How to Upgrade Kernel on a CentOS Dedicated Server ?

[DataCab]

I am fed up with the support of my current web host. A month ago, I have opened a ticket for the kernel upgrading issue, but there was no reply from them.

I want to upgrade the kernel on a centos dedicated web server ? Can anyone here please show me the steps to upgrade a kernel on a centos server ?

[Macdale]

Hello and to eUKhost.com !

Lots of issues are happening with most of the new web hosting companies. Its always better to check out the age of the company in the business before signing up with them.

Well, for your issue, kindly refer to this article on our blog: Upgrading the Kernel on Live Servers

For better stability and uninterrupted service to your clients and visitors on your dedicated server hosting platform, it is recommended to keep the same kernel, even if you upgrade your applications. Always look for your Linux distribution security update which includes kernel patches. As soon as it is unleashed upgrade it immediately.

After upgrading the kernel, make sure you reboot the entire system. It is recommended to upgrade it during the low traffic hours. Even if you upgrade the kernel in the high traffic hours, you can hold the reboot process and do it later, but the upgrades will only take effect once you have rebooted the server.

[MattBarthorp]

I assume that you aren't running a customer kernel. You can run 'yum -y' update. There are chances that you encounter situations such as kernel updates panic and fails to boot, in that case you can put it in a failsafe so that it will fall back to the previous version of working kernel, this would help you saving time required for server reboot at the datacentre or via KVM.

You need to run the following command :

yum -y update

Then, before you reboot the server, you must edit grub.conf and add the following code to it

panic=5

Incase you had installed Fantastico and have rolled back the wget version as Fantastico requests, you must remove it from the yum.conf for preventing any error at the time of yum update. You must exclude it in the Main section of yum.conf for wget :

exclude=apache* courier* exim* httpd* mod_ssl* mysql* perl* php* proftpd* pure-ftpd* spamassassin* squirrelmail* wget*