Should I update the kernel on a Linux machine?
- by Legate
As I understand it, updating to a new kernel (with the normal linux-image... package, not by rolling my own) requires a server restart.
However, one of our servers (Ubuntu 10.04) is running several extensive screen sessions. Restarting kills those which is always a major hassle to their owners (mostly because of lost session histories).
What should I do? I see several possibilites:
Not doing anything, that is update only non-kernel packages (perhaps use apt-pinning?)
Update the kernel, but not restart. (Is that smart? I seem to remember there might be some problems with loading kernel modules.)
Updating the kernel and restarting.
Is there perhaps some way to preserve the screen sessions?
I guess it ultimately boils down to this question:
How important is it to update the kernel?
I posted this question here instead of askubuntu.com as I think this is not an Ubuntu-specific issue though this server is running Ubuntu.
