Upgrade a server's Ubuntu release

To see which Ubuntu release a server is running, SSH into the server and run the following command:

cat /etc/lsb-release

Check the list of Ubuntu releases to determine if an Ubuntu release still receives security updates.

Alternative to upgrading Ubuntu

Rather than upgrading Ubuntu, it’s often easier to migrate apps to a server running a newer version of Ubuntu. To migrate to a new server, create a new server at your cloud provider with the latest version of Ubuntu, connect the new server to ServerPilot, and migrate the apps from your existing server to the new server.

See the following articles for information on migrating apps:

• Migrate an app
• Migrate a Wordpress app

Upgrading Ubuntu

When upgrading Ubuntu, you can only upgrade to the next Ubuntu version (you cannot skip versions). For example, to upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 to 24.04, you must perform two separate upgrades: first upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04, and then upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04.

To upgrade Ubuntu, use the following guides:

• Upgrade Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04
• Upgrade Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04
• Upgrade Ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04
• Upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 to 18.04
• Upgrade Ubuntu 14.04 to 16.04
• Upgrade Ubuntu 12.04 to 14.04