John Pugh, Software Partner Manager at Canonical, led this session at the RightScale User Conference 2010 in Santa Clara. Session Abstract: Ubuntu 10.10 was just released on 10-10-10 with a plethora of updates for both Amazon EC2 and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. Some of these features include cloud init, the ability to use new Amazon features such as EBS boot and PV-OPS kernel, as well as the ability to easily manage instances through the RightScale dashboard with minimal effort. In this session, you'll see the new features included in this release and how easily you can build a scalable system with Ubuntu via RightScale. We'll show you simple ways to build out your environment and take advantage of the new features in Ubuntu.

1. The Maverick
- Ubuntu Server 10.10
- New Amazon EC2 features
Presentation by
John M. Pugh
john.pugh@canonical.com
www.canonical.com/enterprise-services

2. Some history
Canonical
Commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu Linux distribution
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Started in 2004
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Service, support, OEM business model
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Privately owned, single investor
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Nearly 400 employees distributed around the world
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Offices in London, Boston, Montreal, Taipei
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3. Some history
Rightscale partnership...
Partnered in early 2009
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Support for Ubuntu as a platform
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Support for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC)
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Created packages to ease management of existing images
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4. Ubuntu Server on Amazon EC2

5. Being the best guest
Amazon EC2 history
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Began with the release of Ubuntu Server 9.04
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Ton's of input from the community
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Widely used
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Significant improvements release over release
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6. Current LTS features
LTS (Long Term Support) version
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Preferred for production workloads
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Designed for mission critical systems
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Fully supported by Canonical for 5 years
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7. Cloud-init
Speaking of Amazon...
Key updates in Maverick cloud-init
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Boothook
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Run your image without a cloud in KVM
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Improved logging/error reporting (/var/log/cloud-init.log and python
logging)
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“Seeding” of metadata and userdata
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Even over the interweb, here's Scott Moser's
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http://tinyurl.com/sm-user-data
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http://tinyurl.com/sm-meta-data
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8. Other Improvements to Cloud-init
(and Official UEC Images)
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Root filesystem is Ext4 by default
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ebsmount available in Universe
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Upgrade your kernel in EBS-backed images
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byobu enablement
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Examples: http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~cloud-init-dev/cloud-
init/trunk/files/267?file_id=examples-20100127004921-
ou2032hwkan2zmud-1
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9. Ubuntu Cloud Blueprint Links
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https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/server-maverick-cloud-init
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https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/server-maverick-cloud-images-sans-cloud
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https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/server-maverick-cloud-kernel-
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https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEC/Images#Run%20Images%20locally%20without%20a%20Cloud
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Seeding meta/userdata:
http://groups.google.com/group/ec2ubuntu/browse_thread/thread/d4d51238a2afb55b
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10. New AWS Features
Custom kernels
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Run a user-specified kernel using an Amazon-provided AKI that
runs PVGRUB
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PVGRUB reads /boot/grub/menu.lst from your AMI
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Must support pv_ops kernel
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If you have launched an instance of Maverick recently, you've
already used it.
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11. Why is the pv-ops kernel good?
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Much less maintenance for development
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No need for huge XEN patchset
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Will be maintained more like a kernel flavor
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Essentially the plain distro kernel with a few configuration tweaks
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Upgrade your kernel in an instance (EBS)
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Kernel updates and testing can be done without waiting for official AKI
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Makes it more like the normal distribution
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Conforms to user expectation
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PV-on-HVM drivers will not make Maverick
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There will not be an official Ubuntu AMI for the Amazon Cluster Compute Cloud
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Cluster Compute instances require PV-on-HVM drivers which the Server team feels have significant
outstanding bugs
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A PPA kernel will be built for testing purposes
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12. Other new EC2 features worth mentioning
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Resource tagging
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Filtering the “describe” commands
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Use your own keypair
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Micro-instances
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IAM: Identity and Access Management (Beta)
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Idempotent instances
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13. References
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User specified kernel feature guide:
http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/entry.jspa?categoryID=174&externalID=3967
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http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/09/new-amazon-ec2-feature-resource-tagging.html
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http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/09/new-amazon-ec2-feature-filtering.html
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http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/09/new-amazon-ec2-feature-bring-your-own-keypair.html
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http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2010/09/new-amazon-ec2-feature-idempotent-instance-creation.html
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http://ubuntu-smoser.blogspot.com/2010/09/playing-with-aws-access-identity.html
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