We have released a new version of the Amazon Linux AMI. The new version includes new features, security fixes, package updates, and additional packages. The AWS Management Console will be updated to use these AMIs in the near future.
Users of the existing Amazon Linux AMI can access the package additions and updates through our Yum repository.
New features include:
- AMI size reduction to 8 GB to simplify usage of the AWS Free Usage Tier.
- Security updates to the Amazon Linux AMI are automatically installed on the first launch by default. This can be disabled if necessary.
- The AMI versioning system has changed to a YYYY.MM.# scheme.
The following packages were updated to address security issues:
- glibc
- kernel
- java-1.6.0-openkdk
- openssl
The following packages were updated to newer versions:
- bash
- coreutils
- gcc44
- ImageMagick
- php
- ruby
- python
- tomcat6
We have added a number of new packages including:
- cacti
- fping
- libdmx
- libmcrypt
- lighttpd
- memcached
- mod_security
- monit
- munin
- nagios
- nginx
- rrdtool
- X11 applicaitons, client utilities, and bitmaps
We also added a number of Perl libraries.
A full list of all changes and additions, along with the AMI ID's, can be found in the Amazon Linux AMI Release Notes.
-- Jeff;
Are we likely to see a Debian based Linux AMI?
Posted by: AS | December 02, 2010 at 04:50 PM
Excellent, these updates are great.
I would love to see a super-lightweight version of the Amazon AMI for t1.micros. As mentioned here (https://forums.aws.amazon.com/message.jspa?messageID=203201) they can barely run ec2/rds tools. Having micros that can be simple schedulers and check on various things within the aws infrastructure is a great use for them (ie. utility machines). This seems to be a 2-part issue, too much unnecessary stuff on the image & the tools being java-intense.
Thanks!
Posted by: Drew | December 03, 2010 at 05:38 AM
Great news for us Linux people. I heard that the Amazon Linux AMI is based off of CentOS. Is this true? If so, thumbs up, because CentOS is my server operating system of choice.
Posted by: Gavin | December 15, 2010 at 12:33 PM