What happens to Azure VMs with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS after April 30, 2023?

Question

Ubuntu will discontinue security support for version 18.04 LTS on 30 April 2023. How does Microsoft deal with this issue? What happens with Azure VMs running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS after this date?

Will these VMs be switched off by Microsoft? Will they still be available for a certain period of time? Unfortunately, I have not found any information on this.

Answer 1

Hello @Volker Braun

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A platform. I am happy to answer your question.

Microsoft Azure provides support for various operating systems, including Ubuntu, through Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS). When an operating system reaches its end of life, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for that operating system.

In the case of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, it will reach its end of life on April 30, 2023. After this date, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for this version of Ubuntu.
It is recommended that you upgrade your Azure VMs running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to a newer version of Ubuntu before the end-of-life date to ensure that your VMs continue to receive security updates and technical support.
It is users call to decide if they want to stay on 18.04 or can upgrade to latest available 

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact Microsoft Azure support for assistance^.

Document link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-services/cloud-services-guestos-retirement-policy

Hope this helps!

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