Linode Forum

sblantipodi · Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 450 Location: Italy

Hi,
what kernel do you use on your centOS 5.3?

What is the difference between PV-grub and linode's kernel?
If I select the PV-grub my linode will boot the kernel in grub.conf that I installed manually?

Don't you think that a private grub is the best way to manage our linode?
With yum we can simply update the kernel and boot it. Is this right?

Stever · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Posts: 337 Location: NC, USA

sblantipodi wrote: Don't you think that a private grub is the best way to manage our linode?
AFAIK you will get no support from linode if your pv-grub kernel does anything wrong, so unless you have a good reason I would recommend you stick with linode's kernel.

sblantipodi · Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 450 Location: Italy

Stever wrote: sblantipodi wrote: Don't you think that a private grub is the best way to manage our linode?
AFAIK you will get no support from linode if your pv-grub kernel does anything wrong, so unless you have a good reason I would recommend you stick with linode's kernel.

Ok, latest stable linode's kernel is 2.6.18.8, don't you think that this is quite old ?

sweh · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 561

I'm using 2.6.29-linode18 and it's been OK *fingers crossed*. Previous kernels have crashed and died on me.

sblantipodi · Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 450 Location: Italy

sweh wrote: I'm using 2.6.29-linode18 and it's been OK *fingers crossed*. Previous kernels have crashed and died on me.

I'm running 2.6.18.8 for one month without problem.
Do you think that I should update to a new kernel?

db3l · Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 556

sblantipodi wrote: Ok, latest stable linode's kernel is 2.6.18.8, don't you think that this is quite old ?
I don't know - when it comes to kernels for production systems I sort of prefer a properly "aged" version, like a fine wine, unless I'm in need of a specific feature or fix recently released. Otherwise, I'm much more focused on the applications on my system and would rather not worry about the kernel.

Of course, if you specifically want a very recent kernel you can pick up to 2.6.29 (from March) as an option for your Linode - it just isn't selected if you have the "latest" choice selected.

But for production systems, I'm not sure I'd rush to the latest kernel (even if from the kernel's stable tree). There's always a small chance you'll pick up a new bug along with new features, so if your system is currently operating properly, why bother.

-- David

sblantipodi · Joined: 13 May 2009 Posts: 450 Location: Italy

db3l wrote: sblantipodi wrote: Ok, latest stable linode's kernel is 2.6.18.8, don't you think that this is quite old ?
I don't know - when it comes to kernels for production systems I sort of prefer a properly "aged" version, like a fine wine, unless I'm in need of a specific feature or fix recently released. Otherwise, I'm much more focused on the applications on my system and would rather not worry about the kernel.

Of course, if you specifically want a very recent kernel you can pick up to 2.6.29 (from March) as an option for your Linode - it just isn't selected if you have the "latest" choice selected.

But for production systems, I'm not sure I'd rush to the latest kernel (even if from the kernel's stable tree). There's always a small chance you'll pick up a new bug along with new features, so if your system is currently operating properly, why bother.

-- David

ok :)

Best kernel for CentOS 5.3... PV-grub or linode one?