support with Microsoft for Microsoft SQL Server with Ubuntu Pro on Microsoft Azure. Canonical has worked with Microsoft to bring a highly performant and fully supported solution for SQL Server to market, based around the Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS operating system.

Securing the Open-Source supply chain with Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud

It’s official: since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, cybercrime has increased by 600%. Among these, ransomware attacks are estimated to cost $6 trillion in 2021 alone. And there were nearly 550,000 ransomware attacks per day in 2020. The question is: are your workloads secure enough? In this blog, we will discuss how to make your Open Source workloads more secure in one second.