How to Upgrade Centos 8 Linux to Centos 8 Stream

# cat /etc/centos-release
CentOS Linux release 8.5.2111

1. Take note the list of enabled repos in the Centos 8 Linux server.

sudo yum repolist
sudo yum repolist enabled > /tmp/pre.update.dnf.repo.txt

2. Installing CentOS Stream packages using the following commands:

sudo dnf update
sudo dnf in centos-release-stream -y

3. Run this command to migrating from CentOS 8 to CentOS Stream.

sudo dnf swap centos-linux-repos centos-stream-repos -y

4. Finally, upgrading CentOS 8 to CentOS Stream.

sudo dnf distro-sync --allowerasing

5. Restart your CentOS server.

sudo systemctl reboot

# cat /etc/centos-release
CentOS Stream release 8

Check the log files to make sure there are no errors.

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages
sudo grep -i -E 'err|wan|cri' /var/log/messages
sudo grep -i -E 'err|wan|cri' /var/log/nginx/error.log

Some dnf repos may be renamed or disabled to prevent upgrade issues. It would be best if you validated those manually.

yum repolist enabled > /tmp/post.update.dnf.repo.txt

# diff /tmp/pre.update.dnf.repo.txt /tmp/post.update.dnf.repo.txt
1,6c1,7
< repo id            repo name
< appstream          CentOS Linux 8 - AppStream
< baseos             CentOS Linux 8 - BaseOS
< epel               Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64
< epel-modular       Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64
< extras             CentOS Linux 8 - Extras
---
> repo id             repo name
> appstream           CentOS Stream 8 - AppStream
> baseos              CentOS Stream 8 - BaseOS
> epel                Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux 8 - x86_64
> epel-modular        Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux Modular 8 - x86_64
> extras              CentOS Stream 8 - Extras
> extras-common       CentOS Stream 8 - Extras common packages

Alternatively, you can create a bash script as follows:

#/bin/bash
###Export the list of enabled repos
sudo yum repolist
sudo yum repolist enabled > /tmp/pre.update.dnf.repo.txt

###Installing CentOS Stream packages
sudo dnf update
sudo dnf in centos-release-stream -y

###Migrating from CentOS 8 to CentOS Stream
sudo dnf swap centos-linux-repos centos-stream-repos -y

###Upgrading CentOS 8 to CentOS Stream
sudo dnf distro-sync --allowerasing
sudo systemctl reboot