Alibaba Cloud Linux:Features and advantages

Features

• The Alibaba Cloud Native Kernel (ANCK) is installed and enabled by default.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 is based on Linux kernel 6.6 LTS. Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 is based on Linux kernel 5.10 LTS. Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 is based on Linux kernel 4.19 LTS. The operating system is continuously updated with new features for cloud scenarios, improved kernel performance, and fixes for major bugs. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 release notes, Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 Image Release Notes, and Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 image release notes.

  • Kernel startup and system configuration parameters are optimized for ECS instances.

  • Kdump captures kernel crash dumps. You can enable or disable Kdump online without a reboot.

  • Supports Kernel Live Patching to apply kernel updates without a reboot. Kernel Live Patching overview.

• Software packages and updates.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux strictly follows the POSIX standard and is highly compatible with CentOS. Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 shares core components with CentOS 7, and Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 shares core components with CentOS 8, allowing direct deployment of user-mode packages. Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 uses independently selected core components and does not currently support direct CentOS package deployment. To use CentOS components on Alibaba Cloud Linux 4, compile from source or use the Anolis OS community version.

  • Cloud Assistant CLI is installed by default.

  • CVE fixes are released continuously throughout each version's support lifecycle. Browse available fixes at the Alibaba Cloud Server Operating System Security Center, or automate patching with Security updates based on YUM.

• Optimized boot speed, runtime performance, and system stability.

  • Boot time is reduced by about 60% compared to other operating systems in ECS environments.

  • Scheduling, memory, and I/O subsystems are tuned for 10%–30% performance gains in open-source benchmarks.

  • Downtime rate is reduced by about 50% compared to other operating systems.

Advantages

Alibaba Cloud Linux offers these advantages over other Linux distributions:

• Free maintenance and technical support from Alibaba Cloud throughout each version's lifecycle. Operating system lifecycle overview.

• Deeply integrated with Alibaba Cloud infrastructure for optimized boot speed, runtime performance, and stability. Battle-tested across Alibaba and Alibaba Cloud products.

• Ships the latest Linux kernels, user-mode software, and toolkits from the Linux community:

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 4 uses Linux kernel 6.6 LTS with GCC 12.3, binutils 2.41, and glibc 2.38 by default.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 uses Linux kernel 5.10 LTS with GCC 10.2, binutils 2.35, and glibc 2.32 by default.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 uses Linux kernel 4.19 LTS with devtoolset support for GCC 7.3.1, 8.2.1, and 9.1.1. Use experimentally supported packages.

• Compatible with CentOS and RHEL ecosystems. Most CentOS and RHEL software runs on Alibaba Cloud Linux with few or no modifications.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 is built on Anolis OS 8 and is compatible with the CentOS 8 and RHEL 8 ecosystems.

  • Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 is built on Anolis OS 7 and is compatible with the CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 ecosystems.

• Built-in security vulnerability monitoring and patching. Security notices.