Question
CentOS 7 reaches end-of-life on June 30, 2024. Does Plesk support an in-place upgrade from Centos 7 to AlmaLinux 8?
How such a conversion can be done?
Answer
We prepared a CLI script that in-place converts a Plesk server with CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8.
Warning: Plesk services, hosted websites, and emails will be unavailable during the conversion process for about 30 to 60 minutes.
Warning: The conversion is a complex and potentially dangerous task. Make sure to create a server-wide backup in Plesk and/or server snapshot in advance. Check the Requirements and Limitations and Preparation and Timing sections before proceeding.
The script was prepared by developers in the scope of https://jira.plesk.ru/browse/PPP-58796. Check the Assignee and Reporter there. Assignee and Reporter are the point of contact in case of any questions. You can also create 3rd-lines in case of issues.
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Plesk Obsidian 18.0.43 or later.
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CentOS 7.9 or later.
Note: The script was not tested on other Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7-based distributions. The conversion process may have unexpected results if started on a server running with OSes other than CentOS 7.9.
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grubpackage must be installed. -
At least 5GB of free disk space.
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At least 1 GB of free RAM.
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PHP 7.1 and earlier are not supported in AlmaLinux 8, and will not receive any updates after the conversion. These PHP versions are deprecated and may have security vulnerabilities. So we force to remove these versions before the conversion. Domains using PHP 7.1 and earlier should be switched to an up-to-date PHP version.
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Conversion inside containers (Virtuozzo containers, Docker Containers, etc.) is not supported.
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More than one kernel named interfaces (like
ethX) are not supported. -
When the PostgreSQL database server before version 10 is installed, it is not possible to run the conversion script due to potential data loss.
In such cases either upgrade PostgreSQL to version 10 manually before initiating the conversion or create a complete backup of the database and force the conversion using the--upgrade-postgresflag. -
During the conversion process, if the tool detects Perl modules that were installed via CPAN and cannot determine their corresponding RPM packages, it will fail with a warning. This restriction is in place because such modules will not be available after the conversion.
To avoid issues, check for RPM package analogs for the modules, remove the CPAN modules, and then reinstall them after the conversion is complete. If such modules are no longer required, it is possible to remove them forcefully by running the tool with the--remove-unknown-perl-modulesflag.
To avoid downtime and data loss:
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Create a server-wide backup in Plesk and/or create a server snapshot in advance, so it can be used as a recovery point in case the convention process fails.
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Ensure that you have a way to restart the server without a direct SSH connection. A serial port connection to the server can be used to monitor the status of the conversion process in real time and to reboot the server if necessary.
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The conversion process is expected to take up from 30 to 60 minutes.
Warning: Plesk services, hosted websites, and emails will be unavailable during the entirety of the conversion process.
The conversion process itself consists of three stages:
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Preparation.
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Conversion, which takes between 15 and 30 minutes.
Note: During this stage, the server will not be available remotely. To monitor the progress use a serial port console.
- Finalization, which takes between 5 and 10 minutes.
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After the preparation is done and the list of Requirements and limitations is checked, to convert from Centos 7.9 to Almalinux 8 follow the steps from the below instruction on GitHub.
Comments
4 comments
You state ELevate does not support a further upgrade to AL9/RHEL9/RL9.
https://wiki.almalinux.org/elevate/ELevate-quickstart-guide.html
The ELevate website states differently. Will your Plesk script be supporting a further upgrade 8 to 9 or not?
Hello,
Thank you for your question. The direct upgrade path from CentOS 7 to Almalinux 9 is not supported. We will consider adding the possibility of adding the upgrade path CentOS 7 -> Almalinux 8 -> Almalinux 9 in the future. However, currently, we are fully concentrated on the CentOS7 -> Almalinux 8 upgrade scenario.
The article was updated with this information.
Hello,
does this also work for upgrading RHEL 7.9 to RHEL 8.8?
If it doesn't work, and I need to migrate Plesk from a RHEL 7.9 server to a new one RHEL 8.8 (or directly RHEL 9.2), is there a migrate-procedur?
Hello Gilberto,
Such an upgrade path is not supported for now. You may use Plesk Migrator extension to transfer all the data to a server with the newer OS instead: https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/12377889325719.
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