This topic describes the lifecycle phases of Ubuntu and provides solutions to mitigate the risks that may occur after an Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) version reaches the end of the Mainstream Support (MS) phase.
Overview of the Ubuntu lifecycle
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution supported and maintained by Canonical and is known for being user-friendly and free of charge. Ubuntu is widely used by desktop users, developers, and server administrators. Due to its high stability, Ubuntu is also suitable for production environments.
Ubuntu releases an LTS version every two years on average. Each LTS version receives five years of security updates and technical support within the MS phase. After the MS phase of an LTS version ends, the version enters the Extended Life Support (ELS) phase. In the ELS phase, the version receives five years of Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) support. In addition, you can purchase the two-year Ubuntu Pro with Legacy support add-on to extend the ELS phase to seven years, during which you will continue to receive security updates and technical support. When the ELS phase of an LTS version ends, the version reached the end of life (EOL).
The following table describes the lifecycle of each Ubuntu LTS version. You can visit the Ubuntu releases page to view the detailed lifecycle timelines for Ubuntu LTS versions.
Version | Release date | End date of the MS phase | ELS phase | |
End date of the ESM phase | End date of the Ubuntu Pro with Legacy support add-on | |||
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | 2024-04-25 | 2029-04 | 2034-04 | 2036-04 |
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | 2022-04-21 | 2027-04 | 2032-04 | 2034-04 |
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | 2020-04-23 | 2025-04 | 2030-04 | 2032-04 |
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | 2018-04-26 | 2023-06 | 2028-06 | 2030-04 |
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | 2016-04-21 | 2021-04 | 2026-04 | 2028-04 |
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | 2014-04-17 | 2019-04 | 2024-04 | 2026-04 |
Impacts of the end of the Ubuntu MS phase
Based on the lifecycle timelines for Ubuntu, the end of the Ubuntu MS phase has the following impacts:
After April 2019, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS no longer receives software maintenance or support, including bug fixes and feature updates.
After April 2021, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS no longer receives software maintenance or support, including bug fixes and feature updates.
After June 2023, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS no longer receives software maintenance or support, including bug fixes and feature updates.
After April 2025, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS will no longer receive software maintenance or support, including bug fixes and feature updates.
The end of the Ubuntu MS phase has the following impacts on Alibaba Cloud public images and Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instances:
ECS instances that were created from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, and 20.04 LTS images can continue to run and are not affected.
Alibaba Cloud provides support for Ubuntu operating systems in alignment with the lifecycle timelines of Ubuntu.
To mitigate the impacts of the end of the Ubuntu MS phase, we recommend that you take measures to continuously obtain software updates and security patches for ECS instances that run Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, and 20.04 LTS based on the lifecycle timelines of Ubuntu.
Solutions to issues related to the end of the Ubuntu MS phase
The solutions to the issues related to the end of the Ubuntu MS phase vary based on your business scenarios. If your business is about to be phased out, no measures are required. If your business runs only in a private network, you can take measures to mitigate the related risks. If your business provides Internet-facing services or requires high business stability and security, you must evaluate the impacts and devise plans to resolve the related issues at the earliest opportunity.
For new business
We recommend that you create ECS instances by using later versions of Ubuntu LTS or operating systems that are compatible with Ubuntu and in the Mainstream Support phase, instead of using Ubuntu LTS versions that reached the end of the MS phase.
For existing business
If an ECS instance runs an Ubuntu LTS version that reached the end of the MS phase within a short period of time, you can extend the ESM phase to obtain five years of ESM security updates for the version. This reduces the risks of data leaks due to unfixed vulnerabilities.
If you want to maintain long-term business stability, we recommend that you upgrade to a later version.
Upgrade to a later version
You can upgrade Ubuntu from one LTS version only to the next LTS version. For example, you can upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, but cannot directly upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. If you want to upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 LTS to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, you must upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and then to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
You can run the do-release-upgrade command to upgrade your Ubuntu LTS version. For more information, see Ubuntu Server upgrade guide and Ubuntu Desktop upgrade guide.
Extend the ESM phase
You can subscribe to Ubuntu Pro to extend the ESM phase of an Ubuntu LTS version. This way, you can obtain five additional years of security updates for the version. For example, the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS version will reach the end of the MS phase after April 2025. In this case, you can subscribe to Ubuntu Pro to extend the ESM phase to April 2030 and purchase the Ubuntu Pro with Legacy support add-on to extend the ESM phase by two additional years. This way, the ESM phase is extended to April 2032. This ensures that your system remains operational and compliant, with less impact on business continuity.
To obtain ESM support, you can subscribe to the Enterprise or Personal edition of Ubuntu Pro on the Ubuntu Subscription page. For more information, see Get started with Ubuntu Pro.
Reference
For more information about the operating system lifecycle, including the characteristics of each stage and standard solutions for EOL or ELS stages, see Operating system lifecycle.