Ubuntu 20.04 or 21.04

[matteu]

Hello,

For hardened linux repository (immutable) veeam recommended Ubuntu 20.04 before 21.04 support.
Now 21.04 is supported by veeam, I suppose you recommend 21.04 for thse repositories ?

[tsightler]

I'm not aware that we had a specific recommended version of Linux for an immutable repository, you could use any supported Linux OS version. However, if you wanted to take advantage of the advanced XFS integration for block clone, then Ubuntu 20.04 LTS was one of the supported and recommended distributions due to having a sufficiently newer kernel to have most of the XFS optimizations and it being an LTS release with a long support lifecycle. As Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is still the most recent Ubuntu supported for advanced XFS integration, it's still a great choice, although the other distros supported for advanced XFS integration are all great choices.

Personally, I have no idea why anybody would want to use a non-LTS Ubuntu release for any server other than perhaps a dev system or a power Linux desktop user/developer where you definitely wanted the latest and greatest, but for something as critical as a backup repository it just makes no sense to me. The support lifecycle of non-LTS Ubuntu releases is only 9 months and thus Ubuntu 21.04 will be end-of-support in Jan 2022. Why install something that is immediately end-of-support?

I strongly recommend using an LTS based distro for any repository, regardless of immutability or XFS support. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is a great choice, and does not reach end-of-life until April 2025 but, in summary, I would recommend almost any OS other than Ubuntu 21.04.

[matteu]

Hello,

Thank you for your answer.
I'm sorry I probably missunderstood and it's recommended for XFS and not immutable

I totally agree with you. I didn't seen it's not LTS version. It's useless to install 21.04 and use it only for 9 month !

I will continue to install it on 20.04