Upgrading Linux kernel¶
From time to time, Debian issues kernel updates to fix bugs or security
issues. Basic kernel upgrades (for example, from 3.2.63-2+deb7u1 to
3.2.63-2+deb7u2) occur with a normal apt-get update command, but
upgrades from between major kernel versions require special commands.
It is not recommended to upgrade a node kernel to a new major version unless it offers a new feature you need or fixes a specific bug affecting your environment.
Upgrading the kernel¶
To simplify the upgrade process, we provide a package
bonding-kernel, which will install the latest Linux kernel we
support. Installing the latest kernel is simple
root@hostname:~# apt-get install bonding-kernel
A reboot is required to use the new kernel.
root@hostname:~# reboot
After the reboot, the node will be using the latest kernel, and can be verified with the uname program
root@hostname:~# uname -r
4.19.44
Finding firmware packages¶
Debian kernel packages can add or remove hardware support compared to previous versions. The upgrade process will warn you if required firmware is missing, with messages such as:
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/tigon/tg3_tso5.bin for module tg3
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/tigon/tg3_tso.bin for module tg3
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/tigon/tg3.bin for module tg3
If all the hardware is working correcltly, it is safe to ignore this message as the firmware is likely in the kernel itself. If some of the hardware is not working correctly, you can find and install the extra firmware packages necessary.
This indicates that the new kernel may be missing firmware files required for the hosts’s TG3 network hardware. If you see this message, search Debian package repositories to find which package includes the firmware. For example, given the above message, you might search package contents for “tg3.bin”.
The search results for tg3.bin show that the file is included in the
firmware-linux-nonfree package.
To install the firmware-linux-nonfree package, run:
apt-get install firmware-linux-nonfree
If the Debian search doesn’t return any packages, you might try searching Google for the entire warning message. Relevant search results could tell which package includes the necessary firmware. If you are unable to find a suitable firmware package, please contact technical support.
Note
firmware-linux-nonfree and firmware-linux-free are installed by default with the bonding-kernel package