36.4. Performing the Upgrade

After retrieving all of the necessary packages, it is time to upgrade the existing kernel. At a shell prompt, as root, change to the directory that contains the kernel RPM packages and follow these steps.

Use the -i argument with the rpm command to keep the old kernel. Do not use the -U option, since it overwrites the currently installed kernel, which creates boot loader problems. Issue the following command (the kernel version may vary):

 rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.9-5.EL.<arch>.rpm 

If the system is a multi-processor system, install the kernel-smp packages as well (the kernel version may vary):

 rpm -ivh kernel-smp-2.6.9-5.EL.<arch>.rpm 

If the system is i686-based and contains more than 4 GB of RAM, install the kernel-hugemem package built for the i686 architecture as well (the kernel version might vary):

 rpm -ivh kernel-hugemem-2.6.9-5.EL.i686.rpm 

The next step is to verify that the initial RAM disk image has been created. Refer to Section 36.5, “Verifying the Initial RAM Disk Image” for details.