Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr) LTS begins its Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) from April 30th 2019.
As everyone is aware that Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Long-term support) has started its Extended Maintenance Support (ESM) Journey from May 2019.
Below information will provide some highlights on the ESM, at the verge of LTS support.
What is LTS & ESM?
LTS (Long-term support) release comes with 5 years of technical support, security patches and critical fixes for Ubuntu since its 6.06(Dapper Drake) LTS release.
ESM (Extended Security Maintenance): When Ubuntu LTS user’s reaches their 5-year’s term, ESM provides access to critical and important security patches beyond the five-year support time frame.
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS ‘Trusty Tahr’ will be supported until April 2022 through UA Infrastructure’s ESM service.
Referring the above terminology, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS with its initial kernel version 3.13 has completed its 5 Year term from 17th April 2014 until 30th April 2019.
How to Upgrade Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS?
Do not skip a release when you are performing the upgrade.
Say for example, do not upgrade from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Instead, from 14.04 LTS upgrade to 16.04 LTS, then from 16.04 LTS upgrade to 18.04 LTS.
Who will go for ESM when newer version 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) & 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) Available?
Those who are not willing or unable to upgrade their existing 14.04 LTS will opt for Ubuntu 14.04 Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) support.
ESM will allow the system admins or it organization to comply with their security compliance while they prepare themselves for migration or fresh installation of newer version.
ESM is not free of cost. Bingo!!!
Refer the following table to know more about Pricing and supported options.
| Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure | Essential | Standard | Advanced |
| Bits only | Support | Support | |
| Physical server | $225 | $750 | $1,500 |
| Virtual server | $75 | $250 | $500 |
| Desktop * | $25 | $150 | $300 |
| Phone and ticket support | No Support | Office hours * | 24/7 |
| Response time SLA – Sev 1 | No Support | 4 hours | 1 hours |
| Response time SLA – Sev 2 | No Support | 8 hours | 2 hours |
| Response time SLA – Sev 3 | No Support | 12 hours | 6 hours |
| Response time SLA – Sev 4 | No Support | 24 hours | 12 hours |
In the absence of 14.04 ESM, your system will be vulnerable due to lack of security updates.
Reiterating, ESM ensures the ongoing security and integrity of LTS systems through Ubuntu Advantage (Portal to buy ESM).
Procedure to enable ESM:
Go to Ubuntu ESM page to buy the ESM support.
While purchasing the ESM coverage from Ubuntu Advantage, a token will be issued to enable the ESM.
Once you have the token, follow the below commands in the CLI to enable it.
$ sudo ubuntu-advantage enable-esm [ENTER TOKEN]
$ sudo apt-get update
As a part of standard APT (Advance Packing Tool) upgrade procedure, ESM patches will be readily available now.
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