Microsoft’s dedicated professional networking platform is transitioning to Microsoft’s proprietary Linux version, suggesting significant modifications for the previously known CBL-Mariner distribution.
In a LinkedIn Engineering blog article by Ievgen Priadka called Navigating the transition: adopting Azure Linux as LinkedIn’s operating system, a substantial internal engineering project is unveiled. The article details the switch from the soon-to-be-unsupported CentOS 7 to Microsoft Azure Linux, which evolved from and replaced its former in-house distro, CBL-Mariner.
This development marks a crucial phase in an ongoing process. Although Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016, just last year there were reports that plans to transition to Azure were scrapped, following the layoff of nearly 700 LinkedIn employees, mainly from R&D.
The blog post, comprising over 3,500 words, offers an extensive overview that has likely been vetted by various marketing and management teams to remove any potentially sensitive material. However, some intriguing insights persist. Noteworthy is the understated remark stating:
However, with the shift to CentOS Stream, users felt uncertain about the project’s direction and the timeline for updates. This uncertainty created some concerns about the reliability and support of CentOS as an operating system.
That strikes us as putting it mildly. The way that Red Hat redefined its free distro has caused industry-wide consternation and even outrage, but few would have pegged Microsoft as one of the companies affected. We’re also amused that Priadka cites “strong vendor support,” defined as “having support from the OS vendor or a reliable support provider,” as a motivation. This isn’t a shot at Red Hat; it didn’t support CentOS anyway. It is, however, praise for the Azure Linux team, and implies that they are on a par with any of the vendors that will give you paid support on CentOS.
There are some interesting technical details in the post too. It seems LinkedIn is running on XFS – also the RHEL default file system, of course — with the notable exception of Hadoop, and so the Azure Linux team had to add XFS support. Some CentOS and actual RHEL is still used in there somewhere.
That fits perfectly with using any of the RHELatives. However, the post also mentions that the team developed a tool to aid with deploying via MaaS, which it explicitly defines as Metal as a Service. MaaS is a Canonical service, although it does support other distros – so as well as CentOS, there may have been some Ubuntu in the LinkedIn stack as well.
Some details suggest there were likely significant challenges with deployment. It appears that LinkedIn utilized DKMS for on-the-fly driver integration within its kernels, typically indicating the use of Nvidia hardware. Yet, the Microsoft Azure platform requires signed kernels, prompting Microsoft to create a repository of signed kernels that accommodate all hardware utilized. Additionally, it seems Microsoft established an internal repository for container images tailored for Azure Linux environments.
The narrative also highlights tasks that the teams avoided, offering insights into their processes. Previously, development occurred on robust CentOS desktop VMs featuring window managers, which Azure Linux lacks and continues without. They have engineered solutions to link local IDEs to remote Azure Linux VMs equipped with GPUs across four different global locations. Notably, Microsoft’s VS Code and JetBrains’ IntelliJ are mentioned. Considering LinkedIn’s inception in 2003, its technological framework, aged over two decades, inevitably includes components from numerous vendors.
Microsoft’s historical approach of integrating acquisitions into its ecosystem, commonly referred to as “eating its own dog food,” often involves substantial effort. For instance, its acquisition of Hotmail in 1997 still operated on a mix of Apache on FreeBSD and Sun Solaris for databases even two years after acquisition, as reported by Register in 1999. Not until the advent of Windows Server 2000 did Microsoft begin to transition Hotmail from its existing infrastructure, detailed in reports and articles at the time. Even in 2003, this transition was reportedly ongoing.
The enhancements achieved through this extensive project significantly boosted the performance, compatibility, and stability of Windows Server. “Dogfooding” plays a critical role. Having previously worked at two of the top three enterprise Linux vendors, I have firsthand experience that these organizations largely depended on third-party vendors for IT infrastructure – a practice that, to my knowledge, continues to this day.
Microsoft’s decision to transfer its own internal infrastructure to utilize its products is commendable as it accepts the responsibility and the substantial costs involved. This move will undoubtedly benefit Azure Linux and Azure as a whole. Microsoft’s relatively unknown and small-scale Linux distribution is quickly evolving, and we anticipate significant enhancements in future versions.
This development owes a lot, indirectly, to Red Hat. ®
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