Enterprises running RHEL, Oracle Linux, SUSE, or Amazon Linux 2 today have a documented way to migrate to RLC Pro. Teams running Linux without a support contract, including Ubuntu and community distributions, have one too, and it starts at no cost.
RHEL, Oracle Linux, and CentOS-family environments share Enterprise Linux binary compatibility with RLC Pro, so a migration skips the recertification step platform teams usually budget for. SUSE and Amazon Linux 2 environments take a different path: pinned long-term support versions and validated cryptography. And teams running Linux without a vendor behind it today start with RLC+ at no cost, then move to RLC Pro when a specific need shows up.
Find your starting point before you migrate to RLC Pro
RLC Pro LTS bundles five active FIPS 140-3 CMVP certificates, validated per minor version on x86_64, as a standard feature, not a paid upgrade. That single fact puts the compliance conversation and the migration conversation on the same timeline.
Three groups make up most of the enterprises evaluating a change today:
- RHEL, Oracle Linux, and CentOS-family environments, where the question is compatibility.
- SUSE and Amazon Linux 2 environments, where the question is what you gain, not what you keep.
- Teams running Linux without a commercial support relationship, community Rocky Linux, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Debian, or Ubuntu, where the question is whether now is the time to add one.
Each group hits a different first question, and the rest of this post answers each in order.
Skip recertification if your applications already run on Enterprise Linux
RLC Pro runs on the same Enterprise Linux foundation as RHEL, Oracle Linux, and CentOS. Applications compiled against that foundation carry over with little to no change. CIQ's migrate2rlc script automates the conversion: it checks your current version, third-party repositories, and FIPS requirements, then runs the migration and validates the result.
This migration preserves the Enterprise Linux foundation, so it preserves the certification too, skipping the recertification step platform teams typically budget for a full platform change.
Get pinned versions and bundled support if you're coming from somewhere else
SUSE and Amazon Linux 2 come from a different lineage than RHEL. RLC Pro delivers minor versions pinned to a schedule you control and direct engineering support, standard with the subscription, not assembled from separate vendors and tiers. RLC Pro LTS also carries the same five active FIPS 140-3 CMVP certificates, validated per minor version on x86_64.
Amazon Linux 2 reached end of support on June 30, 2026. Organizations still running it now have a defined destination: RLC Pro.
Start free if you're not paying for Linux today
Most organizations evaluating enterprise Linux for the first time are deciding whether to add a vendor relationship at all. RLC+ answers that question without asking for a commitment: it runs on the same foundation as RLC Pro, at no cost, so a team can move off self-maintained patching before deciding whether a paid subscription makes sense.
A team on RLC+ moves to RLC Pro when a specific trigger shows up, not on a fixed calendar. A compliance requirement the free tier doesn't cover. A support response time the team can't self-provide. Production scale that has outgrown self-support. Or the accumulating engineering time it takes to remediate CVEs in-house instead of through a vendor's backport pipeline.
See where your environment stands. Take the stability and risk assessment to find out which of these triggers applies to you, and what it's costing to wait.
Replace the provisioning layer with Enterprise Linux Manager
Every path above runs into the same operational question eventually: what replaces the provisioning and repository management layer once the OS underneath it changes. CIQ Enterprise Linux Manager (ELM) answers it. ELM ships with every RLC Pro subscription and replaces the Satellite or Foreman-style tooling migrations rarely budget for.
A RHEL-family migration that preserves application compatibility still needs a provisioning answer. A SUSE or Amazon Linux 2 migration needs one too. ELM is the same answer in both cases.
Choose self-serve or hands-on support
The migrate2rlc script and the documentation behind it support a self-serve migration for teams that want to run it themselves. CIQ's migration engineers are available for complex configurations, regulated workloads, or a fleet large enough to justify a dedicated migration plan.
