Ubuntu supports Arm64-based Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines

Canonical announces an optimized Ubuntu image for the preview of Ampere Altra Arm-based Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines. Azure users will benefit from running Ubuntu, the most popular cloud operating system, on a secure, scalable, and highly cost-effective cloud infrastructure. Arm-based architectures are ideal for computing workloads including microservices, application servers,  Machine Learning (ML), open-source databases, and in-memory caches. 

The same secure Ubuntu, now with Azure-optimized kernel and configurations. By combining the benefits of Ubuntu with the performance of Azure’s new offering, enterprises can run traditional workloads in a cost-optimized fashion. The Arm-based platform is also particularly suited for new use cases, such as Anbox Cloud, which allows organizations to run Android in the cloud at scale and securely.

Anbox Cloud, Canonical’s solution to run Android at high scale on any cloud, benefits from the performance and density that Ampere Altra Arm-based Azure Virtual Machines can provide.  Anbox Cloud enables various use cases such as cloud gaming, automation of Android applications or regular testing.   

“Running Android on Arm is key for performance, density, and application compatibility for Anbox Cloud. Microsoft announcing the Ampere Altra Arm-based Azure Virtual Machines is exciting and further unlocks Arm availability in the cloud for our customers and provides high performance and density compute hardware for their use cases” says Simon Fels, Engineering Manager for Anbox Cloud at Canonical.

You can request access to the preview by filling out this form.

How to run Ubuntu on Arm-based Azure VMs 

Once you get access to the preview, you can use our preview offer to deploy and run Arm-based Ubuntu instances in Azure

Using the Azure Portal

With an Azure Resource Manager template

Download these files:

• Template file
• Parameter file

Create a resource group in Azure.

Use the template and the parameters to deploy an instance in your resource group using PowerShell or the Azure CLI

Example with the Azure CLI:

az group create –location ‘westus2’ –resource-group arm-preview-rg

az deployment group create –resource-group arm-preview-rg –template-file template.json –parameters parameters.json

For more information about the Ampere Altra Arm-based Azure Virtual Machines currently in preview, including regional availability, please refer to Microsoft’s blog.