Posted On: Apr 24, 2023
AWS License Manager announces a new feature to upgrade EC2 instances with Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) operating system to Ubuntu Pro. With Ubuntu Pro subscription, customers get five years of Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) on the Ubuntu LTS releases from Canonical. Using this License Manager feature, customers can upgrade their Ubuntu LTS instances in-place to Ubuntu Pro without needing to migrate to a new Ubuntu Pro Amazon Machine Image (AMI). For the use of upgraded EC2 instances with Ubuntu Pro, you will be charged on a per-second basis at the applicable On-Demand or Savings Plan rates for Ubuntu Pro.
In addition to five more years of security maintenance, Ubuntu Pro provides features such as security coverage for approximately 23000+ packages in Ubuntu Universe repository and live kernel patching. For example, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will reach end of standard support on May 31, 2023. You can upgrade the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS instances to Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS in License Manager to receive security updates until April 2028. To learn more about Ubuntu Pro on EC2, please see this announcement.
This feature is available in all AWS Regions where AWS License Manager is available, except the AWS GovCloud(US) and China Regions. To get started, visit AWS License Manager console, choose License type conversion from the left pane and select ‘Create license type conversion’. You can select ‘Ubuntu’ as the Source Operating System and follow the steps mentioned in the AWS License Manager user guide to upgrade to Ubuntu Pro.