Extended and enhanced update support add-ons for enterprise Linux

Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® Extended Update Support Add-On and Enhanced Extended Update Support Add-On for Red Hat Enterprise Linux are optional add-ons for select Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions. ¹Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support adds to the value of Red Hat subscriptions by supporting those who want to stay with a particular minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux rather than upgrade to new versions with new packages and features on production systems.

To obtain maximum benefits in terms of innovation, functionality, and security from your Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription, Red Hat recommends that customers upgrade to each minor release as they occur (e.g., upgrading from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.0 to 9.1 to 9.2). However, some organizations may wish to stay at a particular minor release for an extended period of time for a variety of reasons.

• Sensitive production workloads may dictate minimal infrastructure changes.
• Policy may require complete application stack recertification to support new minor releases.
• Certain independent software vendors (ISVs) may only certify on specific Red Hat Enterprise Linux minor releases.

To address this need and help ensure the best possible security posture, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Update Support streams are available for a period of 24 months or 48 months from the availability of select minor releases (Enhanced Extended Update Support works with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 only). For example, Figure 1 illustrates planned releases for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, indicating which minor releases are planned to include the Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support Add-Ons.

The Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support Add-Ons² provide considerable stability and value to Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions, allowing for stable production environments for mission-critical applications. Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support provide backports of Critical and Important impact³ Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSAs) as well as Urgent Priority Red Hat Bug Fix Advisories (RHBAs) that are available after a specific minor release and parallel to subsequent minor releases. Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support are delivered via Red Hat Subscription Manager, where it is implemented as a mirror repository hierarchy. On-premise access is provided through Red Hat Satellite.

To help reduce the risk profile for our customers, Red Hat has recently expanded the scope of coverage for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) remediation. As of October 1, 2019, CVEs are covered on all actively supported versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, with future Extended Update Support (2-year) releases inheriting this enhanced CVE policy. With this step, organizations can maintain greater stability for enterprise deployments and lessen the time to resolution of internal security audits.

Note that CVE remediations are limited to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9 maintenance policy.

For more information, visit Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Update Support and Enhanced Extended Update Support.