Red Hat: RHSA-2017:0862: Low: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Retirement Notice

Description

In accordance with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Errata Support Policy, support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 was retired on March 31, 2017, at the end of Production Phase 3 and active support is no longer provided. As the product will now be in the Extended Life Phase, customers will continue to have access to all previously released content, and limited technical support will be available through Red Hat's Customer Experience and Engagement as described in the Knowledge Base article available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/64664 (search for "non-current minor release").

However, we recognize that some customers will wish to remain on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 even after the March 31, 2017 retirement date. To meet this customer requirement, Red Hat will offer customers the option to purchase the Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On as an annually renewable subscription. This ELS Add-On provides customers with up to an additional three and a half (3.5) years of Critical Impact security fixes and selected Urgent Priority bug fixes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.11. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS coverage will conclude on November 30, 2020.

UPDATE: Note that the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On is available for the x86 (32- and 64-bit) and z Systems architectures only. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On is not available for the Itanium architecture. In addition, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ELS Add-On is only available for Server, and does not apply to layered products or Add-Ons.

To enjoy even more comprehensive product support, we encourage customers to migrate from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to a more recent version. As a benefit of the Red Hat subscription, customers may, of course, use their active subscriptions to entitle any system on any currently supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.

Instructions for migrating from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 are available at https://access.redhat.com/articles/1211223. Red Hat also has a Pre-upgrade Assistant tool to aid with the migration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. For more information about this tool, please see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/1468623.

Details of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux life cycle can be found here: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/