Rocky Linux 9 and 10: First-Class Support on Panelica

Rocky Linux emerged from a specific moment in the open-source world. When Red Hat announced the end of CentOS Linux 8 in late 2020, many organizations found themselves with a stable, predictable RHEL-compatible platform they depended on — and a tight deadline to find an alternative. Gregory Kurtzer, who co-founded the original CentOS project, responded by founding the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation and building Rocky Linux: a community-maintained, RHEL binary-compatible distribution with no corporate steering over the project roadmap.

The name is a tribute to Rocky McGaugh, a co-founder of the original CentOS project who passed away before the community had a chance to thank him properly. That background matters to the people who chose Rocky Linux. It is not just a convenient RHEL rebuild — it carries a specific promise about governance and independence that a meaningful part of the data center and hosting world has taken seriously.

Today, Rocky Linux 9 is a widely deployed production platform across hosting companies, data centers, enterprise workloads, and bare-metal infrastructure. Rocky Linux 10, based on RHEL 10, is in active production use. Panelica supports both as first-class targets: same installer, same update channel, same feature set, no additional cost.

For End Users and Operators

Your Rocky Linux Infrastructure Works With Panelica

If you have standardized on Rocky Linux — whether for enterprise policy reasons, RHEL compliance requirements, or a deliberate choice to run a community-governed distribution — Panelica meets you there. The installer detects Rocky Linux automatically. No flags, no alternative install path, no separate documentation to follow.

The panel interface, feature set, and behavior are identical to what you see on Ubuntu or Debian. If your team manages a mixed fleet — some servers on Rocky 9, some on Ubuntu 24.04, perhaps a Debian box for a specific workload — all of them connect to the same Panelica update channel and receive the same releases at the same time.

Rocky Linux 9 and Rocky Linux 10: Both Supported

Rocky Linux 9 is the current stable long-term production release. It will receive updates and security patches through 2032. Rocky Linux 10, based on RHEL 10, shipped in 2025 and brings an updated kernel, refreshed base packages, and changes to the default system stack that affect how software is deployed on RHEL-family systems.

Panelica supports both. You do not need to hold back on Rocky Linux 10 adoption to maintain panel functionality. The installer handles the differences between the two versions automatically, including updated package names in EPEL 10, adjusted dependency paths, and kernel-level interface changes that affect service management.

Both Rocky 9 and Rocky 10 receive Panelica updates at the same time as all other supported distributions. There is no Rocky-specific release lag.

No CloudLinux License Required for Per-User Isolation

This is the practical cost issue that affects nearly every hosting company running a RHEL-family panel stack. Traditional hosting panels cannot enforce per-user CPU limits, memory caps, or I/O controls on a stock Rocky Linux kernel without adding CloudLinux. CloudLinux replaces the default kernel with a modified version that adds per-user resource enforcement capabilities. That license adds cost — typically around $14 per server per month — on top of your existing panel and server expenses.

Panelica does not need it. Per-user resource isolation is implemented using cgroups v2, which is built into the Rocky Linux kernel and available in both Rocky 9 and Rocky 10 without modification. Every hosting account on a Panelica server receives a dedicated cgroup slice under /sys/fs/cgroup/panelica.slice/ with enforced CPU, memory, I/O, and process limits. This is not a degraded alternative to CloudLinux limits — it is the same enforcement mechanism, implemented via kernel primitives that Rocky Linux ships by default.

For a hosting operation running five Rocky Linux servers, that represents meaningful annual savings with no reduction in the isolation quality your customers experience.

RHEL Binary Compatibility Is Preserved

Rocky Linux maintains full binary-level ABI compatibility with the corresponding RHEL release. Software certified for RHEL 9 runs on Rocky Linux 9 without modification. The same applies for Rocky Linux 10 and RHEL 10. This compatibility guarantee is backed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation and is the primary reason organizations running RHEL-certified software in mixed environments choose Rocky Linux over distributions that track RHEL more loosely.

Panelica's Go binaries are compiled against glibc 2.34 as the minimum baseline — the same version shipped in Rocky Linux 9 — and remain forward-compatible with the newer glibc in Rocky Linux 10. The panel binary that installs on Rocky 9 is the same binary that installs on Ubuntu 24.04. The same artifact, the same behavior, no distribution-specific workarounds.

Migration from cPanel or Other Panels on Rocky Linux

If you currently run cPanel on Rocky Linux 9, Panelica includes a complete migration pipeline. Sites, databases, email accounts, DNS zones, and SSL certificates are transferred. MySQL password hashes are imported directly, which means existing end users can log in without password resets. The migration process does not require downtime on the source server during the data transfer phase.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of the migration process, see Migrating from cPanel to Panelica.

Rocky Linux for Hosting Companies: Practical Advantages

Rocky Linux is a common choice for hosting companies that need RHEL-family stability with community governance and no per-server OS licensing cost. Panelica's multi-tenant features map directly onto this use case:

• Reseller hierarchy — Root, Admin, Reseller, and User roles with granular per-page and per-feature permission controls. A single Rocky Linux server can host multiple resellers, each with their own isolated customer base.
• Per-user resource enforcement — CPU, memory, I/O, and process limits per hosting account, enforced at the kernel level. No CloudLinux required.
• Bulk provisioning — Domains and hosting accounts are provisioned through the panel API, which supports the same operations available in the UI. Automation at scale works the same way on Rocky Linux as on any other supported distribution.
• Audit and compliance — The RHEL-family security model and Rocky's binary compatibility with RHEL make it a natural fit for environments with formal compliance requirements.

One Installer, One Update Channel

Installing Panelica on Rocky Linux 9 or Rocky Linux 10 uses the same command as every other supported distribution:

curl -sSL https://latest.panelica.com/install.sh | bash

OS detection is automatic. The installer configures EPEL, resolves package names for the detected OS version, and starts all 20 managed services. The typical install time is under three minutes.

After installation, updates arrive through Central, Panelica's update distribution system. The same package that updates a Rocky Linux server updates a Debian server and an Ubuntu server simultaneously. There is no Rocky-specific update track, no waiting for a distribution-specific build to clear QA.

For Sysadmins and Technical Readers

Rocky Linux 9: System-Level Notes

Rocky Linux 9 is built from RHEL 9 sources and ships with the following system-level characteristics relevant to panel deployment:

• glibc 2.34 — Panelica's release build targets glibc 2.34 as the minimum compatibility baseline. Rocky Linux 9's glibc matches this exactly. No GLIBC_2.3x version mismatch errors occur during binary execution.
• Kernel 5.14 — The default kernel in Rocky Linux 9. Cgroups v2 is the default unified hierarchy in 5.14. BPF, io_uring, and all kernel interfaces used by Panelica's isolation and monitoring stack are present and functional in the stock Rocky 9 kernel without additional kernel modules or patches.
• Cgroups v2 default — Rocky Linux 9 ships with cgroups v2 as the default hierarchy. Panelica's isolation writes to /sys/fs/cgroup/panelica.slice/panelica-user.slice/panelica-user-{username}.slice/ using the v2 unified interface. No boot parameter changes are required.
• dnf as the package manager — Rocky Linux 9 uses dnf. Panelica's installer uses dnf for all host-level package operations and does not fall back to yum.

Minimum hardware: 1 CPU core, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB disk. For shared hosting use with multiple active accounts, 2+ CPU cores and 4+ GB RAM are the practical baseline.

Rocky Linux 10: What Changed and How Panelica Handles It

Rocky Linux 10 tracks RHEL 10 and introduces changes that affect hosting panel deployment. Panelica's installer handles all of these automatically:

• Kernel 6.x — Rocky Linux 10 ships with a 6.x kernel series. The updated kernel brings improvements to cgroups v2 memory accounting, io_uring performance, and BPF subsystem capabilities. Panelica's resource monitoring and cgroup enforcement benefit from these improvements without configuration changes.
• Updated glibc — Rocky Linux 10 ships a glibc version newer than 2.34. Panelica's binaries compiled against glibc 2.34 remain forward-compatible and execute correctly on Rocky 10. The GLIBC version ceiling on Panelica release builds is enforced during the build process — objdump -T panelica-server | grep GLIBC | sort -V | tail -1 must report 2.34 or below before any binary is packaged for distribution.
• EPEL 10 package changes — EPEL 10 differs from EPEL 9 in package availability and naming. Several packages used by Panelica's installer are absent or renamed in EPEL 10 compared to EPEL 9. Specifically, yajl, opendkim, and redis require different package resolution paths on EPEL 10. The installer maps each package to the correct name for the detected OS version. No manual pre-configuration of EPEL is needed.
• Software Collections Library Operations (SCLO) deprecation — SCLO was available in CentOS/RHEL 7 and 8 as a way to run newer software versions alongside base OS packages. In RHEL 9 and 10, and by extension Rocky 9 and 10, SCLO is not available. Panelica does not depend on SCLO. All PHP versions (8.1 through 8.5), MySQL 8, PostgreSQL 17, and Redis 7 are maintained under /opt/panelica/services/ as fully isolated service binaries, independent of the OS-level package versions. This was a deliberate architecture decision: the panel's services do not inherit constraints from the host OS package tree.

EPEL Integration and Repository Management

Panelica's installer detects the OS major version and selects the appropriate EPEL repository configuration automatically:

• Rocky Linux 9 receives EPEL 9 with CRB (CodeReady Builder) enabled where required
• Rocky Linux 10 receives EPEL 10 with the CRB equivalent for that release

EPEL packages are used only for host-level utilities: rsync, sshpass, fail2ban, and a small set of supplementary tools. After installation, the panel's operational services — web server, PHP, databases, DNS, mail — run from binaries under /opt/panelica/ and do not depend on EPEL-provided packages for ongoing operation. This means EPEL package availability changes between Rocky 9 and Rocky 10 affect only the installation phase, not the runtime behavior of the installed panel.

Firewall: nftables on Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux 9 and 10 use nftables as the default firewall backend. Panelica manages nftables rules directly through its firewall service, writing rulesets to /opt/panelica/etc/firewall/. The panel does not wrap firewalld or iptables-legacy. The installer handles the coexistence configuration between Panelica's nftables management and any existing firewalld configuration without requiring you to disable firewalld manually.

The firewall UI in the panel maps directly to the underlying nftables rules. Inbound rules, outbound rules, and per-user restrictions set through the UI are applied to the live ruleset immediately and persisted across reboots.

PHP-FPM User Isolation on Rocky Linux

Per-user PHP-FPM pools on Rocky Linux follow the same implementation as all other supported distributions. Each hosting account receives a PHP-FPM pool running under its dedicated Unix UID with open_basedir set to the user's home directory and document roots. The pool socket lives at /opt/panelica/var/run/php-fpm-{username}.sock.

PHP binaries under /opt/panelica/services/php/{8.1-8.5}/ are self-contained and do not depend on OS-level PHP packages. Rocky Linux 9's default PHP (8.1 in the base repositories) and Rocky Linux 10's default PHP do not conflict with panel-managed PHP versions. You can run PHP 8.5 per-user pools on Rocky Linux 9 regardless of the OS-level PHP version present on the system.

The PHP version switch for a specific hosting account is handled entirely through the panel UI or API, with zero interaction with the host OS package manager.

SELinux: currently disabled by default

Panelica installations on Rocky Linux currently ship with SELinux set to permissive or disabled by default. This is a deliberate choice for the present release: while we ship the panel and its services, SELinux context management for per-user PHP-FPM pools, custom service sockets under /opt/panelica/, and shared directories is not yet automated end-to-end.

Security is not weakened by this decision — Panelica's isolation model relies on five other layers that operate independently of SELinux: cgroups v2 resource limits, Linux namespaces, SSH chroot jails, per-user PHP-FPM pools, and strict Unix permissions. These layers are active by default on every supported release.

A dedicated SELinux integration is on our roadmap: when it lands, Panelica will be able to run on Rocky Linux with SELinux in enforcing mode out of the box, while preserving the per-user FPM pool model. Until then, operators who require SELinux enforcement should plan to author and load custom policies manually and we are happy to assist on forum.panelica.com.

Systemd Service Management on Rocky Linux

All 20 Panelica-managed services register as systemd units. On Rocky Linux, units are installed as copies to /etc/systemd/system/ rather than symlinks, which ensures correct behavior without requiring additional file context rules for symlink traversal. Service control through pn-service start|stop|restart|status {service|all} works identically on Rocky Linux as on any other supported distribution.

Rocky Linux Governance: RESF and CIQ

Rocky Linux is governed by the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF), a public benefit organization. Gregory Kurtzer, who co-founded the original CentOS project, founded both the RESF and CIQ, the company that provides commercial backing for Rocky Linux development. The RESF charter establishes that no single company can control the project's direction — a structural guarantee designed to prevent the kind of discontinuation that ended CentOS Linux.

CIQ provides enterprise support, hardware certifications, and commercial services around Rocky Linux, but the distribution itself is maintained by the foundation under an open governance model. This structure is what makes Rocky Linux a reliable long-term platform choice for organizations that need both RHEL binary compatibility and assurance that the distribution will not be repurposed or discontinued in response to commercial interests.

For Panelica users, this governance context is relevant for one reason: the distributions we support are chosen partly on the basis of governance stability. A distribution that could be discontinued or restricted by a single vendor decision creates deployment risk. Rocky Linux's governance model reduces that risk in a way that is structurally verifiable, not just promised.

Centralized Update Distribution

Panel updates on Rocky Linux arrive through the same mechanism as on every other supported distribution. When a new Panelica version is made available through Central, the update command is:

panelica package apply

This command fetches the update package from Central, verifies the checksum, stops affected services, applies the update, and restarts. The same package applies on Rocky Linux 9, Rocky Linux 10, AlmaLinux 9, Ubuntu 24.04, and every other supported release. There is no per-distribution package, no distribution-specific update path, and no case where a Rocky Linux server lags behind the rest of your fleet because a Rocky-specific build was not yet available.

OS Coverage Comparison

Get Started or Learn More

Install Panelica on Rocky Linux 9 or Rocky Linux 10 with the standard one-line installer:

curl -sSL https://latest.panelica.com/install.sh | bash

OS detection is automatic. The installer handles EPEL configuration, package name resolution for the detected OS version, and nftables integration without additional flags or manual pre-configuration.

Related reading:

• One Panel, One Update Channel — The full architecture overview covering all supported distributions and the single update channel model
• AlmaLinux 9 and 10: First-Class Support on Panelica — The equivalent deep-dive for AlmaLinux, the other primary RHEL-family target
• Best cPanel Alternatives in 2026 — Broader panel comparison including OS support coverage
• cPanel's 30-Day Security Storm — Context on why more operators on RHEL-family servers are evaluating alternatives
• Panelica vs cPanel — Feature comparison focused on the migration decision
• Full panel comparison — All supported panels and OS coverage in one view