Azure Linux began as CBL-Mariner to serve as a controlled base Linux platform for Microsoft's container services and to avoid sudden withdrawal like CoreOS. Azure Linux offers a small, fast footprint suitable for projects requiring minimal CPU and memory, and underpins services such as Windows Subsystem for Linux and Azure Kubernetes Service. Azure Linux 3.0 uses Linux kernel 6.6 and provides builds for x64 and Arm, enabling deployment on Azure's Arm-based Cobalt systems. The release updates ContainerD and systemd, adds SymCrypt cryptography support for post-quantum readiness, and integrates with cloud-native tools such as Dapr and Terraform. Source code and ISOs are available on GitHub.
First unveiled as CBL-Mariner, Azure Linux was designed to be a base Linux platform for Microsoft's various container services, one that Microsoft controlled and that couldn't, like CoreOS, be withdrawn with little advance warning. Since then, Azure Linux has provided an effective Linux tool for Microsoft projects, such as Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), that need a small, fast Linux with minimal CPU and memory demands.
Azure Linux 3.0 arrived in the spring of 2025 and was at once available in AKS, as part of AKS version 1.32 and higher. Based on version 6.6 of the Linux kernel, Azure Linux 3.0 builds are available for both x64 and Arm platforms, so it will run on Azure's high-density, front-end Arm-based Cobalt systems. There is even support from many familiar cloud-native platform tools such as Dapr and Terraform, so you can integrate them into AKS solutions running on Azure Linux 3.0.
Collection
[
|
...
]