The Impact of RedHat Linux 7 Extended Life Cycle Support on Azure Guest Patching Customers

The article discusses the impact of RedHat's Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) phase announcement on Linux 7 versions. According to RedHat, Linux 7 will enter the ELS phase from July 1, 2024, and customers can purchase an add-on for RedHat 7.9 to receive security updates and technical support. Organizations that continue to use RedHat Linux or its variations on major version 7 need to upgrade to RedHat 8 or 9 or purchase an add-on for RedHat 7.9 to avoid any security or performance issues. Organizations that have enabled their VM's for automatic guest patching or leverage Azure Update Manager will see no action from Azure as there will be no new updates to patch their systems. As a result, organizations need to plan to migrate to avoid business disruption and security threats. The potential migration options include purchasing the ELS add-on for RedHat 7.9 or migrating to RedHat 8 or 9. It is essential for organizations to stay current with their software solutions to avoid any security or performance issues. Lastly, organizations can continue to leverage auto guest patching or auto OS image upgrade after moving to a supported model from RedHat.