Ubuntu 14.10 Server Decides On BCache, Other Improvements

Improvements to Ubuntu Server for the 14.10 release were discussed this morning during the second day of the Ubuntu Online Summit.

First up, Canonical's server team for Ubuntu has decided on BCache as the preferred means of SSD caching on the Ubuntu Server. BCache allows for an SSD to be used as a read/write cache for another block device, which is generally a traditional HDD. BCache is an alternative to Flashcache, EnhanceIO, and other Linux SSD caching alternatives. Ubuntu developers will add BCache packages to the Ubuntu universe archive for the Utopic Unicorn release. BCache is also being pursued for packaging within upstream Debian.

Those wishing to learn more about BCache should visit the always-great documentation on the Arch Linux Wiki.

For further enhancing Ubuntu 14.10, developers also plan to add Facebook's "Scribe" to the universe repository as well as Meteor. Facebook Scribe is a server for aggregating log data from a number of servers. Meteor is an "ultra-simple, database-everywhere" JavaScript web framework. Of course, during the Ubuntu 14.10 cycle will also be the latest upstream updates to QEMU, libvirt, and other changes. The 64-bit ARM (AArch64) support is also expected to be improved this cycle with AArch64 servers coming soon.

More details on the Ubuntu Server 14.10 plans can be found via summit.ubuntu.com and the Launchpad Blueprint.