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Elastic Compute Service:Options for dealing with CentOS Linux end of life

Last Updated:Dec 22, 2023

The CentOS Project has announced the end of life (EOL) for CentOS Linux. CentOS Linux public images provided by Alibaba Cloud are derived from the repositories provided by the CentOS Project. When CentOS Linux reaches its EOL, Alibaba Cloud stops providing support for CentOS Linux. This topic describes the impacts of the CentOS Linux EOL and provides options for dealing with this change.

Background information

On December 8, 2020, CentOS announced that they would be shifting focus from CentOS Linux, the rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), to CentOS Stream. For more information, see CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream. The following section describes the EOL plans of different CentOS Linux releases:

  • CentOS Linux 7, as a rebuild of RHEL 7, no longer receives updates from CentOS as of August 6, 2020, and will reach its EOL on June 30, 2024.

  • CentOS Linux 8, as a rebuild of RHEL 8, had its lifecycle cut short and reached its EOL on December 31, 2021.

  • CentOS Linux 9 and later versions are not provided. CentOS Stream is provided instead.

Impacts

If you are using CentOS Linux, take note of the following items:

  • If you are using CentOS 8, you no longer receive software maintenance or technical support such as bug fixes and feature updates as of January 1, 2022.

  • If you are using CentOS 7, you will no longer receive software maintenance or technical support such as bug fixes and feature updates as of July 1, 2024.

Since the lifecycle of CentOS Linux 8 has been cut short, CentOS provides the following options for CentOS Linux 8 users. If you are using CentOS Linux 8 in a development or test environment, you can migrate to CentOS Stream. If you are using CentOS Linux 8 in a production environment or to deploy critical business, you can migrate to RHEL. If you want to use CentOS Stream or RHEL, take note of the following items:

  • CentOS Stream is a rolling release distribution of CentOS rather than a rebuild of RHEL. Its stability and compatibility cannot be guaranteed. If CentOS Stream is used in a production environment, risks cannot be predicted.

  • RHEL images are not provided for free, and you must subscribe to the images before you can use them. We recommend that you estimate the costs before you migrate to RHEL.

  • CentOS Linux EOL affects the public images and support provided by Alibaba Cloud in the following aspects:

    • Alibaba Cloud will continue to provide CentOS 8 images. Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances that were created from CentOS 8 images are not affected. However, Alibaba Cloud will no longer update these images. For more information, see Release notes.

    • The Alibaba Cloud support cycles of CentOS operating systems are consistent with the lifecycles of the official CentOS operating systems. CentOS discontinues support for CentOS Linux 8 as of January 1, 2022, and will discontinue support for CentOS Linux 7 as of July 1, 2024.

For more information about the CentOS Project shifts, see FAQ - CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream.

Options

You can replace CentOS Linux with a suitable operating system or migrate away from CentOS Linux. Alibaba Cloud provides public images that contain a variety of operating systems. You can select a suitable operating system to replace CentOS Linux. The following table describes different operating systems and their intended users.

  • If you do not want to retain system disk data, you can use any of the operating systems described in the following table to replace CentOS Linux. For more information, see Replace the operating system (system disk) of an instance.

  • If you want to retain system disk data and minimize service downtime, use Server Migration Center (SMC) to migrate away from CentOS Linux. SMC supports the following migrations:

    • Migrate CentOS 7 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 or Anolis OS 7.

    • Migrate CentOS 8 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 or Anolis OS 8.

    For more information, see Migrate and upgrade the operating system of an ECS instance.

Operating system

Description

Intended user

Alibaba Cloud Linux

Alibaba Cloud Linux is a Linux operating system provided by Alibaba Cloud. It is fully compatible with the RHEL and CentOS ecosystems and is optimized for the Alibaba Cloud platform. Alibaba Cloud provides free long-term support (LTS) for Alibaba Cloud Linux. Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 and Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 public images are available. For more information, see What is Alibaba Cloud Linux?.

Individuals and enterprises who require technical support and want to use images free of charge.

Anolis OS

Anolis OS is released by the OpenAnolis community. It is fully compatible with the CentOS 8 ecosystem and other mainstream Linux distributions. Anolis OS is an open source, independent Linux distribution and provides enterprise-level stability, security, reliability, and high performance. For more information, see OpenAnolis.

Individuals and enterprises who are used to using open source images and want to use images free of charge.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

RHEL is an enterprise-level Linux operating system developed by Red Hat. RHEL images are not provided for free, and you must subscribe to the images before you can use them. For more information, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Individuals and enterprises who require technical support and want to migrate to an operating system that is similar to CentOS.

CentOS Stream

CentOS Stream is a rolling release Linux distribution provided by Red Hat.

Individuals and enterprises who want to use an operating system that has rolling updates and that is similar to CentOS.

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is a community-driven enterprise-level Linux operating system and a downstream rebuild of RHEL. Like CentOS, Rocky Linux offers stable releases for servers and is intended to be an alternative that is fully compatible with CentOS.

Individuals and enterprises who are used to using open source images and want to use images free of charge.

AlmaLinux

AlmaLinux is a stable, community-driven Linux distribution developed by the CloudLinux team. The AlmaLinux operating system is 1:1 binary compatible with RHEL. You can change the operating system of an instance to AlmaLinux without stopping the instance.

Individuals and enterprises who are used to using open source images and want to use images free of charge.

Other Linux distributions, such as Debian and Ubuntu

These operating systems vary in application compatibility and usage habits. Alibaba Cloud provides images that contain a variety of operating systems. For more information, see Select an image.

Individuals and enterprises who are capable of handling operating system changes.

References