Input Virtuozzo Linux (VZLinux) 8 - Supported OS

[futureweb]

Hello,

I have just read your post regarding the Centos 8 EOL. (CentOS Project Announces Early End-of-Life Date for CentOS 8)

I know quite a few Server Administrators switching from CENTOS to VIRTUOZZO LINUX (VzLinux, Do You Have an Alternative to CentOS? Virtuozzo Has You Covered With VzLinux!).
Since Plesk and Virtuozzo have belonged to the same company in the past, you know that both the quality and the support from Virtuozzo have always been very good and will continue to do so.
That is why many administrators want to fall back on a proven product from a proven company.

Since VzLinux is also a binary compatible clone from Red Hat Linux, there is no increased support effort on the part of Plesk.
It is only an administrative decision and not a technical one.

I sincerely hope that VzLinux 8 will join the operating systems supported by Plesk!

thx, bye from Austria
Andreas

 

[IgorG]

As far as I know, VZLinux 8 has not been released yet. There is only beta version 8.3.

VZLinux has a utility that disguises it as RHEL 8 and CentOS 8, which are OSes officially supported by Plesk.

Thus, I do not think that support for VZLinux 8 will cause significant difficulties.

I think the main issue here is the question of demand.

 

[moswak]

according to the roadmap (VzLinux), the release should be Q2-2021.
What could also be very exciting is "simple and on-the-fly conversion from CentOS 8 to VzLinux 8 plus the possibility to convert CentOS 7 directly to VzLinux 8"
It would be a dream if you first update a centos7 Plesk server to VzLinux 8 and then possibly run a Plesk script that adapts the Plesk packages.

Or is that a wish that can never come true?

 

[GiapAdmiral]

As far as I know, VZLinux 8 has not been released yet. There is only beta version 8.3.

VZLinux has a utility that disguises it as RHEL 8 and CentOS 8, which are OSes officially supported by Plesk.

Thus, I do not think that support for VZLinux 8 will cause significant difficulties.

I think the main issue here is the question of demand.

Yo, I think vzLinux will be cool. We want it!

 

[mbroemme]

according to the roadmap (VzLinux), the release should be Q2-2021.
What could also be very exciting is "simple and on-the-fly conversion from CentOS 8 to VzLinux 8 plus the possibility to convert CentOS 7 directly to VzLinux 8"
It would be a dream if you first update a centos7 Plesk server to VzLinux 8 and then possibly run a Plesk script that adapts the Plesk packages.

Or is that a wish that can never come true?

Actually the conversion utility for OpenVz is already available via:

yum install https://repo.virtuozzo.com/vzlinux/7/x86_64/os/Packages/v/vzdeploy8-1.0.13-1.vl7.x86_64.rpm

It will become available in our commercial product Virtuozzo Hybrid Server 7.5 Update1 in second half of April 2021. CentOS 7 to VzLinux 8 conversion utility is planned for later this year and will allow same mass conversion as CentOS 8 conversion utility.

Plus we have already released RTM version of VzLinux 7 and 8 template for system containers, simply do:

yum install vzlinux-8-x86_64-ez
yum install vzlinux-7-x86_64-ez

PS: Plesk already supports VzLinux 7 (Virtuozzo Linux 7) so I'll hope it will not be hard to support version 8.

 

[futureweb]

PS: Plesk already supports VzLinux 7 (Virtuozzo Linux 7) so I'll hope it will not be hard to support version 8.

Hey Maik - good to see you here! ;-)

What could also be very exciting is "simple and on-the-fly conversion from CentOS 8 to VzLinux 8 plus the possibility to convert CentOS 7 directly to VzLinux 8"
It would be a dream if you first update a centos7 Plesk server to VzLinux 8 and then possibly run a Plesk script that adapts the Plesk packages.

I would hope for such a possibility too ... we got several Plesk Servers running Centos 7 - it would be great if we could simply upgrade them to the latest VzLinux 8 Version without breaking installed Plesk + Websites ...
(in the past - Mass-Migrations from Old --> New Plesk Server always ended up with massive Support efford because of broken things ...)

 

[mbroemme]

I would hope for such a possibility too ... we got several Plesk Servers running Centos 7 - it would be great if we could simply upgrade them to the latest VzLinux 8 Version without breaking installed Plesk + Websites ...
(in the past - Mass-Migrations from Old --> New Plesk Server always ended up with massive Support efford because of broken things ...)

Actually that is the final goal. What we are currently building already is a tool to convert CentOS 7 -> VzLinux 8 and becoming available in Virtuozzo Hybrid Server and OpenVZ in July/August. Once it is more mature, we will probably show it during a live webinar. And hopefully Plesk will support till that time already VzLinux 8 as they do already with VzLinux 7.

 

[mbroemme]

We've released the RTM version of VzLinux 8 last week, fully supported to run on bare-metal, inside virtual machines, system containers and applications containers (available in Docker Hub).

Main links:

Website: VzLinux
ISO Download: Index of /vzlinux/8/iso
Docker Hub: Docker Hub

Repositories and Bug Tracker:

YUM repos: Index of /vzlinux/8
GitHub: VzLinux
Bug Tracker: - bugs.openvz.org

Stay tunes for more great news!

 

[futureweb]

Hey all,

I've just created a corresponding feature request in the Uservoice. Please all those who are interested in VZLinux 8 support as Plesk Host OS vote diligently! ;-)

---> Virtuozzo Linux 8 support <---

thx & bye out of the Austrian Alps
Andy

 

[mbroemme]

We've published already beta version of our CentOS 7 -> VzLinux 8 upgrade utility which can be used inside VMs or on bare-metal servers. You can try it from GitHub: vzlinux/vzupgrade

 

[HHawk]

According to Plesk VzLinux 8.x will not be supported at all!

First response from Lev Iurev from Plesk support:
I've just receive an update from development team. Due to low demand for VZLinux 7 with Plesk they do not plan support for VZLinux 8 at the moment.

Second reply from Vitaly Zhidkov:
Plesk does not plan to support Virtuozzo Linux 8 at the moment and there is no discussion with Virtuozzo from our behalf.

So it seems it's not recommended to use VzLinux 8 (or VzLinux 7 for that matter) with Plesk Obsidian. You will not have any support with Plesk when you install it on VzLinux 8! So I think it's safer to ditch VzLinux completely. That or Plesk is telling lies?

Furthermore; Plesk supports AlmaLinux and Virtuozzo / OpenVZ does not support AlmaLinux. So it's a "Catch-22"-situation... However there are also issues with Plesk Obsidian with AlmaLinux 8.x in regards to the Plesk Firewall (= not working). I already created a support ticket for this. But who knows what the outcome is going to be. Probably Plesk will blame Virtuozzo / OpenVZ for it and in return Virtuozzo / OpenVZ will blame Plesk... Sigh.

Things were so much simpeler when only CentOS, Ubuntu and Debian were supported mainly. I personally think the one to blame is Red Hat in this case, given their change in approach in regards to CentOS 8.x. CentOS 8.x become completely and utterly useless given the EOL on it and different apprach by Red Hat. I still have no clue why they did that. Oh well. The only result is that there are now various "clones" of RHEL 8.x/ CentOS 8.x and all of them are getting issues as a result of it. Some are not supported by company A and the other is not supported by company B. Arghhhhh....

Oh well... Guess we will see what happens (nothing soon I expect)...

 

[futureweb]

@HHawk - according to Feature Request: Virtuozzo Linux 8 support support vor VZLinux 8 is planned ... ?!?

@IgorG - could you maybe find out what's fact here? The statements according to HHawk or the comment on the feature requests?

It would be a really, really shame if VZLinux 8 wasn't supported by Plesk. Especially in the Virtuozzo environment it is simply the first choice ...

 

[IgorG]

After a detailed analysis, we decided not to invest in support/test/fix/announce VzLinux8 compatibility. This decision was made based on extremally low usage for VzLinux7 for Plesk. Unfortunately, our plans are as follows.
Virtuozzo team might have their own plan to test/announce the scenario with Plesk product. It's up to them.

 

[futureweb]

It is really a shame that you decided against VZLinux 8 support. Of course there were few VZLinux 7 users because at that time Centos 7 was still defacto standard and everyone used Centos as RHEL clone ... no need for VZLinux or others ... but this changed with recent Centos orientation ...
Especially when you consider that due to the RHEL binary compatibility there would be no additional effort on the part of Plesk to support this distri.
Without support you can't use this distri with Plesk ... no matter if Virtuozzo announces something in this direction.

really, really bad this decision ...

 

[HHawk]

It is really a shame that you decided against VZLinux 8 support. Of course there were few VZLinux 7 users because at that time Centos 7 was still defacto standard and everyone used Centos as RHEL clone ... no need for VZLinux or others ... but this changed with recent Centos orientation ...
Especially when you consider that due to the RHEL binary compatibility there would be no additional effort on the part of Plesk to support this distri.
Without support you can't use this distri with Plesk ... no matter if Virtuozzo announces something in this direction.

really, really bad this decision ...

Plesk is a money greedy company, after Oakley Capital took over. Period.
We had a big meeting with our team and CEO today because of Plesk, Plesk support and Plesk pricing in general. We are going to cancel our 200+ licenses. This was enough. We are fed up with the pathetic support, a product where only nonsense is being added and support has become terrible.

Sidenote; because of this we will save 4000 / 5000 Euro per month.

 

[HHawk]

@futureweb invest in DirectAdmin instead; it has become way better than (let's say) 2 years ago. Moden interface and supports everything. Support is getting better. And the best part? 1/8 the price of Plesk! ;-)

 

[admin]

@HHawk, could you give feedback on why you prefer VZLinux rather than AlmaLinux already supported by Plesk?

Software Requirements for Plesk Obsidian

Read all about the software requirements, specifications and other important details to take full advantage of Plesk Obsidian.

docs.plesk.com

 

[HHawk]

@HHawk, could you give feedback on why you prefer VZLinux rather than AlmaLinux already supported by Plesk?

Software Requirements for Plesk Obsidian

Read all about the software requirements, specifications and other important details to take full advantage of Plesk Obsidian.

docs.plesk.com

Maybe you should re-read my earlier post, so a customer does not have to repeat themselves?
I think that would be a good start for Plesk.

 

[moswak]

Of course there were few VZLinux 7 users because at that time Centos 7 was still defacto standard and everyone used Centos as RHEL clone ... no need for VZLinux or others ... but this changed with recent Centos orientation ...

Yes that is a fact. If Virtuozzo is used then it is now very close that in a few years or earlier the centos 7 machines will be migrated to vzlinux 8. Especially because Virtuozzo wants to make it easier "we are currently building already is a tool to convert CentOS 7 -> VzLinux 8"

The number of vz8 users will increase rapidly, I'm very sure of that.

To base the current decision on the number of vz7 users is an ill-considered, completely wrong decision.
With just a little bit of foresight, you wouldn't do something like that.

 

[futureweb]

@HHawk, could you give feedback on why you prefer VZLinux rather than AlmaLinux already supported by Plesk?

Software Requirements for Plesk Obsidian

Read all about the software requirements, specifications and other important details to take full advantage of Plesk Obsidian.

docs.plesk.com

@admin - the most important reason here is that AlmaLinux is NOT supported as an OS by Virtuozzo. Say you are preventing Virtuozzo users from continuing to use Plesk ... (and more & more are now/near future migrating their Centos 7 Servers ...)

We have always used Virtuozzo as virtualization software with Plesk as the front end for our customers ...

Until now, although VzLinux existed, we only ever used Centos as the OS under Plesk, simply because it was defacto standard. Now that you can no longer use Centos, this will change.

Especially when you see what measures Virtuozzo is taking to make it easy for us administrators to switch to VzLinux. (See the comments from @mbroemme )

And please consider - there is no extra work for you to give VzLinux to the supported OS. since both VzLinux and AlmaLinux are binary compatible to Red Hat Enterprise. Say both are technically equivalent for Plesk ... say it would already work out of the Box ... it's just not officially supported ... which means one can't use it as Plesk would decline any Support if there are Problems within Plesk ...