Mapping your CentOS Linux to RHEL migration journey on AWS with Red Hat Consulting

CentOS Linux 7 is nearing its end of life, scheduled for June 30, 2024. After this date, CentOS Linux 7 will no longer receive critical updates, including bug fixes, performance enhancements and vital security patches. The absence of these updates post-end-of-life jeopardizes the operational stability of systems running on CentOS Linux 7 and exposes them to security vulnerabilities. Proactively planning for this transition is an imperative for building out business continuity plans as well as strengthening IT infrastructure.

Many organizations maintain large estates of CentOS Linux 7 systems in their IT environment. As the end-of-life date approaches, now is the moment to strategize a migration to a supported solution, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 or 9. However, before you begin the journey, it's essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of the applications and processes operating within your environment. This approach allows you to build a well-defined strategy outlining the "how," "when" and "why" of each step in the migration process.

Navigating this transition alone can be daunting, given the complexities and dependencies involved. Earlier this year, Red Hat announced  the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Third-Party Linux Migration with ELS (Extended Life Cycle Support) in the AWS Marketplace to support customers and partners in managing this transition. We are continuing to build on this commitment today with a new offering –  Red Hat Consulting: CentOS to RHEL Migration Assessment, now available in AWS Marketplace. With this offering, Red Hat Consulting can join your team with the product expertise required to create a tailored blueprint for your migration journey. Our two-week assessment of your IT environment is designed to pinpoint the optimal strategy for migrating your applications to a supported platform. 

Red Hat's approach to assessments involves a combination of meetings, workshops, thorough research and comprehensive documentation to plan and support your migration. The process follows a well-established framework honed through experience working with customers to overcome obstacles and align their technology with business goals for a successful solution. This methodology is intended to be repeatable and pragmatic, bringing a shared understanding of clear recommendations and next steps.

Here’s an example of a typical workshop schedule included with Red Hat’s assessment:

When planning your migration from CentOS Linux 7 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on AWS, an assessment by Red Hat Consulting serves as a valuable resource to help your team map out your migration journey. The findings identify gaps in technology and team knowledge related to Red Hat technology, provide an understanding of the implications of change, establish the necessary foundations and offer a holistic approach to technical and non-technical changes required for a successful migration.

This assessment focuses on three core areas:

• Strategy: We analyze your migration objectives, establish clear timelines and identify key stakeholders. This includes tailoring system requirements and addressing Standard Operating Environment (SOE) needs.
• Workloads and Applications: Through dedicated workshops, we understand your workloads, dependencies and team structures. This helps map operating system (OS) dependencies for your applications.
• Platform and Infrastructure: Our team comprehends platform intricacies, including architecture, cloud interfaces, SLAs and integrations like monitoring and backup.

After the migration assessment, you will come away with the tools to confidently plan and execute the in-place upgrade for systems with critical workloads on a robust, high-performance platform within the hybrid cloud.

Interested in collaborating with the Red Hat team for a formal migration assessment? Check out these resources for more information: 

• Find the offering available in the AWS Marketplace.
• Learn more about the benefits of Red Hat Consulting: CentOS to RHEL Migration Assessment. 
• Find more information about migrating from CentOS Linux to RHEL. 
• Visit the Red Hat booth at AWS re:Invent 2023 to chat with our experts.