SUMMARY

The ARCC will perform a downtime maintenance window on both Stokes and Newton from August 5-10, 2024 to upgrade from CentOS 7.x to Rocky Linux 8.x.  Anaconda and GCC/glibc will be affected and users may have to re-create/re-compile software they maintain.

DETAILS

What is happening?
The ARCC needs to perform a special one-time maintenance downtime window this summer.  This will be scheduled for August 5-10, 2024.  The primary purpose of this window is to upgrade the Stokes and Newton clusters to Rocky Linux (likely version 8.x).

Why are the clusters switching from CentOS to Rocky Linux?  
Red Hat announced X that CentOS would become an "upstream" product, meaning that it is meant more for testing components for the final release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux itself.  This has caused a need to switch versions of Linux and most clusters are choosing Rocky Linux.  For example, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) selected Rocky Linux for its Lonestar6 cluster (https://tacc.utexas.edu/news/latest-news/2022/03/01/10-things-know-about-new-tacc-resources-texas-researchers/).  The UCF ARCC reviewed Rocky Linux and found that it would work well.

What has the UCF ARCC done to prepare for the switch to Rocky Linux?
Personnel within the ARCC have been testing Rocky Linux for several months, and have been diligently working to re-compile/re-install newer versions of all software.  The plan is to initially start with later versions of all software only.  However, if your research requires a particular version of software, please do let us know by submitting a ticket to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject "Rocky Software Re-install" and we will attempt to support such requests (not all software can always run on newer versions of operating systems).

How does this affect Anaconda environments?
All Anaconda environments will have to be re-installed/re-created.  The ARCC will ensure that the system-wide environments previously installed are still available; however, users that maintain their own will have to re-create them.  We will try to release a guide to help.

What about effects to other software?
GCC (glibc) will be updated and you may have to re-compile any software you specifically compile yourself.  We do not believe that other software will be affected other than moving to later versions.

Please let us know if you have any questions!