Ubuntu 21.04 release
On April 22, 2021 Canonical released Ubuntu 21.04, which includes native Microsoft Active Directory (AD) integration, default Wayland graphics, and the Flutter application development SDK. In addition, Canonical and Microsoft have announced performance optimizations and joint support for Microsoft SQL Server on Ubuntu.
“Local active directory integration and certified Microsoft SQL server on Ubuntu is a top priority for our enterprise customers,” said Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth. For developers and innovators, Ubuntu 21.04 offers Wayland and Flutter for smoother graphics and clean, beautiful, design-led cross-platform development.”
From the desktop to public cloud and microservices, Ubuntu has become the enterprise engineering platform of choice, with a wide range of enterprise adopters in finance, automotive, technology and government.
“Canonical’s desktop solution is cost-effective, easy to manage on a large scale and easily integrated with enterprise systems. For our 100,000 police officers, Ubuntu is user-friendly, reliable, and provides the necessary privacy and security without the need for additional third party solutions. “Ubuntu is our operating system of choice,” says Lieutenant Colonel Stephane Dumond of France’s National Gendarmerie.
Microsoft SQL Server on Ubuntu provides an optimized, economical database platform.
The enterprise performance and scalability work in this release has been passed back to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS to support Microsoft SQL Server. The database management system (DBMS) and its command line interface (CLI) are now available on Optimized Ubuntu images on Azure, providing a production-grade, highly available database platform with ten years of security maintenance.
Canonical and Microsoft will provide integration support for Ubuntu with Microsoft SQL Server deployed in-house or through the Azure market for mission-critical workloads.
The joint solution comes with performance enhancements such as forced Unit Access (FUA) on XFS file systems for data durability. Persistent memory (PMEM) provides high-performance data storage without any additional configuration. Finally, the entire platform is highly available, supported by Corosync and Pacemaker to ensure resilience.
Active Directory: Bridging the gap between system administrators and Linux developers
Ubuntu machines can be added to an Active Directory (AD) domain for centralized configuration at installation time. AD administrators can now manage Ubuntu workstations, which simplifies compliance with company policies.
Ubuntu 21.04 added the ability to configure system Settings from an AD domain controller. With the group policy client, a system administrator can specify security policies, such as password policies and user access control, as well as desktop environment Settings, such as login screens, backgrounds, and favorite applications, on all connected clients.
Flutter and Wayland: Smoother graphical experience
Ubuntu 21.04 uses Wayland by default, which is a major leap forward in security. Firefox, OBS Studio, and many applications built with Electron and Flutter automatically take advantage of Wayland for smoother graphics and better fraction scaling.
The Flutter SDK Snap Build integration enables you to easily publish your multi-platform Flutter applications for a one-click installation by millions of Linux desktop users.
Canonical has been an outstanding contributor to Flutter, enabling Linux desktop support in Flutter and providing an opportunity to bring high quality Flutter applications to Linux. “We look forward to our continued collaboration to make Flutter the best choice for app developers, regardless of their target platform,” shared Chris Sells, Product manager, Flutter.
The new dark theme offers a whole new user experience.
21.04 includes a redesigned dark theme –Yaru, accessibility improvements in navigation, and new file ICONS. Yaru is community-maintained and supported by Canonical.
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Ubuntu 21.04 is now available for download.