How will Ubuntu 12.04 end of life affect me?
On April 2017, Ubuntu 12.04 reaches end of life (EOL).
We recommend that you update to Ubuntu 16.04.
Over time technology and security evolves, new bugs are fixed and new threats prevented, so in order to maintain a secure infrastructure it is important to keep all software and systems up to date.
Operating systems are key to security, providing the libraries and technologies behind NGINX, Apache and anything else running your application. Old operating systems don’t support the latest technologies which new releases of software depend on, leading to compatibility issues.
Leaving old Ubuntu 12.04 systems past April 2017 leaves you at risk to:
- Security vulnerabilities of the system in question
- Making your network more vulnerable as a whole
- Software incompatibility
- Compliance issues (PCI)
- Poor performance and reliability
Ubuntu End of life dates:
Ubuntu LTS (long term support) operating systems come with a 5 year End Of Life policy. This means that after 5 years it receives no maintenance updates including security updates.
- Ubuntu 12.04 : April 2017
- Ubuntu 14.04 : April 2019
- Ubuntu 16.04 : April 2021
Faster:
Just picking up your files and moving them from Ubuntu 12.04 to Ubuntu 16.04 will speed up your site due to the new software.
- Apache 2.2 -> Apache 2.4
- MySQL 5.5 -> MySQL 5.6
- PHP 5.3 -> PHP 7.0
Are you still using an old operating system?
Want to upgrade?
Not sure if this effects you?
Drop us a line and see what we can do for you!
Feature image by See1,Do1,Teach1 licensed CC BY 2.0.
NB the move from PHP 5.3. to PHP 7 is non trivial – not all libraries are available for PHP 7 yes, so test your code 🙂