[BlueOnyx:02783] Re: Updating BX only to final Centos 5.3?

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Jeff,

> Probably totally exposing my lack of knowledge in updating Linux based
> servers here - but we have a number of BX servers now that are running
> early versions of 5.3 and I would like to update them to the latest
> 5.3 - but not to 5.4.
>
> The reason is that we are not sure if their VM drivers are going to be
> 5.4 certified - but we know they work fine for 5.3 (using
> kernel-2.6.18-128.7.1)
>
> So is it possible/easy to update to the latest (final) build of 5.3 -
> rather than taking it all the way up to 5.4?

Edit /etc/yum.conf and find this lines:

## start-yum-gui
exclude=
## stop-yum-gui

Change it to this:

## start-yum-gui
exclude=kernel kernel-PAE kernel-ent kernel-headers
## stop-yum-gui

Save the changes and you're good to go.

It will make sure that YUM will not upgrade your kernel (or the kernel-
headers). You can safely upgrade to CentOS-5.4 and still use the CentOS-5.3 
kernel until you figured out if the new kernel works to your expectations 
under VMware.

However, you should be aware that the kernel is a critical component and that 
CentOS recently fixed a few important security holes. If you're far behind on 
kernel updates you're exposing your server(s) to risks.

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber