Update - The original date Version 70 was anticipated to go EOL was March 31st. This date was extended to April 30th in an announcement on March 26th. cPanel cited the fact that Version 78 was not yet ready for progression to the stable release tier in time to meet this deadline.
cPanel, one of the world’s most popular online Linux-based hosting control panels, will be ending support for their current Long-Term Support (LTS) version 70. cPanel qualifies only a single version release as LTS each year, always ending support for that version on April 30th of the following year unless extended, at their sole discretion. With version 70 becoming End of Life (EOL), the next LTS tier to upgrade to would be version 78 - Released February 2019 and expected to go EOL March 2020.
All cPanel users are encouraged to check what version their servers are currently using, and to upgrade them to version 78 or newer as soon as possible.
How often does this happen?
cPanel only recently modified their lifecycle policy as of September of 2016 to include only a single LTS version per year, allowing a lower development overhead and more closely matching their observed consumer upgrade patterns. Prior to this change, cPanel provided longer support for more versions, which not only increased development overhead, but also slowed down new feature development and made supporting cPanel as a product more difficult, both for cPanel and for hosting service providers.
Why should I upgrade?
Allowing your cPanel server to reach EOL has the following effects:
- The server version is no longer available for installation, and therefore the server can no longer be recreated from scratch if needed.
- cPanel no longer provides security patches or new features, potentially increasing risk of compromise and/or server failure.
- cPanel documentation becomes archived, and therefore is no longer being maintained, reviewed, or upgraded.
What version do I have?
For desktop and mobile screens with resolutions wider than 768px, the current server and cPanel versions are displayed at the top-right of the WHM interface:
You can also find the version number displayed on the Update Preferences page under Server Configuration
How do I upgrade cPanel?
cPanel provides up-to-date instructions for updating cPanel through their knowledgebase, but for your convenience, the following instructions include images for easier comprehension:
- Navigate to the Upgrade to Latest Version page under the cPanel heading.
- Review the build selection information to ensure upgrading now will use the desired tier. For example, the screenshot below shows that in our example, this server will be upgraded to the latest build on the release tier.
- Click on the Click to Upgrade button to begin the update process.
Note: While it is recommended to stay on the upgrade screen until the update has completed, the update will continue in the background should you accidentally navigate away from this page. - The update process will then begin, providing a visual progress bar with the estimated completion percentage for the update process.
The log window below the progress bar will show you the update process output, including what commands are being run, any output those commands generated, etc. This information is also logged on the server in the /var/cpanel/updatelogs/ folder with the current log filename being mentioned at the end of the update process:
A log of this update is available at /var/cpanel/updatelogs/update.1553261138.log
Note: It is not uncommon for individual package updates to generate warnings or warning-like output that can, in most cases, be safely ignored. Should any part of the update actually fail, cPanel usually provides a more visual summary and instructions after the update process has ended.
If you have questions that weren’t addressed here, or need assistance with upgrading your cPanel server, please contact a member of our support team through your dedicated support channel (for existing customers), or by creating a support ticket through the Submit a request link.