This topic describes the lifecycle phases of Alibaba Cloud Linux and the options for managing risks when Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 enters its Extended Life Support (ELS) phase.
Alibaba Cloud Linux lifecycle
Alibaba Cloud Linux is a stable, secure, and high-performance server operating system developed by Alibaba Cloud. It provides operating system services, including system software maintenance, security hardening, performance optimization, multi-architecture support, and Kernel Live Patching. Alibaba Cloud Linux supports a variety of applications, such as web services, native applications, big data applications, databases, and AI applications.
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2, the first release of Alibaba Cloud Linux, was published in March 2019, entering its Mainstream Support (MS) phase. The MS phase ended on March 31, 2024, at which point it entered the ELS phase. The ELS phase for Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 will end on March 31, 2026, when it reaches its end of life (EOL).
Release | Release date | End date of the MS phase | End date of the ELS phase |
Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 | 2021-04-15 | 2031-03-31 | N/A |
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 | 2019-03-27 | 2024-03-31 | 2026-03-31 |
Impacts of Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 EOL
According to the Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 lifecycle plan, users will no longer receive software maintenance or support, including bug fixes and feature updates, after March 31, 2026.
The EOL of Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 has the following impacts on Alibaba Cloud public images and ECS instances:
ECS instances that are using Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 are not affected and can continue to run as expected.
The support for Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 public images aligns with its lifecycle plan. After March 31, 2026, Alibaba Cloud will no longer provide support for these public images.
Options for handling Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 EOL
Your options for handling the Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 EOL depend on your business scenario. If your business is about to be unpublished, no action is required. If your business runs only in a private network, you can take measures to mitigate the associated risks. If your business provides Internet-facing services or requires high stability and security, you must evaluate the impacts and prepare plans to address the EOL issues as soon as possible.
New business
We recommend that you do not use Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 images that have reached EOL to create new ECS instances. Instead, use an operating system that is in its MS phase, such as Alibaba Cloud Linux 3, which is fully compatible with Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.
Existing business
In the short term, you can subscribe to the free one-year Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ELS service from Alibaba Cloud. This service provides support, including fixes for major Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) and bugs.
To maintain long-term business stability, we recommend that you start preparing for and evaluating an operating system upgrade plan as soon as possible.
Upgrade the operating system
Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the destination operating system
Before upgrading, familiarize yourself with the destination operating system. We recommend upgrading directly from Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3. Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 has the following features:
High compatibility: Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 is fully compatible with the Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ecosystem and user experience. This compatibility minimizes migration costs.
Performance and stability optimization: Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 includes many optimizations for better performance and higher system stability.
Official long-term support: Alibaba Cloud provides long-term support (LTS) for Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 to ensure system security and stability.
Free of charge: No additional fees are required.
Direct upgrade path: Alibaba Cloud Linux 3 provides the most direct upgrade path from Alibaba Cloud Linux 2.
Step 2: Select an upgrade solution
Select one of the following Alibaba Cloud-recommended solutions based on your business deployment needs.
If your business can tolerate a brief downtime and you can redeploy your applications, we recommend replacing the system disk. This solution is suitable for development and testing environments or for rapid system upgrades in emergencies.
If your business is deployed on the system disk or is sensitive to downtime, we recommend migrating by creating a new instance and redeploying your environment. This solution is suitable for production environments or environments with strict availability and stability requirements.
If you have difficulty redeploying the environment, you can perform an in-place operating system upgrade. This solution is suitable for situations where long interruptions are not tolerable, but you must be aware of potential compatibility issues and upgrade risks.
Step 3: Make preparations before you upgrade the operating system
Preparation | Description |
Evaluate the impacts on your business |
|
Back up data | During the migration, the system automatically creates snapshots for basic disks on the ECS instance, changes the operating system kernel version, re-installs or upgrades software packages, and stops and then restarts the instance. To prevent your business from being affected by these operations, we recommend that you back up important data in advance and select an appropriate time to perform the migration. |
Make sure that no snapshot is being created for disks on the ECS instance | If a snapshot is being created for a disk on the ECS instance, the migration fails. Wait until the snapshot is created and then perform the migration again. |
Perform comprehensive verification | Before you migrate from CentOS to a different operating system, we recommend that you check whether all your business applications are compatible with and can run as expected in the destination operating system to ensure business continuity and functionality. Before and during migration, the system checks whether the CentOS ECS instance meets the required conditions and performs a precheck on the instance. If the CentOS ECS instance does not meet the required conditions or fails the precheck, errors occur during the migration and the migration may fail. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the migration limits and related FAQ documents and perform migration tests. For information about the issues that may occur when you migrate from CentOS to a different operating system and the corresponding solutions, see Errors occurred during the migration of a Linux operating system. |
Step 4: Upgrade the operating system
Redeploy business-related runtime environments
Purchase a new ECS instance that runs a different operating system to replace an existing CentOS ECS instance. Alternatively, replace the CentOS operating system of an existing ECS instance with a different operating system. Perform the following steps:
Back up data. Before you migrate an ECS instance from CentOS to a different operating system, create a custom image from the instance or create snapshots for disks on the instance to back up data.
Migrate workloads. After you create an instance or replace the operating system of an existing instance, redeploy business-related runtime environments on the new instance or the instance that runs the new operating system. For example, you must re-install software and repositories, such as Advanced Package Tool (APT) and Yellowdog Updater Modified (YUM). You can perform the following steps:
Collect the application and software information of the CentOS ECS instance and export critical application configurations and data files.
If you purchased a new instance, install the required applications and software on the new instance based on the collected information. Then, import the exported application configurations and data files to the new instance.
If a business application is written in a compiled language such as C or C++, recompile the application for the new instance or the instance that runs the new operating system.
Test whether the application service is functioning properly.
Cut over business.
If you replaced the CentOS ECS instance with a new ECS instance, migrated workloads to the new instance, and checked that application services run as expected on the new instance, stop the application services on the CentOS ECS instance and then cut over to and start the application services on the replacement instance.
If you replaced the CentOS operating system of an ECS instance, you must migrate workloads and check the application services on the instance. Before you migrate workloads, back up and collect data from the CentOS ECS instance.
Steps for in-place upgrade
The in-place upgrade solution only supports upgrading from Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 to Alibaba Cloud Linux 3. For more information, see Operating system migration (Linux).
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ELS service
Alibaba Cloud provides an Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ELS support plan for users after the Maintenance Support (MS) phase ends on March 31, 2024. If you cannot migrate in the short term, you can subscribe to this ELS service. After the ELS period ends, technical support for Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 is discontinued.
After you subscribe to the service, the system does not automatically fix vulnerabilities or update software packages. You must manually perform these operations using the YUM tool. For more information, see Security update operations based on YUM.
Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ELS support scope
The Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 ELS service provides support to users, including fixes for major CVEs and bugs. The scope of the ELS service is as follows:
Supported architecture: x86 (64-bit)
Security support: Provides fixes for critical and important CVEs. For more information, see Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 CVE update records.
Bug fix support
Provides necessary bug fixes for urgent issues in the following key packages: bind, bash, chrony, glibc, gnutls, httpd, kernel, libgcrypt, libvirt, nss, openssh, openssl, Python 2.7, qemu-kvm, rpm, sudo, systemd, wget, and yum. Support for packages not included in this list is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
For bugs that cannot be fixed promptly, Alibaba Cloud provides recommended workarounds.
References
For more information about operating system lifecycles, including the characteristics of each phase and common solutions for end-of-life or extended support, see Operating system lifecycle.
For more information about common issues with Alibaba Cloud Linux, see FAQ about Alibaba Cloud Linux.