‍The kernel is a critical component of an operating system, responsible for managing the computer’s operations and hardware. It serves as a bridge between applications and the underlying hardware, facilitating tasks such as memory management and CPU time allocation through inter-process communication and system calls. In this guide, we will walk you through the process of installing Kernel 6.x on Rocky Linux 8, ensuring your system is up-to-date with the latest stable version.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

  • Access to the Rocky Linux command line terminal.
  • Root privileges or Sudo privileges.

Step 1 – Find the Current Kernel Version

To start, let’s check the current version of the kernel your system is running. Open the command line terminal and enter the following command:

uname -r

The output will display the current kernel version, which will be used as a reference later on.

[root@server netdata]# uname -r
4.18.0-305.3.1.el8_4.x86_64

Step 2 – Enable the ELRepo Repository

Next, we need to enable the ELRepo repository, which provides additional packages, including the latest kernel versions. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Import the ELRepo public key by running the following command:
rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
  1. Install the ELRepo RPM package using the following command:
dnf install https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-8.el8.elrepo.noarch.rpm

This will enable the ELRepo repository on your system.

[root@vps ~]# rpm --import https://www.elrepo.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-elrepo.org
[root@vps ~]# dnf install https://www.elrepo.org/elrepo-release-8.el8.elrepo.noarch.rpm

Step 3 – List Available Kernel Packages

Once the ELRepo repository is enabled, you can use the following command to list the available kernel-related packages:

dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="elrepo-kernel" list available

This command will provide you with a list of kernel packages that can be installed.

[root@vps ~]# dnf --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="elrepo-kernel" list available

Step 4 – Install the Kernel

To install the latest stable kernel, run the following command:

dnf --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel install kernel-ml

This command will install the mainline stable kernel on your system.

[root@vps ~]# dnf --enablerepo=elrepo-kernel install kernel-ml

Step 5 – Verify the Kernel Version

By default, the newly installed kernel will become the default version for your system to use and boot with. You can verify this by running the following command:

grubby --default-kernel

The output will confirm the newly installed kernel as the default.

Once confirmed, reboot your system to boot with the latest kernel installed. You can also verify the kernel version using the uname command:

uname -r

The output will display the newly installed kernel version.

[root@vps ~]# uname -r
Linux6.1.2-1.el8.elrepo.x86_64

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Kernel 6.x on Rocky Linux 8. Your system is now updated with the latest stable kernel version.

Conclusion

Installing the latest kernel on your Rocky Linux 8 system is essential for ensuring optimal performance and security. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can easily update your system to Kernel 6.x. Remember to always keep your system up-to-date with the latest stable releases to benefit from improved features, bug fixes, and security patches.

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