Red Hat has issued another notification signaling the approaching end-of-life (EOL) for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. The aging Linux distribution is approaching the end of its support cycle, patches and security updates will only be issued for another three months.

“This is the 3-month notification of the End Of Life plans for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. In accordance with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Errata Support Policy, the regular 7 year life-cycle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 will end on October 31, 2010,” Red Hat announced.

“After this date, Red Hat will discontinue the regular subscription services for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. Therefore, new bug fix, enhancement, and security errata updates, as well as technical support services will no longer be available,” the announcement continued.

Products affected by the RHEL 3 EOL:

· Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3; · Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES 3; · Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3; · Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extras 3; · Red Hat Desktop 3; · Red Hat Global File System 3; · Red Hat Cluster Suite 3.

As of October 31, 2010, Red Hat will not issue any more patches or updates for the seven-year-old operating system. Those running RHEL 3 are instructed to update to the latest stable version, RHEL 5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is currently in beta and a final version may be launched by the end of the year. If it lands before October 31, RHEL 3 users could update directly to the latest version. If users are unable to move from the RHEL 3 platform, Red Hat is prepared to offer extended support on a case-by-case basis.

CentOS 3 users should also take notice as the EOL announcement also concerns them since CentOS is based directly on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. As such, after October 31, 2010, CentOS 3 will also not receive any more updates.