What to remember when migrating from CentOS to RHEL?

Moving from CentOS Linux to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be a crucial step for an organization looking for a stable platform for its systems. Migration planning is critical to the success of this transformation. Here are some important steps and tips that can help you plan your migration and should be kept in mind:

1. Define the scope of the migration: The first step is to define the scope of the migration. Consider which systems and applications will be migrated. You can also consider a phased approach where you migrate simple applications first and more complex ones later.
2. Determine the timeline: Establishing a timeline is key. Determine a deadline for completion of the migration and assign a person to coordinate the teams in your organization and the vendors you are working with for the migration.
3. Resourcing: Plan for the resources needed for the migration. This may include the people working on the project, the estimated time commitment, and the total budget that needs to be set aside for preparation, training, and consultation.
4. Prepare a risk management plan: Anticipate potential problems and document plans to address them. Identify risks and plan measures to minimize their impact.
5. Collect information about systems and applications: Collect information about your systems and applications, including operating system version, hardware platform, applications and configuration settings.
6. Assess the compatibility of your systems and applications with RHEL: Compare RHEL requirements with existing systems and applications. Test your systems and applications to ensure they work properly on RHEL.
7. Preparing systems and applications for migration: It is important to prepare systems and applications before performing the migration. This includes verifying that your system is supported for conversion to RHEL, temporarily shutting down critical applications and database services, and other services that store data.
8. Converting and upgrading systems to RHEL: Once all prerequisites have been met, you can proceed with the actual conversion of systems to RHEL. It is important to have a backup of the system and verify that the system can be restored before performing the conversion. You can then proceed with the installation of the Convert2RHEL tool to perform the actual conversion.

Remember that each migration is unique, so it is important to plan each step carefully and minimize potential risks. If you would like to prepare for this important migration, we recommend taking advantage of the Managing CentOS Migrations and RHEL Upgrades course directly from Red Hat, which was created for this purpose.