Ksplice - What happen if server power-down when updating kernel

I am finding a rebootless solution for updating kernel. I saw Ksplice. I have a question:What happen if our servers power-off when updating use Ksplice? Our servers will be OK? What will revert our servers?Thanks!

1 Answer

From the Ksplice User's Guide ():

Ksplice and Kernel VersionsBack to top Ksplice Uptrack updates your running kernel in memory. We recommended that, in addition to using Ksplice, you continue to use your package manager to update the kernel on disk as new kernels become available. That way, if a reboot becomes necessary (e.g. power loss or a hardware upgrade) you have the option of booting into a newer kernel. Under this plan, you would install all the updates available via both Ksplice Uptrack and your package manager.

Ksplice Uptrack also works great in environments where it is desirable to stay with a particular original kernel version (e.g. because of third party modules that are compiled against that kernel) but you want to stay up to date with all the important security and reliability updates for your kernel.

By default, Ksplice Uptrack will reinstall rebootless updates during the boot process so you remain secure even after a reboot. You can configure this behavior by changing the install_on_reboot option in /etc/uptrack/uptrack.conf.

[...]

install_on_reboot will restore the Linux kernel to the same version as before rebooting. There may be additional updates that could be applied. If you wish all available updates for a particular kernel version to be applied, set upgrade_on_reboot to yes.

So, nothing bad should occur. If a power loss happens, your system will boot on the default kernel version and Ksplice will by default re patch your system with security updates at boot time so you don't get uncovered. It will make your boot time longer, so, if you need a faster boot, you should install the updates for your packages using your default package manager too.

As a note, if you will update the kernel of a server you should like to do a kernel only update, isolated from other system updates, always as possible.

4

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Sign up using Google Sign up using Facebook Sign up using Email and Password Submit

Post as a guest

Post Your Answer Discard

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy