Question
Should I upgrade my kernel?
- Posted on July 17, 2016
- Linux CommandsDigitalOceanUbuntu
Asked by SuperSluether
“apt upgrade” wants to upgrade 2 packages and install 4 extra packages (the 4.4.0-31 kernel). “apt-get upgrade” tells me the same 2 packages are held back. (linux-headers-generic-lts-xenial and linux-image-generic-ltx-xenial)
The control panel on the website says “The kernel for this Droplet is managed internally and cannot be changed from the control panel.”
I don’t know the inner workings of a VPS. Should I upgrade the kernel using apt, or will this break my droplet? For that matter, how are kernel updates managed on Digital Ocean?
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Some kernels can be managed using DO’s control panel, and some Linux distros such as Ubuntu 16.04 (at the moment) does not support kernel updates via the control panel.
You can upgrade the kernel by following the command:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
And then reboot the server
sudo reboot
Updating the kernel should not cause any issues but I will recommend taking a snapshot of the Droplet before updating it.
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apt-cache search linux-image it lists all available linux image versions