Re: Upgrading kernel on RHEL

peterharding@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi,

I only want to upgrade the kernel on a RHEL v3 (update 3) server to
the latest from 2.4.21-20 to 2.4.21-47. What is the best method using
"up2date"? Do I just do a:

# up2date kernel
and then
# up2date kernel-smp (it is a multi-processor server)

In that case, why not remove the kernel rpm and update only the kernel-smp one.

If you are on update 3, you are way way behind. The current major update is
8. My current kernel is kernel-hugemem-2.4.21-47.0.1.EL (this is an smp
kernel with 4 GByte address space for each process (if the process needs it).

Is this OK considering I do not want to update any of the other
packages, only the kernel. Or do you have to update all the other
packages as well?

You would not need to update anything else (this should get you the kernel
and the modules.

But why not upgrade the other packages too? There have been lots of other
fixes done, and no enhancements. Since you seem to be authorized to run
RHEL3, it amazes me that you do not take advantages of the fixes, especially
the security fixes, as they come out.

Will this method update the necessary grub files so that the new
kernel gets loaded at boot time, or do I have to manually change
grub.conf?

Running the rpm to install the new kernel will update the grub.conf file.

Also, will the above method preserve the previous kernel just in case
there are problems with the new one? I can then point grub to boot the
older one.

Yes, but there are no problems with the new one.

You will have to manually delete the old ones you do not need.
It seems to me that if your machine is an SMP machine that you would need
only smp kernels. I keep the current kernel and the previous kernel.
Sometimes the previous two. But I have never needed a previous kernel. Red
Hat are pretty careful about that.

Many thanks,
Pete.



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