NREC GOLD images¶
The NREC Team provides prebuilt images for user consumption. We try to include popular Linux distributions as well as Windows images with an up to date patch level and basic features needed for working in the cloud.
Current GOLD images¶
Currently available GOLD images in NREC:
GOLD image |
Family |
Default user name |
Boot FW |
End of Life |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alma Linux 8 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2029 |
Downstream RHEL |
Alma Linux 9 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2032 |
Downstream RHEL |
Alma Linux 10 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2035 |
Downstream RHEL |
CentOS Stream 9 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI [3] |
May, 2027 |
Upstream RHEL |
CentOS Stream 10 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
Expected 2030 |
Upstream RHEL |
Fedora 43 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
December, 2026 |
|
Fedora 44 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2027 |
|
Rocky Linux 8 |
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
May, 2029 |
Downstream RHEL |
Rocky Linux 9 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2032 |
Downstream RHEL |
Rocky Linux 10 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2035 |
Downstream RHEL |
UiO Managed RHEL 8 |
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
May, 2029 |
UiO projects only |
UiO Managed RHEL 9 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2032 |
UiO projects only |
Debian 11 |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
August, 2026 |
Code name “Bullseye” |
Debian 12 |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
June, 2028 |
Code name “Bookworm” |
Debian 13 |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
June, 2030 |
Code name “Trixie” |
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
April, 2027 |
Code name “Jammy Jellyfish” |
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
April, 2029 |
Code name “Noble Numbat” |
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
April, 2031 |
Code name “Resolute Raccoon” |
Windows Server 2022 Std |
Windows |
|
UEFI |
October, 2031 |
Licensed in BGO only |
Windows Server 2025 Std |
Windows |
|
UEFI |
October, 2034 |
Licensed in BGO only |
In addition, the following GOLD images are available to GPU users. These images have the correct GPU driver preinstalled:
GOLD image |
Family |
Default user name |
Boot FW |
End of Life |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vGPU Alma Linux 9 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2032 |
Downstream RHEL |
vGPU Alma Linux 10 |
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2035 |
Downstream RHEL |
vGPU Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
April, 2027 |
Code name “Jammy Jellyfish” |
vGPU Ubuntu 24.04 LTS |
Debian |
|
UEFI |
April, 2029 |
Code name “Noble Numbat” |
Note
“Downstream RHEL” means that this is a binary compatible distribution built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), trailing the release closely.
“Upstream RHEL” means that this distribution is ahead of RHEL, so if RHEL is in 9.n release, the Stream release will be somewhere near the future 9.n+1 RHEL release.
Retired GOLD images¶
The following GOLD images are retired and no longer available:
GOLD image |
Family |
Default user name |
Boot FW |
End of Life |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
May, 2024 |
Downstream RHEL |
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
Dec, 2021 |
Downstream RHEL |
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
May, 2024 |
Upstream RHEL |
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
May, 2022 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
November, 2022 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
June, 2023 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
December, 2023 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2024 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
Dec, 2024 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2025 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
Dec, 2025 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2026 |
|
|
RedHat |
|
BIOS |
June, 2024 |
UiO projects only |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
June, 2022 |
Code name “Stretch” |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
June, 2024 |
Code name “Buster” |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
April, 2023 |
Code name “Bionic Beaver” |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
Dec, 2021 |
Code name “Hirsute Hippo” |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
July, 2022 |
Code name “Impish Indri” |
|
Debian |
|
BIOS |
April, 2025 |
Code name “Focal Fossa” |
|
Windows |
|
UEFI |
January, 2029 |
Licensed in BGO only |
|
RedHat |
|
UEFI |
May, 2029 |
Downstream RHEL |
UiO Managed¶
Shared projects with an organization affiliation to UiO have access to the “UiO Managed” images. An instance created from any of these images will instantly be automatically managed by the IT department at UiO. This includes CFEngine configuration management, monitoring and everything else.
Automatic updates¶
Automatic updates are enabled for all GOLD images. This involves automatic download and update of packages. The specific configuration depends on the Linux distribution and Windows version. For Linux distributions in the RedHat family, it involves enabling and starting a systemd timer, which regurarly calls a systemd service that reads from a dnf configuration file, while for distributions in the Debian family, the same effect is achieved with unattended-upgrades and apt configuration. For Windows, the configuration varies.