Overview of the Support Lifecycle for a few selected Enterprise Linux Distributions

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Overview of the Support Lifecycle for a few selected Enterprise Linux Distributions.
Last Updated 26.11.2014

RedHat Enterprise Linux (13 year extended support)

RedHat Enterprise Linux RHEL 7 RHEL 6 RHEL 5 RHEL 4 RHEL 3
Release Date 10-Jun-14 10-Nov-10 15-Mar-07 14-Feb-05 23-Oct-03
EOL
End of Life
30-Jun-24 30-Nov-20 31-Mar-17 29-Feb-12 31-Oct-10
EOS
Final end of Support (Extended)
30-Jun-27 30-Nov-23 31-Mar-20 31-Mar-17 30-Jan-14
Currently under
support?
YES YES YES YES NO
Lifetime in Years 13.0 13.0 13.0 12.1 10.3
Life kernel patching available? YES
kpatch
Dynamic
Kernel
Patching
NO NO NO NO

CentOS Linux (10 year lifecycle)

CentOS Linux CentOS 7 CentOS 6 CentOS 5 CentOS 4 CentOS 3
Release Date 7-Jul-14 10-Jul-10 12-Apr-07 9-Mar-05 19-Mar-04
EOL
End of Life
30-Jun-24 30-Nov-20 31-Mar-17 29-Feb-12 31-Oct-10
EOS Final end
of Support
(Extended)
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Currently under
support?
YES YES YES NO NO
Lifetime in Years 9.9 10.3 9.9 6.9 6.6
Life kernel patching available? YES
kpatch
Dynamic
Kernel
Patching
NO NO NO NO

Oracle Enterprise Linux

Oracle Linux OEL 7 OEL 6 OEL 5
Release Date Jul-14 Feb-11 Mar-07
EOL
End of Life
Jul-24 Mar-21 Mar-17
EOS Final end
of Support
(Extended)
Jul-24 Mar-21 Mar-17
Currently under
support?
YES YES YES
Lifetime in Years 10.0 10.1 10.0
Life kernel
patching available?
YES
Ksplice for the
Unbreakable
Enterprise Kernel
YES
Ksplice for the
Unbreakable
Enterprise Kernel
YES
Ksplice for the
Unbreakable
Enterprise Kernel

Ubuntu Server LTS (Long Term Support Version)
5 year lifecycle

Ubuntu Server LTS 14.04 LTS
14.04.1 LTS
Trusty Tahr
12.04 LTS
12.04.5 LTS
Precise Pangolin
10.04 LTS
10.04.3 LTS
Lucid Lynx
8.04 LTS
8.04.4 LTS
Hardy Heron
6.06 LTS
6.06.2 LTS
Dapper Drake
Release Date 17-Apr-2014 26-Apr-2012 29-Apr-2010 24-Apr-2008 1-Jun-2006
EOL
End of Life
30-Apr-2019 30-Apr-2017 30-Apr-2015 9-May-2013 1-Jun-2011
EOS Final end
of Support
(Extended)
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Currently under
support?
YES YES YES NO NO
Lifetime in Years 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.1 5.0
Life kernel patching available? NO NO NO NO NO

 Debian Linux

Debian Linux Debian 7 Wheezy Debian 6 Squeeze Debian 5 Lenny Debian 4 etch
Release Date 4-May-2013 6-Feb-2011 15-Apr-2009 8-Apr-2007
EOL
End of Life
4-May-2018 6-Feb-2016 6-Feb-2012 15-Feb-2010
EOS Final end
of Support
(Extended)
TBA
(estimated five
years after initial
release)
TBA
(estimated five
years after initial
release)
10-Mar-2012 20-Jun-2010
Currently under
support?
YES YES NO NO
Lifetime in Years 5.0 5.0 2.9 3.2
Life kernel patching available? NO NO NO NO

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (10 year lifecycle & extended support)

SUSE  LES
Linux Enterprise Server
SLES 12 SLES 11 SLES 10 SLES 9
Release Date 27-Oct-2014 24-Mar-2009 17-Jun-2006 8-Nov-2004
EOL
End of Life
1-Oct-2021 31-Mar-2019 31-Jul-2013 31-Aug-2011
EOS
Final end of  Support (Extended)
TBA 31-Mar-2022 31-Jul-2016 31-Aug-2014
Currently under support? YES YES YES NO
Lifetime in Years 7.0 13.0 10.1 9.8
Life kernel patching available? YES
Live
Kernel
Patching
with
kGraft
NO NO NO

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