How to Install or upgrade to Kernel 6.x on CentOS Stream 9
Kernel is central component of an operating system that manages operations of computer and hardware. It basically manages operations of memory and CPU time. It is core component of an operating system. Kernel acts as a bridge between applications and data processing performed at hardware level using inter-process communication and system calls.
Step 1 - Find current kernel version
Use the uname command to display the current version of kernel the system is running.:
uname -srOutput:
[root@vps ~]# uname -sr
Linux 5.14.0-214.el9.x86_64 Step 2 - Enable ELRepo
Import the public key and install the ELRepo RPM package using the below command.
rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
dnf install https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-9.el9.elrepo.noarch.rpmOutput:
[root@vps ~]# rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
[root@vps ~]# dnf install https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-9.el9.elrepo.noarch.rpm
CentOS Stream 9 - BaseOS 15 MB/s | 6.0 MB 00:00
CentOS Stream 9 - AppStream 7.6 MB/s | 16 MB 00:02
CentOS Stream 9 - Extras packages 15 kB/s | 9.6 kB 00:00
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:01 ago on Tue 03 Jan 2023 08:26:29 PM UTC.
elrepo-release-9.el9.elrepo.noarch.rpm 69 kB/s | 12 kB 00:00
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
elrepo-release noarch 9.1-1.el9.elrepo @commandline 12 k
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 1 Package
Total size: 12 k
Installed size: 5.0 k
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : elrepo-release-9.1-1.el9.elrepo.noarch 1/1
Verifying : elrepo-release-9.1-1.el9.elrepo.noarch 1/1
Installed:
elrepo-release-9.1-1.el9.elrepo.noarch
Complete!Once the repository has been enabled, you can use the following command to list the available kernel related packages:
dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="elrepo-kernel" list availableOutput:
[root@vps ~]# dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="elrepo-kernel" list available
ELRepo.org Community Enterprise Linux Kernel Re 706 kB/s | 1.0 MB 00:01
Available Packages
bpftool.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-core.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-devel.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-devel-matched.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-doc.noarch 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-headers.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-modules.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-modules-extra.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
kernel-ml-tools-libs-devel.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
perf.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel
python3-perf.x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel Step 3 - Install kernel
Run the following command to install the latest mainline stable kernel:
dnf --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel install kernel-mlOutput:
[root@vps ~]# dnf --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel install kernel-ml
ELRepo.org Community Enterprise Linux Repository - el9 106 kB/s | 121 kB 00:01
Dependencies resolved.
=============================================================================================================================
Package Architecture Version Repository Size
=============================================================================================================================
Installing:
kernel-ml x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel 18 k
Installing dependencies:
kernel-ml-core x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel 57 M
kernel-ml-modules x86_64 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo elrepo-kernel 52 M
Transaction Summary
=============================================================================================================================
Install 3 Packages
Total download size: 108 M
Installed size: 147 M
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Downloading Packages:
(1/3): kernel-ml-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64.rpm 41 kB/s | 18 kB 00:00
(2/3): kernel-ml-modules-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64.rpm 8.5 MB/s | 52 MB 00:06
(3/3): kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64.rpm 7.3 MB/s | 57 MB 00:07
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Total 14 MB/s | 108 MB 00:07
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 1/3
Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 1/3
Installing : kernel-ml-modules-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 2/3
Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-modules-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 2/3
Installing : kernel-ml-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 3/3
Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 3/3
Running scriptlet: kernel-ml-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 3/3
Verifying : kernel-ml-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 1/3
Verifying : kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 2/3
Verifying : kernel-ml-modules-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 3/3
Installed:
kernel-ml-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 kernel-ml-core-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64 kernel-ml-modules-6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64
Complete!
Step 4 - Verify the kernel version
By default, the system will set the newly installed kernel as the default version to use and boot with.
You can verify this by running the below command,
grubby --default-kernelOnce confirmed, reboot the system to boot with the latest kernel installed.
This can be further verified by running the uname command,
uname -rOutput:
[root@vps ~]# uname -sr
Linux 6.1.2-1.el9.elrepo.x86_64