Not Windows alone, so to speak.
Microsoft published Azure Linux 3.0 is an update to its specialized Linux distribution designed for cloud infrastructures, edge systems, and various company services.
The main goal of the project is to unify Linux solutions used within Microsoft, which should simplify their support and updates. Azure Linux is positioned as a universal base platform for creating containers, host environments, and cloud services.
In the new version of Azure Linux:
The Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.6 LTS, which adds support for live installation of security patches without rebooting. Key system components have been updated, including systemd, glibc, GCC, OpenSSL, rpm, and many others. The SELinux access control system now works in the enforcement mode by default. Support for the unified hierarchy of control groups (cgroups) version 2 has been implemented. Tools for migrating from other Linux distributions to Azure Linux directly in the Microsoft Azure cloud have appeared. Support for new NVIDIA GPUs and tools for automating driver management have been added.
It is important to note that Azure Linux is not intended to replace desktop operating systems. It contains only the basic set of packages required to work in the cloud and is optimized for minimal resource consumption. In particular, a mini-distribution WSLg is built on the basis of Azure Linux, which ensures the operation of Linux graphical applications in the WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) subsystem.
Microsoft offers two options for updating Azure Linux: either through individual RPM packages or by atomically updating the entire system image. The company also provides a repository with more than 3,000 RPM packages that you can use to create your own builds.
Overall, Azure Linux is an example of a pragmatic approach to creating a specialized operating system aimed at solving specific problems in the field of cloud computing.
