17. Operating System Upgrade
All of our hosted sites currently run on Ubuntu 22.04 which will reach its end of life in April 2032.
End-of-life indicates the date at which the OS version will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes from the vendor. This leaves the system vulnerable to security exploits and other security issues that are not addressed by updates.
Should the OS of hosted sites require an update in the interim, the following FAQs should help answer any questions that may arise.
17.1 FAQs
Copy chapter anchor to clipboardHow would an upgrade proceed?
To ensure a smooth upgrade process, we perform upgrades region by region.
During each upgrade cycle, we update our system status page to keep you informed of any progress or issues that may arise. We encourage you to regularly check our status page to receive real-time updates and notifications.
When would an upgrade happen on my site?
The exact timing of an upgrade on a specific site depends on a variety of factors, including site content and the number of sites present in your specific region.
If upgrades are being performed in the region where your site is located, the upgrade process for your site could start anytime and would continue until the status is removed from the status page.
Would there be any downtime?
Yes, both production and staging sites (if any) would experience temporary downtime.
We estimate that sites on our most popular plans (Quantum, Bronze, Silver, Gold) would experience a minimal downtime of approximately 10-15 minutes during an upgrade process.
However, this is an estimate, and the actual duration would vary depending on several factors, including site content. Rest assured our team does all they can to minimize disruption and keep your sites safe.
Would hosting actions work during an upgrade?
While an OS upgrade for a site is underway, all hosting activities/actions for that specific site would be temporarily inaccessible (creating and accessing SFTP/SSH accounts, accessing the Hosting tab, or creating templates from that site, etc.).
What would be the impact on new site creation and cloning from an existing site?
Creating a new website would work just fine during the upgrade process. However, creating a new site from templates (either user templates or WPMU DEV templates) and cloning an existing site would not be available until the entire OS upgrade is completed.
Would uptime or other monitoring tools mark the site down?
During the upgrade process, your site could experience temporary downtime, and as a result, uptime or other monitoring tools could mark your site as down for a few minutes. Our Uptime monitoring tool could show the following messages:
Is there a backup plan in place during OS upgrades on a site?
We make sure to take backups both before and after an upgrade process to provide extra security. The backups are clearly identified on your Hosting > Backups screen with labels indicating the backups taken before and after the upgrade.
17.2 Get Support
Copy chapter anchor to clipboardIf you still have questions or need assistance after reading this document, please don’t hesitate to contact our support superheroes using the available options under the Support tab in your Hub or via the Support tab in your WPMU DEV Dashboard.
