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Documentation: Installation

Installation

Hardware compatibility

CloudLinux OS supports all the hardware supported by RHEL/CentOS/AlmaLinux, with few exceptions. Exceptions are usually hardware that require binary drivers, and that doesn't have any open source alternatives.

Note

CloudLinux OS does not support ARM-based CPUs (e.g. Graviton).

Warning

In cases where your server hardware is incompatible with any version of RHEL/CentOS/AlmaLinux and CloudLinux OS or our components - we will not be able to provide assistance in adding such hardware support or solving possible issues related to such installation.

Note

Replacing the server hardware affects specifications and support for such hardware from CloudLinux OS end. It is most likely that the CloudLinux OS will stop working if you replace any hardware component on the server.

Example: the same HDD/SSD/NVMe model will have a new UUID and CloudLinux OS is mapped to old UUID which break the boot procedure.

In this case, we are not responsible for the CloudLinux OS operation and cannot assist you in restoring the server or adapting CloudLinux OS installation to the new hardware.

There are some incompatible devices with CL6:
Device Binary Driver Source
B110i Smart Array RAID controller hpahcisr https://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01754456
B120i/B320i Smart Array SATA RAID Controller hpvsa https://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetPDF.aspx/c04168333.pdf
SanDisk DAS Cache https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/learn/server-technology-components-caching

With RHEL8 (CloudLinux OS 8/CloudLinux OS 7 Hybrid), some devices are no longer supported. You can check the entire list here: Hardware enablement considerations in adopting RHEL 8

Getting license

You will need a trial or payed activation key to be able to use your CloudLinux OS Solo server.

Getting trial license

The trial activation key can be used to convert your server to CloudLinux OS.

Note

The trial license subscription will work for 30 days.

If you have any issues getting activation key or if you have any questions regarding using your trial subscription – contact sales@cloudlinux.com and we will help.

To get the activation key:

  1. Register with CloudLinux Network: https://cln.cloudlinux.com/console/register/customer (skip it if you already registered)
  2. You will receive an email with activation link
  3. Login at https://cln.cloudlinux.com/console/auth/login
  4. Choose the appropriate CloudLinux edition that fits your needs.
  5. Click on Get Trial Activation Key

You will get a key that looks like: 12314-d34463a182fede4f4d7e140f1841bcf2

Converting existing servers

Sometimes it is required to convert already existing servers with CentOS or AlmaLinux and make them CloudLinux OS.

It is easy to convert your existing installation by cldeploy script. The process takes a few minutes and replaces just a handful of RPMs.

WARNING

Unlike Fresh installation, converting immediately requires CloudLinux OS license. Please refer to the guide to get activation key.

Requirements

Currently supported OS for conversion:

  • CentOS 7
  • AlmaLinux OS 8, AlmaLinux OS 9
  • RockyLinux (installation only, no uninstall option)

Unsupported OS for conversion:

  • CentOS 8
  • CentOS Stream

Supported control panels:

Other control panels:

Control panels not mentioned in the list of supported panels have native integration or integration by the developer of such a panel. We cannot guarantee the stability or correct operation of CloudLinux components on such panels.

Warning:

Some CloudLinux components may not be supported by the control panel itself or the control panel has its own analog of such a component. You can verify this information when reviewing the system requirements for installing a particular CloudLinux component.

Note: CentOS 8 is EOL

CentOS 8 reached End Of Life (EOL) on December 31st, 2021. If you would like to convert from CentOS 8 to CloudLinux OS 8, do the following:

Downloading and running conversion script

Key-based activation

If you want to use your activation key for activation, run the following commands:

yum install wget -y
wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/cln/cldeploy
bash cldeploy -k ACTIVATION_KEY

Where ACTIVATION_KEY is the one that you got on previous step. Your CloudLinux OS edition will be detected automatically based on the ACTIVATION_KEY

IP-based activation

If your reseller provides you ip-based license, run the following commands:

To convert server into the CloudLinux OS Shared edition:

$ sh cldeploy -i

To convert server into the CloudLinux OS Admin edition:

$ sh cldeploy -i --to-admin-edition

Next steps

After successful conversion, reboot your system by running the following command:

reboot

Once you reboot - your server should be running with CloudLinux OS LVE kernel.

You may check the booted kernel with the following command:

$ uname -r

Note

If after rebooting you do not see the CloudLinux kernel (the kernel has the abbreviation LVE in its name) then please consider check our knowledgebase or contact support.

Note

SELinux is not supported on CloudLinux OS 6 and 7. SELinux is supported on CloudLinux OS 8+, but might not work or be compatible with control panels and various components.

Note

At the end of conversion from CentOS 7.x to CloudLinux OS Shared 7, the cldeploy script converts CloudLinux OS Shared 7 to CloudLinux OS Shared 7 Hybrid.

Automatic hybridization will be performed for the AMD processors with the following CPU families:

  • Zen / Zen+ / Zen 2 / Zen 3
  • Hygon Dhyana

Automatic hybridization may be skipped by passing extra option '--no-force-hybridize'. See also advanced options for cldeploy.

Troubleshooting

If you receive any troubles during the conversion process, please feel free to search our knowledgebase or contact our support and attach the conversion log (/var/log/cldeploy.log).

How to enable secure boot for CloudLinux 9

Overview

CloudLinux 9 uses non-modified AlmaLinux 9 kernel.
To make secure boot work with CloudLinux's kernel module you need to enroll CloudLinux secure boot key to your server.
This procedure shows how to do it

Requirements

  • UEFI support
  • mokutil package installed
  • Access to server's BIOS options menu and boot screen

Procedure

  1. Download CloudLinux key
    1. wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/SECURE-BOOT-KEY-cloudlinux-kmod.der
  2. Import the key
    1. mokutil --import SECURE-BOOT-KEY-cloudlinux-kmod.der
    2. When prompted, enter a password of your choice. This password will be used when enrolling the key into the MOK list.
  3. Reboot server
    1. Upon rebooting, the "Shim UEFI key management" screen appears. Press any key withing 10 seconds to proceed.
  4. Enroll the key

Select Enroll MOK
Step 1

Select View key 0
Step 2

Make sure that CloudLinux's Secure Boot Key information is displayed
Press the Esc key when you are finished
Step 3

Select Continue on the screen from Step 2 It will ask "Enrol the key(s)?".
Select Yes/OK
Step 4

Enter the password you used for importing the key (point 2.ii)
Step 5

Select Reboot (Older versions may say Continue boot)
Step 6

Now you can enable Secure Boot in BIOS options menu

Useful commands

  • mokutil --sb-state to check current Secure Boot state
  • mokutil --list-enrolled to show list of enrolled keys

If you wish to remove the CloudLinux key from the MOK list, follow the instructions below

Warning

Do not delete the key when secure boot is enabled - server will be unable to boot

  1. Disable Secure Boot
  2. mokutil --delete SECURE-BOOT-KEY-cloudlinux-kmod.der
  3. mokutil --list-delete (to check the key to be deleted)
  4. Reboot the system and go through the MOK management process to complete the deletion from the MOK list.

Technical details: cldeploy

By its design, CloudLinux OS Shared is very close to the upstream operating system - RHEL. This makes the conversion process relatively straightforward, requiring just one reboot.

Installation process

Here's what the cldeploy script does when you run it:

  • Backups the original repository settings into /etc/cl-convert-saved.
  • Backups RHEL system ID into /etc/cl-convert-saved (RHEL systems only).
  • Installs CloudLinux repository settings & imports CloudLinux RPM key.
  • Replaces redhat/centos-release/almalinux-release, redhat-release-notes, redhat-logos with CloudLinux versions.
  • Removes cpuspeed RPM (as it conflicts with CloudLinux limits).
  • Reinstall CloudLinux version of rhnlib/rhnplugin.
  • Checks for binary kernel modules, finds replacement if needed.
  • Detects OVH servers and fixes mkinitrd and possible boot issues.
  • Detects Linode servers and fixes grub issues.
  • Checks if LES is installed.
  • Checks that /etc/fstab has correct /dev/root
  • Checks for EFI and performs the necessary configuration.
  • Installs CloudLinux kernel, lve-utils, liblve, lve-stats RPMs.
  • Installs CloudLinux Manager for the supported control panels.
  • Installs mod_hostinglimits Apache module *:
    • RPM install for supported control panels;
    • On Plesk, replaces psa-mod_fcgid* with mod_fcgid;
    • Perform CustomBuild tool execution for DirectAdmin.

Uninstallation process

Here's what the cldeploy script does, if one runs it to uninstall CloudLinux:

  • Restores CentOS/AlmaLinux repositories, and almalinux-release/centos-release/release-notes/logos.
  • Removes lve, mod_hostinglimits, lve-stats, lvemanager packages.
  • mod_hostinglimits RPM is removed.

Note

cldeploy doesn't remove the kernel to prevent condition when server has no kernels and wouldn't boot. Instead, script provide the instructions on how you could remove it manually later, when it is safe to do so.

On cPanel servers, rebuild of Apache with EasyApache will complete the conversion back, but doesn't have to be performed immediately. * On DirectAdmin servers, rebuild of Apache with custombuild will complete the conversion back, but doesn't have to be performed immediately.

More information is also available here: Uninstall CloudLinux.

Installing new servers

All CloudLinux OS editions may be installed using one ISO and source.

Downloading ISO

You can download the latest CloudLinux OS ISO and use it to install CloudLinux OS on your server:

There are multiple ISO types available:

  • CloudLinux-*-boot.iso - this ISO is made specifically for network installation and does not contain any packages inside.
  • CloudLinux-*-dvd1.iso - this one contains all packages from network installation repository, so you can set up any possible configuration without network access.
  • CloudLinux-*-minimal.iso - this one contains only minimal set of packages to set up light server without GUI and Development tools.

Installing using the Graphical User Interface

The graphical installation interface is the preferred method of manually installing CloudLinux OS. It allows you to have full control over all available settings, including disk partitioning and storage configuration.

The graphical mode is used by default when you boot the system from the local media. Mount and boot the image, then follow the steps.

Language selection

The first screen displayed is the language selection page.

Welcome page screenshot

First, find your preferred language in the left column and than select locale in the right one. Selected language will be used during installation and also as a default language of the installed system.

After you select your language and locale, click Continue to confirm your selection and proceed to the Installation Summary.

Installation summary

The Installation summary screen is the main dashboard of your installation parameters. Most of the options which can be configured during the installation can be accessed from here.

Welcome page screenshot

The summary screen displays links to other configuration screens, those links can be in several different states, which are graphically indicated:

  • Grayed out link means that the installer is currently updating this sections. Please wait a little before accessing this section.

  • A warning symbol next to an icon means that a screen requires your attention before you start the installation.

  • Links without warning symbol mean that screen does not require your attention. You can still change your settings in these screens, but it is not required to start installation.

Choosing the installation source

The first thing that you should define is where the system will be installed from. There are basically two options:

  • ISO file
  • On the network

On the network source

Use this option to download packages to be installed from a network location. This is the preferred way as you automatically receive all critical bug fixes that may affect installation.

Note

Most likely your network is not configured by default, so you can see the URL configuration field greyed out, like on the screenshot below. Please refer to the Network Configuration screen first to set up a network connection.

Unavailable network source

The correct installation URL for CloudLinux OS is

https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/8/BaseOS/x86_64/kickstart/

Type in installation URL in the corresponding field, configure proxy if needed and press the Done button.

ISO file source

This option is primary used as an alternative when you don't have internet connection on a target server. It is only available if you downloaded Minimal or DVD ISO which contains some bundled packages in.

Tick the ISO file checkbox and press the Done button.

Next steps

After clicking Done, you will be redirected to the Installation Summary screen where Installation source and Software Selection links will be greyed and the Downloading package metadata message wll be shown.

Please hold on while that message disappears and proceed to the Software Selection section.

Software Selection

The Software Selection screen allows you to choose a Base Environment and Add-ons. These options control which software packages will be installed on your system during the installation process.

This screen is only available if Installation Source is properly configured and only after the installer has downloaded package metadata from the source.

It is not possible to select specific packages during a manual installation, you can only select pre-defined environments and add-ons.

You should choose the CloudLinux edition that matches your license on this stage:

The available options are:

  • to install CloudLinux OS Shared or Shared Pro, choose the CloudLinux OS Shared/Pro (minimal) environment on the left of the screen.
  • to install CloudLinux OS Admin, choose the CloudLinux OS Admin (minimal) environment on the left of the screen.
  • to install CloudLinux OS Solo, choose the CloudLinux OS Solo (minimal) environment on the left of the screen.

Then, on the right side of the screen, select one or more add-ons which you want to install by ticking the check boxes next to each add-on.

Final preparations

Installation is almost done, all you need to do is to configure your installation target using the Installation Destination menu and create your Root Password.

Doing that, the Begin installation button becomes blue, so click it.

After this point, the installation process actually starts and changes are being made to your selected disks. It is not possible to go back to the Installation Summary and change any settings configured there; if you need to do so, you must wait for the installation process to finish, reboot your system, log in and change your settings on the installed system.

The bottom of the screen shows a progress bar and a message informing you of the current progress of the installation. When the installation finishes, you can press the Finish installation button to reboot your computer and log in to your newly installed system.

Warning

Before you finish the installation and reboot, either remove the media which you used to start the installation, or make sure that your system tries to boot from the hard drive before trying removable media. Otherwise, your computer will start the installer again instead of the installed system.

Next steps

Reboot your system, login and check EULA which is located in the /usr/share/cloudlinux-release/EULA.

Next, activate your installation in order to get updates.

License activation

To register your CloudLinux OS server with CloudLinux Network using activation key, run the following command:

$ yum install rhn-setup
$ /usr/sbin/rhnreg_ks --activationkey=<activation key>

Where <activation key> is like 1231-2b48feedf5b5a0e0609ae028d9275c93

If you have IP based license, use the clnreg_ks command instead:

$ yum install rhn-setup
$ /usr/sbin/clnreg_ks --force

Cloud provider images (CloudLinux OS Shared only)

CloudLinux Azure Images

We build and release CloudLinux 7.9 and CloudLinux 8.6 for Azure and upload to the Mircosoft Azure Community Galleries.

Images are built in both types Azure supports: gen1 (BIOS based) and gen2 (UEFI based). CloudLinux Images could be found in the following regions: West Europe, Germany West Central, Southeast Asia, East US, West US 2. A publisher of CloudLinux Images in Azure is cloudlinux. Community gallery name is cloudlinux-cbc76afd-63bc-4f6e-b801-65bd2f1ab0a0.

How to use CloudLinux Image in Azure:

  • When creating Virtual Machine, while choosing what OS should be used, click See al images.
  • Switch from Marketplace to Community images.
  • Search by typing cloudlinux or filter by Publisher which is also cloudlinux or Azure Compute Gallery which is cloudlinux-cbc76afd-63bc-4f6e-b801-65bd2f1ab0a0.
  • Choose a suitable image. Check that the Publisher of the selected images is cloudlinux and Public Gallery Name is cloudlinux-cbc76afd-63bc-4f6e-b801-65bd2f1ab0a0.

Xen images

Note

We do not provide Xen images of CloudLinux OS Shared anymore, use ISO images instead

Provider-specific guidelines (CloudLinux OS Shared only)

AWS

CloudLinux OS Shared image list can be found here

If you are going to use CloudLinux OS Shared with cPanel image, you may find useful the following article

H-Sphere

Note

For H-Sphere 3.5+ Please note, that CageFS and PHP Selector are not supported for H-Sphere

Requirements

  1. CloudLinux OS Shared with liblve 0.8 or later.
  2. Apache 2.2.x or 1.3.
  3. mod_suexec should be enabled.

To achieve optimal performance, we recommend to convert from mod_fastcgi to mod_fcgid.

There is no need to install mod_hostinglimits – it comes built in with H-Sphere. Once you load kernel from CloudLinux OS Shared with liblve 0.8 or later – it will get enabled.

You can check if LVE is enabled by running: 

$ ps aux | grep httpd | grep DLIBLVE

If you see no output, it means that Apache didn't pick up LVE. Try checking file /hsphere/shared/scripts/apache-get-env.sh

The following lines should be there: 

if [ -e /usr/lib64/liblve.so.0 -o -e /usr/lib/liblve.so.0 ]; then
APENV_DSSL="$APENV_DSSL -DLIBLVE"
fi

If those strings are absent, you should add it, after:

else
APENV_DSSL='-DSSL'
fi
###

and before:

# this is used by apacheGetEnv.pm perl module
if [ "$1" = 'show' ] ; then
set | egrep "^APENV_"
fi

strings.

Restart Apache afterward.

Note

Don't forget to convert from mod_fastcgi to mod_fcgid.

Converting from mod_fastcgi to mod_fcgid

To achieve the best results in productivity and stability we recommend converting from mod_fastcgi to mod_fcgid.

Note

H-Sphere 3.6.3+

  1. Download our fcgi.conf file:
$ wget -O /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/fcgi.conf https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/fcgi.conf
  1. Edit ~httpd2/conf/extra/httpd-hostinglimits.conf to the following state:
######
LoadModule hostinglimits_module /hsphere/shared/apache2/modules/mod_hostinglimits.so

<IfModule mod_hostinglimits.c>
SkipErrors Off
AllowedHandlers cgi-script %php% fcgid-script application/x-miva-compiled
DenyHandlers hs-php5-script hs-php53-script hs-php54-script
Include /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/fcgi.conf
 
</IfModule>
#######
  1. Go to P.Servers > web server [Config] and be sure to have enabled:
    • apache_version=2
    • apache_mpm=prefork
    • apache_fastcgi
    • apache_fcgid
    • PHP version/mode: php_fastcgi*

Note

*No changes needed to httpd.conf.tmpl.custom or usermodule.phpmode as this version provides its own mod_fcgid.

Older versions of H-Sphere

  1. Compile mod_fcgid module:
$ yum install gcc liblve-devel zlib-devel openssl-devel 
$ wget https://apache.osuosl.org//httpd/mod_fcgid/mod_fcgid-2.3.9.tar.gz
$ tar zxvf mod_fcgid-2.3.9.tar.gz
$ cd mod_fcgid-2.3.9/
$ APXS=/hsphere/shared/apache2/bin/apxs ./configure.apxs 
$ make
$ mv modules/fcgid/.libs/mod_fcgid.so /hsphere/shared/apache2/modules
  1. Download and apply patch https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/usemodule.phpmode.patch to /hsphere/local/config/scripts/usemodule.phpmode:
$ wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/usemodule.phpmode.patch 
$ patch /hsphere/local/config/scripts/usemodule.phpmode usemodule.phpmode.patch
  1. If /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/httpd.conf.tmpl.custom does not exists – create it:
$ cp -rp /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/httpd.conf.tmpl /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/httpd.conf.tmpl.custom

Download and apply patch https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/httpd.conf.tmpl.patch to the /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/httpd.conf.tmpl.custom:

$ wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/httpd.conf.tmpl.patch 
$ patch --fuzz=3 /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/httpd.conf.tmpl.cusom  httpd.conf.tmpl.patch
  1. Download pre-defined config file https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/fcgi.conf to /hsphere/local/config/httpd2:
$ wget -O /hsphere/local/config/httpd2/fcgi.conf https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/fcgi.conf
  1. Download our wrapper file https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/php-wrapper into /hsphere/shared/php5/bin/ and make it executable:
$ wget -O /hsphere/shared/php5/bin/php-wrapper https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/mod_fcgid-hsphere/php-wrapper
$ chmod 755 /hsphere/shared/php5/bin/php-wrapper
  1. Change permissions for /hsphere/local/home to 755:
$ chmod 755 /hsphere/local/home
  1. Edit ~httpd2/conf/extra/httpd-hostinglimits.conf and add DenyHandlers, so section will look like:
<IfModule mod_hostinglimits.c>
SkipErrors Off
AllowedHandlers cgi-script %php% fcgid-script application/x-miva-compiled
DenyHandlers hs-php5-script hs-php53-script hs-php54-script 
</IfModule>
  1. Configure physical server from H-Sphere admin > E.Manager > P.Servers > server_name [parameters] icon, settings should be:
apache_version = 2
apacha_fastcgi = yes
apache_status = yes

  1. Set PHP configuration to:
php_libphp5 enabled but not default
php_fastcgi5 enabled and is default

Other options could be configured according to personal needs.

When done - click SUBMIT to apply changes.

Note

After updating H-Sphere software on web server with CloudLinux OS Shared you need to re-apply step 2 (patch usemodule.phpmode) and restart apache with /hsphere/shared/scripts/apache-restart script.

DigitalOcean

How to make CloudLinux OS Shared work on DigitalOcean:

DigitalOcean doesn't support custom kernels. The droplet (VM) always runs DigitalOcean's kernel. CloudLinux OS Shared requires its own kernel. To enable CloudLinux OS Shared work on DigitalOcean droplets, we provide ability to boot into CloudLinux OS Shared kernel using kexec functionality.

How does this work:

  • cldeploy script checks for presence of /etc/digitalocean. If the file detected, we assume that this is DigitalOcean droplet;
  • kexec-tools are installed;
  • kexec script will be created in /etc/rc.d/init.d/ and set to run right after rc.sysinit.

When executed, script /etc/rc.d/init.d/kexec detects the latest installed CloudLinux OS Shared kernel, and loads that kernel.

If the system cannot boot into CloudLinux OS Shared kernel (due to any reason), subsequent reboot will skip kexec, allow droplet to boot into DigitalOceans' kernel.

To disable booting into Cloudlinux OS Shared kernel, run:

chkconfig --del kexec

To re-enable booting into CloudLinux OS Shared kernel, run: 

chkconfig --add kexec

Adding CloudLinux OS Shared image to DigitalOcean

Custom images are Linux distributions that have been modified to fit the specific needs of DigitalOcean users. You can find some basics of importing a custom CloudLinux OS Shared image below.

Importing custom images to DigitalOcean is free, as you are only charged for the storage of your image. To save money, you can easily import your image, start a Droplet from your image, and delete the image, so you don’t incur any storage costs.

Below, we will describe how to add a qcow2 (QEMU/KVM) CloudLinux OS Shared image as a custom image. You can find more information on image options at https://www.digitalocean.com/docs/images/custom-images/overview/

  1. To choose the right image, navigate to https://download.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/images/#kvm-tab. Several different images are available for download (with and without a control panel).

  1. Copy the link for the image you are going to use and log into cloud.digitalocean.com.

Click Images on the left of the screen and then choose Custom Images. Click the Import via URL button and paste the CloudLinux OS Shared image link.

There are several options here, but the most important is Choose a datacenter region, i.e. which datacenter region your Droplets should be created in for this image.

Click the Upload Image button and wait until the image is successfully uploaded.

  1. Add your public key to access your droplets using key-based authentication: navigate to the Security sidebar menu and click the Add SSH Key button.

You can find more information about creating/adding SSH keys in this article.

  1. You will then be able to start a CloudLinux OS Shared Droplet using the image.

    Note

    Your Droplet will be created in the same datacenter that your custom image resides in.

  1. Now, use your preferred SSH client software to connect to your Droplet. You can find more information on SSH client setup here.

Linode

Warning

If you are installing CloudLinux OS Shared 8, please make sure you’ve read https://www.linode.com/community/questions/19397/i-just-upgraded-my-centos-8-linode-and-now-it-wont-boot-how-do-i-fix-this-proble

CloudLinux OS Shared on Linode KVM

To install CloudLinux OS Shared 7 on Linode KVM server you should perform the following steps:

  1. Deploy CL to your Linode following the steps from this section

  2. Install grub on your system:

yum install grub2
  1. Add to /etc/default/grub the following parameters:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="console=ttyS0,19200n8"
GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
GRUB_SERIAL_COMMAND="serial --speed=19200 --unit=0 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1"
  1. Update grub config:
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

  1. Edit your Linode profile, change the boot settings to GRUB 2 .

  2. Reboot your Linode.

After reboot you will have fully operational CloudLinux OS Shared 7 system and can proceed with other configuration you need.

CloudLinux OS Shared on Linode Xen

To install CloudLinux OS Shared 7 on Linode Xen please perform the following steps:

  1. Deploy CL to your Linode following the steps from this section.

  2. Create the file /boot/grub/menu.lst with the following content:

timeout 5
title CloudLinux 7.1, $KVERSION
root (hd0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-$KVERSION root=/dev/xvda1 ro quiet
initrd /boot/initramfs-$KVERSION.img

where $KVERSION is the version of the installed CloudLinux OS Shared 7 kernel.

Note

You will need to update /boot/grub/menu.lst manually after every kernel update.

  1. Switch boot settings to pv-grub-x86_64 and switch off Auto-configure networking in Linode settings.

  2. Reboot your Linode.

In case if you will migrate to KVM later you will need only switch the boot settings to GRUB 2.

Virtuozzo and OpenVZ

Virtuozzo 7 and OpenVZ 7

To use CloudLinux Shared Pro in Virtuozzo container, please update the next packages to the specified versions (or higher):

  • alt-php-ssa-0.3-4
  • alt-php-xray-0.5-8
  • cloudlinux-linksafe-1-5.2
  • accelerate-wp-1.0-11
  • lvemanager-7.7.5-2
  • alt-python27-cllib-3.2.32-1
  • pam_lve-0.4-3
  • lve-wrappers-0.7.7-1
  • lve-utils-6.4.3-1
  • cagefs-7.5.1-1
  • liblve-2.1-11
  • tuned-profiles-cloudlinux-0.2-3

Available functionality

Requirements

  • Virtuozzo 7 as server system
  • Virtuozzo container with CloudLinux Shared Pro 8
  • cloudlinux-updates-testing repo is enabled (+ yum clean all)

How to install

  1. Prepare Virtuozzo container with ostemplate almalinux-8-x86_64
  2. Enter to the container
  3. Install cPanel:
cd /home && curl -o latest -L https://securedownloads.cpanel.net/latest && sh latest
  1. Download and start cldeploy:
wget https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/cln/cldeploy
chmod 775  cldeploy
./cldeploy -k SHARED_PRO_CLN_KEY_HERE --testing-repo
  1. You don't need to restart the container after the cldeploy script finished execution.

CloudLinux Wizard

Wizard is a tool to set up CloudLinux OS components.

In the current version only the lsapi module can be installed.

Dashboard

CloudLinux OS Shared dashboard provides a quick overview of statistics and all administrative information for server administrators.

In the current version only statistics about the lsapi module is available.

Lsapi

To install Lsapi via CloudLinux Wizard, please turn off mod_ruid2 in EasyApache 4 -> Apache Modules.

Note

For EasyApache select Currently Installed Packages.

Note

Currently mod_suexec is not available in containers and will be released in future versions. Just ignore this message, click "ok" and continue installing lsapi via the Wizard.

You can find the complete lsapi documentation here.

AccelerateWP

If you'd like to try Smart Advice and AccelerateWP you should participate in the Beta tester program. To become a beta tester, please send your request at our Beta program page with the signup form here. Once you submit the request, we will send you a confirmation email with program details, terms of use, and installation instructions.

All additional information can be found here.

CageFS

You can fing CageFS documentation here.

Attention!

Kernel config variables are not available for the Virtuozzo container!

PHP Selector

How to install

  1. To install via SSH, update your packages in the container:
    yum update alt-python27-cllib pam_lve lve-wrappers lve-utils liblve tuned-profiles-cloudlinux lvemanager
  2. The following commands can be executed via SSH or via CloudLinux Wizard Via SSH:
    yum install cagefs
yum groupinstall alt-php
cagefsctl –init
    Via CloudLinux Wizard (cPanel only):
  3. Make sure compatible handlers are installed: Via SSH:
    yum install ea-apache24-mod_suexec
yum install ea-apache24-mod_suphp
    Or
    Install lsapi
    It's also possible to install via CloudLinux Wizard:
    The mod_suexec and mod_suphp can be installed via cPanel EasyApache4 installation tool.

  4. Make sure users are enabled in the CageFS:

Useful links:

FAQ

Q: My CloudLinux Manager-> options menu is empty.

A: You don't have AccelerateWP enabled and PHP X-Ray enabled, so there is nothing to configure. Install and enable any of those features to see settings. This minor UI issue will be fixed in future updates.

Q: Dashboard says both: that data is updated and that I need to refresh it and both panels never disappear.

A: Just click the refresh button and reload the page, data will be loaded soon.

Q: Website monitoring does not appear enabled after clicking the toggle.

A: Just reload the page, the feature will be displayed as active.

Q: Website monitoring proposes me to enable autotracing while I disable it.

A: Issue is known and will be fixed soon.

Known restrictions and issues

  1. We do not recommend using disk quota inside of containers - PHP Selector may be not functional for a user when disk quota is exceeded for the user.

  2. The following systemd directives may break CageFS inside containers:

    • PrivateDevices
    • PrivateMounts
    • PrivateTmp
    • ProtectSystem
    • ReadOnlyDirectories
    • ReadWriteDirectories
    • InaccessibleDirectories
    • ProtectHome

Virtuozzo 6 and OpenVZ 6

Installation

Note

Make sure all containers are stopped prior to doing this operation. Or reboot the server after the installation.

Note

Please make sure you have vzkernel-headers and vzkernel-devel packages installed.

yum install vzkernel-headers vzkernel-devel

$ wget -P /etc/yum.repos.d/ https://repo.cloudlinux.com/vzlve/vzlve.repo
$ yum install lve-kernel-module

This will setup LVE module for VZ kernel, as well as DKMS to update that module each time VZ kernel is updated.

After this is done, you can add LVE support for any container on a node, at any time.

To make CloudLinux OS Shared work inside VZ container, VZ node has to be enabled. This should be done for any container where LVE support needs to be added:

$ vzctl set CT_ID --devnodes lve:rw --save

To disable LVE support for Container:

$ vzctl set CT_ID --devnodes lve:none --save

Inside the container, follow standard CloudLinux installation procedures.

CloudLinux OS Shared license is required for each VZ container.

Note

Some servers require increasing fs.ve-mount-nr on host node, otherwise CageFS will throw errors.

To increase fs.ve-mount-nr, on a host node:

  1. add fs.ve-mount-nr = 15000 to /etc/sysctl.conf;

  2. apply it with the sysctl -p command.

In very rare cases the value should be increased higher, up to 50000.

Available functionality

  • CageFS
  • PHP Selector
  • max entry processes
  • mod_lsapi
  • MySQL Governor

LILO boot loader

CloudLinux OS can be deployed on servers that don't have grub installed, by installing хороgrub first.

To do that:

  1. Make sure grub and kernel packages are not excluded. Edit file /etc/yum.conf and check exclude= line for presence of kernel* grub*.

  2. Backup lilo config file:

mv /etc/lilo.conf /etc/lilo.conf.bak

  1. Convert to CloudLinux OS Shared using deploy2cl utility.

  2. Check grub.conf – it should be configured automatically:

# cat /boot/grub/grub.conf
default=0
timeout=5
title CloudLinux Server (2.6.18-294.8.1.el5.lve0.7.33)
     kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-294.8.1.el5.lve0.7.33 root=/dev/sda1  ro
     root (hd0,0)
     initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-294.8.1.el5.lve0.7.33.img
     title linux centos5_64
     kernel /boot/bzImage-2.6.33.5-xxxx-grs-ipv4-64 root=/dev/sda1  ro
     root (hd0,0)
  1. Install grub to master boot record:
/sbin/grub-install /dev/sda
  1. Reboot and check that you are running CloudLinux OS Shared. uname -r should show something like: 2.6.18-294.8.1.el5.lve0.7.33.

Upgrade between major distributions (Elevation) [beta]

About the project

WARNING

CloudLinux ELevate project is currently in beta. Expect potenital issues, in particular with third-party packages and/or repositories. We don't recommend to use or test this tool on your production servers unless you're completely sure about what you're doing.

The ELevate project is an initiative to support migrations between major version of RHEL-derivatives.

The CloudLinux Elevate variant, built on top of the AlmaLinux ELevate project, aims to provide a streamlined method of upgrading CloudLinux 7 systems to CloudLinux 8 in-place.

The Leapp utility is the main tool used to perform the upgrade.

Available migration paths

At the moment, only migrating from CloudLinux 7 to CloudLinux 8 on no-panel systems is supported.

Contribution

ELevate is developed and built as a tool for RHEL-based distributives, not just CloudLinux specifically. ELevate supports migrating to/from other distributions and is open for all to contribute to and enhance. You can find more information and FAQ about the AlmaLinux ELevate this project is built upon at almalinux.org/elevate and Migration SIG, as well as contribute using the ELevate Contribution Guide.

ELevate Quickstart Guide

WARNING

CloudLinux ELevate project is currently in beta. Expect potenital issues, in particular with third-party packages and/or repositories.

It is highly recommended to ensure you have a backup and/or a snapshot of your system before proceeding with the upgrade. Ideally, perform a trial run in a sandbox to verify that migration functions as expected before you attempt to migrate a system.

WARNING

We disclaim responsibility for incorrect or improper use of the tool. The support team will not be able to help you if you have not followed all the steps described in the documentation or converted a server with a control panel present.

In addition, support will not be provided if you have any third-party utilities that do not function after the upgrade, according to Support policy. Examples: webserver, DNS server, mail server, database server and other utilities that do not belong to our product line.

Note

The ELevate project only supports a subset of package repositories it's aware of. It doesn't support external repositories that aren't present in its list of vendors. Packages from repositories Leapp is unaware of will not be upgraded. This can cause your utilities and services to stop working completely after the update.

This can cause your utilities and services to stop working completely on the post-upgrade machine.

In particular, machines with control panels present are highly likely to encounter problems after the upgrade.

CloudLinux does not provide support related to integrating third-party repositories or packages into the upgrade process. However, you can add the aforementioned components to the Leapp database yourself. Please check the (Third-party integration)[https://github.com/AlmaLinux/leapp-repository/tree/almalinux#third-party-integration] section in the linked README for instructions on integrating external repositories.

This guide contains steps on how to upgrade CloudLinux 7 to CloudLinux 8.

  1. First of all, make sure that your CloudLinux 7 is fully upgraded and on the latest kernel version.

  2. After that, download the elevate-testing.repo file with the project testing repo:

sudo curl https://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/testing/elevate-testing.repo -o /etc/yum.repos.d/elevate-testing.repo
  1. Import the ELevate GPG key:
sudo rpm --import https://repo.almalinux.org/elevate/RPM-GPG-KEY-ELevate
  1. Install leapp packages and migration data for the CloudLinux OS.
sudo yum install -y leapp-upgrade leapp-data-cloudlinux

Preupgrade

Start a preupgrade check. In the meanwhile, the Leapp utility creates a special /var/log/leapp/leapp-report.txt file that contains possible problems and recommended solutions. No rpm packages will be installed at this phase.

WARNING

The preupgrade check will likely fail as the default CloudLinux 7 doesn't meet all requirements for migration. That is expected.

sudo leapp preupgrade

This summary report will help you get a picture of whether it is possible to continue the upgrade.

The preupgrade process may stall with the following message:

Inhibitor: Newest installed kernel not in use

Make sure your system is running the latest kernel before proceeding with the upgrade. If you updated the system recently, a reboot may be sufficient to do so. Otherwise, edit your Grub configuration accordingly.

Note

In certain configurations, Leapp generates /var/log/leapp/answerfile with true/false questions. Leapp utility requires answers to all these questions in order to proceed with the upgrade.

Once the preupgrade process completes, the results will be contained in the file /var/log/leapp/leapp-report.txt. It's advised to review the report and consider how the changes will affect your system.

Should any packages or package repositories that are unknown to Leapp be detected, they will also be listed in the report. Consider how leaving the listed items unupgraded will affect the stability of your system.

If the packages listed as unknown in the report are critical for your system, consider adding the associated repositories to Leapp's database, as described (here)[https://github.com/AlmaLinux/leapp-repository/tree/almalinux#third-party-integration].

Common upgrade inhibitors

The following actions from the /var/log/leapp/leapp-report.txt file are seen most often:

Kernel modules

Some kernel modules are deprecated in the CloudLinux 8 major versions. To proceed with the upgade, unload them. Leapp will advise on the list of modules to be removed.

rmmod floppy pata_acpi btrfs

SSHD config default mismatch

If your OpenSSH configuration file does not explicitly state the option PermitRootLogin in sshd_config file, this upgrade inhibitor will apperar. The option's default is "yes" in RHEL7, but will change in RHEL8 to "prohibit-password", which may affect your ability to log onto this machine after the upgrade.

To prevent this from occuring, set the PermitRootLogin option explicity to preserve the default behaivour after migration:

echo PermitRootLogin yes | sudo tee -a /etc/ssh/sshd_config

or configure the SSHD so that the option is present explicitly, without leaving it to the default behaviour.

Disabling PAM modules

PAM module pam_pkcs11 is no longer available in RHEL-8 since it was replaced by SSSD. Leaving this module in PAM configuration may lock out the system.

Allow Leapp to disable the pam_pkcs11 module in PAM configuration by adding an entry to the Leapp answerfile:

sudo leapp answer --section remove_pam_pkcs11_module_check.confirm=True

Upgrade

Start an upgrade. You’ll be offered to reboot the system after this process is completed.

sudo leapp upgrade
sudo reboot

Note

The upgrade process after the reboot may take a long time, up to 40-50 minutes, depending on the machine resources. If the machine remains unresponsive for more than 2 hours, assume that the upgrade process has failed during the post-reboot phase. If it's still possible to access the machine in some way, for example, through remote VNC access, the logs containing the information on what went wrong are located in this folder: /var/log/leapp.

A new entry in GRUB called ELevate-Upgrade-Initramfs will appear. The system will be automatically booted into it. Observe the update process in the console.

After the reboot, login into the system and check the migration report. Verify that the current OS is the one you need.

cat /etc/redhat-release
cat /etc/os-release
rpm -qa | grep el7 # check if there are unupgraded packages present
cat /var/log/leapp/leapp-report.txt
cat /var/log/leapp/leapp-upgrade.log

In addition, check the leapp logs for .rpmnew configuration files that may have been created during the upgrade process. In some cases os-release or yum package files may not be replaced automatically, requiring the user to rename the .rpmnew files manually.

Uninstalling

You can always uninstall CloudLinux OS. In this case, the system will be converted back to AlmaLinux or CentOS* (Depends on what system the conversion was done from).

WARNING

CentOS Linux 8 reached End Of Life (EOL) on December 31st, 2021. You can still uninstall CloudLinux and return to CentOS 8, but we don't guarantee stable operation of the system and its repositories after this action.

The following actions will be taken:

  1. LVE related packages will be removed.
  2. CloudLinux OS Shared repositories & yum plugin will be removed.
  3. AlmaLinux or CentOS* repositories will be set up.

In the end, the script will provide instructions on how to finish the conversion back to AlmaLinux or CentOS*. That will require removal of CloudLinux OS Shared kernel (manual step), and installation of AlmaLinux or CentOS* kernel (if needed).

WARNING

Do not forget to free up a CloudLinux OS Shared license by removing the server from the Servers section of your CLN account. After that, if you don't intend to use the license anymore, you can remove it to avoid being billed for it.

To uninstall CloudLinux OS, run:

$ wget -O cldeploy https://repo.cloudlinux.com/cloudlinux/sources/cln/cldeploy
$ sh cldeploy -c

Now you have converted back to AlmaLinux or CentOS* and it is the time to install kernel.

To delete CloudLinux OS kernel, run (change the kernel package name to the one you've been using):

rpm -e --nodeps $(rpm -qa | grep kernel | grep lve)

To install new AlmaLlinux or CentOS* kernel once you deleted CloudLinux OS Shared kernel, run the following command:

yum install kernel

If yum says that the latest kernel is already installed, it is OK.

Please check your bootloader configuration before rebooting the system.

To remove unused kmods and lve libs, run:

yum remove lve kmod*lve*

Kernel package and related LVE packages should be deleted and the required kernel will be installed.

Before the reboot, the following command should be executed for restoring Apache and httpd.conf without mod_hostinglimits.

For EasyApache 3:

/scripts/easyapache --build

For EasyApache 4:

/usr/local/bin/ea_install_profile --install /etc/cpanel/ea4/profiles/cpanel/default.json

Note

Some of the packages from CloudLinux OS repo will still be present. They are the same as AlmaLinux or CentOS* packages, and don't have to be removed. They will be updated in the future from AlmaLinux or CentOS* repositories, as new versions come out.

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