Canonical adds advanced virtualisation capabilities to latest Ubuntu Server

Easy Upgrades and Optimized Performance of Virtual Machines

Virtualization meets Ubuntu with the release of Ubuntu version 7.04 on April 19. This latest version from Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, features a new upgrade tool and advanced support and optimization for running virtual machines.

Ubuntu is the award-winning Linux distribution for the desktop, laptop, thin client and server which brings together the best of open source software every 6 months. Ubuntu 7.04 Server Edition adds support for hardware facilities that speed up the use of virtual machines, improved hardware support and easy upgrades, making it an excellent choice as a web, database or file and print server which are the fastest growing area of Linux server use.

“Virtualization is becoming de rigueur in the datacenter and we've made it a priority to incorporate it into this latest release,” said Jane Silber, Director of Operations, Canonical. “Our users want choice and ease-of-use, so whether as a guest or host operating system, Ubuntu 7.04 will support commercial virtualization products such as VMWare, as well as open source projects including Xen and KVM.”

About Ubuntu 7.04 Server

On x86 systems with the Intel VT or AMD-V extensions, Kernel-based Virtual Machine support (KVM) allows users to run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux. Each virtual machine has private virtualized hardware: a network card, disk, graphics adapter, and so on. Ubuntu is the first Linux distribution with Para-Ops and VMI support which provides optimized performance under VMware.

Also new is a management tool for the server that enables upgrades to new releases of Ubuntu in a simple, automated manner. This completes the ability to easily and safely upgrade Ubuntu whether you're using it on the desktop or server. The server tool gives Administrators control over how their upgrade will be undertaken and lets them override decisions where required. By default the upgrade tools provides full dependency checking and task upgrades ensuring that the server remains functional. Whether using Ubuntu server on a single system or across a data-centre the ability to upgrade seamlessly will help administrators save time and money.

New features for thin clients include advanced print and sound support through Jetpipe, a printing architecture, and PulseAudio sound server.

In addition to virtualization support and easy upgrades, new features include:

Performance improvements

A range of new performance improvements including better performance on multicore processors, support for the Processor Data Area and optimizations for 64-bit architectures.
Improved availability of network services: Improved scheduling for highly parallel services. Services such as SQL and Apache will remain more responsive and stable under heavy loads.

Secure remote network installation: Administrators who aren't physically where their server is can securely install Ubuntu using a remote SSH terminal.

UltraSPARC improvements

Ubuntu now recognises other operating system installations so that it's easy to install without damaging existing data.

Updated LAMP stack:

The latest software for developers including new versions of Apache (2.2.3), MySQL (5.0.38), Python (2.5) and PHP (5.2.1).

Updates to the supported cluster suites:

Updates to the latest software along with the latest GFS and OCFS2. GFS2 and the new local mount capability for OCFS2 are technology previews for Administrators to start testing before production deployments.

More information is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/server.

Ubuntu Fully Supported

Used by businesses, home users, schools and governments around the world, upgrades to new releases will always be free of charge. Ubuntu 7.04 will be maintained for 18 months on both the desktop and on the server, and additional free support is available from the thriving Ubuntu community. For deployments which require additional service guarantees, full telephone and online support is commercially available globally from the professional support team at Canonical Ltd. and service partners.

About Canonical and Ubuntu

Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is headquartered in Europe and is committed to the development, distribution and support of open source software products and communities. World-class 24×7 commercial support for Ubuntu is available through Canonical's global support team and partners. ince its launch in October 2004 Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users around the world. Ubuntu will always be free to download, free to use and free to distribute to others. With these goals in mind, Ubuntu aims to be the most widely used Linux system, and is the center of a global open source software ecosystem.

Download Ubuntu from www.ubuntu.com/download. To learn about commercial support for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu, please see www.canonical.com/support. For more information visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and their associated logos are all registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd.
Contact:

Bill Baker, Baker Communications Group, 860-350-9100, pr@canonical.com