CentOS 6 EOL Is Here: Know Your Options

Keeping up with your operating system end of life is important to maintaining security compliance and security -- and that's not to mention the benefits that upgrading to a new version can bring. In this article, we look at CentOS 6 EOL and RHEL 6 EOL, and the options teams have available now that CentOS 6 and RHEL 6 are EOL.

• CentOS 6 EOL Date
• RHEL 6 EOL Date
• What CentOS 6 EOL and RHEL 6 EOL Mean
• Should You Upgrade From CentOS 6?
• Support Options for CentOS 6 and RHEL 6
• Planning for CentOS 6 EOL

When Is CentOS 6 EOL? 

For maintenance releases, CentOS 6 EOL was November 30, 2020. Full update EOL was May 10th, 2017. 

When Is RHEL 6 EOL?

RHEL 6 EOL was November 30, 2020.

ALL of Your Enterprise Linux Options

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What CentOS 6 EOL and RHEL 6 EOL Mean

Now that CentOS 6 and RHEL 6 are EOL, it means that they will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes. This poses a major problem for organizations leveraging CentOS or RHEL. For organizations using CentOS 6 or RHEL 6, there are two primary options:

1. Migrate or upgrade from CentOS 6 or RHEL 6 to a supported version (such as CentOS 8).
2. Explore another support option.

Should You Upgrade From CentOS 6?

Upgrading from CentOS 6 to a supported version is an option, but staying on CentOS 6 while it's in EOL creates extra risks and extra costs to rush the upgrade.

CentOS 6 and RHEL 6 Support Options Post-EOL

Considering your support options for CentOS 6 after it EOLs? Here are your options.

Options For RHEL 6 Support

Red Hat is offering extended lifecycle support for RHEL 6, but it is expensive and somewhat limited in terms of support capabilities. This will leave many organizations’ operating systems open to security vulnerabilities. Is your organization wondering how you should proceed?

Those who are on RHEL 6 have a few options to choose from. Users can either to rush have an upgrade, pay new costs for extended lifecycle support for Red Hat, or they can migrate CentOS 6. One of the benefits of moving to CentOS 6 is the ability to get support beyond the Red Hat technical support.

OpenLogic can even provide roadmaps for future upgrades such as CentOS 8. RHEL 6 EOL is coming soon and it is time to make a plan to ensure your organization isn’t left vulnerable. That is possible with OpenLogic by Perforce. 

Options for CentOS 6 Extended Support

OpenLogic offers similar support with CentOS that Red Hat offers with RHEL, but our team goes beyond the operating system layer and takes an architectural-level approach to tackling challenges. Your team can eliminate vendor costs and lock-in by adopting a truly open model. 

When you choose OpenLogic for your migration and CentOS 6 extended support, you receive extended lifetime usability of CentOS-powered solutions as well as architectural minimization of attack vectors. The OpenLogic team provides backporting community-provided patches and software and development guidance beyond CentOS. When you’re looking to upgrade, the team provides a roadmap for future CentOS upgrades, all with guaranteed SLAs for support. 

Plan For CentOS 6 EOL Today

Account for CentOS 6 EOL today with migration and support advice from the OpenLogic experts.

Our team consists of experienced architects with a minimum of 15 years of experience and expertise working on production applications. We believe in and support the open source community development model, and that is reflected in our contributions to CentOS.

Our team creates and manages the official CentOS images for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. In Azure’s case, OpenLogic creates and maintains Microsoft’s official CentOS image. OpenLogic also supports CentOS on Google Cloud.

With OpenLogic you can trust you'll be working with an experienced architect with a wealth of experience solving complex CentOS and many other open source challenges.

Get CentOS 6 Support

OpenLogic provides long-term support for CentOS 6 and RHEL 6, while also helping your team plan and complete a successful upgrade or migration with minimal risk.

If you haven’t upgraded from RHEL or CentOS 6, OpenLogic can help protect your business against ongoing risks.

Connect with our CentOS experts, so we can help determine a course of action that matches your business. 

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Related Content:

• CentOS Guide
• CentOS vs. Red Hat
• CentOS 8 Features
• Decision Maker's Guide to Enterprise Linux