How can I Upgrade my Azure Linux VM from Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04

Question

Because the security support for Ubuntu 18.04 expires on 30.04.2023, we have to upgrade our Azure Linux VMs from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to 20.04 LTS.

Question:

Is there a process for this like the In-Place Update for Data Science VMs (DSVS)?

Or is such an upgrade of the operating system not possible at all?

Answer 1

Hi

Azure does not currently support an upgrade of the operating system of a Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine, Instead, you should create a new Azure virtual machine that is running the supported version of the operating system that is required and then migrate the workload.

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/troubleshoot/azure/virtual-machines/server-software-support

There is a similar article using Azure Data science

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/machine-learning/data-science-virtual-machine/ubuntu-upgrade

Best Regards

Answer 2

Yes, you can upgrade the Azure Virtual Machines.

Procedure to upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04

1. Create a backup of your server or vm (take a snapshot)
2. Upgrade all installed packages of Ubuntu version

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

3. Reboot the Ubuntu Linux system
   sudo reboot
4. Install the Ubuntu update tool

  sudo apt install update-manager-core

5. Start the upgrade procedure
   sudo do-release-upgrade
6. Reboot the box

sudo reboot

7. Verify upgrades
   lsb_release -a

Answer 3

You can perform an in-place upgrade from Ubuntu Server to Ubuntu Pro on Azure. This upgrade enables you to leverage advanced features and extended security maintenance without redeploying your VM. Detailed steps and more information can be found at this link.