Since RedHat decided to kill off the CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System) and replace it with the Fedora releases we have been looking at alternative Linux operating systems to power our servers.
We have been very happy with the efforts of AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. Both are nearly identical, except for branding and both products offer excellent support and performance.
In order to keep our servers up to date we offer the following options:
- Upgrade your server(s) in-place. This is a free upgrade which will require about 30 minutes of downtime. A full backup will be taken before we proceed.
- Migrate your sites to new, fresh-built servers (Debian 12 or AlmaLinux/Rocky Linux 9). This upgrade is billable as we will need to spin up and configure a new server to move your resources.
Why are we doing this?
Because CentOS is no longer receiving updates.
What is the upgrade process?
In short:
1. Install some repositories and update the system.
2. Run a pre upgrade audit and fix any outstanding issues.
3. Elevate the operating system from CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8.
4. Reboot
5. Run pre upgrade audit and fix any outstanding issues.
6. Elevate the operating system from AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9.
7. Reboot.
8. Done.
Long:
1. Install CentOS 7-specific repositories and elevation apps.
2. Run AlmaLinux 8 pre-upgrade audit.
3. Reboot
4. Review audit, remove anything obsoleted by AlmaLinux 8.
5. Remove abandoned kernels, install new kernel images.
6. Reboot.
7. Elevate the operating system from CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8.
8. Reboot
9. Run AlmaLinux 9 pre-upgrade audit and fix any outstanding issues.
10. Remove abandoned kernels, install new kernel images.
11. Reboot
12. Elevate the operating system from AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9.
13. Reboot.
14. Done.
While this seems like an excessive amount of work we have done this to several WMD servers.
You will be contacted individually about upgrading your systems.
Please let us know if you have any questions about this upgrade.