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Microsoft's Linux server distribution is now available as an ISO to install on your own server or virtual machine.
When my friend and Directions on Microsoft's Editor-in-Chief Mary Jo Foley wrote in late May that Azure Linux 4.0 would be available for bare-metal servers and virtual machines (VMs), I thought, "I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for this." That's a good thing because it took Microsoft until this week to fulfill the promise.
True, Microsoft did release Azure Linux 4.0, but I assumed it would only be available for ages on Microsoft's own Azure cloud. I mean, that's what the distribution is designed for after all. However, Microsoft has turned Azure Linux 4.0 from internal cloud plumbing into a full‑fledged server distribution. You can now download Azure Linux ISO images and install them on your own servers and VMs.
Microsoft's Linux 4.0 is based on Fedora Linux. As Lachlan Evenson, Microsoft's principal program manager on Azure's open-source team, told me, "We made a decision to use Fedora as an upstream, so it's using RPMs in the Fedora ecosystem. Microsoft curates the packages and the supply chain to fit Azure's cloud platform. Primarily, it's purpose-built for Azure, which integrates vertically into all of our infrastructure to give you the best Azure Linux experience on Azure." However, users can run it anywhere, just like any other Linux distribution.
Azure Linux's GitHub project outlines a build system that consumes Tom's Obvious Minimal Language (TOML) configuration files to produce signed RPM repositories and multiple image formats. These include Virtual Hard Disk (VHDs) for Azure, container images, and bootable ISOs.
Azure Linux, which is still in beta, ships with a hardened Linux kernel 6.18. As you'd expect, it's tuned for Hyper‑V and Azure VM performance. Azure Linux also comes with SELinux‑based security and a default configuration aimed at cloud and server workloads. It doesn't include a GUI, so unless you're like me and perfectly comfortable using the Bash shell as your interface, it's not a desktop.
Also: Your Linux PC has a Secure Boot problem - what to do first (and the workaround to avoid)