This article was contributed by the folks at RackNerd – a provider of shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, DRaaS, colocation, and more. 

CentOS 6 will reach End of Life on November 30th, 2020. What this means is that CentOS will no longer provide bug fixes, or security patches for servers still running on CentOS 6 after this date. While most servers nowadays are running newer versions – if you are still running on CentOS 6 – it will be important for you to migrate over to a newer version of CentOS before the deadline.

The good news is that CentOS versions have extremely long lifecycles, so once you’re running on a newer version – you’re set for a long time to come.

CentOS 7 EOL Date = June 2024

CentOS 8 EOL Date = May 2029

Source: https://wiki.centos.org/About/Product

Upgrade Preparation

Generally speaking, it is not possible nor is it recommended to upgrade a CentOS 6 machine to a newer version of CentOS (such as 7 or 8) without a server migration onto another server. This is because every CentOS version consists of major differences in software, dependencies and kernels.

While you’re at it, it may be beneficial for you to use this opportunity to upgrade your server to a more modern machine, or one with more resources (one that will last you for many years to come). You will then need to migrate your files/data from the old server to the new server, prior to decommissioning the old server.

Looking for a new VPS, to deploy with CentOS? Take a look at the offers published at LowEndBox.com, or check out RackNerd’s exclusive LEB offer – who contributed this article to the community.

TIP: Choose a VPS provider that provides a control panel – this will make VPS server management for you down the road much easier! These control panels allow for easy OS reinstallation, just make sure you have your data backed up before doing so.

VPS providers utilizing SolusVM can be found here or with Virtualizor here.

If you are looking for a Dedicated Server, take a look at LEB’s latest dedicated offers.

What are your thoughts on this? Will you be transitioning away from CentOS 6? Need additional tips & tricks? Comment below!

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Jon Biloh

Owner at LowEndBox

I'm Jon Biloh and I own LowEndBox and LowEndTalk. I've spent my nearly 20 year career in IT building companies and now I'm excited to focus on building and enhancing the LowEndBox and LowEndTalk platform.

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