Category: Open Source

Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS has been released. You may already have the updates if you are running 20.04 but it’s always good to ensure you are up to date.

Linux 5.13 is the big lure of this point release, carried over from October’s Ubuntu 21.10 release. Linux 5.13 introduces a bunch of tweaks including better EXT4 support, a new cooling driver for modern Intel CPUs, and better support for peripherals including the Apple Magic Mouse 2 and the GK6X mechanical keyboard.

This update also includes GNOME Shell 3.36.8, LibreOffice 6.4.7.2, and Mozilla Firefox 97.

Nice summary of Linux distros for your data center to consider. I am a fan of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Rocky Linux. I agree with the author as well that there is no one correct answer.

Jeremy ‘Jay’ LaCroix writes on Linux Journal

Linux servers are everywhere. There’s a good chance a number of your favorite websites are running on infrastructure that’s powered by Linux, not to mention streaming services, social media platforms, gaming networks, the list goes on. The only thing more staggering than the number of Linux servers there are in the wild, is how many distributions you have to choose from. The distros that are available for download are countless, and the purpose of each ranges from general purpose operating systems, to task-oriented tools such as Clonezilla. If you’re just getting started with deploying Linux in your data center, choosing the right distribution can be confusing. If you utilize a cloud provider for your Linux infrastructure, the number of choices is at least somewhat curated, but you still have a choice to make. Which distribution is right for your environment? In this article, we’ll discuss some important concepts to keep in mind – and we’ll go over the finer points of some of the more popular options. There’s no shortage of opinions online regarding desktop distros, but in this article – we’re going to focus on server deployments.

What is your preferred Linux distro? Let me know on Twitter.

Red Hat has published their Red Hat 2022 Global Tech Outlook report. I enjoy reading these reports as they give you insights as to what is top of mind for IT professionals. This year’s report seems quite interesting.

Deb Richardson writes on the Red Hat Blog

This year’s Red Hat 2022 Global Tech Outlook report came with some interesting insights, including that AI/ML, edge and serverless computing are top priority emerging technologies for the year ahead, as well as skill gaps being identified as the top barrier to digital transformation initiatives.

Taking advantage of these reports is also a nice way to become informed on industry trends. It also can help when chatting with your IT management team and help with making technology decisions.

Take advantage of as many of these free reports as you can. Consider also presenting the findings to your team to help educate them on top of mind industry issues.

This seems to be a nasty Linux vulnerability. This vulnerability has been in plain sight 12+ years. Lucky for most there are patches available so be sure to get ahead of this issue and updates those systems.

The Qualys Research Team has discovered a memory corruption vulnerability in polkit’s pkexec, a SUID-root program that is installed by default on every major Linux distribution. This easily exploited vulnerability allows any unprivileged user to gain full root privileges on a vulnerable host by exploiting this vulnerability in its default configuration.

To see this exploit in action view this video from Qualys.

Managing a mixed Linux environment can be simplified using SUSE Liberty Linux and prevent vendor lock-in.

SUSE Liberty Linux is a new technology and support offering that provides customers a unified support experience for managing their heterogeneous IT environments. With SUSE Liberty Linux, you get trusted support with optional proven management tools that are optimized for mixed Linux environments, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and as you would expect openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.