Chapter 40. Manually Upgrading the Kernel

Chapter 40. Manually Upgrading the Kernel

40.1. Overview of Kernel Packages
40.2. Preparing to Upgrade
40.3. Downloading the Upgraded Kernel
40.4. Performing the Upgrade
40.5. Verifying the Initial RAM Disk Image
40.6. Verifying the Boot Loader
40.6.1. x86 Systems
40.6.2. Itanium Systems
40.6.3. IBM S/390 and IBM System z Systems
40.6.4. IBM eServer iSeries Systems
40.6.5. IBM eServer pSeries Systems

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel is custom built by the Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel team to ensure its integrity and compatibility with supported hardware. Before Red Hat releases a kernel, it must first pass a rigorous set of quality assurance tests.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernels are packaged in RPM format so that they are easy to upgrade and verify using the Package Management Tool, or the yum command. The Package Management Tool automatically queries the Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers and determines which packages need to be updated on your machine, including the kernel. This chapter is only useful for those individuals that require manual updating of kernel packages, without using the yum command.

Warning

Building a custom kernel is not supported by the Red Hat Global Services Support team, and therefore is not explored in this manual.

Tip

The use of yum is highly recommended by Red Hat for installing upgraded kernels.

For more information on Red Hat Network, the Package Management Tool, and yum, refer to Chapter 13, Red Hat Network.


Note: This documentation is provided {and copyrighted} by Red Hat®, Inc. and is released via the Open Publication License. The copyright holder has added the further requirement that Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. The CentOS project redistributes these original works (in their unmodified form) as a reference for CentOS-5 because CentOS-5 is built from publicly available, open source SRPMS. The documentation is unmodified to be compliant with upstream distribution policy. Neither CentOS-5 nor the CentOS Project are in any way affiliated with or sponsored by Red Hat®, Inc.