old hardware - certified EOL OS vs. uncertified current OS

Dohn Joe

4/18/24, 1:03 PM

If you are a small business and have some old, non-internet-facing servers around, what are the pros and cons for dealing with the OS situation? We have an old server that is used for numerical and other computational stuff, which needs a re-install to be usable again, hence my question.

Should I install an OS with hardware vendor certification even though it is barely supported or even already out of support; or should I simply install any current OS that works?

Privately, I would simply try any current OS, but a private computer fully in my hands is probably different than a corporate machine, that is not so easily accessible. While I am happy to tinker with personal stuff, I really want to get a working solution the first time.

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Chopper3

4/18/24, 1:16 PM

I'd just not use it at all if its hardware is unsupported or it can only run unsupported operating systems.

ewwhite

4/18/24, 1:50 PM

Can you provide actual details of the OS in use? The best approach may depend on that additional information.

Dohn Joe

4/18/24, 2:11 PM

Currently, the machine has been setup using CentOS7, which ends official life in 2024. So, the actual question is to install CentOS7 (which is the vendor certified OS) or install an un-certified OS, e.g. Rocky or Alma Linux. However, I would like to leave the question quite general, maybe there are some general considerations.

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Server

Zac67

4/30/24, 4:31 PM

certified EOL OS vs. uncertified current OS

Both are bad options. Running an EoL OS leaves you with an unknown number of perhaps widely known security issues. Using a more modern but uncertified OS may cause an unstable system but must likely isn't even possible due lack of driver availability. Proper testing for system stability may cost more than buying a new server.

The only practical option to run old hardware is to find an OS that still supports that hardware and is still getting security updates. Even if you do find that OS there's likely no guarantee for updates for the planed operational period.

Another option might be to run the server with the outdated OS while containing it on the network side. You only permit network connections across an application-level gateway to mitigate any security weaknesses. Done properly, that is not a cheap option.

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Nikita Kipriyanov

5/1/24, 4:11 AM

"Unsupported OS" in the question really seem to mean "the Linux distro that vendor didn't list". They usually list RHEL and SLES (perhaps with some old version numbers given that existed when HW was not yet abandoned), rarely you can see Ubuntu, almost never you see Debian or RHEL-derived. In such a case, the modern version of the OS will not have any problems with drivers and will work perfectly stable on that hardware.

Elon Musk

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EN: old hardware - certified EOL OS vs. uncertified current OS

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