ClickCease Extended Lifecycle Support for Oracle Linux 6 - TuxCare

High and Critical CVEs patched by TuxCare since EOL

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Oracle provided free updates and security patches for Oracle Enterprise Linux 6 through March 2021, but for over a year now, there’s been no free support for Oracle Linux 6 users.

Oracle Linux 6 is affected by new Linux vulnerabilities that the enterprise Linux vendor addresses, but only if you purchase a pricey Oracle Premier Support plan that includes the Linux Extended Support add-on. The standard edition of Premier Support does not include extended support.

Suppose you don’t have Oracle Extended Support. In that case, you need to either rapidly upgrade to a new version of Oracle Linux that still enjoys free patching – Oracle Linux 8, for example – or find an alternative support vendor.

Rapid migrations are rarely a good idea, so consider TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support and get the time you need to test and upgrade safely.

What is End of Life (EOL)?

Vendor support is finite – software companies cannot support software code indefinitely, which goes for Enterprise Linux operating systems.

At some point, the vendor will draw a line, calling even significant versions of software end-of-life. (However, sometimes, the vendor may offer extended support at additional cost). Users will no longer get patches and updates for problems found in the Linux kernel and related products because it is no longer one of the supported operating systems.

That includes security patches. So if, for example, you’re still running Oracle Linux 6, you won’t get the usual free security patches for new vulnerabilities because there are no free patches available.

The risks of running EOL Oracle Linux

Security updates matter more than you may think. The risks you take by not updating your Enterprise Linux OS as and when new vulnerabilities are made public are significant.

Researchers and hackers constantly find new vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel and other components in the Linux operating system. These vulnerabilities also affect various Linux distributions, including Oracle Linux.

Suppose you no longer get support for Oracle Linux 6. In that case, you won’t get patches for new flaws in the Linux kernel. Your Linux machines will be open for exploitation – from ransomware operators to crypto miners to data exfiltration.

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How does TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support work?

TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support (ELS) service for end-of-life operating systems such as Oracle Linux 6 continues the support you received for your Oracle Linux 6 workloads by providing ongoing security fixes whenever a new vulnerability is identified.

We provide updates at the same pace as the original vendor updates and sometimes even faster. It means that you’re protected against potential security vulnerabilities just like you would be if Oracle Linux 6 were still within its official support window.

Patches from TuxCare are vendor-grade and are just as easy to deploy as Oracle Enterprise Linux patches. What’s more, TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support is accessible at just $4.25 per machine per month. TuxCare provides an easy way to buy more time to test your applications on Oracle Linux 8 or 9 and to migrate safely.

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Protect your vulnerable Oracle Linux 6 servers now with TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support service:

Responsive patching that delivers a vendor-quality patch whenever a new high or critical (CVSS score) CVE is reported that affects Oracle Linux 6.
Benefit from the team of experts at TuxCare who has more than ten years of in-depth development experience across Linux distributions such as Red Hat’s CentOS, Ubuntu, and Oracle’s Linux.
Setting up TuxCare for your Oracle Linux 6 machines is easy. Patching works the same way it did when Oracle still offered free support for Oracle Linux 6, with seamless patch flows.
Buy time to migrate your webservers confidently and other workloads to newer, supported enterprise Linux operating systems such as Oracle Linux 8, thanks to TuxCare security updates.
Enjoy technical account management and 24/7 support through the TuxCare ticketing system.

Effortlessly restore support for Oracle Linux 6

It takes just a few minutes to move your Oracle Linux 6 workloads back into a secure state, with reliable updates to the kernel and many other system packages to ensure new vulnerabilities are patched.

Activate TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support with just a single script that rapidly activates the ongoing delivery of critical patches – just like you did installing Oracle Linux patches.

You can also create a local mirror for TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support using rsync to make patches available.

Components covered by TuxCare ELS

Extended Lifecycle Support includes updates for the Linux kernel, Apache web server, PHP, Glibc,
OpenSSL, OpenSSH, and Python packages.

ELS also updates packages including

  • acpid
  • attr
  • PHP
  • info
  • Iptstate
  • gdb
  • glib2
  • bash
  • basesystem
  • zlib
  • acl
  • dovecot
  • mysql
  • ed
  • gcc
  • lslk
  • blktrace
  • bc
  • device-mapper
  • dhclient
  • dhcpv6
  • dmidecode
  • bzip2
  • busybox
  • bridge-utils
  • userspace packages
  • crash
  • cyrus-imapd
  • cyrus-sasl

… and many other commonly used packages.

TuxCare covers many other Linux distributions too

TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support is also available for other operating systems, including:


Extended Lifecycle Support for CentOS Stream 8

End of life: June 2024

You can rely on Extended Lifecycle Support for CentOS Stream 8 to continue receiving security updates all the way through June 2028 – so that you have enough time to migrate to another Linux distribution securely.

Extended Lifecycle Support for CentOS 6

End of life: December 2020

TuxCare’s Extended Lifecycle Support gives you the same official security patches you used to get with CentOS 6, and we’ll continue to provide you with ongoing security support right through to November 2026.

Extended Lifecycle Support for CentOS 7

End of life: June 2024

CentOS 7 is going end of life in June 2024, but you can enjoy ongoing security updates through June 2029 with our Extended Lifecycle Support – buying time to plan your migration, while keeping your workload safe.

Extended Lifecycle Support for CentOS 8

End of life: December 2021

All the way through January 2026, you can rely on TuxCare for Extended Lifecycle Support to cover security updates for your CentOS 8 Linux distribution – so that you have enough time to migrate to another distro.

Extended Lifecycle Support for PHP

End of life:

Extended Lifecycle Support for PHP v0

Multiple EOL Versions

Buy yourself and your organization time to develop new production code while receiving ongoing security patches for out-of-support PHP versions with Extended Lifecycle Support to maintain the safety of your systems.

Extended Lifecycle Support for Python 2.x

End of life: January 2020

Python Extended Lifecycle Service from TuxCare breathes new life into code written for Python 2.7 so you can continue using your existing software on AlmaLinux, Rocky, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 as before.

Extended Lifecycle Support for Ubuntu 16.04

End of life: April 2021

Save on costs compared to Ubuntu Pro for Ubuntu 16.04 when you choose TuxCare Extended Lifecycle Support for ongoing security maintenance, which will keep you protected for up to 4 years past the end-of-life date.

Extended Lifecycle Support for Ubuntu 18.04

End of life: June 2023

Choose TuxCare for Ubuntu 18.04 extended support and save significantly over an Ubuntu Pro subscription from Canonical, with security updates for your Ubuntu workloads lasting until April 2028.

Frequently Asked Questions

Oracle provided patches and updates for Oracle Linux 6 through March 2021, and these updates were free for all Oracle Linux users. However, now that Oracle Linux 6 is officially end of life, security updates are no longer provided free of charge.

You can obtain ongoing support for Oracle Linux 6 by going past standard edition Oracle support and paying for Oracle Extended Support, but it’s a pricey alternative. Instead, consider signing up with TuxCare’s Linux Extended Lifecycle Support for Oracle Linux 6, which provides the same responsive security updates and fixes for many years.

When it comes to Oracle Linux 5, you’re out of luck. Standard Oracle support for this Oracle Linux release ended in Jun 2017. There’s no option to upgrade beyond the standard edition of Premier Support to Extended Support either, as that ceased in Nov 2020. Regarding Linux, Oracle’s “Sustaining Support” is indefinite, but it doesn’t include patches and fixes for the latest security vulnerabilities.

So there’s no longer any support for Oracle Linux 5 because no Enterprise Linux vendor is releasing new kernel versions of Oracle Linux 5 that are patched against the latest threats. You need to migrate urgently if you are still using Oracle Linux 5 for your workloads. A good alternative could be Oracle Linux 8, as it remains in the same Linux OS family, while you’ll enjoy continued support until July 2029.

 

Oracle Linux 9 was released in June 2022. Right now, that’s the current release of Oracle’s enterprise Linux. Whether you run a web server or a data center, if you’re still using a version of Oracle Linux that’s no longer supported, consider upgrading to Oracle Linux 9 to enjoy ongoing support from Oracle – which is set to last until June 2032.

TuxCare’s Linux Extended Lifecycle Support functions identically to Oracle Linux’s update procedure. TuxCare is just an alternative source for these updates.

When TuxCare is installed on a system, it updates the repositories consulted when performing update tasks for the Linux kernel and other packages. It operates exactly as it did when you used Oracle support as a source for updates, utilizing the same update tools. When transferring a system to TuxCare Extended Lifecycle Support for updates, there will be no interruptions or performance degradation.

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