How to upgrade from AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9

AlmaLinux OS is an open-source, community-driven project that intends to fill the gap left by the demise of the CentOS stable release. AlmaLinux OS is a 1:1 binary compatible fork of RHELĀ® 8 guided and built by the community.

Pre-requisites :

  • A Server / VPS running AlmaLinux 8

  • root access to the system.

Don't forget to take a backup of your important files and data before proceeding with the upgrade process.

First, Check that your system is up to date by running the following commands, After the update is completed, reboot the server,

yum update -y
reboot

After Rebooting, Verify that it is running the latest AlmaLinux release,

cat /etc/os-release

Output:

[root@vps ~]# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="AlmaLinux"
VERSION="8.8 (Sapphire Caracal)"
ID="almalinux"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="8.8"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el8"
PRETTY_NAME="AlmaLinux 8.8 (Sapphire Caracal)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
LOGO="fedora-logo-icon"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:8::baseos"
HOME_URL="https://almalinux.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://wiki.almalinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.almalinux.org/"

ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT="AlmaLinux-8"
ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="8.8"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="AlmaLinux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="8.8"

Install elevate-release package with the project repo and GPG key.

yum install -y http://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/elevate-release-latest-el$(rpm --eval %rhel).noarch.rpm

Output:

[root@vps ~]# yum install -y http://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/elevate-release-latest-el$(rpm --eval %rhel).noarch.rpm
Last metadata expiration check: 0:09:42 ago on Wed 21 Jun 2023 02:40:09 PM UTC.
elevate-release-latest-el8.noarch.rpm            83 kB/s | 9.8 kB     00:00
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package               Architecture Version            Repository          Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 elevate-release       noarch       1.0-2.el8          @commandline       9.8 k

Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package

Total size: 9.8 k
Installed size: 3.4 k
Downloading Packages:
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
  Preparing        :                                                        1/1
  Installing       : elevate-release-1.0-2.el8.noarch                       1/1
  Verifying        : elevate-release-1.0-2.el8.noarch                       1/1

Installed:
  elevate-release-1.0-2.el8.noarch

Complete!

Install leapp packages and migration data for the OS you want to upgrade,

yum install -y leapp-upgrade leapp-data-almalinux

Output:

[root@vps ~]# yum install -y leapp-upgrade leapp-data-almalinux

Last metadata expiration check: 0:07:53 ago on Wed 21 Jun 2023 01:11:24 PM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
=============================================================================================================================================================
 Package                                     Architecture          Version                                              Repository                      Size
=============================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
 leapp-data-almalinux                        noarch                0.2-2.el8                                            elevate-testing                 57 k
 leapp-upgrade-el8toel9                      noarch                1:0.16.0-6.el8_6.elevate.12                          elevate-testing                640 k
Installing dependencies:
 checkpolicy                                 x86_64                2.9-1.el8                                            baseos                         347 k
 leapp                                       noarch                0.15.1-1.el8                                         appstream                       32 k
 leapp-deps                                  noarch                0.15.1-1.el8                                         appstream                       14 k
 leapp-upgrade-el8toel9-deps                 noarch                1:0.16.0-6.el8_6.elevate.12                          elevate-testing                 28 k
 pciutils                                    x86_64                3.7.0-3.el8                                          baseos                         104 k
 policycoreutils-python-utils                noarch                2.9-24.el8                                           baseos                         253 k
 python3-audit                               x86_64                3.0.7-4.el8                                          baseos                          86 k
 python3-chardet                             noarch                3.0.4-7.el8                                          baseos                         195 k
 python3-idna                                noarch                2.5-5.el8                                            baseos                          97 k
 python3-leapp                               noarch                0.15.1-1.el8                                         appstream                      176 k
 python3-libsemanage                         x86_64                2.9-9.el8_6                                          baseos                         127 k
 python3-pip                                 noarch                9.0.3-22.el8                                         appstream                       19 k
 python3-policycoreutils                     noarch                2.9-24.el8                                           baseos                         2.2 M
 python3-pysocks                             noarch                1.6.8-3.el8                                          baseos                          34 k
 python3-requests                            noarch                2.20.0-2.1.el8_1                                     baseos                         122 k
 python3-setools                             x86_64                4.3.0-3.el8                                          baseos                         623 k
 python3-setuptools                          noarch                39.2.0-7.el8                                         baseos                         162 k
 python3-urllib3                             noarch                1.24.2-5.el8                                         baseos                         176 k
 python36                                    x86_64                3.6.8-38.module_el8.5.0+2569+5c5719bc                appstream                       18 k
 systemd-container                           x86_64                239-74.el8_8                                         baseos                         771 k
Enabling module streams:
 python36                                                          3.6

Disable Zonedrifting by changing yes to no.

vim /etc/firewalld/firewalld.conf

change the following line

AllowZoneDrifting=no

Now, Upgrade AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9 now and reboot it,

leapp upgrade
reboot

Output:

[root@vps ~]# leapp upgrade
==> Processing phase `configuration_phase`
====> * ipu_workflow_config
        IPU workflow config actor
==> Processing phase `FactsCollection`
====> * system_facts
        Provides data about many facts from system.
====> * vendor_repositories_mapping
        Scan the vendor repository mapping files and provide the data to other actors.
====> * check_enabled_vendor_repos
        Create a list of vendors whose repositories are present on the system and enabled.
====> * vendor_repo_signature_scanner
        Produce VendorSignatures messages for the vendor signature files inside the
====> * scan_vendor_repofiles
        Load and produce custom repository data from vendor-provided files.
====> * scan_custom_repofile
        Scan the custom /etc/leapp/files/leapp_upgrade_repositories.repo repo file.
====> * scan_kernel_cmdline
        No documentation has been provided for the scan_kernel_cmdline actor.
====> * load_device_driver_deprecation_data
        Loads deprecation data for drivers and devices (PCI & CPU)
====> * scancryptopolicies
        Scan information about system wide set crypto policies
====> * get_enabled_modules
        Provides data about which module streams are enabled on the source system.
====> * transaction_workarounds
        Provides additional RPM transaction tasks based on bundled RPM packages.
====> * udevadm_info
        Produces data exported by the "udevadm info" command.

====> * check_detected_devices_and_drivers
        Checks whether or not detected devices and drivers are usable on the target system.
====> * checktargetrepos
        Check whether target yum repositories are specified.
====> * check_bls_grub_onppc64
        Check whether GRUB config is BLS aware on RHEL 8 ppc64le systems
====> * check_etc_releasever
        Check releasever info and provide a guidance based on the facts
====> * check_kpatch
        Carry over kpatch-dnf and it's config into the container
====> * check_os_release
        Check if the current RHEL minor version is supported. If not, inhibit the upgrade process.
====> * check_fips
        Inhibit upgrade if FIPS is detected as enabled.
====> * check_grub_core
        Check whether we are on legacy (BIOS) system and instruct Leapp to upgrade GRUB core
====> * check_system_arch
        Check if system is running at a supported architecture. If no, inhibit the upgrade process.
====> * check_non_mount_boot_s390
        Inhibits on s390 when /boot is NOT on a separate partition.
====> * unsupported_upgrade_check
        Checks enviroment variables and produces a warning report if the upgrade is unsupported.
====> * red_hat_signed_rpm_check
        Check if there are packages not signed by Red Hat in use. If yes, warn user about it.
====> * firewalld_check_allow_zone_drifting
        This actor will check if AllowZoneDrifiting=yes in firewalld.conf. This
====> * check_nfs
        Check if NFS filesystem is in use. If yes, inhibit the upgrade process.
====> * check_rpm_transaction_events
        Filter RPM transaction events based on installed RPM packages
====> * check_boot_avail_space
        Check if at least 100Mib of available space on /boot. If not, inhibit the upgrade process.
====> * check_skipped_repositories
        Produces a report if any repositories enabled on the system are going to be skipped.
====> * check_skip_phase
        Skip all the subsequent phases until the report phase.
==> Processing phase `TargetTransactionFactsCollection`
====> * target_userspace_creator
        Initializes a directory to be populated as a minimal environment to run binaries from the target system.
AlmaLinux 9 - BaseOS                            2.2 MB/s | 2.0 MB     00:00
AlmaLinux 9 - AppStream                         6.9 MB/s | 7.6 MB     00:01
AlmaLinux 9 - CRB                               2.6 MB/s | 2.4 MB     00:00
AlmaLinux 9 - HighAvailability                  360 kB/s | 267 kB     00:00
AlmaLinux 9 - ResilientStorage                  370 kB/s | 278 kB     00:00
AlmaLinux 9 - Extras                             23 kB/s |  17 kB     00:00
Dependencies resolved.
============================================================================================
 Package                       Arch    Version                   Repository             Size
============================================================================================
Installing:
 dnf                           noarch  4.14.0-5.el9_2.alma       almalinux9-baseos     465 k
 dnf-plugins-core              noarch  4.3.0-5.el9_2             almalinux9-baseos      36 k
Installing dependencies:
 acl                           x86_64  2.3.1-3.el9               almalinux9-baseos      71 k
 almalinux-gpg-keys            x86_64  9.2-1.el9                 almalinux9-baseos     9.6 k
 almalinux-release             x86_64  9.2-1.el9                 almalinux9-baseos      20 k
 almalinux-repos               x86_64  9.2-1.el9                 almalinux9-baseos     9.8 k
 alternatives                  x86_64  1.20-2.el9                almalinux9-baseos      37 k
 audit-libs                    x86_64  3.0.7-103.el9             almalinux9-baseos     116 k
 basesystem                    noarch  11-13.el9                 almalinux9-baseos     7.0 k

After reboot, You can monitor the upgrade process under your VNC/Console,

images

images

images

We can verify that AlmaLinux 8 has been successfully upgraded to AlmaLinux 9, with the following command,

cat /etc/os-release

Output:

[root@vps ~]# cat /etc/os-release
NAME="AlmaLinux"
VERSION="9.2 (Turquoise Kodkod)"
ID="almalinux"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="9.2"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el9"
PRETTY_NAME="AlmaLinux 9.2 (Turquoise Kodkod)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
LOGO="fedora-logo-icon"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:9::baseos"
HOME_URL="https://almalinux.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://wiki.almalinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.almalinux.org/"

ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT="AlmaLinux-9"
ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="9.2"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="AlmaLinux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.2"

Done! Your server is now running Almalinux 9!


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