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Canonical Data Platform 2021 winter roundup

It’s that time of the year again: many folks are panic buying cans of windscreen de-icer spray and thermal underwear, bringing pine trees into the front room and preparing to enjoy an extended break with the family. So we thought to ourselves, what better time than now to take a look back at the year gone by on the Canonical Data Platform?

Announcing MAAS 3.1: bare-metal cloud gets easier

We are happy to announce that MAAS 3.1 has been released. Bare-metal provisioning just got even easier! MAAS 3.1 brings some of the most frequently-requested features into the product. A lot of this is serendipity — or maybe you could say that it’s about like minds tracking the same problem. Either way, we’re doing our best to provide features that match our users’ needs, as soon as we possibly can.

What is a managed IT service?

Technology is one of the main success factors for any organisation. A few decades ago, when technology (and life) were not as fast-paced as today, IT was more about keeping the lights on and maintaining business as usual operations. Today, the game has massively changed. On the roads that are ever-changing, innovation is what keeps the wheel spinning. If you think that the world is doing enough innovation today, then it would be very interesting to check the recent Growth & Innovation McKinsey report.

Data centre networking: what is OVS?

In one of our preceding blogs, we spoke about Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and the key drivers behind it. Virtualisation is one of the fundamental aspects that characterises SDN, and has influenced the architecture of network switching in the data centre. OVS (Open vSwitch) is a fundamental component of modern and open data centre SDNs, where it aggregates all the virtual machines at the server hypervisor layer.

Embedded systems: the advent of the Internet of Things - Part II

This is the second part of the two-part blog series covering embedded Linux systems and the challenges brought about by the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In Part I, we surveyed the embedded ecosystem and the role Linux plays within that space. This blog takes you on the next step in the journey, where we explore the most demanding challenges facing manufacturers of tightly embedded IoT devices.

Canonical Achieves AWS Graviton Ready Designation

29 November 2021: Canonical, Publisher of Ubuntu, announced today that it has achieved the AWS Graviton Ready designation, part of the Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) Service Ready Program. This designation recognizes that Canonical + Ubuntu Server and Anbox Cloud Appliance has demonstrated successful integration with AWS Graviton Service.

What is embedded Linux? Part I

“Hello everybody out there using minix – I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. The above is an excerpt from Linus Torvalds’ original announcement of what came to be known worldwide as the Linux operating system (OS), dated August 1991. In hindsight, it is inconceivably modest now that we are in a much better position to appreciate the full revolutionary extent of his post.

Kubernetes 1.23 rc testing with MicroK8s

Today, Kubernetes 1.23 release candidate was made available upstream for testing and experimentation. General availability is planned for December 7th, so now is the time to report back any issues or bugs. Developers, DevOps and open source software enthusiasts can try out the latest features using MicroK8s. MicroK8s is a lightweight, CNCF-certified Kubernetes distribution with a streamlined UX.

Observability vs. monitoring debate: An irreverent view

In the past few years, the word “observability” has steadily gained traction in the discussions around monitoring, DevOps, and, especially, cloud-native computing. However, there is significant confusion about the overlap or difference between observability and monitoring.