We are excited to announce that Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) is officially available on AWS WorkSpaces, bringing a wealth of performance enhancements, cutting-edge security features, and modern enterprise management capabilities to your virtual desktop environment.
With this launch, organizations can enjoy a highly optimized Linux desktop experience backed by Canonical’s Ubuntu Pro’s security maintenance, including expanded security coverage on 3rd party open source packages.
Key Features and Enhancements
1. Seamless Enterprise Identity Integration with AuthD (New!)
Managing access to your cloud desktops just got easier. Released as an enhancement to the 24.04 experience, Ubuntu on AWS WorkSpaces now includes the ability to use AuthD to authenticate directly with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) and other cloud identity providers. This modern identity management approach removes the heavy lifting of traditional domain binding, providing a streamlined, secure, and cloud-native authentication process for your workforce.
2. Upgraded Performance with Linux Kernel 6.17
At the heart of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is the Linux 6.17 kernel, bringing better resource management, ensuring that your daily productivity tasks run smoother than ever on AWS Workspaces.
3. Advanced Security and Hardening
Noble Numbat introduces robust, multi-layered security hardening across several fronts: unprivileged user namespaces are now restricted by default (in combination with AppArmor) to reduce container escape attack surface; OpenSSH has been decoupled from libsystemd to lower supply chain risk; and core packages are built with stronger compiler hardening (-D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3) for improved buffer overflow detection and mitigation.
4. Developer Toolchain Upgrades
For developers using AWS WorkSpaces, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ships with a heavily updated, modern toolchain:
- Python now defaults to version 3.12.
- OpenJDK 21 is the new default Java LTS version.
- .NET 8 is fully supported out of the box, allowing developers to build and run modern .NET applications natively on Ubuntu.
- Upgrades to GCC 14, LLVM 18, Rust 1.75, and Golang 1.22.
Getting Started
Administrators can start deploying Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to end-users immediately from the AWS WorkSpaces console. By combining the elastic scalability of AWS with the rock-solid stability of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, your teams are empowered to work securely and productively from anywhere.
For detailed documentation on launching and managing Ubuntu WorkSpaces, please refer to the AWS WorkSpaces Administration Guide.