Just saw this…CentOS Stream is not supported by Virtualmin at this time, and may never be.
It’ll probably mostly work if you install CentOS 8 and then convert to Stream, but you’ll diverge from the supported OS over time, and it will eventually break, if Virtualmin doesn’t have some kind of support at that time. I don’t know what that support looks like, or if we’ll ever have resources to implement it, though. So, I strongly recommend you not use CentOS Stream with Virtualmin in production at this time (and maybe never).
CentOS 8 is fine. You can convert to Alma or Rocky at any point, and they will be fully supported by Virtualmin and installer quite soon.
@joejac its more of a personal preference. CentOS 8 can easily be converted to Alma or Rocky without too much of a trouble, downtime or data loss. The converter is painless. Personal experience is that it requires a little more work to convert to RHEL 8, if already production server. If blank/ new server the conversion to RHEL 8 a little easier.
As Virtualmin won’t support CentOs Stream (shame), I would visit Rocky/Alma community and see for yourself which one has a better feel in terms of community users/ support. My guess is that both will be supported strongly for some time until one ends up as the stronger. In the future, many will use CentOS Stream (delayed reaction) once they realise the benefits but will take time to mature.
I am on CentOS 8.5 but will not move to Alma/Rocky. Why use a clone/copy of RHEL when I can use the original? I will convert over later this month. The RHEL portal is free and the 16 free licenses plenty for me. I’ve done some test run with auto signing license/ assign license and it works fine. The RHEL portal may look a bit complicated initially but it won’t take long before you get the hang of things.
Again personal preference. It is not about right or wrong. If you have the ability to use VPS/dedicated server and test the conversion CentOS 7/8 to RHEL 7/8 without affecting production - I would test the process at least.
Thanks a lot @Whoops for your information, I agree with you, the original should be better than the clones. I never tried RHEL, for me a couple of licenses would be enough, I won’t use 16. My VPS provider does not have RHEL images, only Alma, Debian, and Ubuntu. But first, I will install one RHEL on a local virtual machine, in order to test it and also to test Virtualmin on RHEL.
Best regards.
Few providers have RHEL 8 images. Most will support manual install of RHEL 8 but that will involve uploading iso, use script and also depends on provider. Many support CentOS 8 still so you can load that then convert to RHEL 8. Some will also support Alma/Rocky during setup and as auto install. If you have the time and budget, perhaps try something like this:
Start new VPS on CentOS 8 then convert to RHEL 8, install Virtualmin and perhaps restore some backups as part of the test.
Sign up on the RHEL portal and understand how and what the service can do for you. It’s free.
Start a new VPS on CentOS 8 then convert to Alma or Rocky or both. This is to give you a feeling of the environment and how it works.
Although CentOS 7 is supported. Personally, I would find it useless and outdated it’s a joke why it’s supported so long.
As with everything. It’s important to have a plan and a check list. R&D key to success. We try, we fail and we try again
Hello @Whoops and @Joe hope everybody is doing well.
I got to the point where I have to migrate Centos 8 to another OS. I tried convert2rhel, the conversion to RHEL 8 looks simple but I had no luck, probably due to the virtualization used by my inexpensive VPS provider.
I get,
convert2rhel --username=myuser --password=mypass
Cannot establish connection to the host.
They have images for Alma Linux 8, Debian 11, Ubuntu 20.04, their staff recommended Ubuntu since can be upgraded to the next version with a command, with no reinstallation.
I would appreciate the advice of the most experienced and the Virtualmin developers, for me 3 things are important: full compatibility with Webmin/Virtualmin, Apache, PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, BIND, automatic upgrade to the next version, and very good stability.
Thanks and regards
joejac
Thanks @Joe, and what about Ubuntu, is worthwhile? with Centos clones I will have to reinstall in 5 years. I do not have a problem reinstalling now, this VPS is not used much, and I am going to install a PHP/MariaDB Help Desk and about 4 websites.
Regards
I don’t use Ubuntu. I know many people like it, but they’ve made too many bad decisions for my comfort on a server (but, Eric prefers it, and it’s probably more popular then CentOS at this point, even on servers, due to the nutty Stream thing). But, we’ll support Ubuntu 20.04 for the full life of the distro. And, Ubuntu upgrades are historically a bit easier than CentOS upgrades.
If you like the stability of CentOS, Alma and Rocky or RHEL are the only options to consider. Ubuntu and Debian are both more like CentOS Stream, and always have been. They do not make guarantees about package versions and compatibility for the life of the release the way CentOS historically did.
If you are used to CentOS, I would convert to Alma. Just personal preference but I don’t use/like Ubuntu. Debian is a good option but it’s really a personal preference of choice. Do what you are comfortable with.
Hello, I installed Alma 8.5 and when installing Virtualmin I got:
▣□□ Phase 1 of 3: Setup
[ERROR] Your OS is not currently supported by this installer.
[ERROR] You can probably run Virtualmin Professional on your system, anyway,
[ERROR] but you’ll have to install it using the manual installation process.
In your post here you said are not yet supported, I did not know
Manual Installation - Installation of Virtualmin and related packages manually. This method is time-consuming, and requires a high level of technical experience. This is not recommended , except in cases where the automated installation is inappropriate or impossible.
I do not have “high level of technical experience” What can I do then?
