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I'd like to know the exact steps that need to be taken to get Ubuntu 16.04 LTS support past April 2021 through to the year 2024.

I've read about Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) and this sounds like a viable option.

Can anyone spell out the exact steps that need to be taken and what costs if any are incurred?

muru
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WinEunuuchs2Unix
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  • What exactly don't you understand ? https://ubuntu.com/advantage – pLumo Dec 20 '20 at 22:19
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    @pLumo "What I exactly don't understand" is the condescending tone in your comment. All you had to do was post an answer with that link and point out it is free for three machines. Or if an existing question and answer exists you could have voted to close my question. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Dec 20 '20 at 22:24
  • I think you misunderstood my comment. It was not meant to be rude at all. I meant that you might want to clarify / focus your question a bit on what details you want to know. > "Sharing your research helps everyone." – pLumo Dec 20 '20 at 22:27
  • @pLumo Your link was helpful. However I believe it is only for 14.04 at this time? – WinEunuuchs2Unix Dec 20 '20 at 22:29
  • ESM for 16.04 didn't start as it is not EOL yet. I guess, when you have the subscription it will include ESM for 16.04 the with same or very similar conditions. – pLumo Dec 20 '20 at 22:30
  • @pLumo Fair enough. I just don't want to wake up one day in April 2021 and discover sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade no longer work. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Dec 20 '20 at 22:32
  • Related: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1227244/is-esm-available-for-free-for-personal-use and maybe https://askubuntu.com/questions/1001714/will-esm-also-become-available-for-ubuntu-14-04 – pLumo Dec 20 '20 at 22:34
  • @pLumo that link confirms free for 3 machines. However it mentions free for 50 machines to community members, and I asked in comment if that means Ask Ubuntu community. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Dec 20 '20 at 22:37
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    Maybe this one: https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-16-04-lts-esm-migration-path – Terrance Dec 20 '20 at 23:14
  • @Terrance Thanks that's a great link. The link at the end to click for 30 minute consultation doesn't sound exactly free though. As an aside, at work we are running Windows 2008 and Microsoft Office 2010. The heavy lifting is done by Linux and Red Hat though, linux kernel 2.6 or something like that. At home I'm quite content with 16.04 and don't want to be pushed into breaking my current platform which is working perfectly. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Dec 20 '20 at 23:28
  • @WinEunuuchs2Unix I hear ya! 16.04 was actually one of my favorite distros to date that they have made. It's too late for my server now since I don't want to reinstall everything on it again, but I ran 16.04 on it for a very long time with ZERO problems. =) – Terrance Dec 21 '20 at 01:39
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    @pLumo I don't mean to get involved, but I have to admit that "What exactly don't you understand?" is fairly condescending in English, at least. Certainly a "Does this link help?" or "Is this what you're looking for?" would have been much better... – Ray Dec 21 '20 at 02:20
  • Pretty simple, you just need a ubuntu one account, then when it comes available register at https://ubuntu.com/advantage You'll be sent or receive an address to add to your sources. Ask Ubuntu doesn't make you a ubuntu community member but that's only for more than 3 machines. – doug Dec 21 '20 at 04:32
  • @Ray I admit that I could have used better words, but I think I explained myself. sorry – pLumo Dec 21 '20 at 07:43
  • This link in the first link by pLumo, offers more info on 16.04. https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-16-04-lts-esm-migration-path – oldfred Dec 21 '20 at 15:05
  • Good Question predating mine by quite a bit, I have partially re-posted my answer here. +10 – C.S.Cameron Apr 15 '21 at 11:38
  • I have a somewhat similar question - Using 16.04 after 2021 and so far I see that it is just not enough to turn ESM on. For example in case of Firefox, you have to use snaps instead of debs to have updates. https://askubuntu.com/questions/1394021/is-it-safe-to-use-ubuntu-desktop-when-it-is-in-esm-stage – tnagy.adam Feb 21 '22 at 09:38

1 Answers1

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Extended Security Maintenance for Ubuntu 16.04

First priority when retaining Ubuntu 16.04 is security. This means signing up for Ubuntu Advantage (UA) client and installing ESM.

The Ubuntu discourse page for information on installing Ubuntu ESM is https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-advantage-client/21788. the page directed me to https://ubuntu.com/advantage where I completed the registration process and ended up with a free token.

Back on https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-advantage-client/21788 I continued with Installing the UA client by running a couple of commands as instructed. Next I proceeded to Attach the UA client. I ran the line I got when registering sudo ua attach [TOKEN_ID], (Please use your own free token).

Running sudo ua status I confirmed that ESM was enabled.

I completed the upgrade by running sudo apt update and then sudo apt upgrade. The installer ran for quite a while.

I ran Software Updater and It installed quite a few security updates. All Settings/Overview tells me System Up-To-Date.

C.S.Cameron
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  • I have tried this and it's not clear that it works. When singing up for Ubuntu Advantage, it says on the page where the token is obtained, that the token is only valid for 14.04. Upon trying to use it with 16.04, ua status shows that esm-infra and livepatch are both enabled, but ubuntu-support-status still shows that 100% of packages are not supported. – Stefan Dawydiak May 05 '21 at 14:41
  • @Stefan Dawydiak It is getting late here, I will try to have a look in the morning. – C.S.Cameron May 05 '21 at 14:46
  • Thank you, I hope they do indeed have community support for 16.04 servers – Stefan Dawydiak May 05 '21 at 14:51
  • @Stefan Dawydiak: Have a look here: https://ubuntu.com/16-04. I am not sure what the stuff from ubuntu-support-status means. – C.S.Cameron May 06 '21 at 05:09
  • Thank you, I have found that page already and used my token. Running ua status tells me it's working correctly, too, but I unattended upgrades hasn't seen fit to upgrade anything since May 4, before I used my token. However, it seems that ubuntu-support-status works in a rather naive way, even after the bugfix here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bug/1574670 – Stefan Dawydiak May 06 '21 at 16:33