Linux and Open Source Blog

We are excited to release Image Customizer, an open-source tool, built and maintained by the Azure Linux team. Image Customizer lets you customize well-tested existing Azure Linux images for any…

Earlier today Microsoft announced that AKS Automatic is officially Generally Available (GA) on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). AKS Automatic enables organizations to build, deploy, and scale applications on Kubernetes with enhanced…

We’re excited to announce that Azure Linux 3.0 has successfully passed the Level 1 Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks, reinforcing our commitment to delivering a secure and compliant platform…

Background Following Red Hat's transition to a scalable vCPU-based pricing model in early 2024, Microsoft Azure implemented corresponding pricing updates for RHEL services. As part of ensuring our billing infrastructure…

The Kubernetes environment comes with its own unique challenges, particularly at enterprise level scale. Hundreds or thousands of pods may exist at any given point in time and are continuously…

Azure Linux is the Linux OS Microsoft trusts for its Linux fleet. Built from the ground up for cloud-native workloads, Azure Linux is optimized for performance, reliability, and security. It…

Drasi, an open-source Data Change Processing Platform, simplifies the creation of change-driven systems because it provides a consistent way of thinking about, detecting, and reacting to change. Sometimes, you need…

What’s New Managing Kubernetes upgrades can be a challenge for many organizations. The fast-paced release cycle requires frequent cluster updates, which can be time-consuming, carry operational risks, and require repeated…

Imagine running a marathon while wearing ankle weights—that’s what it feels like when your Azure Linux VM struggles with network performance issues. Slow data transfers and bottlenecks can keep your…

Building on our initial announcement for Deploying Open Source Software on Azure, the AKS and the Customer Experience team are excited to announce our expanded library of technical best practice…

PMC, the backbone of Microsoft’s Linux Software Delivery  Microsoft's mission is "to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more" - across all platforms. To support this,…

Organizations across government (including local and federal agencies and their contractors), finance, healthcare, and other regulated industries running workloads on Microsoft Azure now have a streamlined path to meet rigorous…

 This guide will get you up and running with Image Mode on RHEL on Azure to help demonstrate how the technology works and how it can save you time and…

As cloud computing becomes increasingly integral to data analysis, many developers and analysts are turning to lightweight, secure, and scalable environments. Azure Linux, Microsoft’s custom Linux distribution built specifically for…

By: Allen Jones, Principal Software Engineer, Azure Incubations, Microsoft The need to detect and react to data changes is pervasive across modern software systems. Whether it’s Kubernetes adapting to resource…

The Challenge of Kubernetes Observability Kubernetes clusters are inherently complex: Dynamic Environments: Pods spin up, scale, and terminate on the fly. This ephemeral nature makes it difficult to track and…

As cloud and AI evolve at an unprecedented pace, the need to deliver high-quality, secure, and reliable Linux VM images has never been more essential. Azure Image Testing for Linux…

We are excited to announce that Azure Linux 3.0, the next major version release of the Azure Linux container host for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), is now Generally Available on…

We’re announcing the upcoming end of standard support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) on 31 May 2025, as we focus on delivering a more secure and optimized Linux experience.  Originally…

Users sometimes feel that the Azure documentation isn't reliable, accurate, or relevant to the their particular application, doesn’t consistently span across services and OSS as E2E Solutions, and doesn’t consistently…

Microsoft Azure is thrilled to participate in SUSECON 2025, where we look forward to sharing insights, learning, and collaborating with everyone attending. Discover why Microsoft Azure is a trusted and…

As we venture into 2025, it's exhilarating to reflect on the astonishing strides we've made in the domain of Linux and Open Source Software (OSS) on Azure. Let us dive…

Microsoft’s continuous investments in product innovation in Linux, PostgreSQL, and MySQL is helping small, medium and large corporations innovate with Microsoft Azure. In the past year, Microsoft has announced several…

Take advantage of Microsoft's limited-time Linux reservations offer to bring unparalleled value to your customers! With up to 72% savings on virtual machines running Linux in Azure, this promotion is perfect for organizations looking…

Introduction Building on the insights from our previous blog regarding how MSFT ensures the quality of Linux images, this article aims to elaborate on the open-source tools that are instrumental…

  In the continuously evolving landscape of cloud computing and AI, the quality and reliability of virtual machines (VMs) plays vital role for businesses running mission-critical workloads. With over 65%…

Microsoft Ignite 2024 brought with it groundbreaking announcements, and Red Hat stood at the forefront, unveiling a series of innovations designed to empower businesses across industries. These announcements further strengthened…

We are pleased to announce that the Azure security baseline through Azure Policy and Machine Configuration for Linux has moved to public preview, and we are expanding the capabilities with…

Many of our customers rely on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for running their mission-critical SAP and HPC (high-performance computing) workloads on Azure. We collaborate closely with SUSE to ensure…

We are excited to announce that Azure Linux 3.0, the next major version release of the Azure Linux container host for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), is now available in preview…

Since our last update in July, there's been no shortage of new exciting updates and news for Linux and open source on Azure. Dive in to learn more!   What’s…

Linux has become the most popular operating system on Azure as over 60% of customer cores run Linux-based workloads. We are committed to continuously investing in the platform to enhance…

We are thrilled to participate in the Ubuntu Summit this year in The Hague, Netherlands, from October 25-27, 2024. The Ubuntu Summit always offers an exciting opportunity to learn, network,…

This article was originally posted on confidentialcontainers.org by Magnus Kulke. Read the original article on confidentialcontainers.org. The source for this content can be found here. In a previous article we discussed how we…

"Tech companies born with an open-source mentality get it. It’s our ability to work together that makes our dreams believable, and ultimately achievable; we must learn to build on the…

Thorough observability is essential to a pain free cloud experience. Azure provides many general-purpose observability tools, but you may want to create custom tooling . Inspektor Gadget is an open-source…

We are excited to announce a promotional offer on several Linux Virtual Machines (VMs) series to help you optimize Azure costs.   From October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025,…

Inspektor Gadget is a set of tools and a framework enabling observability of Kubernetes clusters and Linux hosts using  eBPF. You can use the framework to create your own tools, _i.e._…

Join Microsoft at Open Source Summit Europe, from September 16 to 18, 2024. This event gathers open source developers, technologists, and community leaders to collaborate, share insights, address challenges, and gain…

Microsoft recently announced the general availability of OSSKU Migration in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). This new feature enables users to take an existing AKS node pool and update the OSSKU…

The Essence of the Landing zone for RHEL on Azure: The landing zone for RHEL on Azure is combination of set of guidelines and it's a blueprint for success in the…

The past few months have been a whirlwind of innovation, collaboration, and inspiring conversations. We announced a wave of new innovations and participated at multiple events including Open Source Summit…

  This month’s partner showcase is with our partner Isovalent which is now a part of Cisco. We are highlighting how Cilium, Azure Linux and Azure Kubernetes Service bring value…

Introduction Building on our previous blog post about Confidential Containers on Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS) powered by Azure Linux, this blog post dives into the design and implementation of the stack’s security…

A common challenge for customers running Kubernetes is keeping up with the rapid pace of bug fixes and security updates for all the software running on their clusters. To help…

Red Hat Summit is a premier open-source technology event organized by Red Hat geared towards ITDMs and professionals. Back in Denver, Colorado, Red Hat Summit brings together customers, partners, industry…

On February 20th, Microsoft Defender for Containers released its new sensor component, powered by Inspektor Gadget.   Inspektor Gadget is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) project that aims to…

The beginning of 2024 was filled with exciting new announcements and events all over the world. Coming up, we’ll be at Open Source Summit North America (16-18), LinuxFest Northwest (April…

  Open source is fundamental at Microsoft and can be found throughout the company today - across Microsoft, developers are using open source technology and building it with collaborators across…

As announced, Red Hat is updating its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) royalty model to a scalable model to achieve better consistency with the most common model for cloud virtual machines. These…