Ubuntu Bionic Upgrades

Ubuntu Bionic has entered the ESM period on 01. June 2023.

In the following article, we answer the most important questions about upgrading to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa and go into detail about the associated changes.

Ubuntu Focal will be actively supported until April 2025, when it will enter the 5-year ESM period.

Ubuntu Upgrades

As of April 2024, Nine is not offering Ubuntu Bionic upgrades anymore, as the target operating system Ubuntu Focal will be entering the ESM period in April 2025. Nine will instead help you migrate to Ubuntu Jammy or the upcoming version Ubuntu Noble Numbat (24.04).

Ubuntu upgrades are an established procedural process that are carried out regularly by Nine. With experience of several hundred upgrades, we would like to share with you the most important information for an upgrade from Ubuntu Bionic to Ubuntu Focal.

Version changes between Bionic and Focal

The following table provides an overview of the most important version changes between the Ubuntu versions.

Service	Ubuntu Focal 20.04	Ubuntu Bionic 18.04
PHP	7.4, 8.0 - 8.2	7.0 - 7.4, 8.0
MySQL	8.0	5.7
PostgreSQL	12	10

Further software as well as an overview of all Ubuntu versions can be found in this support article.

Discontinued services

phpMyAdmin

Up to and including Ubuntu Bionic, Nine has pre-installed phpMyAdmin on systems by request. Since the available project package sources do not meet our requirements for updates or security, we have decided to no longer provide phpMyAdmin as a "service".

Instead, we have described in detail in this support article how phpMyAdmin can be installed and secured in the user space of a Nine Managed Server.

Requirements for an upgrade

The two most important server components to be considered in advance for an upgrade are usually the PHP version and the version of the database software that is in use.

Databases

Please note that usually only one of the two database systems is used. MySQL is more widely used by Nine customers than PostgreSQL. If you are unsure which database system you are using, please do not hesitate to contact us.

MySQL

The changes between MySQL 5.7 and 8.0 do not require any adjustments on the application side in most cases.

Oracle provides a routine to check the MySQL installation for an upgrade. We perform this check on your server on a daily basis.

To check if an upgrade can be performed risk-free, you can connect to your server via SSH with the www-data user and execute the following command:

jq '.checksPerformed[] | select(.status != "OK" or (.detectedProblems|length) != 0)' < /var/log/mysql/mysql-shell.log

If no output follows, no warnings or errors were detected by the routine.

Before upgrading, Nine will check the output again.

PostgreSQL

The PostgreSQL upgrade routine can only be executed after the operating system has been upgraded. To do this, a copy of the database environment is created and a check is made in the upgrade process to see whether all the requirements for an upgrade are met.

If this is not the case, PostgreSQL can be put back into operation with the original data stock in the old version.

Please check in advance whether your application is compatible with PostgreSQL 12.

PHP Version

For Ubuntu Focal we provide PHP versions 7.4, 8.0 - 8.2.

To check if you are currently running older versions, you can connect to your server via SSH with the www-data user and execute the following command:

sudo nine-manage-vhosts virtual-host list --json | jq -r '.[] | select([.template_variables.PHP_VERSION] | inside(["7.4", "8.0"]) | not) | ([.domain, .template_variables.PHP_VERSION] | join(" "))'

All vhosts that currently use a version older than PHP 7.4 will be output in JSON format.

These vhosts should be adapted before the planned upgrade to PHP 7.4. Alternatively, ensure that they are at least compatible with PHP 7.4 before upgrading. Older versions will no longer be available after the upgrade.

Upgrade procedure

Virtual server

For virtual servers, we perform an "in-place" upgrade. This eliminates the need to transfer data or test operation on a separate environment. The IP address of the system is retained.

Preparations

Before starting the upgrade routine, Nine creates backups of all databases and a snapshot of the virtual machine.

If an unforeseen situation should arise after the upgrade has been completed or if there are unplanned deviations during the upgrade, the previous status can be restored in a few moments and operation of the server can be guaranteed.

Duration of the upgrade

The "in place" upgrade usually takes 45 to 60 minutes. During this time, the server is not available for use.

Dedicated server

We do not offer "in-place" upgrades for dedicated systems.

In the course of renewing the operating system, we recommend replacing the hardware and switching to our new hardware platform at the same time for dedicated systems.

Since the previous hardware generation is getting a little dated, it is advisable to carry out both steps at the same time and thus avoid duplicate work.

Procedure for dedicated servers

For dedicated systems, Nine provides a new server according to your desired configuration (if different from the standard configuration) and moves over all data from the current production server.

You can then test the functionality of the new environment. The test operation is offered free of charge for 2 weeks.

After approval, we agree on a date for a changeover to the new server. In the process, we synchronise the data with the production system again and forward all traffic from the old server to the new one.

Finally, you must update the DNS entries of domains that do not use our name servers. For domains that use Nine name servers, Nine carries out the necessary adjustment.

Upgrade to Ubuntu Jammy

"in-place" upgrades (for virtual servers) perform an upgrade to the next newer Ubuntu version. A direct upgrade from Ubuntu Bionic to Ubuntu Jammy is therefore unfortunately not possible.

If you wish to upgrade directly to Ubuntu Jammy, we recommend replacing it with a new system instead. We will gladly provide a new system and transfer the data of the current productive system.

The procedure is identical to the migration of a dedicated server.

Upgrade times and Costs

Nine offers 1 hour of work during business hours (09:00 - 18:00). This usually covers the work involved in an "in-place" upgrade or the migration of a dedicated server.

Additional work or clarifications will be charged at our hourly rate of CHF 180.

If you wish the work to be carried out outside business hours, our nightly hourly rate of CHF 250 will apply.

During business hours we offer the start of the upgrade between 09:00 and 17:00, outside business hours between 18:00 and 05:00.

Upgrades are performed Monday to Thursday.

Contact

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or uncertainties about Ubuntu upgrades, questions about specific services or details about the procedure as well as to arrange an appointment. You can reach us by email at Support or via our Service Desk Portal.