Canonical Blog

Cloud management dominates the theme for Landscape 1.4 with new features that allow you to manage your private Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) as easily as you manage your instances on Amazon EC2. Also released are new features that help system administrators be more efficient including time based package updates and role based access. These new features will be available this week on both the Hosted and Dedicated Server Editions of Landscape.

Cloud Computing: UEC Support

Building upon our support for Amazon’s EC2 Cloud, users can now start, stop and manage their private Ubuntu instances on their UEC from within Landscape. Users simply enter their credentials directly through Landscape to start, stop and manage an instance. We’ve designed Landscape to work directly with both Amazon and Eucalyptus console pages so you can manage your instances without having to use any other tools. Landscape securely stores your security credentials making is easy to spin up new instances on UEC or EC2 at anytime. Once the instances are initiated, they all display on the same page allowing you manage all your physical, virtuali and Cloud instances in one place.

New Timed Package Updates

Users can now schedule package updates, system reboots and shutdowns in the future with minute increments. This gives System Administrators the flexibility to schedule activities for systems to occur during planned maintenance windows or low use periods to minimise the impact on the network. Now that we have developed the time / scheduling function, look for us to add this to other areas of Landscape where it it makes sense, like scheduling scripts in the future.

Administrator Roles

As Landscape is deployed in larger enterprises the need to delegate and limit access to systems has become a key need. Now, in addition to having a master admin who can manage all systems within a Landscape account, you can delegate access to systems to other administrators. This builds on our tags function (which allows you to tag computers performing the same function and update them with a single command) to allocate full access to systems by admin. Typically this means sys admins in different areas can be given full access to their local systems, but not to those in another area or country. Like tags, assigning systems to other administrators is completely flexible so you can use what ever criteria you need.

The Landscape 1.4 client is available today and is included with Ubuntu 9.10 server edition. Details are at www.canonical.com/landscape

Ken Drachnik, Landscape Manager

We are hosting a couple of events aimed at large businesses in New York City and London in over the coming weeks. NYC is next Monday and there are still (a few) slots left. Registration is free and it should be a great evening.

The aim is to give an overview of our cloud strategy and introduce businesses to the private cloud and to Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud in particular. Al Gillen of IDC has been kind enough to do the introductory overview. Simon Wardley and John Willis, Canonical’s cloud gurus will give their opinions and, for me, the highlight of the night will be the live demo conducted by Nick Barcet the Ubuntu Server product manager

We have a fantastic audience registered already but if you are free next Monday 26th and working at a business interested in exploring cloud please do join us.

The London event takes place on November 10th in 195 Picadilly. Similar agenda but we are delighted to have James Governor of Redmonk do the introduction. We hope we can accommodate you at that event if you are in the London area.

Gerry Carr, Canonical

The ShipIt program has been at the core of the Ubuntu project since its inception. The goal was to make sure that there are no restrictions, as far as was possible, to people having access to Ubuntu. In the last five years we have shipped millions of CDs and seen Ubuntu’s popularity and reach grow in ways that would be impossible without ShipIt.

And that aim continues. We need to make Ubuntu available to as many people who need it, particularly those for whom the download options are limited. The goal has not been to supply a CD to every Ubuntu user of every version of Ubuntu.  Remember, one of the coolest things about Ubuntu is the way you can upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to another – without the need for a CD!

While these CDs are often referred to as “free CDs”, they are of course not free of cost to Canonical.  We want to continue this programme, but Ubuntu’s growth means that some changes are necessary. Therefore we are adjusting how we handle CD requests to try to find the right balance between availability of CDs and the continued viability of the ShipIt programme.

We will continue to supply CDs to LoCo teams and Ubuntu members.  And we hope to make CDs available to everyone who is just discovering Ubuntu.   And we continue to search for additional ways to make Ubuntu and Ubuntu materials available to everyone. But we are limiting shipments to people that we think have alternative paths of getting Ubuntu.  For instance,

* you can upgrade to the new release without a CD
* you can download your own CD for free
* you will be able to download the CD wallet artwork
* becoming an Ubuntu member by contributing to Ubuntu, and thereby becoming eligible for more CDs
* And finally, you can purchase CDs.

We will change the language on the ShipIt site to make it clearer what we are doing. We hope that you support this effort and realise that the intent is to continue to make Ubuntu available on CD to everyone who needs it.

Jane Silber, Canonical

The Ubuntu One beta is going very well. We have appreciated every bug, IRC message, Launchpad Answers question, and Ubuntu Forums post about the service since the beta launch in early May. This community feedback has been extremely important to the decisions we make and have made in developing the service.

With the release of the Ubuntu 9.10 Beta last week which features Ubuntu One as a default option, we thought we’d share a few more recent updates.

More storage
Ubuntu One offers two subscription plan options: 2 free GB for everyone’s essential storage needs and a $10 USD plan with more capacity. We’re happy to announce that we have increased the size of the paid plan from 10 GB to an incredible 50 GB. Ubuntu One paid subscribers can now backup, sync, and share more of their music, photos, and movies.

Expanded services
Ubuntu One started with files and folders. Now we’re expanding the service to synchronize more desktop applications that people use each day. In Ubuntu 9.10, Ubuntu One will backup and synchronize Tomboy notes, Firefox bookmarks, and Evolution contacts.

Easy setup
Ubuntu 9.10 is the first Ubuntu release with Ubuntu One pre-installed. It now only takes a few clicks to enable automatic file synchronization for your Ubuntu computer or computers.

Subscribe now to try out all of these features and more.

Matt Griffin, Product Manager for Ubuntu One