cPanel ELevate: Seamless In-Place OS Upgrades for RHEL and Ubuntu Servers

Keeping your cPanel & WHM server’s operating system up to date is a key part of maintaining security and reliability on your servers. ELevate, a free tool included with cPanel, provides an automated, tested process for upgrading the underlying operating system on your cPanel server, all while preserving configurations, accounts, and services. It’s a simple, dependable way to keep your cPanel environment current and compliant. 

With the latest update, CloudLinux 8 to CloudLinux 9 upgrades are now fully supported. This expands cPanel ELevate’s reach to include RHEL-based and Ubuntu-based systems across multiple upgrade paths. 

What Is cPanel ELevate? 

ELevate is an automation tool developed by cPanel to streamline major operating system upgrades for cPanel & WHM environments. It supports multiple upgrade paths, such as:  

• CentOS 7 to AlmaLinux 8 on cPanel v110 

• CloudLinux 7 to CloudLinux 8 for cPanel v110 

• Ubuntu 20 to Ubuntu 22 for cPanel v118 

• AlmaLinux 8 to AlmaLinux 9 

• CloudLinux 8 to CloudLinux 9 (new) 

cPanel ELevate makes it possible to move between supported OS generations with minimal downtime and diminished risk. 

Why Upgrade? 

Upgrading between major OS versions used to mean provisioning a new server, migrating data, and scheduling extended downtime.

With cPanel ELevate, you can now perform in-place upgrades that: 

• Preserve user accounts, domains, and configurations 

• Automatically update EasyApache 4 profiles and MySQL/MariaDB 

• Validate PHP handlers and mail/DNS services 

• Reduce maintenance windows and operational overhead 

Support lifecycles 

• Stay current with operating system support lifecycles 

• Receive ongoing security patches and critical updates 

• Align with enterprise and compliance support requirements 

Modern software stack 

• Updated system libraries and tools 

• More recent OpenSSH versions (addressing recent CVEs) 

• Improved hardware compatibility for modern server equipment 

cPanel-optimized performance  

• Ensures all cPanel & WHM components are properly updated 

• EasyApache 4 packages automatically migrated 

• MySQL/MariaDB versions upgraded to compatible releases 

• PHP versions preserved (5.6+ supported on CloudLinux 9) 

Before You Start: cPanel Requirements and Best Practices 

System requirements 

• AlmaLinux 8 or CloudLinux 8 with cPanel & WHM on a supported tier (LTS, STABLE, RELEASE, CURRENT, or EDGE) 

• Latest minor version of cPanel for your current OS 

• Valid cPanel license 

• Valid CloudLinux license (if applicable) 

Disk space requirements 

• / : 5 GB free 

• /boot : 120 MB 

• /var/lib : 5 GB 

• /usr/local/cpanel : 1.5 GB 

Access requirements 

We strongly recommend having multiple access methods to your server: 

• Root SSH access 

• IPMI or virtual console access 

• Direct console access via hosting provider 

• Snapshot/backup of your server 

Before You Begin 

1. Review documentation 
   See the Getting Started guide for cPanel ELevate. 

2. Run the pre-check 

/scripts/elevate-cpanel –check

This identifies blockers such as outdated PHP versions, unsupported MySQL releases, or third-party repositories. 

3. Back up everything 
   Take full cPanel backups and a snapshot of your system. 

4. Update to the latest cPanel tier 
   Ensure you’re on a supported release channel (LTS, STABLE, RELEASE, CURRENT, or EDGE). 

cPanel-Specific Upgrade Blockers 

Before attempting an upgrade, cPanel ELevate performs comprehensive pre-checks: 

EasyApache 4 PHP versions 

• CloudLinux 9 supports PHP 5.6 or later 

• Older PHP versions must be removed or upgraded 

• cPanel ELevate will detect and warn about incompatible versions 

MySQL/MariaDB compatibility 

• Your database version must be supported on CloudLinux 9 

• If cPanel manages MySQL, ELevate can auto-upgrade to MariaDB 

• Remote MySQL instances are temporarily moved to local for upgrade 

JetBackup compatibility 

• JetBackup 5 or later required, as earlier versions will block the upgrade 

Unsupported repositories 

• External YUM repositories with installed packages will block upgrades 

• Common issue: third-party repos must be disabled or removed before proceeding 

Check for blockers: 

/scripts/elevate-cpanel --check 

Start Your Upgrade 

Once your checks are clear: 

1. Download the scripts: 

wget -O /scripts/elevate-cpanel

<https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cpanel/elevate/release/elevate-cpanel>  

2. When you are ready to start the upgrade, you can execute: 

/scripts/elevate-cpanel --start

Post-Upgrade: Verify Your cPanel Installation  

After upgrade completion, validate these key components: 

1. WHM/cPanel access 

• Log into WHM and verify the interface loads 

• Check Security Advisor for warnings 

• Verify the OS version in WHM Home

2. EasyApache 4 validation 

Verify the PHP versions are correct: 

/scripts/php_fpm_config –list

Check Apache/NGINX configuration:

/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rebuildhttpdconf 
/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/restartsrv_httpd

3. MySQL/MariaDB status 

Check MySQL service: 

/scripts/restartsrv_mysql

Verify databases are accessible: 

mysql -e "SHOW DATABASES;"

4. Mail services 

Test Exim: 

/scripts/restartsrv_exim

Check mail queues: 

exim -bp

5. DNS services 

/scripts/restartsrv_named 

6. Review logs 

Check: 

/var/log/elevate-cpanel.log

Review cPanel error logs: 

/usr/local/cpanel/logs/error_log

Monitor system logs: 

/var/log/messages

For Complex Environments 

Although cPanel ELevate is a powerful tool, it may not always be the best fit. In heavily customized setups or environments requiring zero downtime, the WHM Transfer Tool is a great alternative for side-by-side migration and validation before cutover. 

Consider using the WHM Transfer Tool when: 

• Zero-downtime migration is needed 

• The server has heavy customization, or third-party software deeply ingrained 

• Incompatibility discovered during testing 

• You have time for planned migration 

Advantages: 

• Original server remains operational 

• Easy rollback (just switch back) 

• Test new environment before cutover 

• More control over the migration 

Disadvantages: 

• Requires Tight TTL DNS control (short outages are still possible) 

• Requires provisioning and configuration transfer to new server (cPanel provides temporary licenses for this) 

• Slower process with many accounts 

The Access Transfer Tool can be found in the Transfers section of WHM. 

After the Upgrade 

• Verify that all services (web, mail, database, DNS, FTP, etc.) start correctly 

• Check logs for errors: boot log, cPanel logs, service logs 

• Check for any mismatches in PHP / EA-PHP / modules: ensure PHP-FPM or whatever handlers are correctly using updated libs 

• Run diagnostics like cldiag, or your preferred monitoring tools, to detect any misconfigurations 

• Monitor performance / resource usage to detect regressions (memory, disk I/O, etc.)

If needed, cPanel Technical Support is available to assist through the process. 

Upgrade with Confidence 

cPanel ELevate brings modern automation to OS upgrades for cPanel & WHM. With in-place migrations, built-in prechecks, and compatibility validation, you can upgrade faster, without compromising stability or control. 

Future-proof your hosting environment today. Explore the official documentation and start your first ELevate upgrade with the Getting Started guide.