Microsoft released Azure Linux 3.0.20241203 late Friday as the latest monthly release of its internal Linux distribution. AzureLinux3.0.20241203 is the latest version of the Microsoft Linux operating system used for Azure services, edge devices and various other uses within the Redmond company.
With the December update of AzureLinux, they introduced the "kernel-64k" option to cater to those who want to get an AArch64Linux kernel image built for 64K page sizes. 64K page size helps a lot with ARM server performance, especially compared to 4K.
AzureLinux3.0.20241203 also adds NFTables to the release for firewall/filtering options. On the networking front, the Intel Ethernet E800 wired network driver is also enabled.
Some of the other changes in this Azure Linux 3.0 update include Dracut tweaks, Lua support in fluent-bit, enabling signature verification for kexec'ed kernels, and a host of package updates that fix known security issues. AzureLinux's image customizer can now also generate PXE bootable ISO images.
For more details on these latest changes to Microsoft Azure Linux, and to download this Microsoft Linux operating system via GitHub.