Microsoft-owned social network LinkedIn recently announced the migration of most servers, virtual machines, and containers from Centos to the Azure Linux distribution. This move was prompted by the impending end of support for the Centos 7 branch.
The migration process not only addressed the support issue but also resulted in improved infrastructure security, cost reduction, enhanced flexibility in configuration, and simplified implementation of new opportunities, particularly those based on machine learning components. One of the key decisions made during the migration was the adoption of the XFS file system and software RAID, which demonstrated optimal performance for the applications used in LinkedIn.
Azure Linux is now being utilized in virtual machines that provide developers with a working environment complete with a graphic interface (Developer Desktop VM). These virtual machines can be accessed remotely via RDP or SSH. While Azure Linux was not initially designed to support a desktop environment, LinkedIn opted to use the same operating system across both developer environments and working servers. To enable this, remote access to the integrated development environment used within the company was set up.