How do I upgrade my Linode from CentOS 7 to CentOS 8?

You can follow the instructions in our guide to update your Linode to CentOS 8. You should also make sure to look into any possible issues with your current software stack when updating to any new OS version. It's difficult to provide general guidance for this, but you can consult your software's documentation and online communities to see if there are any known issues.

As an alternative to the instructions in that guide, you can also create a new Linode running CentOS 8 and configuring it before you move your data over to the new Linode. This way, you can confirm that your software is working correctly before moving it into production. If you create the new Linode in the same datacenter as your current Linode, you can swap IP addresses between them once you've copied your data over. This will allow you to avoid the downtime created by needing to change DNS records to account for a new IP address. Once you've confirmed that everything is working in the new environment, you can delete the old Linode to avoid unnecessary billing.