Why Ubuntu is calling Canonical? (feddit.nl)

submitted 3 months ago by skaarl@feddit.nl to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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When I connect to a VPN my Ubuntu laptop calls to an ip address BEFORE CONNECTING and the whois is:

inetnum:        185.125.188.0 - 185.125.191.255
netname:        UK-CANONICAL-20151111
country:        GB
...
organisation:   ORG-CGL14-RIPE
org-name:       Canonical Group Limited
country:        GB
org-type:       LIR
address:        5 New Street Square
address:        EC4A 3TW
address:        London
address:        UNITED KINGDOM

What is this and why?? Why does Ubuntu check in to Canonical HQ when I connect to internet??

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[-] Dran_Arcana@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

It's almost certainly related to cloud-init, (the canonical tool for handling deployment automation) or Ubuntu pro (extra long support for backporting security packages to older distros, plus some conveniences). They're pre installed as a convenience to paid users of those services, that's the (IMHO, quite reasonable) model they use to fund the distro. I would expect that some or all of that traffic would disappear if you disable/remove those two services.

https://cloud-init.io/

https://ubuntu.com/pro

this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025

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