Cloud Next supports the following operating systems:

Before you begin

Before you start upgrading your Ubuntu version in Cloud Next environment, review the following specifications:

• Acquia recommends that you do not make any other changes to your site during the upgrade process.
• In Ubuntu 20.04:
  • Python2, rssh, Drush 9, and Drush 10 binaries are unavailable in Ubuntu 20.04 and later. If you depend on global Drush 9 or Drush 10, you must start using vendored Drush.
  • The ack-grep command is not available on Ubuntu 20.04 and later. You must update scripts to use the ack command instead.
  • You cannot use the .svg file extension with the ImageMagick module on Ubuntu 20.04 and later.
• In Ubuntu 22.04:
  • The SimpleSAML compatibility shim is removed. Therefore, applications that did not make the SimpleSAML changes during the Cloud Next upgrade must make these changes.
  • OpenSSL 3.x disables a lot of legacy algorithms by default. For example, certificates using SHA1 or MD5 as hash algorithms are invalid. In addition, TLS protocols earlier than 1.2 are disabled.
  • Ubuntu 22.04 is currently unavailable for FedRAMP customers. Such customers have a different end-of-life schedule due to FIPS requirements.
  • For non-FedRAMP customers, the default Ubuntu version for new Cloud Next environments, and environments upgraded to Cloud Next, is Ubuntu 22.04.

• CDE environments are hosted on Acquia Cloud Classic. CDE environments will remain on Ubuntu 16.04 until the CDE feature is available in Cloud Next.

• If you use LDAP, ensure that you add the custom variable, LDAPTLS_CACERT. For more information, visit Configuring LDAPS.

Upgrading the operating system in your Cloud Next environment

To upgrade your non-production and production Cloud Next environments to an available operating system:

• Sign in to the Cloud Platform user interface.
• Access your organization, application, and environment.
• Click Configuration > Operating System.
  The system displays the currently installed operating system.

• In Available versions, click Upgrade now.

  Note

  • If you try to upgrade your production environment without upgrading your non-production environment first, the system displays a warning message.
  • For FedRAMP customers, the system displays a warning message next to the operating system version if that version is not FIPS-certified by NIST. This indicates that while the version is compiled with FIPS-ready packages, NIST has not certified it officially. For more information, visit FIPS for Ubuntu.
• Type CONFIRM and click Submit.
  After some time, the system completes the upgrade process and displays a confirmation message.
• Click Done.
  This completes the upgrade process. You can start testing your environment.

Testing your environments after the upgrade

Acquia recommends that you test your non-production environments immediately after you upgrade the operating system in such environments. By testing your environments, you can:

• Investigate and resolve any technical issues with the help of Acquia Support.
• Reduce the risk of delays or undesired behavior with your production environment upgrade.

When testing your environments through automated tests or manual inspection, review the application behavior that depends on the following:

• Custom logic in .htaccess files
• Image software such as ffmpeg, ImageMagick, or webp
• System libraries
• Shell scripts or tools such as curl or wget
• Scheduled tasks or cron jobs
• Cloud hooks
• Custom scripts or commands that run on the SSH pod

In addition, you must monitor application performance in New Relic after the upgrade and compare that with prior performance.

Reverting your operating system to another available version

While upgrading your container operating system to new versions, you might run into some issues. While you troubleshoot such issues, you can revert your upgrade to ensure that your site remains unaffected.

To revert your operating system:

• Sign in to the Cloud Platform user interface.
• Access your organization, application, and environment.
• Click Configuration > Operating System.
  The system displays the currently installed operating system.
• In Available versions, click Revert.
  Note

  After a version of the operating system becomes end-of-life, you cannot revert your operating system to that version through the Cloud Platform user interface. In such cases, you can create a Support ticket.

• Type CONFIRM and click Submit.
  After some time, the system completes the revert process and displays a confirmation message. If the revert process fails, click File support case to create a Support ticket.
• Click Done.
  This completes the revert process. After you fix all issues, you can start your upgrade process again.

Configuring OS versions