I am new to Azure VMs and want to have the latest Ubuntu Server stable LTS release. However the list of images isn't quite clear to me:
az vm image list -o table --all --publisher Canonical --offer Ubuntu --sku 22_04-lts --architecture x64
// ...
x64 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy Canonical 22_04-lts Canonical:0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy:22_04-lts:22.04.202302280 22.04.202302280
x64 0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy Canonical 22_04-lts-gen2 Canonical:0001-com-ubuntu-server-jammy:22_04-lts-gen2:22.04.202204200 22.04.202204200
What is the difference between 22_04-lts and 22_04-lts-gen2? Is 22_04-lts-gen2 another word for version 22.04.2?
Gen 2 VMs have some improvements over the previous generations:
Generation 2 VMs support key features that aren't supported in generation 1 VMs. These features include increased memory, Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX), and virtualized persistent memory (vPMEM). Generation 2 VMs running on-premises, have some features that aren't supported in Azure yet.
Generation 2 VMs use the new UEFI-based boot architecture rather than the BIOS-based architecture used by generation 1 VMs. Compared to generation 1 VMs, generation 2 VMs might have improved boot and installation times.
(Source)