How To Update the Kernel in CentOS / Red Hat

Updating the kernel on Red Hat Linux or CentOS Linux is a very simple process. Most commonly you will use the following command in the case of a security vulnerability, or perhaps just to verify that you’re running the most up-to-date kernel:

yum -y update kernel

In this case, yum is the rpm-based package manager for both Red Hat and CentOS, -y, –assumeyes gives yes as an answer to any question which would be asked by running the command, update is for updating the package, and kernel is the package you’re updating!

Assuming your server needed a new kernel and was thus upgraded, reboot your server to complete the process!

Check the kernel version of your Linux / Ubuntu / CentOS server by following our tutorial.