Upgrade Blockers

Last modified: September 18, 2023

Overview

When you upgrade to a newer version of cPanel & WHM or install cPanel & WHM on a new server, the system checks for compatibility with the version of cPanel & WHM that you wish to install. Blockers are conditions that don’t allow the cPanel & WHM update process (upcp) to install or upgrade to a particular version.

Warning:

Before you upgrade the cPanel & WHM version on a server, we strongly recommend that you restore cPanel & WHM’s management of all FTP targets on your server. If the FTP package’s target is set to unmanaged on a server that you wish to upgrade, you may encounter problems in the cPanel interface. For more information, read our How to Set or Unset Package Management documentation.

Before you begin a new installation, read our Installation Guide documentation. The cPanel & WHM installation and upgrade processes require at least 5 GB of disk space in the /usr/local/cpanel directory.

Upgrades across multiple major versions

Warning:

After you upgrade to a new major version of cPanel & WHM, you cannot downgrade to a previous major version.
After upgrading to cPanel & WHM version 78, the system will update to use the Long-Term Support (LTS) release tier. The system only makes this change if the CPANEL value in the /etc/cpupdate.conf file is 11.78 or 78, or if it represents an invalid value (for example, 123.45.lug.gage).
If you are upgrading from a very old version of cPanel & WHM, you may experience problems.
- To resolve this issue, manually upgrade to an intermediate version using the /etc/cpupdate.conf file. Then, you can proceed to the final target version.
- If you need assistance, contact cPanel Technical Support.

If you run an update that includes multiple cPanel & WHM major version upgrades, the cPanel & WHM update process (upcp) will upgrade your server to each intermediate version. The update process performs compatibility checks for each intermediate version prior to each upgrade.

Example

For example, after a system administrator runs an update on a server that runs cPanel & WHM version 80, and the target version is cPanel & WHM version 86, the cPanel & WHM update process (upcp) performs the following actions:

The update process detects that the system must first upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 82.
The update process performs compatibility checks for the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 82.
- If the system is compatible, the update process upgrades cPanel & WHM to version 82.
- If the system is not compatible, the update process sends a list of the compatibility issues to the system administrator, and the server remains on cPanel & WHM version 80.
After the upgrade to version 82 is complete, the update process performs compatibility checks for the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 84.
- If the system is compatible, the update process upgrades cPanel & WHM to version 84.
- If the system is not compatible, the update process sends a list of the compatibility issues to the system administrator, and the server remains on cPanel & WHM version 82.
After the upgrade to version 84 is complete, the update process performs compatibility checks for the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 86.
- If the system is compatible, the update process upgrades cPanel & WHM to version 86.
- If the system is not compatible, the update process sends a list of the compatibility issues to the system administrator, and the server remains on cPanel & WHM version 84.

System and software checks

The cPanel & WHM update and installation processes perform two types of check:

Standard — Standard checks apply to all installations and upgrades.
Version-specific — Version-specific checks are specific requirements for the version of cPanel & WHM that you’re installing or upgrading.

If cPanel & WHM encounters a compatibility issue that blocks the installation or upgrade process, the following events happen:

If you started an upgrade, the system remains at the last known compatible version. If you started a new installation of cPanel & WHM, the system remains in its pre-installation state.
cPanel & WHM sends a list of the blockers to the system administrator.
The installation or upgrade process exits.

Standard upgrade checks

When you run an upgrade of cPanel & WHM to any version, the update process performs the following standard checks:

License files

You cannot upgrade cPanel & WHM if any of the following conditions are true:

The cPanel & WHM update process cannot find a valid cPanel & WHM license file.
- Without the license file, cPanel & WHM cannot function properly and will block all updates.
- You must purchase a valid license in order to upgrade, downgrade, or use cPanel & WHM.
The cPanel & WHM update process cannot read your cPanel & WHM license file.
- To fix this issue, run the /usr/local/cpanel/cpkeyclt script.
- If the problem persists, contact our support staff.
Your server’s license is no longer eligible for updates.

If you experience difficulties with your license, contact our customer service department.

Read-only file systems

To ensure that the system can write files to critical directories, the cPanel & WHM update process will fail if the following directories file systems exist in a read-only state:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10


/etc
/var
/var/lib/rpm
/var/cpanel
/usr/local
/usr/local/cpanel
/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/tmp
/var/tmp

RPM database integrity

The update process on servers not running the Ubuntu® operating system verifies the integrity of the RPM database.

To verify the integrity of the RPM database, the update process installs and uninstalls a test RPM.
The update process attempts to repair the problem, but if it cannot repair the RPM database, the upgrade attempt fails.

Version requirements and blockers

Warning:

If a blocker for the version of cPanel & WHM to which you wish to upgrade is present on your system when you start the cPanel & WHM update process, the update process will fail.

Select a version of cPanel & WHM below to view the installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

cPanel & WHM version 116

CloudLinux 9

In cPanel & WHM version 116, we added experimental support for the CloudLinux™ 9 operating system. For more information, read our cPanel & WHM version 116 for CloudLinux 9 documentation.

cPanel & WHM version 114

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 112

CentOS 7, CloudLinux 6 and 7, and RHEL 7

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

You cannot install or upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 112 if your server runs CentOS 7, CloudLinux 6 or 7, or Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (RHEL) 7. For more information, read our cPanel Deprecation Plan documentation.

cPanel & WHM version 110

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 108

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 106

Rocky Linux 8

In cPanel & WHM version 106, you can install cPanel & WHM on the Rocky Linux™ 8 operating system. This installation is experimental and will not be supported until cPanel & WHM version 108.

cPanel & WHM version 104

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 102

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

CentOS 8

You cannot install or upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 102 if your server runs CentOS 8, which has reached its end of life.

CloudLinux 6.5 and earlier

If your server runs CloudLinux 6.5 or earlier, you must upgrade it to CloudLinux version 6.6 or later to install or upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 102.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

cPanel, L.L.C. only supports installations of cPanel & WHM version 102 and later on the Ubuntu operating system. We no longer support cPanel & WHM version 98 and 100 on Ubuntu 20.04 and we block installation of those versions on the Ubuntu operating system.

cPanel & WHM version 100

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 98

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 96

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 94

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 92

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 90

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 88

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Amazon Linux 1

Existing cPanel & WHM servers that use the Amazon Linux 1 operating system cannot upgrade from cPanel & WHM version 86 to 88.

CentOS 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6

Existing cPanel & WHM servers that use CentOS 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6 operating system cannot upgrade from cPanel & WHM version 86 to 88. For more information about our deprecation of CentOS 6, read our CentOS 6, CloudLinux 6 OS, and you! blog post.

MySQL 5.5

If you wish to upgrade a server with MySQL 5.5 on cPanel & WHM version 86, you must skip cPanel & WHM versions 88 and 90 and upgrade to version 92.
Upgrade your MySQL version in WHM’s MySQL/MariaDB Upgrade interface (WHM » Home » Software » MariaDB/MySQL Upgrade).

cPanel & WHM version 86

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Amazon Linux 1

Servers that use the Amazon Linux 1 operating system cannot install cPanel & WHM.

cPanel & WHM version 84

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 82

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 80

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

MySQL® 5.6 and later, or any version of MariaDB®.
At least 360,000 inodes available on the target filesystem.

Upgrade blockers

MySQL 5.5.
- You must upgrade to MySQL version 5.6 or higher, or any version of MariaDB, before you can upgrade your cPanel & WHM server.
- Upgrade your MySQL version in WHM’s MySQL/MariaDB Upgrade interface (WHM » Home » Software » MariaDB/MySQL Upgrade).
Remote MySQL 5.6 or later.
- You must upgrade any remote database servers to MySQL version 5.6 or higher, or any version of MariaDB, before you can upgrade your cPanel & WHM server.
- Check your remote database MySQL profiles in WHM’s Manage MySQL Profiles interface (WHM » Home » SQL Services » Manage MySQL Profiles).
Less than 360,000 available inodes.

cPanel & WHM version 78

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

EasyApache 4.
LiteSpeed version 5.3.6 or later.

Upgrade blockers

EasyApache 3
- You must migrate to EasyApache 4 before you upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 78.
- Migrate to EasyApache 4 from WHM’s EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache 4).
LiteSpeed version 5.3.5 and earlier.

cPanel & WHM version 76

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 74

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 72

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 70

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 68

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

The ea-apache24-config-runtime package version 1.0-113 or later.
LiteSpeed version 5.2.1 build 2 or later.

Upgrade blockers

The ea-apache24-config-runtimepackage version 1.0-112 and earlier.
LiteSpeed version 5.2.1 build 1 and earlier.
- If LiteSpeed exists on your server, you must upgrade to LiteSpeed version 5.2.1 build 2 or later before you upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 68. Otherwise, websites will not provide the entire certificate chain and browsers may display an SSL error.
- View the /usr/local/lsws/autoupdate/build file to verify your LiteSpeed version information.
- For more information about how to upgrade LiteSpeed, read LiteSpeed’s cPanel Plugin documentation.

Note:

If your server does not contain the /usr/local/lsws/ directory, LiteSpeed likely does not exist on your server.

cPanel & WHM version 66

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

Note:

After the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 66 finishes, WHM users in an active session must refresh their browser windows. Until they do, they may see additional frames within the WHM interface on each page load.

cPanel & WHM version 64

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.

cPanel & WHM version 62

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

MySQL® version 5.5 and later.

Upgrade blockers

MySQL version 5.1 and earlier.
- You must upgrade to at least MySQL version 5.5 before you can upgrade your cPanel & WHM server.
- Upgrade your MySQL version in WHM’s MySQL or MariaDB Upgrade interface (WHM » Home » Software » MariaDB/MySQL Upgrade).

cPanel & WHM version 60

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

SNI support.
- Your server must support SNI (for example, Apache (httpd) 2.2.12, Litetspeed 4.1, or Openlitespeed 1.4.12 or greater).
- Use WHM’s EasyApache 4 interface (WHM » Home » Software » EasyApache) to upgrade your web server.

Upgrade blockers

Apache (httpd) 2.2.11 or older.

cPanel & WHM version 58

This version includes the following installation requirements and upgrade blockers:

Installation requirements

A 64-bit system.

Upgrade blockers

CentOS 5, RHEL 5, and CloudLinux 5.
- If your server runs the CentOS or RHEL operating systems, it must run version 6 or later.
- If your server runs CloudLinux operating system, it must run version 6 or later. We recommend using CloudLinux version 6.6 or higher.
- You cannot install or upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 58 on a server that runs CentOS 5, RHEL 5, or CloudLinux version 5.
32-bit systems.
The perl514 RPM target has an installed or unmanaged value.
- If the perl514 RPM target’s state is installed or unmanaged in any .versions file in the /var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/ directory, the upgrade to cPanel & WHM version 58 will fail.
  - To fix this issue in the /var/cpanel/rpm.versions.d/local.versions file, use the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/update_local_rpm_versions script.
  - To fix this issue in a third-party provided \*.versions file, update the file in your preferred text editor and then run the /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/check_cpanel_pkgs script.

cPanel & WHM version 56

No version-specific installation requirements or upgrade blockers exist for this version.