Updating CentOS Server

[Shaya]

I have a CentOS 4.2 server with CPanel installed.
I just wanted to make sure if it is appropriate to update CentOS using this commnad:

yum -y update

Or is there any CPanel script that could be run in order to update the operating system.

Thanks.

[chirpy]

That should do it. Do check, though, that you have an exclude list in /etc/yum.conf similar to:

exclude=courier* mysql* spamassassin* httpd* perl mysql* php* mod_ssl* imap* squirrelmail* caching-nameserver* exim* apache* kernel*

[dave9000]

Question

Why would you want to exclude the kernel from the auto update on CentOS ?

[SunDanceKid]

Hello - I have similar questions with CentOS...

I want to make sure everything all software is current and up to date and security patches applied but I'm confused as to if I should use yum or the updates in Cpanel or both. What does Cpanel handle and what do I need to do manually?

[dave9000]

/scripts/upcp will handle everything except the kernel,apache,php and assoc modules

yum install kernel or kernel-smp for the kernel

and /scripts/easyapache to update apache,php and assoc modules


and if you need to update perl there is a update installer for perl5.8.7 locate at layer1.cpanel.net

and as a personal preference I removed kernel* exclusion from the yum.conf so that a cpanel update will update the kernel also (use at your own risk)

[chirpy]

Question

Why would you want to exclude the kernel from the auto update on CentOS ?

Simply so that you can control when this happens and reboot the server at your convenience. There's always a risk with a new kernel that your server becomes unbootable, so it is usually nice to know that if you have to reboot your server (e.g. a power failure) then you know whether it will try and come up on a new kernel. If you have the kernel upgrading automatically, it could be pot luck as to when the new kernel will be introduced.

[dave9000]

Good point

I am always where I have console access so never worried about it but you do have a valid point there