Upgrade server OS from Ubuntu to CentOS

We don't recommend trying to change your server's OS directly from Ubuntu to CentOS. The best practices for a major distribution upgrade, or distribution change would be to configure a separate server, and then transfer your data when it is ready.

Specifically, you would Create a Linode, deploy a CentOS Linux image to it, secure it, and install the specific packages/configurations/updates that you need for the server to run. Next, you would copy of your specific files or data that you need. For more information, I'd recommend taking a look at our Migration guide as it gets into the specifics of transferring databases, using rsync to copy files, and transferring DNS.

This process can take some time but any issues that come up when setting up your applications are usually easier to troubleshoot than trying to work through changes caused by major distribution changes or updates.

You’ll need create another Linode with Centos and migrate over your data.