Ubuntu on Azure

Ubuntu on Azure is a set of customised Ubuntu images that allow easy access to a wide range of products and services - offered by both Microsoft Azure and Canonical. These images have an optimised kernel that boots faster, has a smaller footprint and includes Azure-specific drivers.

These images provide a foundation for deploying cloud-based software solutions, specifically for software built on Ubuntu and running on Azure. They focus on providing the optimal tools and features needed to run specific workloads.

The images create a stable and secure cloud platform that is ideal for scaling development work done on Ubuntu-based systems. Since Ubuntu is one of the most favoured operating systems amongst developers, using an Ubuntu-based image for the corresponding cloud deployment becomes the simplest option.

Everyone from individual developers to large enterprises use these images for developing and deploying their softwares. For highly regulated industries from the government, medical and finance sectors, various security-certified images are also available.

In this documentation

How-to guides

Step-by-step guides covering key operations and common tasks

Explanation

Discussion and clarification of key topics, such as security features and our image retention policy.

Canonical’s offerings

Integration with Azure systems - Ubuntu on Azure cloud integrates with the Systems Manager, ensuring that system management tools work natively for instances on the platform. This includes everything from Azure Update Manager and Security Center, to Azure Policy, to using Azure AD to manage your SSH logins. A number of Microsoft products are built on Ubuntu, such as Azure Kubernetes Service, Databricks, and SQL Server on Ubuntu Pro, which includes end-to-end joint support. Furthermore Canonical is working with Microsoft to bring confidential VMs on the cloud on Ubuntu Advantage and Pro. You can find more information on the public preview of AMD-based Confidential VMs.

Customised kernel - The linux-azure kernel enables accelerated networking for the InfiniBand capable instances, as well as consistent support for the Single Root I/O Virtualisation (SR-IOV) on the present hardware, enabling network traffic to bypass the virtualisation stack and achieve almost native performance. It comes with FPGA support out of the box, taking advantage of project catapult to provide performance without the cost and complexity of a custom ASIC.

Some other offerings include:

  1. Ubuntu server and Ubuntu Pro for all supported LTS versions across all Azure architectures, including ARM

  2. Minimal Ubuntu images for Independent Software Vendors and others who want to build on Azure

  3. Ubuntu Pro FIPS images that allow US government Ubuntu users to easily move their workloads to Azure

  4. Pre-hardened (CIS) Ubuntu minimal images, for those who want best security practices for Ubuntu out of the box

  5. The only commercial Linux launch partner for Azure’s Confidential Computing platform (both AMD SEV-SNP and TDX)

  6. SQL Server on Ubuntu Pro images that include specific SQL-related OS optimisations and joint support from Canonical and Microsoft

  7. Anbox on Azure, that allows users to run Android apps on Azure at scale

  8. Collaboration with Azure’s AKS team to support the Azure Kubernetes worker node image, as these worker nodes nearly always run Ubuntu

  9. Collaboration with the Azure Guest Patching Service and Update Manager teams to ensure simple security patch management for users

  10. Collaboration with the .Net team on Chiselled .Net images that have a smaller size and security cross-section

Project and community

Ubuntu on Azure is a member of the Ubuntu family and the project warmly welcomes community projects, contributions, suggestions, fixes and constructive feedback.