Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

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.

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.

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.

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.