Amazon Linux 2 is the next generation of Amazon Linux, a Linux server operating system from Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is designed to provide a secure, stable, and high performance execution environment for customers to develop and run a wide variety of cloud and enterprise applications. With Amazon Linux 2, customers get an application environment that offers long term support with access to the latest innovations in the Linux community. Amazon Linux 2 is provided at no additional charge.
Amazon Linux 2 is available as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for use on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). It is also available as a Docker container image and as a virtual machine images for use on Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), Oracle VM VirtualBox, Microsoft Hyper-V, and VMware ESXi. The virtual machine images can be used for on-premises development and testing. Amazon Linux 2 supports the latest Amazon EC2 features and includes packages that enable easy integration with AWS. AWS provides ongoing security and maintenance updates for Amazon Linux 2.
Benefits
OPTIMIZED PERFORMANCE
Amazon Linux 2 includes support for the latest Amazon EC2 instance capabilities and is tuned for enhanced performance. It includes packages that help ease integration with other AWS Services.
PREDICTABILITY OF LONG TERM SUPPORT
Amazon Linux 2 will offer long-term support – a common need for many long-lived applications. Developers, IT administrators, and ISVs get the predictability and enhanced stability of a Long Term Support (LTS) release, but without compromising access to the latest versions of popular software packages.
ENHANCED DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY
Amazon Linux 2 is offered as a virtual machine and container image for on-premises development and testing. Developers can speed up their application development by building, testing, and integrating on the same Linux distribution that is used in their production environment.
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
Amazon Linux 2 has a rapidly growing community of APN Technology Partners that include ISVs. Customers can install and run many popular partner applications.
Features
AWS INTEGRATION
Amazon Linux 2 includes packages and configurations that provide tight integration with many Amazon Web Services (AWS) services. Amazon Linux 2 comes with many AWS tools (e.g. AWS CLI) and cloud-init. These tools are designed to simplify the scripting of common administration tasks from within an instance and enable remote configuration of instances.
LONG TERM SUPPORT
Amazon Linux 2 will come with long-term support that includes security updates and bug fixes for 5 years.
EXTRAS REPOSITORY FOR SOFTWARE PACKAGES
Amazon Linux 2 provides the Amazon Linux Extras repository – a fully maintained and supported repository of additional software packages (referred to as topics). These packages include software applications such as web and desktop development environments (e.g. Python, Go, Rust, R) and open source databases (e.g. MariaDB, PostgreSQL).
ON-PREMISES USE
Amazon Linux 2 is available as a virtual machine image for on-premises use, enabling application developers and Independent Software Venders (ISVs) to easily develop, test, and certify their applications from their local development environment.
SYSTEMD SUPPORT
Amazon Linux 2 includes the widely adopted systemd init system which is used to bootstrap the user space as well as manage system processes.
TUNED LTS KERNEL AND NEW TOOLCHAIN
Amazon Linux 2 includes newer version of compiler and build toolchain and LTS Kernel tuned for enhanced performance on Amazon EC2
SECURITY CONFIGURATIONS
Amazon Linux 2 limits remote access by using SSH key pairs and by disabling remote root login. Additionally, Amazon Linux 2 reduces the number of non-critical packages which are installed on an instance, limiting exposure to potential security vulnerabilities. Security updates rated “critical” or “important” are automatically applied on the initial boot.
SECURITY UPDATES
Security updates are provided via the Amazon Linux 2 yum repositories as well as via updated Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), VM and container images. Security alerts are published in the Amazon Linux AMI Security Center.
Pricing
The Amazon Linux 2 is provided at no additional charge. Standard Amazon EC2 and AWS charges apply for running Amazon EC2 instances and other services.