Ubuntu Server 13.10 To Focus On OpenStack

Canonical has announced a list of improvements to be featured in Ubuntu Server 13.10, codenamed Saucy Salamander, including better vSphere integration, a new version of Juju tool and full support for the latest OpenStack version, Havana.

According to founder and VP of products Mark Shuttleworth, the upcoming release makes Ubuntu “the fastest, most flexible platform for scale-out computing”.

Ubuntu usually performs well in large deployments, but the new version also allows running a full OpenStack cloud on as little as five servers, aimed at development and testing environments.

Saucy Salamander will be available for download on 17th October, the same day Havana is released.

Aim for the clouds

The new Ubuntu experience starts with a new installer, which Canonical says is typically five times faster than the best traditional Linux installation process, simplifying large-scale provisioning.

The release offers full support for OpenStack Havana cloud computing software, which features a new Swift object storage engine and new tools such as Ceilometer for metering and monitoring, and Heat for auto-scaling.

Canonical’s focus on the cloud is pretty obvious – Saucy Salamander has added real-time Landscape dashboards for OpenStack that feature enterprise-grade compliance, performance monitoring and security tools. It has also integrated the latest version of OpenStack with VMware’s vSphere and its ESXi hypervisor.

“The ability to deploy Ubuntu OpenStack alongside ESXi with orchestration that spans both properties is extremely valuable, bringing OpenStack right to the centre of common enterprise virtualization practice,” said Shuttleworth.

Saucy Salamander also offers more than a few improvements to the Juju service orchestration tool, which can now deploy an entire software environment or service as a “bundle”, without the need to write scripts that add components one at a time.

Starting with 13.10, Juju can also manage LXC containers, enabling multiple services to run on the same physical or virtual machine.

What do you know about Linux? Take our quiz!