OStatic

There's news out of Canonical today that the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition -- codenamed Karmic Koala -- is just around the corner. It's the greenest release yet, with a heavy emphasis on power management and cloud computing tools.

Ubuntu 9.10 includes Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), a system designed to help users build and support private clouds. It's underlying technology relies on Eucalyptus, an open source infrastructure for implementing cloud computing on clusters.

While it may be a completely philosophical debate whether the universe is turtles all the way down, it's a lot less existential to imagine that the internet is clouds all the way up. In April, Canonical previewed its Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (affectionately known as UEC), a system designed to simplify the creation, optimization, and management of cloud environments for private organizations. The interface and functionality of UEC is similar to the Amazon EC2 infrastructure, uses in-house hardware running Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04, and is powered by Eucalyptus Systems cloud computing tools.

Today Canonical officially launched the UEC service, including generalized tech support, consultancy and deployment services. Although UEC support is a joint offering from Eucalyptus Systems and Canonical, the Canonical team will act as the primary contact point in order to simplify and streamline support transactions.

I'm sure there's got to be something to the observation that many ideas that are conceived in purity -- capitalism, socialism, open source, closed source, democracy, and even the massive, single platform server farm that sits in a building with specialized cooling and dedicated power and telecommunications lines -- only start to take a general, strong, enduring grip, one with impact, when there's a certain element of an opposing (or at least fundamentally different) approach introduced somewhere in the mix. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's more often a positive step, where the original good idea strikes out into the world and makes its stand.

Maybe these hybridizations are intentional, or maybe they just sort of happen over time -- in the case of network configurations and licensing of software running thereon, it's just as likely to be one or the other (or both) that leads to a mixed network. Taking an unscientific (and quick) look back at Canonical's recent survey on the Ubuntu Server market, the questions posed on platforms used in businesses invariably returned a sum greater than 100%, because so many organizations use multiple server (never mind desktop) environments. In this Ubuntu-specific and somewhat informal survey, it was also apparent that even if Active Directory use wasn't the leading directory service among the respondents, it was one of the more popular services.

This is in no small part why Likewise's software, geared to simplify managing and securing mixed networks using Active Directory services, is now being offered to SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 users. The Enterprise version of Likewise's software will be integrated with the SUSE Desktop and available through SUSE 11 repositories.

Sometimes all-in-one gets a bad wrap. Think about it. They've seen some major improvements over the years but there are still many all-in-one printing/scanning/copying peripherals on the market that don't do any of those tasks particularly well. Outside of technology, think of department stores. Driving out small businesses is a downside, and yet, they're still so annoyingly convenient.

There are times when a streamlined, all-in-one approach to a job is a huge advantage, making simple tasks easier to complete, reducing the chances of error, and taking the stress out of day to day processes, whether they're routine or brand new. Take server management, for instance. Systems administrators have the somewhat unenviable task of shepherding servers (both physical and virtual), watching over the daemons and services they run, with their flock located down the hall, across town, across the country, or any combination thereof.

One of the ideas driving Canonical's Landscape software is to ease, and minimize the risks involved in routine tasks that systems administrators face when managing multiple Ubuntu-powered servers. Landscape not only allows administrators to monitor all in-house server instances through its interface, but also enables them to keep tabs and manage Ubuntu servers deployed on Amazon's EC2 cloud environment.

I was never one for cryptozoological taxidermic creations -- you won't find mermonkeys or crocoducks on display in my home. I have, however, for the last few weeks, been hiding a jackalope in my laptop bag. He was an experimental little guy, but the folks at Canonical and the vast community behind Ubuntu have completed the necessary gene splicing and DNA alterations and soon -- very soon -- the final, stable release of Ubuntu 9.04 (the Jaunty Jackalope) will be let loose into the wild.

What's new this time around? How does it all work? And for the wilder types, where locally can you attend a Jaunty Jackalope release party?

Though much of the fanfare in the Ubuntu camp seems to center on the desktop version, its Server Edition has been steadily attracting interest -- and new users. Thanks to the requests of these users and Ubuntu partners, Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has announced it is offering its first official training course dedicated solely to the Ubuntu Server Edition.

There's another new twist, however. While this course will be offered at various partner training centers in June, it will also be offered through a virtual classroom.

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and the analysts at RedMonk presented the results of a recent survey conducted on Ubuntu's use in server deployments. Nearly 7,000 people (representing the same number of organizations) participated in the survey, which was promoted on Ubuntu's web site and several Linux server-specific forums.

Canonical's marketing head, Gerry Carr, says that the survey is essential reading for any organization using (or considering using) Ubuntu's Server Edition. After taking a closer look at the survey, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in current server technologies, or where the server market is headed -- even if Ubuntu Server isn't part of the equation.

Last week, I had the pleasure of getting some unique insight into the Ubuntu 8.10 release ( Intrepid Ibex ) from Canonical's marketing manager, Gerry Carr. The finalized server and desktop editions of the 8.10 release will be available for download October 30th, and host a variety of new tools and features.