How to migrate from RHEL to RLC Pro without re-architecting

Migrating from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) to Rocky Linux from CIQ Pro (RLC Pro) is straightforward and convenient.

RLC Pro delivers production-ready Enterprise Linux binary compatibility. This means that your applications, deployment scripts, and automation workflows migrate from other Enterprise Linux offerings with minimal modification. No re-architecture necessary.

RLC Pro’s Enterprise Linux compatibility removes the majority of operational time and risk. You don’t need to rebuild hundreds or thousands of servers, wasting both time and talent. There is a better way: you can run a script on your servers and have them convert to RLC Pro.

Let me introduce you to the migrate2rlc script.

What Enterprise Linux binary compatibility actually means

Enterprise Linux binary compatibility means Rocky Linux rebuilds from the exact same source RPMs that are used to build RHEL. In practice, that means:

The kernel ABI (Application Binary Interface) remains stable: Kernel modules compiled for RHEL 9.6 (for example) load on Rocky Linux 9.6 without recompilation as they share a symbol stablelist. If you’re running third-party kernel modules (proprietary drivers, security tools, monitoring agents), they work. Shared libraries are identical. Your application links against the exact same .so files. Glibc versions, library paths, symbol versions all match.

So, what does change? Repository URLs, package signatures, and OS branding. Packages with additional versions to highlight the bug fixes or enhancements provided in RLC Pro. This means that your certified application stack migrates without re-certification. Your team’s institutional knowledge remains valid. Your migration risk is limited to deployment logistics.

Before you start, assess your current environment

Before you even think about converting your first system, you need to take a long look at what is actually running. How many servers? What versions? What workloads? Do you have reliable backups? This all helps prevent any surprises mid-migration.

Run through this checklist before you start:

• Current RHEL versions (including minor) and subscription status
• Third-party repositories: Check the yum repositories for EPEL, RPMFusion, or any vendor-specific repos
• Custom or in-house applications: Identify any running processes built internally or installed outside of official RHEL channels.
• FIPS or compliance requirements: If you’re running FIPS-enabled, you’ll want to target an RLC Pro LTS version with FIPS 140-3 validation ( .2, .6, and .10 versions).
• Red Hat-specific tooling: Note if you're using Satellite, Insights, or other Red Hat management services. These tools are specific to Red Hat's infrastructure and you'll want to plan for alternatives as part of your migration strategy. Satellite can be used for mirroring and provisioning but is not directly supported by CIQ.
• Running services and applications: List critical services (i.e., nginx, postgresql).

cat /etc/redhat-release
sudo subscription-manager status
ls -lh /etc/yum.repos.d
fips-mode-setup --check
rpm -qa
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

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Ready to learn more about RLC Pro? Visit our product page at https://ciq.com/products/rocky-linux/pro/

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Collect your CIQ credentials

Before converting your RHEL system, you need access credentials for RLC Pro repositories.

Get your Portal credentials:

1. Go to portal.ciq.com and create an account (if you don't have one already).
2. If you do not have a Rocky Linux from CIQ Pro license, go to the Catalog to obtain a Developer License or create a new organization to start an Enterprise Trial or purchase production licenses,
3. Go to My Products > RLC Pro > Deploy > Select your version > Select the Manual/Netboot deployment option.
   • Note: Depending on whether you are using this for evaluation or deploying to production, this may be under your personal account or under your organization.
4. Follow the commands listed under Installation Steps. These include your authentication credentials and the specific commands for enabling RLC Pro repositories. RLC Pro only requires basic authentication to CIQ’s repositories; no per-node inventory license management.

Keep these credentials handy! You'll use them after the migration to authenticate your system to RLC Pro repositories.

Verify you have access:

The CIQ Portal provides specific commands for your subscription. A token is used to access CIQ’s content delivery network, Depot.

Migrate your workloads: The conversion process

The migrate2rlc script converts a running RHEL system to RLC Pro by replacing repositories and reinstalling packages. This is the fastest path but requires careful testing.

Before you start:

• Obtain the migration script: Contact CIQ Support to receive the migrate2rlc script for your RHEL version.
• Upload the script to your target server.
• Take a snapshot or full backup.
• Verify you have console access in case anything breaks.
• Disable third-party repositories temporarily.

Run the migration:

# Make it executable
chmod +x migrate2rlc.sh
# Run the migration (use -r to reinstall all the packages)
sudo ./migrate2rlc.sh -r -u YOUR_USERNAME -p YOUR_TOKEN -t rlc-pro
# Reboot on completion
sudo reboot

The script will:

1. Remove RHEL-specific packages and branding.
2. Replace repository configurations with RLC repositories.
3. Reinstall all packages from CIQ’s repos (with -r flag).
4. Update the OS release identifiers.

Note: Are you an Ansible user? We have an ansible playbook version of this script too!

Validate your migration:

After migration, verify that everything works before you declare success.

# Confirm OS version
cat /etc/rocky-release
# Should show: Rocky Linux release 9.6 (or your target version)

# Verify RLC Pro repository access
sudo dnf repolist enabled | grep -i ciq
# Should list RLC Pro repositories (baseos, appstream, extras)

# Check for any broken dependencies
sudo dnf check

# Verify kernel version
uname -r

# Check that all expected services are running
systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

It really is straightforward to go from running Red Hat Enterprise Linux to RLC Pro.

What RLC Pro gives you beyond the migration

Once you've migrated, RLC Pro provides enterprise capabilities on top of Rocky Linux:

Long-Term Support versions: Pins your environment to 9.6 and CIQ maintains it with security patches for 4+ years. No forced upgrade cycles every six months. Run ‘depot enable rlc-pro-lts-9.6’ to switch

FIPS 140-3 validated packages: Maintain compliance without recertification overhead. Available on .2/.6/.10 LTS releases.

Commercial support options: Standard (business hours) and Premium (24x7 with 30-minute Sev 1 response) support tiers available. Get help from the people who actually build Rocky Linux.

IP indemnification: Legal protection against third-party intellectual property claims for Rocky Linux packages.

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Ready to migrate?

Start with a dev/test system to validate the process, then expand to production on your timeline. Head over to portal.ciq.com to get started!