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Chocolate Factory shifts Tensor Processing Unit Ubuntu support back upstream

Google Cloud customers spinning up new Tensor Processing Unit VMs for AI workloads will notice something different beginning today, as Canonical has finally released certified Ubuntu images for TPU instances going all the way back to 2023’s v5e. 

Canonical and Google announced the release of certified Ubuntu images for TPU VMs in a press release penned by Canonical’s public cloud alliance director Hugo Huang today. Huang noted in the statement that certified Ubuntu images for TPU7x, v6e, v5p, and v5e are now the default whenever a TPU VM is created in Google Compute Engine. 

If you’re wondering what the big change is here, it’s basically about how Ubuntu in TPU VMs is supported. Huang told The Register that, prior to today, customers using TPU v5 and v6 were running a custom version of Ubuntu 22.04, but it was one that Google itself modified and managed. As of this announcement, those v5 and v6 instances are now running on Canonical-certified and supported versions of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS that are compatible with existing production environments. That, ideally, means that migrating to the new version should happen without interrupting existing workloads, Huang explained. 

While this was not specifically mentioned in the announcement, Huang told us that TPU7x instances will be running on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and noted that both 22.04 LTS and 24.04 LTS have been tested across all three generations of TPUs to give Google Cloud customers some flexibility in their deployment choices based on workloads. 

"Ubuntu LTS gives enterprises the stable, secure foundation they need to move AI workloads from experimentation into production on Google's most advanced accelerator hardware,” Huang told us in an email. “This launch makes Cloud TPU as accessible as any other VM on Google Cloud — same console, same experience, backed by up to 15 years of Canonical security maintenance and support commitment."

Canonical has worked closely with Google to ensure that certified Ubuntu images work properly with existing machine learning tools found in TPU VMs, like JAX, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and the like, as well as automation and monitoring tools like Kubernetes, and support for Snap packages. As both TPU VM-certified builds are long-term support variants, the pair will get five years of support maintenance, which is typical for Ubuntu LTS builds. 

In addition to broader support from Canonical, Huang said that TPU VMs will be getting a security boost in the form of access to Ubuntu Pro services that automate security tasks. Ubuntu Pro was already available on Google Cloud, for those wondering, but its presence in Cloud TPU VMs will likely be a welcome addition for the security-conscious enterprise AI customer. 

Ubuntu Pro includes things like live kernel patching, security support for open-source packages and out-of-the-box hardening. Unlike the rest of today’s announcements, however, this one isn’t available now: You’ll need to wait until Q3 to get access to Ubuntu Pro in TPU VMs - unless you ask, that is. 

“Customers wanting early access to Ubuntu Pro can reach out to Canonical sales or their Google Cloud account team directly,” Huang told us. Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait and hope that the existing security offerings in the certified Ubuntu LTS versions rolled out today are sufficient to protect those AI workloads. ®