What is Alibaba Cloud Linux - Alibaba Cloud Linux - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Alibaba Cloud Linux is a Linux server operating system distribution by Alibaba Cloud. It integrates open source features to provide enhanced capabilities for cloud applications. The operating system is optimized for Alibaba Cloud infrastructure and includes 10 years of enterprise-level support and maintenance. A comprehensive quality assurance system ensures product quality, providing a superior operating system service for Alibaba Cloud users.

For more information, see the Alibaba Cloud Linux product page.

Applicable scope

Alibaba Cloud Linux is suitable for the following:

Various instance families, including Elastic Compute Service (ECS) Bare Metal Instances. For more information, see Instance families.
- Supported vCPU range: 1 vCPU to 768 vCPUs.
- Supported memory range: 0.5 GiB to 12,288 GiB.
- Non-I/O optimized instances are not supported.
Various cloud workloads, such as databases, cloud-native containers, data analytics, web applications, and other production environment workloads.

Billing

Alibaba Cloud Linux is a free-to-use image. When you use an Alibaba Cloud Linux image to create an ECS instance, you are charged for other resources, such as vCPUs, memory, storage, public bandwidth, and snapshots. For more information about billing, see Billing overview.

Security advisories

Alibaba Cloud Linux Security Advisories

Maintenance cycle

Version	End of support date
Alibaba Cloud Linux 4	2038-06-30
Alibaba Cloud Linux 3	2031-04-30
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2	2024-03-31

Alibaba Cloud Linux images

Distribution	Image name	Image description
Alibaba Cloud Linux 4	Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 LTS 64-bit	The default standard image for the x86 architecture.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 LTS 64-bit	The default standard image for the ARM architecture.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 LTS 64-bit Container Optimized Edition	An image for the x86 architecture, optimized for container scenarios.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 LTS 64-bit Container Optimized ARM Edition	An image for the ARM architecture, optimized for container scenarios.
Alibaba Cloud Linux 3	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 64-bit	The default standard image for the x86 architecture.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 64-bit Quick Launch Edition	This image supports Quick Boot (Qboot). It is a custom image based on Alibaba Cloud Kernel that boots the virtual machine directly from the kernel. ECS instances created from this image start significantly faster than instances created using other images. The default runtime is identical to that of the standard image. Notes about the Quick Launch Edition image: Boot acceleration applies only to the first launch of an instance. Subsequent launches occur at normal speed. It accelerates the kernel boot speed by optimizing the memory initialization process and modularizing time-consuming devices, such as the mouse. It uses the latest AliyunInit service instead of the CloudInit service to reduce operating system initialization time. The kernel of this image cannot be modified. Unsupported instance families: GPU-accelerated compute-optimized, vGPU-accelerated, FPGA compute-optimized, NPU compute-optimized, heterogeneous service, Super Computing Cluster (SCC), and security-enhanced instance family.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 64-bit UEFI Edition	This image is based on the default standard x86 image and supports only the UEFI boot mode.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.2104 64-bit ARM Edition	The default standard image for the ARM architecture.
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2	Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.1903 LTS 64-bit	The default standard image for the x86 architecture.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.1903 LTS 64-bit Quick Launch Edition	This image supports Quick Boot (Qboot). It is a custom image based on Alibaba Cloud Kernel that boots the virtual machine directly from the kernel. ECS instances created from this image start significantly faster than instances created using other images. The default runtime is identical to that of the standard image. Notes about the Quick Launch Edition image: Boot acceleration applies only to the first launch of an instance. Subsequent launches occur at normal speed. It accelerates the kernel boot speed by optimizing the memory initialization process and modularizing time-consuming devices, such as the mouse. It uses the latest AliyunInit service instead of the CloudInit service to reduce operating system initialization time. The kernel of this image cannot be modified. Unsupported instance families: GPU-accelerated compute-optimized, vGPU-accelerated, FPGA compute-optimized, NPU compute-optimized, heterogeneous service, Super Computing Cluster (SCC), and security-enhanced instance family.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.1903 LTS 64-bit UEFI Edition	This image is based on the default standard x86 image and supports only the UEFI boot mode.
	Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.1903 64-bit Trusted Edition	This image is based on the default standard x86 image and supports Alibaba Cloud trusted instances.

For the latest image IDs of Alibaba Cloud Linux images, see Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 image release notes, Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 image release notes, and Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 image release notes.

References

To learn about the features and advantages of Alibaba Cloud Linux, see Features and advantages.
For more information about the differences between Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 and Alibaba Cloud Linux 2, see Differences between Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 and 3.
You can use an Alibaba Cloud Linux image in a local virtual machine, use an Alibaba Cloud Linux image in a container, or modify and compile an RPM package for the Alibaba Cloud Linux kernel.
For information about technical support for Alibaba Cloud Linux images, or for details on how to join a technical communication group, see Contact us.