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Honest Question, is Azure itself a Linux System. Or are these Linuxes running on top of some version of Windows ?

by jmclnx 2y ago

klaas- 2y ago
so the "real" azure nodes are some kind of special Windows+HyperV but for example their accelerator cards are linuxes: https://cfp.all-systems-go.io/media/all-systems-go-2023/submissions/7URRNC/resources/ASG_2023_Microsoft_Azure_Boost_i8m559R.pdf https://cfp.all-systems-go.io/media/all-systems-go-2023/subm...
daxfohl 2y ago
I was there three years ago. Most (possibly all) of what was running on bare metal was Windows/Hyper-V. Some Azure service backends ran on Linux VMs; AKS backend for instance was on Linux I believe. Most were Windows/C# though. I know there was some initiative to allow for Linux bare metal for some internal services, I think to allow for running k8s clusters without the extra hypervisor layer(?), but it was still WIP when I left.
jaboutboul 2y ago
The Azure infrastructure, as I assume most hyperscale infrastructures are, is hybrid depending on the service. Service owners typically have a fair amount of liberty in deciding how they architect their service and what they use underneath it.
delfinom 2y ago
Microsoft uses a Windows derived host OS running Hyper-V for the VMs. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-blog/azure-host-os-cloud-host/ba-p/3709528?WT.mc_id=modinfra-0000-thmaure https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-b...
- lyu07282 2y ago
  They always liked to dogfeed their own stuff even when it makes no sense whatsoever
- jaboutboul 2y ago
  For general compute yes, that is correct. A good chunk of the work that we do is making sure that that HostOS plays nicely with Linux guests and vice-versa.
MangoCoffee 2y ago
We use Azure AppService. If you choose AppService Windows, it provides a virtual instance of Windows with IIS. If you choose AppService Linux, it provides a virtual instance of Debian (if I remember correctly). I'm not sure if Linux is running on top of Windows or Windows on top of Linux, but you get what you chose. I'm assuming Microsoft has pivoted to SaaS and the Cloud, and the OS plays a lesser role in the current form of Microsoft. Gone are the days of Steve Ballmer. Windows and Office are no longer the primary cash cows.
seniorThrowaway 2y ago
One interpretation of your question is the Azure API / RM engine itself, which if I understand correctly is written in C# and can run on either linux or windows or probably some containerized app engine version of either or both

Honest Question, is Azure itself a Linux System. Or are these Linuxes running on top of some version of Windows ?

by jmclnx 2y ago

Honest Question, is Azure itself a Linux System. Or are these Linuxes running on top of some version of Windows ?

so the "real" azure nodes are some kind of special Windows+HyperV but for example their accelerator cards are linuxes: https://cfp.all-systems-go.io/media/all-systems-go-2023/submissions/7URRNC/resources/ASG_2023_Microsoft_Azure_Boost_i8m559R.pdf https://cfp.all-systems-go.io/media/all-systems-go-2023/subm...

daxfohl 2y ago

I was there three years ago. Most (possibly all) of what was running on bare metal was Windows/Hyper-V. Some Azure service backends ran on Linux VMs; AKS backend for instance was on Linux I believe. Most were Windows/C# though. I know there was some initiative to allow for Linux bare metal for some internal services, I think to allow for running k8s clusters without the extra hypervisor layer(?), but it was still WIP when I left.

jaboutboul 2y ago

The Azure infrastructure, as I assume most hyperscale infrastructures are, is hybrid depending on the service. Service owners typically have a fair amount of liberty in deciding how they architect their service and what they use underneath it.

delfinom 2y ago

Microsoft uses a Windows derived host OS running Hyper-V for the VMs. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-blog/azure-host-os-cloud-host/ba-p/3709528?WT.mc_id=modinfra-0000-thmaure https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-os-platform-b...

lyu07282 2y ago
They always liked to dogfeed their own stuff even when it makes no sense whatsoever
jaboutboul 2y ago
For general compute yes, that is correct. A good chunk of the work that we do is making sure that that HostOS plays nicely with Linux guests and vice-versa.

MangoCoffee 2y ago

We use Azure AppService. If you choose AppService Windows, it provides a virtual instance of Windows with IIS. If you choose AppService Linux, it provides a virtual instance of Debian (if I remember correctly). I'm not sure if Linux is running on top of Windows or Windows on top of Linux, but you get what you chose. I'm assuming Microsoft has pivoted to SaaS and the Cloud, and the OS plays a lesser role in the current form of Microsoft. Gone are the days of Steve Ballmer. Windows and Office are no longer the primary cash cows.

seniorThrowaway 2y ago

One interpretation of your question is the Azure API / RM engine itself, which if I understand correctly is written in C# and can run on either linux or windows or probably some containerized app engine version of either or both