What is EOL?

End of Life (EOL) refers to the point when a specific version of a Linux distribution is no longer supported by its developers. This means that the version will no longer receive updates, including critical security patches, bug fixes, and new features.

Why Do I Need to Upgrade Regularly?

Linux distrobutions can only support a release for so long until they need to focus their attention tto newer releases. It is the same with any software, Media Control Panel can only support old versions of our software for so long. Most Linux distributions have a defined support period. Once a version reaches its EOL, it no longer receives updates, making it crucial to upgrade to a supported version to continue receiving updates.

Why Do I Need to Upgrade?

Here are some major reasons to move to a newer operating system:

• Security Risks: Attackers target computer systems through vulnerabilities in outdated operating systems and applications. These vulnerabilities can leave computer systems open to a wide range of attacks, including malware infections, data theft, and other malicious activities.
• Compatibility Issues: One of the biggest performance risks of using an outdated operating system is that it may not be compatible with new software and hardware. As technology advances and software updates are released, older operating systems are forgotten and may suddenly stop working leaving you stranded.
• Performance: Outdated operating systems can see poorer performance as applications are optimized for newer systems, and backwards compatibility may need to be added.

MediaCP supports a variety of the latest operating systems, including CentOS 9, AlmaLinux 9, Debian 12, and Ubuntu 24.04.

How to Upgrade to a Newer Operating System?

We have written up dedicated guides for customers facing EOL or looking to move to the latest operating system release. Depending on the operating system, it may be possible to upgrade your existing server. However, our recommendation in most cases is to migrate to a new server running a fresh installation for the best experience.

• Migrate from CentOS 7 End of Life
• Migrate from CentOS Stream 8 End of Life
• Upgrade from Debian 10 End of LTS
• Moving to Ubuntu LTS 24.04
• Moving to Debian 12

The post It’s Time to Upgrade Your Operating System appeared first on MediaCP.

After CentOS 7 reached EOL last month we have seen many CentOS 7 repositories be shutdown including the official repositories and datacentre repositories. This has left those still running CentOS 7 with yum (CentOS 7 Package Manager) non-functional. Though we suggest all customers using CentOS 7 migrate as soon as possible, this is not always possible. Having a functional package manager is important to aid in migration and to keep your server functional so we will be outlining some simple steps to move your CentOS 7 server to use the CentOS vault repositories.

Please note this is not a long term solution, the vault repositories are setup provide access to older archived versions, and do not include security updates into the trees on this server. These instructions are intended as a temporary option for customers.

1. Disable Centos-Base Repositories

The first step is to disable all Centos-base repositories on your server by setting the enabled variable to 0 as shown in the example below. The CentOS-Base repository file should be found at /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo and can be edited with your preferred text editor such as vi or nano.

[base] name=CentOS-$releasever - Base mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=os&infra=$infra #baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 enabled=0 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7

#released updates

[updates] name=CentOS-$releasever - Updates mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=updates&infra=$infra #baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 enabled=0 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7

#additional packages that may be useful

[extras] name=CentOS-$releasever - Extras mirrorlist=http://mirrorlist.centos.org/?release=$releasever&arch=$basearch&repo=extras&infra=$infra #baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 enabled=0 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7

2. Enable Centos-Vault.repo Repositories

Add the following configuration to the end of Centos-Vault.repo file, again located /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Vault.repo and edited with your preferred text editor.

# Vault

[Vault-base] name=Vault - CentOS-$releasever - Base baseurl=http://vault.centos.org/centos/$releasever/os/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-$releasever

[Vault-updates] name=Vault - CentOS-$releasever - Updates baseurl=http://vault.centos.org/centos/$releasever/updates/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-$releasever

[Vault-extras] name=Vault - CentOS-$releasever – Extras baseurl=http://vault.centos.org/centos/$releasever/extras/$basearch/ gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-$releasever

3. Update the Yum Cache

Run the following to clear and update the yum cache:

yum clean all ; yum makecache

4. Verify Yum is Using the Vault Repositories

Run the followng command to list the used repositories:

yum repolist

Migrate to a Modern Operating System as Soon as Possible

CentOS 7 hit end-of-life on June 30th 2024 and is no longer be supported by CentOS, or the MediaCP. CentOS 7 is a very old operating system and has been falling behind in technology for several years. Now that we have hit EOL we are seeing more and more issues. It is important for your servers security and stability to migrate to a newer operating system as soon as possible.

The post How to Setup CentOS 7 Vault Repositories appeared first on MediaCP.

With our latest release 2.14, official support for CentOS Stream 9 and AlmaLinux 9 is now available on all release branches. This is great timing for customers who need to move from CentOS Stream 8, so we have provided a set of instructions here to assist you.

Do I need to take any actions?
Yes – You should upgrade your operating system before May 31st 2024 or you may have difficulty in the future using Stream 8 after EOB hits.

Can MediaCP Support do this for me?
Yes – We can complete a Migration Service to migrate your MediaCP to a new server running CentOS Stream 9 or AlmaLinux 9 (or another supported O/S).

Migrating to a Fresh Installation.

We recommend completing a fresh install of CentOS Stream 9 or AlmaLinux 9 on a different server and migrating over for the best stability and experience. Migrating will avoid issues that can arise when upgrading and will allow for a fallback if you encounter issues after the move. We have a comprehensive guide for migration available as well as offer Migration Services if you would like our team to complete this for you.

Can I Upgrade from CentOS Stream 8?

CentOS Stream 8 does not offically support “upgrading” despite some guides online existing, and we do not reccomend following these guides.

AlmaLinux does have the ELevate project which is working on upgrades from Stream 8, but as of writing this is still in development and not available. We do not recommend this approach as it is not always a smooth process and can be challenging to recover if something goes wrong.

Can MediaCP Support Upgrade for me?
No – We will not upgrade your CentOS 8 Stream installation for you, due to the risk of data failure and or data loss. We can complete a Migration Service to migrate your MediaCP for you instead.

Resources:

• Introducing CentOS Stream 9
• AlmaLinux 9 Release Notes
• What’s new in 2.14
• End dates are coming for CentOS Stream 8 and CentOS Linux 7
• How to Migrate MediaCP to a new server
• MediaCP Supported Operating Systems
• ELevate

If you have any questions, then please contact us.

The post Migrate from CentOS Stream 8 End of Life appeared first on MediaCP.