Ubuntu 16.10 Released for Hybrid Cloud and Bare-Metal Cloud Operations

Ubuntu, the platform used in quite some cloud deployments worldwide, has released version 16.10 – with hybrid cloud operations, bare-metal cloud performance, the ability to lift-and-shift 80% of Linux VMs to machine containers, Kubernetes for world-leading process-container coordination, full container support in OpenStack, and telco-grade networking latency enhancements. 

“The world’s fastest hypervisor, LXD, and the world’s best cloud operating system, Ubuntu, together with the latest OpenStack and Kubernetes make for the world’s fastest and best private cloud infrastructure,” said Mark Shuttleworth, who leads Canonical’s product team and the Ubuntu project. “Our focus is to enable true hybrid cloud operations, and this release further enhances the tools and platform that most companies depend on to operate effectively across all major public clouds and in one’s own data center, from bare metal to cloud container.” 

ubuntu openstack cloudUniversal ‘snap’ Linux packages that merge container and packaging technology give developers a single format to distribute their apps and services from cloud to IoT. Snaps work on Ubuntu 16.10, 16.04 LTS and 14.04 LTS, and a range of Linux operating systems.

Network performance is a primary focus of this release, with updated versions of Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK), OpenVSwitch (OVS) and virtualization technologies, all able to handle critical application traffic for lower latency and greater throughput.

Full Range of Containers

Ubuntu 16.10 features all types of containers: process containers (Docker 1.12), machine containers (LXD 2.4), and application containers (Snapd 2.16).

The Canonical Distribution of Kubernetes would provide high-level coordination of process containers like Docker, OCID and Rkt. Kubernetes is supported on all major public clouds, bare metal, and OpenStack. Canonical OpenStack with the LXD pure-container hypervisor would provide high-level management for lightweight machine containers at scale. Machine containers look, feel and operate like virtual machines, enabling companies to lift-and-shift virtual machine to containers with no modifications to the app or operations.

On the desktop, Libreoffice, Krita, and VLC have all published snaps to distribute a universal package across Linux distributions. Nextcloud, an open solution for hosting and file sharing, are leveraging snaps on the Nextcloud box, a private cloud solution for home users, running from a Raspberry Pi.

All Canonical server, cloud and container products are available on Intel/AMD64, x86, IBM LinuxONE, Z Systems, POWER and ARMv8-A.