Help Center/ Image Management Service/ FAQs/ End-of-Support for OSs/ What Do I Do If CentOS Linux Is No Longer Maintained?
Updated on 2024-12-09 GMT+08:00
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What Do I Do If CentOS Linux Is No Longer Maintained?

CentOS has planned to stop maintaining CentOS Linux. Huawei Cloud will stop providing CentOS Linux public images. This section describes the impacts and tells you how to address the situation.

Background

On December 8, 2020, CentOS announced its plan to stop maintaining CentOS Linux and launched CentOS Stream. For more information, see CentOS Project shifts focus to CentOS Stream.

CentOS Linux 8 ended on December 31, 2021, and CentOS Linux 7 will end on June 30, 2024. CentOS Linux 9 and later versions will not be released, and patches will no longer be updated.

Impacts

CenterOS Linux users will be affected as follows:

  • After December 31, 2021, CentOS Linux 8 users will not be able to obtain any maintenance or support services, including problem fixing and function updates.
  • After June 30, 2024, CentOS Linux 7 users will not be able to obtain any maintenance or support services, including problem fixing and function updates.
Huawei Cloud users will be affected as follows:
  • CentOS Linux 8 public images will continue for a certain time. ECSs created from CentOS Linux 8 images will not be affected, but the images will no longer be updated.
  • Huawei Cloud will synchronize with CentOS for the support of CentOS Linux. After December 31, 2021, support services will no longer be available for CentOS 8. The support for CentOS 7 will continue until June 30, 2024.

Solution

You can change or migrate the OS so that the services originally running in CentOS Linux can continue to run in other OSs.

  • Change CentOS Linux to one of those listed in Table 2.

    If you want to change the ECS OS and the software is loosely coupled with the OS, change it. This does not affect the ECS configurations (such as NICs, disks, and VPNs).

  • Migrate CentOS Linux to Huawei Cloud EulerOS.

    If you want to change the OS but retain OS parameter settings, migrate the OS to Huawei Cloud EulerOS. This does not affect the ECS configurations (such as NICs, disks, and VPNs).

    For details, see Migrating an OS to Huawei Cloud EulerOS.

The following table describes the differences between the two methods.

Table 1 Differences between OS change and OS migration

Item

Changing an OS

Migrating an OS

Data backup
  • Data in all partitions of the system disk will be cleared, so you are advised to back up the system disk data prior to an OS change.
  • Data in data disks remains unchanged.
  • System disk data is not cleared, but you are still advised to back up the system disk data to prevent any exception in system software.
  • Data in data disks remains unchanged.

Custom settings

After the OS is changed, custom settings such as DNS and hostname will be reset and need to be reconfigured.

After the OS is migrated, custom settings such as DNS and hostname do not need to be reconfigured.
Table 2 Available OSs

OS

Description

Intended User

Huawei Cloud EulerOS

Huawei Cloud EulerOS (HCE) is an openEuler-based cloud operating system.

HCE offers cloud native, high-performing, secure, and easy-to-migrate capabilities. This accelerates service migration to the cloud and promotes application innovation. You can use it to replace operating systems such as CentOS and EulerOS.

Individuals or enterprises that want to continue to use free images in an open source community

CentOS Stream

CentOS Stream is a continuous delivery distribution provided by CentOS.

Individuals or enterprises that are used to CentOS and desire continuous updates

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is a community-driven enterprise-class OS. It is a downstream release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Rocky Linux is fully compatible with and as stable as CentOS.

Individuals or enterprises that want to continue to use free images in an open source community

AlmaLinux

AlmaLinux is an open-source, community-driven Linux distribution developed by the CloudLinux team. It fills the gap left by the discontinuation of the CentOS Linux stable release. AlmaLinux can remain 1:1 compatibility with upstream RHEL. You can use it for OS changes without stopping your server.

Individuals or enterprises that want to continue to use free images in an open source community

Debian and Ubuntu

They are Linux distributions that differ in use and compatibilities.

Individuals or enterprises that can afford the OS change costs
Parent topic: End-of-Support for OSs