How To Perform linux kernel upgrade in 5 easy steps

Performing an linux kernel upgrade offers new features and improvements. Here is a quick way to perform Linux kernel upgrade.

Steps for Linux kernel upgrade

1. Note down current kernel version details:

[root@rhel1 kernel_pkg]# uname -r
3.10.0-327.10.1.el7.x86_64
[root@ip-172-31-9-104 kernel_pkg]#

Will suggest to take the HW and Software information of the server using cfg2html in case future needs.

2.  Download the latest kernel packages from the yum server.

Make sure your system is connected to RHN network.

[root@ip-172-31-9-104 tmp]# yum install --downloadonly --downloaddir=/tmp/kernel_pkg/ kernel
Loaded plugins: amazon-id, rhui-lb, search-disabled-repos
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kernel.x86_64 0:3.10.0-514.10.2.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: linux-firmware >= 20160830-49 for package: kernel-3.10.0-514.10.2.el7.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package linux-firmware.noarch 0:20160830-49.git7534e19.el7 will be installed
--> Processing Conflict: kernel-3.10.0-514.10.2.el7.x86_64 conflicts kmod < 20-9
--> Restarting Dependency Resolution with new changes.
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kmod.x86_64 0:20-5.el7 will be updated
---> Package kmod.x86_64 0:20-9.el7 will be an update
--> Processing Conflict: kernel-3.10.0-514.10.2.el7.x86_64 conflicts xfsprogs < 4.3.0
--> Restarting Dependency Resolution with new changes.
--> Running transaction check
---> Package xfsprogs.x86_64 0:3.2.2-2.el7 will be updated
---> Package xfsprogs.x86_64 0:4.5.0-9.el7_3 will be an update
--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

========================================================================================================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
========================================================================================================================================================================
Installing:
kernel x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7 rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases 37 M
Updating:
kmod x86_64 20-9.el7 rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases 115 k
xfsprogs x86_64 4.5.0-9.el7_3 rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases 895 k
Installing for dependencies:
linux-firmware noarch 20160830-49.git7534e19.el7 rhui-REGION-rhel-server-releases 31 M

Transaction Summary
========================================================================================================================================================================
Install 1 Package (+1 Dependent package)
Upgrade 2 Packages

Total download size: 70 M
Background downloading packages, then exiting:
Delta RPMs disabled because /usr/bin/applydeltarpm not installed.
(1/4): xfsprogs-4.5.0-9.el7_3.x86_64.rpm | 895 kB 00:00:01
(2/4): kmod-20-9.el7.x86_64.rpm | 115 kB 00:00:01
(3/4): linux-firmware-20160830-49.git7534e19.el7.noarch.rpm | 31 MB 00:00:02
(4/4): kernel-3.10.0-514.10.2.el7.x86_64.rpm | 37 MB 00:00:04
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 16 MB/s | 70 MB 00:00:04
exiting because "Download Only" specified

In the above command we have just downloaded the kernel packages required at the location “/tmp/kernel_pkg” by specifying the “–downloaddir=” parameter option to yum command. As per the downloaded files newer version will be “3.10.0-514.10.2.”

3. Perform the Linux kernel upgrade

Once you have successfully downloaded the latest kernel rpms. Go to that particular directory. As per RedHat please do not use -U option with an rpm command for Linux kernel upgrade since it will overwrite the currently installed kernel, which creates boot loader problems later on.