Chapter 1. Supported conversion paths

Currently, it is possible to convert your systems from the following Linux distributions and versions to the corresponding minor version of RHEL listed in Table 1.1.

Because the last available minor version of CentOS Linux is CentOS Linux 8.5, it is not possible to convert from CentOS Linux 8 directly to the latest available minor version of RHEL 8. It is recommended to update your system to the latest version of RHEL after the conversion.

RHEL 7 reached the end of the Maintenance Support Phase on June 30, 2024. If you are converting to RHEL 7 and plan to stay on RHEL 7, it is strongly recommended to purchase the Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) add-on subscription. If you plan to convert to RHEL 7 and then immediately upgrade to RHEL 8 or later, an ELS subscription is not needed. Note that without ELS, you have limited support for RHEL 7, including for the upgrade from RHEL 7 to RHEL 8. For more information, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle and the Convert2RHEL Support Policy.

In addition to the above supported conversion paths, it is also possible to perform an unsupported conversion from Scientific Linux 7, CentOS Stream 8, and CentOS Stream 9 to RHEL. For information about unsupported conversions, see How to perform an unsupported conversion from a RHEL-derived Linux distribution to RHEL.

For information about Red Hat’s support policy for Linux distribution conversions, see Convert2RHEL Support Policy.