CloudLinux OS 8 and 9 in post RedHat world

Today CloudLinux OS OS 8 and 9 are based on AlmaLinux OS. The recent news from RedHat brings up a lot of questions regarding the feasibility of that solution going forward. CloudLinux remains committed to being a sponsor of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation. We believe there is a need for free, enterprise-grade operating systems.

At the same time, we are committed to the service provider market, and we will ensure the continuity of CloudLinux OS for the service provider market. 

• CloudLinux will provide full 10 year lifecycle for CloudLinux OS 8 (May 31, 2029) and CloudLinux OS 9 (May 31, 2032). The support will include all needed bug fixes and security fixes for the subset of packages relevant to the service provider industry.

  ○ Our team of experts has been backporting security patches and critical bug fixes for years. We have been doing it with CloudLinux OS 6, even though CentOS 6 has reached EOL almost three years аgо. We have been doing it with PHP as old as PHP 4.x. We have been doing it for Python, NodeJS, etc… We plan to expand the team, and we commit to a full ten year lifetime for both CloudLinux OS 8 and 9.

  ○ We commit to supporting newer hardware in CloudLinux 9. It might mean that we will use and maintain a non-RedHat kernel in CloudLinux 9.3 and later.

• CloudLinux plans to release a free version of CloudLinux OS 8 and 9 that will get security updates for it 10 year lifecycle. The OS will be an in-place alternative to AlmaLinux/RockyLinux for customers who are concerned about using AlmaLinux or RockyLinux.

  ○ We understand the need for the free offering in the hosting market, and are ready to fill the need if the necessity arises.

  ○ The OS will not have all the extra features of CloudLinux OS, such as LVE, CageFS, AccelerateWP, HardenedPHP, etc…

  ○ CloudLinux will provide easy migration and upgrade path from Alma/Rocky/RHEL.

  ○ CloudLinux will provide regular security & bugfix updates, similar to the non-free option.

  ○ We will work with control panel providers to make sure it is fully supported.

• CloudLinux OS 10 is ~2-3 years away, and it is hard to predict today the approach we will take. While our goal is to stay close to RHEL, we might decide to move on, and live in a post-RHEL future.

Our goal is to serve & support the service provider ecosystem, and we are confident that today CloudLinux is well positioned to do so.