Ubuntu 22.04 “Jammy” reaches the end of its standard support window in April 2027, and Ubuntu 24.04 “Noble Numbat” brings a newer kernel, PHP 8.3, OpenSSL 3 and years of runway. The in-place upgrade with do-release-upgrade is reliable — if you prepare properly. Rushing this on a production server without a backup is how bad weeks start, so follow the checklist.
Before you start: the safety checklist
1. Back up everything that matters — websites, databases, /etc. If your provider offers snapshots, take one now; it turns a failed upgrade into a five-minute rollback.
2. Check third-party software compatibility — PHP jumps to 8.3, MySQL to 8.0.4x, Python to 3.12. Old application code is the most common casualty.
3. Have console access ready — your provider's VNC/serial console is your lifeline if SSH drops mid-upgrade.
4. Fully update the current system first:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y sudo apt autoremove --purge -y sudo reboot
Step 1 — Launch the upgrade
sudo do-release-upgrade
The tool opens a second SSH daemon on port 1022 as a safety net, estimates the download, and asks for confirmation:
screen or tmux, or at least be aware the upgrader itself survives SSH disconnects — reconnect and run sudo screen -Dr to reattach to it.Step 2 — Answer the prompts
During the upgrade you will be asked whether to keep or replace modified configuration files (sshd_config, php.ini…). The safe default is keep your currently-installed version (option N) — review the new defaults later from the .dpkg-dist files.
Step 3 — Reboot and verify
sudo reboot lsb_release -a
Then confirm your services survived: web server up, database up, sites loading, certificates renewing. Clean up leftovers:
sudo apt autoremove --purge -y
If you are on 20.04 or older
LTS upgrades go one release at a time: 20.04 → 22.04 → 24.04. Repeat the process for each hop. For very old or heavily customized servers, a fresh 24.04 install plus data migration is often faster and cleaner than two chained upgrades — that is the approach we usually take for clients.
Common issues
“No new release found”: 24.04 is offered to 22.04 users only from the 24.04.1 point release onward — make sure the system is fully updated, and check Prompt=lts in /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades. PHP applications broken after upgrade: the old PHP version is gone; reinstall extensions (LAMP/LEMP guides list them) and check code compatibility with 8.3. Boot problems: use your provider's rescue console — and that snapshot you took.
Related Ubuntu guides
- How to Update Ubuntu Server: apt, Security Patches and Unattended Upgrades
- Initial Ubuntu 24.04 Server Setup Guide: Secure Your New VPS in 10 Steps
- How to Install a LAMP Stack (Apache, MySQL, PHP) on Ubuntu 24.04
- How to Install a LEMP Stack (Nginx, MySQL, PHP) on Ubuntu 24.04
Prefer to have experts handle it?
LFA IT provides fully managed Ubuntu VPS and dedicated servers — initial setup, security hardening, monitoring and 24/7 support, so you can focus on your business. Explore our hosting and server management services or open a support ticket and our engineers will take it from there.
