On 17 January 2023, the CloudLinux team released CloudLinux OS 9, currently as a beta version, for servers without a control panel and those using a custom control panel; it is not yet supported on cPanel or similar control panels. The new version introduces a number of new features and, as usual, is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and AlmaLinux 9.

CloudLinux OS 9 is based on the AlmaLinux 5.14 kernel, which incorporates all the fixes and updates from several years of kernel development. The full kernel changelog can be found on kernel.org.

The main changes are as follows

Updated dynamic programming languages, web and database servers:

• Perl 5.32
• PHP 8.0
• Git 2.31
• Apache HTTP Server 2.4.51
• Varnish Cache 6.6
• Squid 5.2
• MySQL 8.0
• Redis 6.2

Updated system components:

• GCC 11.2.1
• glibc 2.34
• binutils 2.35.2

Updated translator:

• Go Toolset 1.17.7

Updates to performance tools and debuggers:

• PCP 5.3.5
• Grafana 7.5.11
• GDB 10.2
• Valgrind 3.18.1
• SystemTap 4.6
• Dyninst 11.0.0
• elfutils 0.186

Java tools:

• Maven 3.6
• Ant 1.10

Restrictions on services without a control panel or those with custom control panels

In a non-panel-based environment (used as a standalone operating system), all features of the following CloudLinux components are fully functional:

• LVE limits
• LVE Stats
• MySQL Governor
• CageFS
• PHP Selector
• HardenedPHP
• Apache mod_lsapi PRO

Due to integration limitations with certain control panels, CloudLinux is unable to retrieve information relating to the control panel (e.g. the list of domains in use or the list of administrators). As a result, the following components were unavailable:

• PHP X-Ray
• Slow Site Analyzer
• Website Monitoring Tool
• Ruby selector
• Centralised Monitoring

The Solo and Admin editions of CloudLinux OS are limited to one and five users respectively at the user interface level, and may not function as expected.

For custom control panel installations, if integration with CloudLinux components is configured, the following components will work within the CloudLinux OS 9 environment:

• LVE limits
• LVE Stats
• MySQL Governor
• CageFS
• PHP Selector
• HardenedPHP
• Python Selector
• Node.js Selector
• Apache mod_lsapi PRO
• PHP X-Ray
• Slow Site Analyzer
• Reseller limits

The path to cPanel support

The CloudLinux team then worked to ensure that CloudLinux OS 9 was also available on popular control panels: cPanel, Plesk and DirectAdmin. cPanel can be installed with CloudLinux OS 9.3 without a trial key from version cPanel 11.116.0.1 onwards, whilst full integration for production use was introduced in March 2024 with cPanel 118.

Installation

CloudLinux OS 9 can be installed on a new server from an ISO image, or an existing AlmaLinux 9 server can be converted to CloudLinux 9. We have outlined the steps in our article on installing CloudLinux OS. You can upgrade from CloudLinux 8 to 9 in-place using the ELevate tool: Upgrading CloudLinux from 8 to 9 with ELevate.

How long is it supported for?

CloudLinux OS 9 follows the RHEL 9 lifecycle and will receive updates until 31 May 2032 (see our article on the CloudLinux lifecycle for details). Further releases in the 9 series:

• CloudLinux OS 9.2 (May 2023)
• CloudLinux OS 9.3 (November 2023, with cPanel support)
• CloudLinux OS 9.4 (May 2024)
• CloudLinux OS 9.5 (November 2024)
• CloudLinux OS 9.6 (May 2025)
• CloudLinux OS 9.7 (November 2025)
• CloudLinux OS 9.8 (May 2026)

Our cPanel hosting plans run on CloudLinux, and it can also be installed as an operating system on our KVM VPS servers.

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