What's new in the latest release of Ubuntu Server Edition

For more details about past Ubuntu Server Edition releases please visit the technical specifications overview page.

Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04LTS (Lucid Lynx)

The following list is new features specific to the 10.04 LTS release.

Cloud computing

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud

The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) installer has been improved to support a variety of installation topologies. UEC components are now automatically discovered and registered, even when the storage controller, cluster controller and walrus are installed on different servers. UEC in 10.04 is powered by Eucalyptus 1.6.2.

UEC and Amazon EC2

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS continues the tradition of providing official Ubuntu Server image releases for UEC and for Amazon's EC2, giving you everything you need for rapid deployment in public, private of hybrid environments. Ubuntu Server Edition and UEC images are available at:

• http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04/release/

Cloud-init

The cloud-init package provides "first boot" functionality for the Ubuntu UEC images. It is in charge of taking the generic filesystem image that is booting and customizing it for the UEC instance. This includes:

• setting the hostname
• putting the provided ssh public keys into ~ubuntu/.ssh/authorized_keys
• running a user provided script or otherwise modifying the image

For more information see this blog post announcement

Cloud-utils

The package cloud-utils brings a series of higher level commands simplifying some commonly used actions on the cloud:

• uec-publish-image

• uec-publish-tarball

• uec-query-builds

• uec-resize-image

• uec-run-instances

Configuration Management with Puppet

Puppet is now a core part of the server product and can be used for managing your server configuration. It has also been integrated for cloud computing tasks, as described in the following series of posts:

• Using puppet in UEC/EC2: Puppet support in Ubuntu images

• Using puppet in UEC/EC2: Automating the signing process

• Using puppet in UEC/EC2: Node classification

• Using puppet in UEC/EC2: Improving performance with Phusion Passenger

Additionally, Puppet and etckeeper have been integrated so that changes are appropriately maintained.

Tomcat Improvements

Tomcat has been improved in many ways, as described in the following blog post.

Stability and security

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS brings many improvements over Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to keep your servers safe and secure for the next five years, including AppArmor profiles for many key services, kernel hardening, and an easy-to-configure firewall.