The CentOS public images provided by Alibaba Cloud are derived from the operating systems provided by CentOS. After CentOS reaches end of life (EOL), Alibaba Cloud ends support and no longer provides software updates and security patches for CentOS. If you have Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances that run CentOS versions, we recommend that you take action at the earliest opportunity to continue to receive software updates and security patches for the instances and mitigate the impacts of the CentOS EOL. This topic describes the EOL options for CentOS operating systems.
Background information
On December 8, 2020, CentOS announced plans to shift focus from CentOS to CentOS Stream. For more information, see CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream and FAQ - CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream.
CentOS 6 reached EOL on November 30, 2020. CentOS 8 reached EOL on December 31, 2021. Alibaba Cloud ended support for CentOS 6 and 8 on the same dates, respectively. The operation of ECS instances that run CentOS 6 or 8 is not affected, but the instances can no longer receive updates for CentOS 6 or 8.
CentOS 7 reached EOL on June 30, 2024. Alibaba Cloud ended support for CentOS 7 on the same date. To mitigate the impacts of the CentOS 7 EOL, we recommend that you take action at the earliest opportunity.
EOL options
We recommend that you migrate your workloads from CentOS to a different operating system to receive software updates and security patches for the operating system.
Before migration, assess the following items:
The operating systems to which you can migrate CentOS workloads.
When you choose an alternative operating system, consider factors such as security, stability, operating system compatibility, budget, and long-term operating system strategy. For information about the Linux alternatives to CentOS, see the CentOS alternatives section of this topic.
The methods that you can use to migrate your workloads from CentOS to other operating systems:
(Recommended) New deployment: This migration method allows you to create a new instance that runs a different operating system to replace an existing CentOS instance or replace the operating system of an existing CentOS instance with a different operating system. For more information, see Create an instance on the Custom Launch tab and Replace the operating system (system disk) of an instance.
ImportantBefore you replace the operating system of an instance, make sure that you create snapshots for the system disk of the instance to back up disk data. For more information, see Create a snapshot for a disk. After you replace the operating system of the instance, the original system disk is released and all data stored on the disk is deleted.
Advantages and disadvantages: This migration method allows you to take advantage of the latest operating systems, hardware, technologies, and security updates to achieve better performance. This migration method also resolves all legacy issues to ensure long-term system health and maintainability. However, you must redeploy business-related runtime environments on the replacement instance or operating system. When you redeploy the business-related runtime environments, you may need to interrupt services, which affects service continuity.
Supported scenarios: If you want to redeploy your business-related runtime environments due to the CentOS EOL, you can use this migration method to migrate from CentOS to a different operating system.
Supported alternative operating systems: You can select any other operating system as an alternative to migrate your CentOS workloads.
NoteYou can select Alibaba Cloud public images or use images provided by certified software vendors in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace and operating system replacement services provided by service partners. For more information, see CentOS replacement solutions.
For more information, see the Method 1: New deployment section of this topic.
In-place migration: This migration method allows you to perform an in-place upgrade or conversion by using specific tools to migrate your workloads from CentOS to a different operating system. When you perform an in-place upgrade or conversion, all applications, user data, and system configurations are retained, which eliminates the need to redeploy environments or migrate data.
Advantages and disadvantages: This migration method can reduce initial configuration efforts and may inherit issues that the original CentOS operating systems encountered, such as security vulnerabilities and configuration errors. In-place upgrades are suitable for environments that have constrained resources, do not encounter major security or performance issues, and require quick upgrades.
Supported scenarios: If you want to retain the data of CentOS instances and the alternative operating systems support in-place upgrades, you can use this migration method to migrate your workloads from CentOS to the alternative operating systems.
Supported alternative operating systems: The operating systems that are described in the Operating systems that are binary compatible with CentOS section of this topic support the in-place migration method.
For more information, see the Method 2: In-place migration section of this topic.
CentOS alternatives
Operating systems that are binary compatible with CentOS
Binary compatibility is the ability of an operating system to run applications and software that were compiled for another operating system without the need to recompile code. When you redeploy environments after you migrate between operating systems that are binary compatible with each other, you do not need to recompile code to adapt to the changed interfaces. This helps save time and resources. However, bug incompatibility may occur.
Operating system | Description | Charged | Technical support | References |
Alibaba Cloud Linux | Alibaba Cloud Linux is a Linux operating system provided by Alibaba Cloud that is fully compatible with the RHEL and CentOS ecosystems. Alibaba Cloud Linux is optimized for the Alibaba Cloud platform and is backed by free long-term support (LTS) from Alibaba Cloud. | No | Alibaba Cloud support | |
Anolis OS | Anolis OS is released by the OpenAnolis community and is fully compatible with the CentOS 8 ecosystem and other mainstream Linux distributions. Anolis OS is an open source, independent Linux distribution that provides enterprise-level stability, security, reliability, and high performance. | No | Alibaba Cloud support | |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) | RHEL is an enterprise operating system developed by Red Hat that is not provided free of charge. You must purchase RHEL subscriptions before you can use RHEL operating systems. | You are charged license fees for RHEL images. For more information, see Images. | Joint support from Alibaba Cloud and Red Hat | |
CentOS Stream | CentOS Stream is a rolling-release Linux distribution provided by CentOS. | No | Community support | |
Rocky Linux | Rocky Linux is a community-driven, enterprise-level Linux operating system and a downstream rebuild of RHEL. Similar to CentOS, Rocky Linux offers stable releases for servers and is an alternative that is fully compatible with CentOS. | No | Community support | |
AlmaLinux | AlmaLinux is a stable, community-driven Linux distribution developed by the CloudLinux team. AlmaLinux is 1:1 binary compatible with RHEL and allows you to replace the operating systems of ECS instances without the need to stop the instances. | No | Community support |
Other operating systems
Operating system | Description | Charged | Technical support | References |
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) | SLES is a highly reliable, scalable, and secure operating system developed by SUSE that can adapt to various environments. | You are charged license fees for SLES images. For more information, see Images. | Joint support from Alibaba Cloud and SUSE | |
Ubuntu | Ubuntu is a Linux distribution developed by Canonical that allows you to install a GUI to facilitate use and management. | No | Community support | |
Debian | Debian is a popular Linux operating system that is known for its stability, security, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). | No | Community support | |
openSUSE | openSUSE is an operating system built on the Linux kernel. openSUSE is developed and maintained by the openSUSE project and sponsored by SUSE and other companies. | No | Community support |
Migrate operating systems and workloads
You can use the following methods to migrate operating systems and workloads based on the CentOS alternatives that you select and your business requirements. For information about the advantages, disadvantages, and supported scenarios of the migration methods, see the EOL options section of this topic.
Method 1: New deployment
Create an ECS instance that runs a different operating system to replace an existing CentOS instance or replace the operating system of an existing CentOS instance with a different operating system. For more information, see Create an instance on the Custom Launch tab and Replace the operating system (system disk) of an instance.
After you create a replacement instance or replace the operating system of an existing CentOS instance, you must redeploy business-related runtime environments on the replacement instance or operating system. For example, you must re-install software and repositories, such as Advanced Package Tool (APT) and Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM) repositories, configure environment variables, and redeploy applications. For the replacement instance, you can perform the following steps to redeploy business-related runtime environments:
Collect the application and software information of the existing CentOS instance and export critical application configurations and data files.
Prepare the replacement instance. Install specific applications and software on the replacement instance based on the collected application and software information, import the exported application configurations and data files to the replacement instance, and then test and verify that the application services run as expected on the replacement instance.
Stop the application services on the existing CentOS instance, synchronize application data to the replacement instance, verify that the application services run as expected on the replacement instance, and then start the applications services on the replacement instance.
Method 2: In-place migration
The following table describes the migration paths that you can take when you perform an in-place migration.
NoteIf you want to migrate from CentOS 7 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3, we recommend that you are familiar with the differences between CentOS 7 and Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 before you perform the migration. For information about the differences, see Differences between Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 and CentOS 7.
Source operating system
Destination operating system
References
CentOS 7 or 8
Alibaba Cloud Linux
Anolis OS
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
CentOS 7
AlmaLinux 8/9
CentOS 8
CentOS Stream 8
CentOS
Rocky Linux 8/9
Continue using CentOS
If you want to continue using CentOS and require specific installation packages of CentOS, you must change the CentOS repository addresses. For more information, see the following topics:
After CentOS 7 reached EOL, the original CentOS 7 software packages are retained in the CentOS 7 repository. You can continue to use CentOS 7 without the need to change repository addresses. However, security risks arise when you use the CentOS operating systems that reached EOL. We recommend that you upgrade or migrate the operating systems at the earliest opportunity based on your business requirements.
References
For information about the lifecycle plans of other operating systems that are released on the official websites, see Maintenance support for operating systems.
For information about image EOL, see FAQ about image EOL.
Operating system features, performance optimizations, basic software package updates, and security updates vary based on the operating system version. For more information, see Release notes for public images and Release notes for Alibaba Cloud Linux.