Skip to main content

Your submission was sent successfully! Close

Thank you for signing up for our newsletter!
In these regular emails you will find the latest updates from Canonical and upcoming events where you can meet our team.Close

Thank you for contacting us. A member of our team will be in touch shortly. Close

  1. Blog
  2. Article

Victor Tuson Palau
on 25 May 2012

Ubuntu ARM Server AMI on Amazon EC2


Have you been wondering if your Web application will work with the new generation of Hyperdense ARM Servers? Now you can easily find out by using Ubuntu and Amazon Web Services.

For over 4 years, Canonical has been supporting Linux on ARM. Ubuntu Server 12.04 is our first Long Term Support on ARM.

As a confirmation of Ubuntu’s leadership position on hyperdense servers, Calxeda unveiled earlier this month their ARM Server platform at UDS-Q Oakland.

Now, Canonical makes available in Amazon Web Services an AMI image for developers wishing to experiment with Ubuntu ARM Server. Dann Frazier is the engineer behind this initiative. I took some of his time today to asking a few questions:

How did this came about?
We were wanting to do some internal functional testing of the 12.04 release across our global team without shipping hardware around. We had a QEMU model with us and using cloud systems to host it seemed like an excellent way to grow our (emulated) machine count.

Can you give me some examples of what could I do with it?
Basically, anything you can do with Ubuntu Server. You can install packages, deploy Juju charms, test your web applications, etc. However, I would strongly suggest not using it for any production work or performance testing – being an emulated environment, you will notice some overhead.

Who do you expect will use this new AMI?
Developers looking to test their applications on ARM, people wanting to test Juju charm deployments in a multi-architecture environment, and anyone just looking to kick the tires.

This is all great, How do I get my hands on it?
Canonical has published an AMI on Amazon EC2. You will need an Amazon Web Services account, then just go into your Management Console for EC2 and launch a new instance.  Select “Community AMIs” and look for AMI ID ‘ami-aef328c7’. (We’ll keep the latest AMI ID posted at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/Server). Or click here.

Are there any limations compared to a real hardware box?
The AMI provides an Ubuntu 12.04 (‘armhf’) system running on an emulated hardware system. Performance is limited due to the emulation overhead. This AMI requires the use of an m1.large instance type due to memory requirements.

Once again, thanks to Dann and the Canonical team for sharing this neat tool with the community. It sounds great and easy to set up. So, What are you waiting for?

Related posts


Massimiliano Gori
27 November 2024

Entra ID authentication on Ubuntu at scale with Landscape

Ubuntu Article

Authd allows Entra ID authentication on both Ubuntu Desktop and Server. Learn how to configure Authd at scale using Landscape and Cloud-init ...


Edoardo Barbieri
26 November 2024

Is a real-time OS right for your business?

IoT Article

With automation spanning virtually every sector of society, real-time capable operating systems (OS) are becoming critical across industries, from automotive and telecommunications, to industrial manufacturing. A real-time operating system (RTOS)  ensures precise and deterministic responses, meeting strict timing requirements essential fo ...


Gabriel Aguiar Noury
21 November 2024

EdgeIQ and Ubuntu Core; bringing security and scalability to device management 

Internet of Things Article

Today, EdgeIQ and Canonical announced the release of the EdgeIQ Coda snap and official support of Ubuntu Core on the EdgeIQ Symphony platform. EdgeIQ Symphony helps you simplify and scale workflows for device fleet operations, data consumption and delivery, and application orchestration. Distributing EdgeIQ Coda as a snap brings the power ...