Upgrading Linux CentOS 7 operating system

Published on: March 5, 2024

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux CentOS7 server will reach its end-of-life on June 30, 2024. As a result, the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions team will be upgrading the operating system to AlmaLinux 8 for all those running applications on Linux CentOS 7 servers provided by the Systems and Solutions Group.

Why are we upgrading?

The University may be exposed to potential significant risks through our digital systems once end-of-life is reached. Notably, there will be no future updates, security fixes or bug updates, without which digital systems and data becomes vulnerable to potential security breaches. These potential risks are sensitive, as some of the servers are hosting high-value level 4 data.

As a result, a project has been initiated by ITS-EIS to mitigate the risks in a planned, timely and controlled manner.

What should clients do now?

To prepare, please contact your application software providers by March 29 to verify compatibility with AlmaLinux 8 and MariaDB 10.5, which is required for this upgrade. Other major software, such as PHP and WordPress, should stay at their currently supported versions.
Once you have confirmed whether your application is compatible, please contact ssg.help@utoronto.ca immediately to let the team know.
The EIS Linux team will then be in touch to schedule maintenance/outage starting in March.