CentOS 7 end of life: what now?

CentOS was one of the most popular systems for web servers for well over a decade. Lots of business websites, apps and email servers still run on CentOS 7, often set up years ago by someone who has since moved on.

If yours is one of them, nothing dramatic happened on the day support ended. The server kept running. That is exactly why so many are still out there. But it is now a growing risk.

What "end of life" actually means

An operating system (the core software a server runs on) gets regular security updates while it is supported. When a hole is found, a fix comes out, and a well-run server installs it.

CentOS 7 reached end of life on 30 June 2024. Since then:

No more security fixes. New holes are found all the time, and on CentOS 7 they now stay open.
Installing software gets harder. The usual download servers were switched off, so installing or updating anything needs workarounds.
Other software moves on. Newer versions of PHP, databases and other tools stop supporting it, so your website or app slowly gets stuck on old versions too.
It can count against you. Cyber Essentials, for example, requires software that is still supported and patched. Insurers and larger customers increasingly ask too.

How to check if you are affected

If you can log in to the server, run:

cat /etc/os-release

If it says CentOS Linux 7, you are affected. If you can't log in, see my developer left and nobody can access the server first.

Your options

1. Move to a supported system (usually the right answer)

These are the common choices for servers like yours:

System	What it is	Security updates until
AlmaLinux 9	Free, community-run, very close to CentOS	May 2032
Rocky Linux 9	Free, community-run, very close to CentOS	May 2032
AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux 10	The newest versions of the same	May 2035
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS	Free, very widely used, different from CentOS	May 2029 (longer with paid support)

AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux feel the most familiar if your server was set up the CentOS way. Ubuntu is a good choice if you are rebuilding anyway, or if your developers already know it.

The cleanest way is usually to build a new server on the new system, move the website or app across, test it, then switch over. The old server stays untouched until the new one is proven, so there is always a way back.

2. Upgrade in place

A free tool called ELevate, from the AlmaLinux project, can upgrade a CentOS 7 server to version 8 where it stands, then on to 9 and 10 one step at a time. It can work well on simple servers. On older, heavily customised ones it can go wrong in ways that are hard to undo, so take a full backup first and test on a copy if you can.

3. Pay for extended support (to buy time)

If you can't move yet, some companies still sell security fixes for CentOS 7. TuxCare's Endless Lifecycle Support covers it until mid-2029, and Red Hat offers extended support for its own equivalent, RHEL 7, until May 2029.

This is a bridge, not a destination. It buys time to plan a proper move, but you are paying to keep an old system alive, and the other software on the server keeps ageing.

4. Do nothing

Not recommended. The server will keep working right up until it doesn't, and the most likely way it stops is someone getting in through a hole that will never be fixed.

When to call someone

Moving a server is very doable, but it is easy to miss something: a scheduled job, an email setting, a forgotten site on the same server. Call for help if:

You don't know everything the server does.
The server runs email, several websites, or anything your business can't be without for a day.
Nobody on your side has moved a server before.

I'd start with a health check to see exactly what is on it, then quote a fixed price for the move.

CentOS 7 is out of support: what now?