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. Server is going to be rebooted, conversion automatically progresses after reboot.
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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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Connect to the server via SSH.
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Verify there are at least 5GB of free space on disk.
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Warning: Verify and disable custom repositories configured on the server. These repositories are known to cause issues due to potential scale of replacement of base packages. They are configured on
/etc/yum.repos.dfolder.-
Examples of repositories that should be enabled or disabled (via
yum repolist enabled):❌Repositories that should be disabled:
- city-fan.org
- CentOS Plus
- Remi Repository
- RPMFusion
- ELRepo
- Software Collections (SCL)
- IUS Community Repository
✅CentOS official repositories
- base/7/x86_64
- extras/7/x86_64
- updates/7/x86_64
✅Repositories added by Plesk
- epel/x86_64
- PLESK_17_PHP
- PLESK_18_0_66-extras
- imunify360
- imunify360-rollout
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Download and prepare the script:
# wget https://github.com/plesk/centos2alma/releases/download/v1.4.4/centos2alma-1.4.4.zip
# unzip centos2alma-1.4.4.zip
# chmod 755 centos2alma
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Run the script:
# ./centos2alma
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Perl modules installed via CPAN are not supported. To forcefully remove them during the conversion, append the '--remove-unknown-perl-modules' flag:
# ./centos2alma --remove-unknown-perl-modules
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If PostgreSQL version <10 is installed, is recommended to upgrade it prior to starting conversion. Alternatively, use the --upgrade-postgres flag to upgrade PostgreSQL during the conversion:
# ./centos2alma --upgrade-postgres
Note: flags can be combined if both of the above is the case:
# ./centos2alma --upgrade-postgres --remove-unknown-perl-modules
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Comments
27 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.
no success with upgrade
I got unknown error during the process
Thank you for providing the script for in-place upgrading a Plesk server from CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8. I am using CloudLinux 7.9 (Boris Yegorov) based on Plesk Obsidian v18.0.59_build1800240229.10 os_CentOS 7.
I would like to know if this script is compatible with CloudLinux 7.9. If not, are there any plans to make it compatible in the future?
How much extra space will it take to upgrade to a new OS?
If I have about 7GB of free space, how much free space approximately will remain after the upgrade?
@Lukáš Švec
Hi, I got 1.5GB of disk space filled during the conversion on a test server. To be on a safe side, I would suggest at least 2GB, so you should be fine with 7GB.
Hi there,
I am getting below error while trying to doing instructions (CentOS to AlmaLinux:
//// error
[root@symbiota2 ~]# clear
[root@symbiota2 ~]# ls
README.pdf centos2alma centos2alma-1.3.1.zip parallels
[root@symbiota2 ~]# chmod 7555 centos2alma
[root@symbiota2 ~]# ./centos2alma
Doing preparation checks...
Preparation checks failed: Exception during checking of required pre-conversion condition 'checking if the last installed kernel is in use'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/centos2alma/pleskdistup/common/src/action.py", line 471, in make_checks
if not check.do_check():
File "/root/centos2alma/pleskdistup/common/src/action.py", line 443, in do_check
return self._do_check()
File "centos2almaconverter/actions/common_checks.py", line 88, in _do_check
last_installed_kernel_version = self._get_last_installed_kernel_version()
File "centos2almaconverter/actions/common_checks.py", line 85, in _get_last_installed_kernel_version
return max(versions)
ValueError: max() arg is an empty sequence
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "pleskdistup/main.py", line 107, in required_conditions_satisfied
failed_checks = check_flow.make_checks()
File "/root/centos2alma/pleskdistup/common/src/action.py", line 474, in make_checks
raise RuntimeError(f"Exception during checking of required pre-conversion condition {check.name!r}") from e
RuntimeError: Exception during checking of required pre-conversion condition 'checking if the last installed kernel is in use'
Conversion can't be performed due to the problems noted above
Hello,
Getting the same error as above. Can confirm that I'm attempting an upgrade from Centos 7.9.2009. Do you have any input or additional insight on the error?
Here are some commands and outputs that may assist.
/usr/bin/rpm -q -a kernel kernel-plus kernel-rt-corekernel-3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64kernel-3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-693.2.2.el7.x86_64
rpm -q -a kern*kernel-tools-3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.x86_64kernel-tools-libs-3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.x86_64
kernel-headers-3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-693.21.1.el7.x86_64
kernel-3.10.0-693.2.2.el7.x86_64
Thank you!
I have tried two production boxes so far, and both worked without incident, once I removed the no-longer-compatible versions of PHP/5.x and PHP/7.0.x
I have more boxes still to do, which are more complex than the first two but I'm optimistic that the script will perform as intended
Would the Plesk team be able to assist me with this migration if I signed up for the Technical Support Subscription?
Thanks for the script; I have a couple of issues:
Uninstalled PHP 7.0 using cli "plesk installer remove --components php7.0" and in the plesk installer page, php 7.0 is not shown - though php 7.4 does -
When running the script it returns:
Not supported PHP versions were detected: PHP 7.0.
Remove unsupported PHP packages via Plesk Installer to proceed with the conversion:
You can do it by calling the following command:
plesk installer remove --components php7.0
Please advice,
Thanks in advance
Required pre-conversion condition 'checking if grub is installed' not met:
The /etc/default/grub file is missing. GRUB may not be installed.
Make sure that GRUB is installed and try again.
Required pre-conversion condition 'checking if the last installed kernel is in use' not met:
The last installed kernel is not in use.
The kernel version in use is '3.10.0'. The last installed kernel version is '3.10.0-1160.119.1.el7.tuxcare.els2.x86_64'.
Reboot the system to use the last installed kernel.
Required pre-conversion condition 'check if the system not in a container' not met:
The system is running in a container-like environment (Virtuozzo container). The conversion is not supported for such systems.
Conversion can't be performed due to the problems noted above
And now I have no idea what to do ;-)
@Niels Deuter
It seems that the main issue here is that the server is a container; conversion of such systems is not yet supported by the script.
Updated centos2alma script:
wget https://github.com/plesk/centos2alma/releases/download/v1.4.2/centos2alma-1.4.2.zip
It seems that the OS locale has to be set to english. If set to spanish the conversion fails with the error:
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 15: invalid continuation byte
Hi, just tested the updated script on my Plesk Centos 7 server on AWS.
The previous version gave a leapp error (something about a repo version mismatch).
This update seemed to run well, until I got kicked out of my SSH session.
Logged in again and saw the message below. Running both commands showed me:
Conversion process is not running.
How to proceed from here? Minor detail, I'm not logged in as root user, and executed the conversion script with the sudo command.
===============================================================================
Message from the Plesk dist-upgrader tool:
The server is being converted to AlmaLinux 8. Please wait. During the conversion the
server may reboot itself a few times.
To see the current conversion status, run the '/home/centos/centos2alma --status' command.
To monitor the conversion progress in real time, run the '/home/centos/centos2alma --monitor' command.
===============================================================================
UPDATE
I've checked the log, and found these errors:
2024-09-27 11:01:58,050 - ERROR - Command ['/usr/bin/leapp', 'preupgrade'] failed with return code 1
2024-09-27 11:01:58,050 - ERROR - Failed: doing the conversion. The reason: Command '['/usr/bin/leapp', 'preupgrade']' returned non-zero exit status 1.
2024-09-27 11:01:58,145 - DEBUG - Going to write json '/usr/local/psa/var/centos2alma/actions.json' with new data
And in the leapp report:
Risk Factor: high (error)
Title: Actor target_userspace_creator unexpectedly terminated with exit code: 1
Summary: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/leapp/repository/actor_definition.py", line 74, in _do_run
actor_instance.run(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/leapp/actors/__init__.py", line 289, in run
self.process(*args)
File "/usr/share/leapp-repository/repositories/system_upgrade/common/actors/targetuserspacecreator/actor.py", line 58, in process
userspacegen.perform()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/leapp/utils/deprecation.py", line 42, in process_wrapper
return target_item(*args, **kwargs)
File "/usr/share/leapp-repository/repositories/system_upgrade/common/actors/targetuserspacecreator/libraries/userspacegen.py", line 857, in perform
_create_target_userspace(context, indata.packages, indata.files, target_repoids)
File "/usr/share/leapp-repository/repositories/system_upgrade/common/actors/targetuserspacecreator/libraries/userspacegen.py", line 825, in _create_target_userspace
prepare_target_userspace(context, target_path, target_repoids, list(packages))
File "/usr/share/leapp-repository/repositories/system_upgrade/common/actors/targetuserspacecreator/libraries/userspacegen.py", line 230, in prepare_target_userspace
run(['rm', '-rf', userspace_dir])
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/leapp/libraries/stdlib/__init__.py", line 192, in run
result=result
CalledProcessError: Command ['rm', '-rf', '/var/lib/leapp/el8userspace'] failed with exit code 1.
@Victor
Please check the OS version, chances are the conversion has been completed. The SSH connection interruption is expected, since server is rebooted during the conversion, and is then proceeded with automatically.
Leonid Gukhman
It's still on 7. I've updated my comment with error messages.
There's a new release: Release v1.4.3
https://github.com/plesk/centos2alma/releases/tag/v1.4.3
Leonid Gukhman
The upgrade seems to be working now. I had to disable the postgresql.repo entries in /etc/leapp/files/vendor.d because this repo failed with a 404. I don't have postgresql installed (plesk installer), but rpm showed me postgresql 9.4 and 10 packages.
@Leonid Gukhman
https://www.plesk.com/kb/support/how-to-make-an-in-place-upgrade-of-a-plesk-server-from-centos-7-to-almalinux-8/ links to this page as the “full article.” However that page starts a list of Requirements and Limitations that is cut off (with the link here). This page does not list any of those. Are those no longer limitations? Or, can the complete list be added to this article?
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