CentOS is dead. Long live CentOS. The time has come. Red Hat has officially ended support for CentOS, the open-source downstream version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). June 30th came and passed, and on the morning of July 1st, all public repositories were updated, and all packages and installation media were removed. There will be no more updates, no more bug fixes or patches for vulnerabilities, which means many organizations still using CentOS will fall out of compliance at the OS level. Without these critical updates, the once-reliable CentOS will unfortunately become more and more vulnerable over time. This also means your CentOS systems will become prime targets for cybercriminals.
If you’re using CentOS in production, the time has run out. You need to take action. That said, users do have options, as outlined in this Google blog about CentOS support.
To recap:
- In the urgent short term, your quick stopgap is to find a trusted source for life-extending CentOS updates. This gives your organization protection against the threats and vulnerabilities that are likely to be found as CentOS systems get older and older. (My company, CIQ, offers a CentOS life extension program, as do others.)
- In the long-term, a more permanent and full migration to another Enterprise Linux is required. This necessitates evaluating new OS options, deciding on a path forward, building a migration strategy and then implementing that strategy. Migrating an OS is without a doubt challenging, but you can benefit from those who are traveling this journey with you.
What We’re Hearing From Travelers on the CentOS Migration Journey
I’ve talked with hundreds of CentOS users since the EOL reality hit hard, starting about six months ago. Almost all of these conversations were sparked by people looking for a CentOS long-term support solution to ensure their systems would be patched beyond the EOL date.
However, in these conversations, we also gathered a great deal of insight into their long-term migration strategy. Here’s what we’re hearing from current and former CentOS users about the journey they’re on, the frustrations they’re having, and the options they’re considering as they move off of CentOS to something else.
Migrating to Red Hat: The Easiest Path?
For those organizations that already have a deep relationship with Red Hat, the choice to migrate their CentOS systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), may be an easy one. It is likely the more expensive route, but it’s also straightforward if you have an existing relationship. RHEL, which dates back to 1994, is long trusted—approved by thousands of vendors and in use across all of the major cloud providers. In addition, similar to CIQ, Red Hat offers its own CentOS long-term support offering for the short term.
So you’d certainly be forgiven for thinking that just switching to RHEL is the easy path. Easiest? Perhaps, but maybe not the best path. RHEL has its own set of complications and downsides, according to the customers we’ve talked with. Not surprisingly, the biggest drawback mentioned is cost, which is perceived to be much higher when compared to other alternatives. In addition, some customers complain that Red Hat, owned by IBM since 2019, has taken on some of the “bulkiness” of “Big Blue,” with less flexible pricing and less responsive service and support than it offered in its younger days.
And more than a few customers have told us they simply wanted to get away from the drama in the Enterprise Linux ecosystem. Red Hat’s acquisition by IBM was the first blow. This was followed by Red Hat’s decisions to abruptly EOL CentOS and to not offer RHEL source code as legitimate open source without distribution restrictions.
I have had a surprising number of conversations where CentOS / RHEL shops felt jilted by these decisions, so they simply walked away from Enterprise Linux altogether and went with something they perceived as less drama—Ubuntu Linux.
Ubuntu: A Popular Option for Ubuntu Enthusiasts
Ubuntu Linux by Canonical brilliantly wedged its way into the Linux OS marketplace by establishing a niche with desktop users. It became a favorite of hobbyists who have then ushered it into their workplaces. With aggressive pricing models, Ubuntu Linux is a viable migration option for CentOS users.
Those who favor Ubuntu tend to appreciate Canonical’s corporate juxtaposition with publicly traded IBM/Red Hat. Canonical, privately owned by Mark Shuttleworth, is perceived by its fans to be young, hungry, innovative, agile and a bit more trustworthy. IBM/Red Hat, in contrast, is viewed as the Titanic, that is, too big and too “corporate” to be nimble and attentive.
That said, based on what we’ve seen, those who are shifting to Ubuntu are already using it somewhere in their IT environment. They have experience using it and are willing to give it a chance with their CentOS workloads. Organizations that haven’t used Ubuntu are more likely to stick with RHEL or Enterprise Linux alternatives.
CentOS-Compatible Enterprise Linux Alternatives: Superior Cost-to-Value
Rocky Linux is quickly becoming the leading alternative to RHEL, celebrated for its affordability and robust community support. As a community-driven, open-source project, it ensures bug-for-bug compatibility with RHEL, making it a reliable and familiar choice for users.
Unlike other alternatives, Rocky Linux is directly downstream of RHEL, ensuring a seamless transition from CentOS. Its close alignment with RHEL’s updates and stability makes it an ideal replacement for those who relied on CentOS, positioning Rocky Linux as a strong, growing force in the enterprise Linux landscape.
Migration Considerations of Most Importance
Taking into account all the conversations I’ve had with “migration travelers,” several themes have emerged with respect to their most important considerations.
- Speedy decision: Some organizations simply don’t have time to do their due diligence and are averse to the learning curve required to work with a new vendor. They’re willing to “push the easy button” in the short term, without regard to the price they’ll pay or the level of support they may receive in the long term.
- Support from a trusted partner: Support is a high-priority consideration for those who need it. Responsiveness, expertise, and a dedication to innovation are all aspects that give one vendor’s service offering an advantage over another’s.
- Cost to Value: At the end of the day, OS support is seen as nice to have, not a need. Most companies are taking this opportunity to evaluate their cost-to-value ratio. They will choose the OS and support provider most likely to maximize this ratio for the long term.
- Trust/Stability: Noone wants to have to migrate to a new OS again any time soon. Significant consideration is being given to which OS and vendor choice is most likely to stand the test of time.
The Critical Importance of Choosing the Right Support Partner
Whether a prospective migration customer is large or small, they always ask me, “How long will this take?” Needless to say, the answer depends on the size and complexity of the customer. However, more important than size or complexity is how much the customer knows about their own systems. If a company has suffered from high turnover, hasn’t adopted automation, or has struggled with keeping their environments documented, planning a migration can be a nightmare.
I’ve led many migration engagements where we had thousands of machines migrated in six months. On the other hand, I’ve also been a part of engagements of just a few hundred systems that took a year plus because the organization had no understanding of the interconnectedness of their systems; moving any one system could risk crippling their critical business applications.
This is where having a trusted partner who’s intimately familiar with the OS, applications and migrations can really be a game changer. Look for a support team comprising experts that have done large-scale migrations professionally for years. This ideal support team will have automation tools and a migration methodology that make the process much less complex. They will be able to glean data from the infrastructure that leads to much more intelligent conversations when building migration waves and scheduling the overall migration.
I’ve saved my best advice about CentOS migration for last: Thanks to the long-term CentOS support subscriptions now available to you, you have time (up to three more years, in the case of CIQ Bridge), to do migration right. Invest the time to make the best choice of OS and support partner to maximize your cost to value for the long term.
