SUSE and Microsoft collaborate to deliver first enterprise Linux kernel optimised for Azure

SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 kernel tuned for Microsoft Azure increases customer agility and efficiency by enabling faster access to new Azure features.

Tuesday, 21st August 2018 Posted 6 years ago in by Phil Alsop

SUSE has introduced the first enterprise Linux kernel tailored for Microsoft Azure. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 on-demand instances now run on a custom-tuned kernel for workloads on Microsoft Azure that provides enhanced performance and faster boot speeds along with a decreased memory footprint. The Azure-tuned kernel enables faster access to new and upcoming Azure features, helping customers to be more agile. SUSE is working with Microsoft and other partners to adapt and secure open source solutions that allow customers to manage complexity, reduce cost and deliver business-critical services that power digital transformation.

“SUSE’s collaboration with Microsoft is based on meeting customers’ evolving needs, enabling innovation and minimising disruption to their business,” said Gerald Pfeifer, vice president of products and technology programs at SUSE. “Optimised SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for Azure public cloud users is a direct result of SUSE’s open, open source approach to solving real-world customer challenges.”

KY Srinivasan, general manager, enterprise open source group at Microsoft Corp., said, “We’ve worked closely with SUSE to ensure customers using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server have a first-class experience with Microsoft Azure. The new Azure-tuned kernel allows those customers to quickly take advantage of new Azure services such as Accelerated Networking with SR-IOV, Write Accelerator and other functionality on a cadence that aligns with the Azure engineering team’s release cycle.”

Customers can expect SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 to have measurable performance benefits, including a potentially 25 per cent faster network throughput and a 23 per cent reduction in average latency. By default, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 instances on Azure will run on this custom-tuned kernel, although customers have the flexibility to easily switch back to the standard kernel using the package manager, Zypper. In addition to the Azure-tuned kernel, customers using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on Azure benefit from a number of tools and resources for cloud-native deployments that are part of the SUSE Public Cloud Module, such as the ability to manage Azure resources through a Linux command prompt.