FAQ: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Reaches End of Full/Maintenance Phases and Transitions to Extended Life Phase
Can you describe the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 life cycle?
Red Hat offers support and services for each major release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux throughout four phases – Production 1, 2, and 3 and the Extended Life Phase. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, the Full/Maintenance Phases spans ten years, followed by an ongoing Extended Life Phase. Together, these four phases constitute the “life cycle.” The specific support and services provided during each phase are described in detail on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle.
What will happen to my Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems on March 31, 2017?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems will continue to be subscribed to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 channels on Red Hat Network (RHN) and Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM) , continue to require a Red Hat Enterprise Linux entitlement, and continue to have access to:
- Limited technical support for existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 deployments.
- Previously released bug fixes (RHBAs), security errata (RHSAs), and product enhancements (RHEAs).
- Red Hat Knowledgebase and other content (white papers, reference architectures, etc.) found in the Red Hat Customer Portal.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 documentation.
As Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 transitions into the Extended Life Phase, what is Red Hat’s suggested course of action for customers?
Your Red Hat subscription gives you continuous access to all active versions of the Red Hat software in both binary and source form, including all security updates and bug fixes. As Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 transitions out of the Full/Maintenance Phases, we strongly recommend that you take full advantage of your subscription services and upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, which contains compelling new features, enablement for modern hardware platforms and ISV applications. Instructions for migrating from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 are available. Red Hat also has a Pre-upgrade Assistant tool to aid with the migration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 systems.
If you must stay on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, we recommend that you add the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On subscription to your current Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription. See the question below that describes ELS.
I am running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and can’t migrate to a later version at this time. What options do I have?
- Continue to use Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and continue to receive access to the subscription services listed above. Note that software maintenance is not provided and only limited technical support is available for customers with Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions.
- Continue to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and purchase the Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On subscription to continue to receive Critical Impact security fixes and selected Urgent Priority bug fixes and technical support (see the ELS description below).
- Migrate to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as soon as you can.
How can I continue to receive software maintenance (bug and security fixes) and full technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5?
If you require software maintenance and full technical support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Red Hat strongly recommends that you purchase the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On subscription. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On complements your Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription and provides software maintenance services (critical impact security and selected urgent priority bug fixes) and technical support as provided in the Production 3 Phase not otherwise available in the Extended Life Phase. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS is available through November 30, 2020, and requires that you have an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription with equivalent subscription terms and support level. For more information on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On, visit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle.
How do I access the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On content on Red Hat Network (RHN) and Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM)?
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On content (critical impact security and selected urgent priority bug fixes) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 will be available on Red Hat Network as a child channel of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 base channels. It will also be available on Red Hat Subscription Manager as a child repo of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux base repo. The child channel will be located under the product “Red Hat Enterprise Linux ELS.” Find out how to access Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS content on Red Hat Network.
How are Red Hat Network Satellite and Red Hat Satellite installations affected?
After March 31, 2017, customers with active Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 subscriptions can continue to use Satellite to consume previously released bug fixes, security errata, and product enhancements as well as reprovision Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems. Customers will continue to consume a Red Hat Enterprise Linux entitlement for every server associated with Satellite. Satellite customers who purchase Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 should consult this Knowledgebase article to obtain information regarding how to access ELS content: .
What will happen to the RHEL 5 EPEL repositories?
On March 31st, 2017 RHEL 5 will enter Extended Life Phase which means the EPEL project will make the following changes with regard to the RHEL 5 EPEL repos:
- On March 27th, 2017 no new builds will be allowed to be pushed for EPEL-5 so that the repository is essentially frozen. This will allow mirrors to have a clear tree of all files.
- All packages in EPEL-5 will be hardlinked on the master mirror from /pub/epel/5/ and /pub/epel/testing/5/ to /pub/archives/epel/. This will start happening on the 27th so all mirrors of archives can populate their disks.
- Because March 31st happens on a Friday, and system administrators do not like Friday surprises, there will be no change then. On April 3rd, 2017, mirrormanager will be updated to point to the archives.
- On April 6th, 2017, the /pub/epel/5/ trees will be removed and mirrors will update accordingly.
For more information on the archiving of the RHEL 5 EPEL project, please consult the Fedora Magazine Article: The End of the Line for EPEL-5.
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