Global – October 12, 2026 -- CIQ is making Enterprise Linux Manager (ELM) available at no additional cost with all RLC Pro subscriptions. Migrating fleets get a local mirror, curated content views, rollback and network provisioning before the first host is converted.
CIQ treats OS conversion and lifecycle tooling as separate workstreams
For RHEL, Oracle Linux and CentOS-family sources, CIQ's migrate2rlc script converts each host to RLC Pro within the same major version. The conversion changes what runs on the host. It leaves three questions open: where hosts pull packages afterward, which content each host group may install, and how teams build replacement machines. ELM answers all three, and CIQ advises putting that layer into the migration plan from the first week.
ELM mirrors, curates and delivers content in three steps from containers on customer infrastructure
In step one, ELM pulls RLC Pro content from CIQ Depot using Portal credentials. It can also add EPEL, custom repositories, an rsync mirror or an uploaded ISO. Each sync verifies packages against repository metadata and stores every file once.
In step two, content views pin or exclude packages and versions and accept custom RPMs. Each composition records an immutable version. ELM hard-links packages instead of copying them, so a view composes in seconds. It checks dependencies at composition and flags conflicts as warnings before rollout. Rollback re-points a view to a version it already published, and a production view is composed from an approved development view.
In step three, hosts register through a lightweight agent and join nested host groups. Each host consumes its assigned view as a standard dnf repository. New machines install over iPXE, DHCP and TFTP, with templated kickstarts, an encrypted credentials vault and Secure Boot support.
ELM keeps content-view vocabulary and adds directory-based access control and a REST API
Admins who already work in content views keep the same terms: immutable versions, pins, promotion and rollback. Role-based access control works with local accounts, LDAP or SAML, and ELM keeps an audit log. A REST API exposes lifecycle operations to scripts, and ELM launches Ascender automation against selected hosts.
Entitlement resolves at the mirror. The RLC Pro subscription authenticates against CIQ Depot during sync, while hosts install from the local mirror. ELM runs no subscription-enforcement service, sends no telemetry and makes no license callback. It also runs air-gapped, with content brought in from a local ISO image.
Teams must recreate repositories, views and host groups by hand while both platforms run in parallel
Content does not migrate on its own. Teams recreate repositories, content views and host groups in ELM, and both platforms can run side by side until the last host group moves.
RHEL, Oracle Linux and CentOS-family environments share Enterprise Linux binary compatibility with RLC Pro, so many applications carry over with little to no change. SUSE and Amazon Linux 2 come from a different lineage, so those moves involve more than a host conversion. CIQ's migration engineers scope that work with the customer.
CIQ recommends starting small: stand ELM up beside current tooling, mirror content and build content views for a single non-production stage. Teams then move one host group, run a full compose, promote and rollback cycle, and expand group by group.