Secure Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Azure
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial) will reach the end of its free initial five-year security maintenance period on April, 30 2021. It is supported until 2026 through Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) with either an Ubuntu Pro premium image or by attaching a UA subscription.
Launch new workloads on Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS
Contact us to add ESM to existing Ubuntu 16.04 virtual machines ›
Keep your Azure Ubuntu 16.04 LTS systems secure
You should evaluate if you can easily move your instances to either Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS before April 30, 2021.
If you would like to keep using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Canonical is delighted to offer at least five-additional years of Expanded Security Maintenance (ESM) available with the Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS premium image or through an Ubuntu Advantage subscription.
Find Ubuntu 16.04 instances with Azure Resource Graph Explorer ›
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 is priced at 3.0-4.5% of your average compute cost of your existing 16.04 LTS instances with hourly billing, or alternatively you can get an Ubuntu Advantage subscription starting at $75 per VM per year.
Upgrading Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Azure to Ubuntu Pro
New or redeployed instances
For fresh Ubuntu 16.04 instances, or if you are able to redeploy your workload, we recommend using Ubuntu Pro images. Ubuntu Pro for Azure is a premium image, optimised for Azure with security and compliance features built in, and optimised for the public cloud.
Ubuntu Pro includes security coverage for the entire collection of software packages shipped with Ubuntu, tracking high and critical CVEs. It is ideal for companies that have embraced open source for their new products.
Upgrading existing instances
If you are looking to upgrade your existing Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Azure instances you can enable the Ubuntu Advantage subscription directly from the Azure marketplace.
See a tutorial for this process. Please note that this will enable Ubuntu Advantage for all Ubuntu instances under the selected subscription.
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS support lifecycle
Microsoft and Canonical joint webinar on 16.04 migration strategies and options
Microsoft and Canonical partnered on a joint webinar to help you through this evaluation process. The webinar covers the following topics:
- The benefits and risks of an in place upgrade from LTS-LTS
- Redeployment and migration of workloads to later LTS releases if they support it
- Application version differences between Ubuntu 16.04 and later LTS releases and the impacts this may have on migration
- Backup strategies before migration
- Easy migration of Azure pipelines from Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04
- Commercial options for remaining on Ubuntu 16.04 with security maintenance