As a container-based virtualization, OpenVZ uses the host’s operating system kernel. Thus, updating the kernel in OpenVZ is quite different than in normal virtualization methods. Updating the kernel inside a container in OpenVZ is not possible because the containers share the kernel of the host machine. So updating the kernel would generally involve:
1. Updating the kernel on the host machine.
2. Rebooting the host machine.
But, remember that doing this will affect all the containers (VPS) running on that host. Therefore, if you are an end-user using a VPS provided by OpenVZ, you most likely don’t have permission to update the kernel. You would need to contact your hosting provider to take care of this.
This means you need to have root access to your physical server in order to make these changes. If you do, here are the following steps you can follow:
1. First, SSH into your OpenVZ host node. 1. Then, install the OpenVZ kernel by running:
\`\`\`
sudo apt-get install linux-image-openvz-686
\`\`\` 1. Afterward, reboot your system using:
\`\`\`
sudo reboot
\`\`\` 1. Once after your system is back from a reboot, verify the kernel version using:
\`\`\`
uname -r
\`\`\` Remember to always take a backup of your data before making changes to the kernel or any other system files. Also, note that the procedure mentioned above applies to the Debian based system. The steps may vary depending on your Linux distribution.
2. Now, it’s recommended to update your server first before proceeding, to ensure you have all the latest and necessary packages.
\`\`\`
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
\`\`\`
1. Now, you can use ready kernel package which is provided in the OpenVZ repository. To do that, add OpenVZ repository to your system.
\`\`\`
cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/openvz-rhel6.list <
