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Cloud Microsoft Operating Systems Linux

Microsoft: Linux Is the Top Operating System on Azure Today (thenewstack.io) 69

Posted by BeauHD from the year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
Azure used to be a cloud platform dedicated to Windows. Now, it's the most widely used operating system on Microsoft Azure. The New Stack's Joab Jackson writes: These days, Microsoft expends considerable effort that Linux runs as smoothly as possible on Azure, according to a talk given earlier this year at the Linux Foundation Open Source Summit given by two Microsoft Azure Linux Platforms Group program managers, Jack Aboutboul, and Krum Kashan. "Linux is the #1 operating system in Azure today," Aboutoul said. And all must be supported in a way that Microsoft users have come to expects. Hence, the need for the Microsoft's Linux Platforms Group, which provides support Linux to both the internal customers and to Azure customers. These days, the duo of engineers explained, Microsoft knows about as much as anyone about how to operate Linux at hyperscale. [...]

As of today, there are hundreds of Azure and Azure-based services running on Linux, including the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), OpenAI, HDInsight, and many of the other database services. "A lot of the infrastructure powering everything else is running on Linux," Aboutoul said. "They're different flavors of Linux running all over the place," Aboutoul said. To run these services, Microsoft maintains its own kernel, Azure Linux, and in 2023 the company released its own version of Linux, Azure Linux. But Azure Linux is just a small portion of all the other flavors of Linux running on Azure, all of which Microsoft must work with to support.

Overall, there are about 20,000 third-party Software as a Service (SaaS) packages in the Azure marketplace that rely on some Linux distribution. And when things go wrong, it is the Azure service engineers who get the help tickets. The company keeps a set of endorsed Linux distributions, which include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian, Flatcar, Suse, Canonical, and Oracle Linux and CentOS (as managed by OpenLogic, not Red Hat). [...] Overall, the company gets about 1,000 images a month from these endorsed partners alone. Many of the distributions have multiple images (Suse has a regular one, and another one for high-performance computing, for instance).
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Microsoft: Linux Is the Top Operating System on Azure Today More

Microsoft: Linux Is the Top Operating System on Azure Today

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  • Hail to the King.

  • even in the cloud (Score:3)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @07:59PM (#64647928) Journal
    Even in the cloud, open source wins. Eventually.

    • Re: even in the cloud (Score:4, Interesting)

      by emil ( 695 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:32PM (#64647984)
      It won for clear reasons - on the same hardware, Linux is faster, and this is well-known. https://blog.zorinaq.com/i-con... [zorinaq.com] SQL Server scores posted on TPC.org were faster for many years, although now that does not appear to be the case (perhaps for political reasons, as only Microsoft may post scores). Still, patching is profoundly easier on Linux, which is a critical feature for cloud deployments. https://www.tpc.org/tpch/resul... [tpc.org]

      • Re: even in the cloud (Score:5, Informative)

        by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @09:00PM (#64648032) Journal
        When I was using SQL Server, the problem wasn't the speed, it was the licensing. sQL Server has a decent feature set and is reasonably nice to use (Oracle is not nice to use), but when you wanted to scale up, it started to get expensive.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Guspaz ( 556486 )

          It's still not exactly cheap, but on their latest serverless variants of SQL Server (such as Azure SQL's hyperscale tier), there aren't any separate licensing fees, and the costs are pretty straightforward and linear. It can easily end up cheaper than SQL MI or dedicated VMs running traditional SQL Server just from the automatic scaling.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Guspaz ( 556486 )

        Azure has hotpatching support on Windows now, so patching isn't an advantage for Linux... But there are many things about Windows that makes it a pain in the ass on Azure compared to Linux. Provisioning and scaling is way easier, and Windows support in Azure is often just... worse. It's definitely a second-class citizen in AKS, for example.

        Microsoft often pushes you to Linux instead of Windows on Azure. Just today I was creating a new app service plan, and the default OS selection is Linux, so you've got to

        • Re: even in the cloud (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Antique Geekmeister ( 740220 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @02:57AM (#64648424)

          As we just saw with CrowdStrike, "hotpatching" on Windows is very dangerous. Too much of he software uses obscured and even trade secret concealed APIs.

          • Crowdstrike was patched in the same way Defender downloads new virus definitions. It is not patching in the normal sense of the word.

            Also, the opposite of hotpatching is living with zero day exploits. That is far more dangerous than you VM maybe going down and mildly inconveniencing you.

          • In Fairness, Linux has supported hot patching since that 1990s. Its just usually locked behind shitty Redhat or Oracle subscriptions.

      • Ultimately open source tends to win because all it takes is for decent source to be released one time, and the probability of that happening over time increases.

      • Re: even in the cloud (Score:4, Informative)

        by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2024 @04:35AM (#64648532)

        Those aside, it is really easy to spin up Linux instances. To boot, you don't have to worry about activation, CALs, required reboots for patches (as mentioned above), lower overhead, as Linux is perfectly fine working without any desktop UI, while a Windows Core install is severely limited in functionality, and because it is open-source, stuff can be made for it quickly to suit unique tasks.

        • To boot, you don't have to worry about activation, CALs ...

          Those are artificially created issues and since it is Microsoft, the entity that created those issues artificially, they can remove them just as easily.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        > patching is profoundly easier on Linux

        Oh man, yes it is. I just booted up my corporate Windows laptop, which I haven't used for maybe 6-8 weeks. I swear it was 3 hours and two reboots before it was usable, and then still needed to do more reboots (2 more?) and downloads after that. For most of that time, the fan was blowing pretty loudly - suggesting quite a bit of power consumption and generated heat - not good for the carbon footprint of it, I'm sure.

        In fairness, my employer committed the terrible cr

  • Linux's killer app (Score:4, Interesting)

    by simlox ( 6576120 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:06PM (#64647944)
    are containers, and de facto Docker. And low foot print and simplicity.

  • eh (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Poettering and the Wayland fanatics have turned Linux into Nu Windows. I am sure in 20 years Windows won't exist.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GoTeam ( 5042081 )

      Poettering and the Wayland fanatics have turned Linux into Nu Windows. I am sure in 20 years Windows won't exist.

      As long as centralized governments exist, Windows will exist. Something about wasteful entities liking wasteful entities...

  • Maybe check the logic on those first 2 sentences.

    -1 Offtopic.

  • This Has Been the Case For Years (Score:5, Interesting)

    by theshowmecanuck ( 703852 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:19PM (#64647968) Journal
    I remember hearing that Linux was the highest count OS on Azure at least 5 years ago. Probably 6 or 7.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Yes, same here. Obviously Linux has massive advantages as server of any kind and even more so when you need to do remote administration and that is not a new thing at all. I do remember Microsoft compromising Linux security in their Azure image a few years ago by installing some "MS quality level" administration demon in it, an at that time Linux was already the most used OS in Azure.

      • The big advantage Microsoft have in running Linux on their cluster is zero per seat license fee. "Do as I say, not as I do" comes to mind.

        • > zero per seat license fee

          They're still getting a monthly rent from their linux users so the distinction is disappearing.

          Licensing each server was a revenue stream for a standalone world.

          Not that they will turn down double revenue on hosted Windows.

    • The number is actually coming down. It used to be much higher than the reported 60%.

    • Indeed. Not sure why this is news today? Microsoft was bragging [reddit.com] Linux was running on 60% of Azure years back in ~2020.

      Back in 2015 Microsoft said [microsoft.com] they were running Linux. A friend of mine who works at Microsoft said 25% of Azure was running on Linux at the time.

      The Azure Cloud Switch (ACS) is our foray into building our own software for running network devices like switches. It is a cross-platform modular operating system for data center networking built on Linux.

  • So, which distro has the most active instances running on Azure?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 )

      The one whose name means "I can't install Debian" in some African language?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )

      That probably depends on how you define "active instances". Are you including containers? Then Alpine probably has a huge instance count. VMs? Ubuntu is definitely dominant there. Cluster hosts? Azure Linux will probably be dominant there in the future, but probably also Ubuntu for now.

  • Today, sure ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:55PM (#64648026)

    All the Windows ones are still rebooting N times to try and clear the, apparently aptly names, CrowdStrike crap. :-)

  • My eyeses, they hurtses (Score:3)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Monday July 22, 2024 @08:56PM (#64648030)

    Azure used to be a cloud platform dedicated to Windows. Now, it's the most widely used operating system on Microsoft Azure.

    So, let me get this straight - Azure is the most widely used operating system on Microsoft Azure? Is that really what you intended to say?

    If someone is playing at being a writer or editor, is it too much to ask that they spend the five seconds necessary to proofread their submissions before hitting "Submit"?

    • At least it was more or less a summary of the article as opposed to a giant piece (if not most of) the article.

      • At least it was more or less a summary of the article as opposed to a giant piece (if not most of) the article.

        These eye hurting word salad "summaries" that utterly mangle the meaning have me pining for those huge verbatim quotes.

    • On Slashdot it is too much to ask. Apparently the "editors" have no incentive to do better.

    • Azure was never dedicated to Windows. It had Linux offerings on day one.

    • "And all must be supported in a way that Microsoft users have come to expects"

      My editer says I rite good. Some people cant.

  • “all must be supported in a way that Microsoft users have come to expect”

  • I have used commercial software and I don't mind paying for it if it's easy / moderate. But the licensing terms I've seen from some vendors (especially blue ones) is so fantastically complex that no-one seems to know how much should be paid.

    If there were a simple extra 5cents per day per instance charge to use windows it woudl be fine. But I have to factor in whatever arcane deal the company I work for gets and, I suspect, how many cores and what workload, who knows what else, it's just too hard --> Lin

  • Could not have been worse if the author was a 12yr old orphan from Kazikstan weilding a chisel and slate.

    If this is the output of a "senior editor"... wow. The bar has crashed through the floor and is barreling toward Mordor

    Additionally, TFA hasn't been news for a long time. At least not for those who actually use Azure.

    • I've been watching Slashdot spiral down into the fires of Oblivion for a few years now. I was here when it first opened over 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the quality has been flushed into a septic tank that nobody even dares throw Rid-X into. Duplicate articles, shadow bans, the self-defeating nonsense of disabling new users... At this point, I just want to see how it ends. It's like a bad horror movie. You know it's bad, and the writing and directing is bad, and you're screaming in your head "No, girl, don

      • Couldn't have said it better myself.

        About the only thing /. got right was the moderation system which provided context for why something got up/down voted.

        Editors are fucking clueless with the dupes. I think the record is 3 duplicate stories on the front page? "You had ONE job!" /s

        Now get off my LAN ...

  • How convenient... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by joshuark ( 6549270 )

    How convenient...if Microsoft continues to take flak for the CrowdStrike-Azure reboot x15 debacle, it can avoid a mea culpa by Brad Smith. We use Linux, its the best thing since sliced bread or Bill Gates gave the world DOS...as Microsoft users have come to expect.

    When your flight is cancelled you become an involuntary, impressed (like the British navy did to American sailors...) Microsoft user. Hail Azure!

    JoshK.

    TL;DR...Great PR at the most convenient moment. "Pay no attention to the disaster behind the cur

    • How convenient...if Microsoft continues to take flak for the CrowdStrike-Azure reboot x15 debacle

      Whut? You are aware, of course, that CS has nothing to do with Microsoft... right?

      You are additionally aware that CS applies across multiple OS's too.... right?

      Misdirected rage and ignorance is neither a super power nor an opinion.

      • So.... Azure cloud instances likely running over Linux, all built by Microsoft kill microsoft environments worldwide.... Is not in any way an engineering failure my Microsoft...? Then the article conveniently mentions that their version of linux is the dominant OS on Azure like it's someone else's fault their cloud died......

        • So.... Azure cloud instances likely running over Linux, all built by Microsoft kill microsoft environments worldwide....

          Once again, and I cannot believe I have to say this, glaring ignorance is neither an opinion nor a super power. It's just ignorance.

      • CS has nothing to do with Microsoft... right?

        Wrong. Crowdstrike would not exist if it were not for Microsoft's swiss cheese security.

        • Wrong. Crowdstrike would not exist if it were not for end user stupidity.

          There we go. All fixed now.

          • Right, end user stupidity for relying on Microsoft, in addition to Microsoft's arguably criminal disregard for the security of its products. It is high time for both these matters to be addressed in the courts.

  • It's been the most popular VM OS on the Microsoft service provider for years:

    https://www.dailyhostnews.com/... [dailyhostnews.com]

    Don't forget, going back years, and years, Microsoft took hotmail over, which was unix (SunOS?) sendmail, switching to Windows NT was non-trivial and very bumpy and needed more grunt.

  • The quote is fine, but literally the two sentences before it are incorrect garbage. Azure had from its inception Linux offerings. It was a cloud VM platform nothing more.

    And I don't even know what to make of that second sentence.

  • "To run these services, Microsoft maintains its own kernel, Azure Linux, and in 2023 the company released its own version of Linux, Azure Linux." This sentence is just so poorly written. The entire summary is impossible to read.

    • Exactly! When I have to read a sentence 3 times to confirm it is, indeed, garbage - we can be pretty sure the author is either pushing LLM garbage or thoroughly illiterate

  • And yet... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by NoOnesMessiah ( 442788 )

    Bold words from a long-term-douchy company that spent an enormous amount of (mostly other peoples') time and money trying to kill Linux via a rather obvious SCO proxy war. Microsoft has an at-least 45-year history of buying, wrecking, litigating-to-death, or just outright killing anything that comes close to competition in it's world. Windows 11 is so miserable and yet they still have some sort of lock on the desktop because they keep killing innovation where they have to to stay in the lead. Using Azure

  • Why? What's wrong with your flagship OS that you do not want to use it for such tasks?
  • And so it came to pass MICROS~1 finally absorbs Linux into the collective and is engaged in fully digesting it (BURP).

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