Ubuntu Pro lands on Google Cloud
Ashwin Kamath
Product Manager
Today, we’re pleased to announce the general availability of Ubuntu Pro images on Google Cloud, providing customers with an improved Ubuntu experience, expanded security coverage, and integration with critical Google Cloud features. In partnership with Canonical, we’re making it even easier for customers that have fully embraced open source to ensure security and compliance for their most mission-critical and enterprise workloads.
With Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, you now have access to features like:
10-year lifetime security updates - Canonical backs Ubuntu Pro for 10 years with security updates and a guaranteed upgrade path.
FIPS & CC-EAL2 certification - Ubuntu Pro includes components that meet requirements from entities like FedRAMP, HIPAA, ISO, and PCI.
Open-source security coverage - Protect your most important open-source workloads including MongoDB, Apache Kafka, Redis, NGINX, and PostgreSQL.
Multi-version availability - Pro images are available for the three most popular Ubuntu Server distributions: 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, and 20.04 LTS.
Kernel Livepatch - Kernel patches are delivered immediately without having to reboot your VMs.
Optional CIS and DISA STIG profiles - Choose from two leading profiles to harden your environment according to industry benchmarks.
Cloud-based pricing - Ubuntu Pro does not require a contract, and pricing tracks with the underlying compute cost depending on the instance type.
Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with Ubuntu Pro
Availability of Ubuntu Pro images is especially important if you’re an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS customer and want extended security maintenance (ESM) for your virtual machines but don’t want to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS versions immediately. ESM is included with Ubuntu Pro 16.04. You can move your workloads from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS VM instances to Ubuntu Pro 16.04 instances to continue receiving ESM and all the above-mentioned benefits, without having to test your applications on a new version of the OS.
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“We needed more time to comprehensively test and migrate our Ubuntu 16.04 LTS workloads to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, which would mean stretching beyond the standard maintenance timelines for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. With Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, we now have the ability to postpone this, and in moving our 16.04 workloads to Ubuntu Pro, we benefit from its live kernel patching and improved security coverage for our key open source components.”—Kartik Gupta, Engineering Manager for CI/CD & FinOps at Gojek
“With the launch of Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, we build on our joint investments with Google to optimize Ubuntu performance on Google Cloud, and add comprehensive security patching and Long Term Support for another 30,000 open source packages—the widest range of security-maintained open source on the planet,” said Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical. “As the world moves to open source for everything, Canonical offers the safety net of security maintenance that enterprises count on to unleash their developers.”
Getting started
Getting started with Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud is simple. You can now purchase these premium images directly from Google Cloud by selecting Ubuntu Pro as the operating system straight from the Google Cloud Console.
To learn more about Ubuntu Pro on Google Cloud, please visit the documentation page and read the announcement from Canonical.
