Hugo Huang
on 10 November 2025
This new release brings the stability and security of Ubuntu to Axion-based N4A virtual machines on Google Compute Engine.
November 6, 2025 – Today Canonical, the publishers of Ubuntu, and Google Cloud announced the immediate availability of optimized Ubuntu images for the new Axion-based N4A virtual machines (VMs) on Google Compute Engine. This collaboration brings the stability, security, and expansive ecosystem of Ubuntu, the world’s most popular cloud operating system, to Google Cloud’s most cost-effective N-series offering, enabling enterprises to maximize the total cost of ownership (TCO) for a wide range of general-purpose workloads.
The new N4A VMs are powered by Google’s custom-designed Axion ARM-based CPUs and offer up to 105% better price performance and 80% better performance-per-watt than comparable, current-generation x86-based VMs. By integrating optimized Ubuntu images at launch, Canonical helps ensure developers and operators can immediately take advantage of this breakthrough efficiency for demanding workloads.
Canonical has long supported ARM infrastructure, helping to ensure that Ubuntu provides a consistent, reliable, and secure experience across heterogeneous computing environments. Our deep experience in solving the challenges of mixed x86 and ARM deployments allows us to bring a robust and fully optimized operating system to the N4A series from day one.
The availability of optimized Ubuntu on N4A ensures developers can use the familiar packages and libraries of the latest Long-Term Support (LTS) releases, guaranteeing longevity and simplifying migration. This is crucial for businesses looking to adopt N4A’s cost savings without compromising on operational consistency across Google Cloud’s Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), and other services.
Seamless integration and reliability from Day One
These optimized Ubuntu images are backed by rigorous testing to help ensure enterprise-grade stability and compatibility with Google Cloud’s core features.
Canonical and Google Cloud have executed thorough validation across the entire image lifecycle, confirming that Ubuntu on N4A performs exceptionally well with Google Cloud services and VMs. This extensive testing includes validation of:
- Secure Boot integrity: Full compatibility and successful execution of google-secure-boot, ensuring the highest levels of system integrity from the moment of launch.
- Initialization and configuration: Robust confirmation of the cloud-init configuration process, including network, user, and password authentication (cloud-init-password-auth-test), guaranteeing reliable deployment and user setup.
- Lifecycle management: Successful execution of startup and shutdown scripts (google-startup, google-shutdown-script, and their URL-based variants), critical for automated maintenance and application orchestration.
- Compute Engine feature compatibility: Validation of core Google Cloud functionality, including accurate disk resizing (google-disk-size), and general system integration (google-general), helping to ensure that Ubuntu images behave predictably within the Compute Engine environment.
This comprehensive testing suite allows customers to deploy Ubuntu on N4A with total confidence.
Getting started
To get started, simply select the N4A machine type and choose your preferred Ubuntu image when creating a VM in Google Cloud Compute Engine, or when configuring node settings in GKE.
The optimized images are available now in the public preview regions for N4A (us-central1, us-east4, europe-west3, and europe-west4).
About Canonical
Canonical, the publisher of Ubuntu, provides open source security, support and services. Our portfolio covers critical systems, from the smallest devices to the largest clouds, from the kernel to containers, from databases to AI. With customers that include top tech brands, emerging startups, governments and home users, Canonical delivers trusted open source for everyone. Learn more at https://canonical.com/
