LinkedIn Migrates Their Servers From CentOS To Azure Linux

LinkedIn has replaced CentOS as their default server operating system choice with Azure Linux to power all of their server needs.

Driven by CentOS 7 going end-of-life and the changes around CentOS, LinkedIn decided to switch from CentOS-based servers to making use of Azure Linux, Microsoft's Linux distribution formerly known as CBL-Mariner. Though likely not too surprising given that LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft, but nevertheless interesting they opted for Azure Linux over going for CentOS Stream, RHEL, or other options for their server platforms. Azure Linux is what's widely used by Microsoft within the Azure cloud and a variety of other Linux needs within the organization.

LinkedIn's engineering team recently published an interesting blog post about their move from CentOS to Azure Linux as "LinkedIn's operating system." Their blog post is interesting as they dive into technical details on their deployment such as going for the XFS file-system even though originally it was not natively supported by Azure Linux. LinkedIn found XFS with software RAID to work out the best for their needs.

Azure Linux currently doesn't have any window manager / desktop support so for their developer needs they are relying on IDE integration remotely connecting to their Azure Linux servers. LinkedIn has not only moved their servers over to Azure Linux but also replaced their CentOS Developer Desktop VMs with Azure Linux Developer VMs.

Their interesting LinkedIn Engineering blog post concludes with:

"The migration of LinkedIn’s fleet to Azure Linux was a strategic decision that entailed numerous considerations and challenges. Its successful execution yielded substantial benefits ranging from cost savings to enhanced security and flexibility. We achieved both critical goals: provide a modern, secure operating system to reliably serve LinkedIn members worldwide; and deliver innovative new AI-powered features to members faster.

By embracing open-source solutions, LinkedIn, in partnership with Microsoft, harnessed the power of community-driven innovation and unlocked new levels of efficiency, agility, and competitiveness. Nevertheless, careful planning, comprehensive training and ongoing support were essential to making the transition smooth and maximizing the long-term value of the migration."

Very interesting to see their technical-oriented blog post going into how the Microsoft owned LinkedIn transitioned from CentOS to Azure Linux. Microsoft Windows Server was not mentioned at all in the post, so presumably that was not under consideration when evaluating their migration options. And with LinkedIn now relying on Azure Linux for their server needs, there's no chances of Azure Linux going away anytime soon with the list of Microsoft's dependence on this Linux OS continuing to grow.