Proxmox VE Kernel

Introduction

Proxmox VE supports currently three kernel branches, each one with minor feature differences. Beginning with 1.9 the 2.6.32 is the default and highly recommended branch. (Proxmox VE 0.9 beta till Proxmox 1.4 used 2.6.24, Proxmox 1.5 used 2.6.18).

A Proxmox VE cluster master can manage a mixed kernel setup. For example, you can run two nodes with 2.6.18 and two nodes with 2.6.32 and also nodes with 2.6.35. Depending on the features, some migrations are only possible between identical kernels.

For correctly effecting a kernel change, it may be necessary to edit the /etc/fstab file for the /boot mount.

Kernel 2.6.18

• Old Stable OpenVZ
• Old Stable KVM

How to install 2.6.18

aptitude update
aptitude safe-upgrade
aptitude install proxmox-ve-2.6.18

To make sure that you boot into the new kernel, check /boot/grub/menu.lst. Now reboot and check if the system is running the right kernel.

proxmox-ve-2.6.18:~# pveversion -v

pve-manager: 1.9-24 (pve-manager/1.9/6542)
running kernel: 2.6.18-6-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.18: 1.8-15
pve-kernel-2.6.18-6-pve: 2.6.18-15
qemu-server: 1.1-32
pve-firmware: 1.0-13
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-19
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.28-1pve5
vzdump: 1.2-15
vzprocps: 2.0.11-2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm-2.6.18: 0.9.1-15

Kernel 2.6.24 (outdated)

Note: not compatible to the latest vzctl 3.0.26 (missing vzeventd), => you need to switch to a newer branch

• OpenVZ
• KVM

How to install 2.6.24

aptitude update
aptitude safe-upgrade
aptitude install proxmox-ve-2.6.24

To make sure that you boot into the new kernel, check /boot/grub/menu.lst. Now reboot and check if the system is running the right kernel.

Kernel 2.6.32 (recommended)

• Latest KVM (with KSM)
• Stable OpenVZ
• based on RHEL6x
• Default Kernel branch since Proxmox VE 1.6

How to install 2.6.32

aptitude update
aptitude safe-upgrade
aptitude install proxmox-ve-2.6.32

To make sure that you boot into the new kernel, check /boot/grub/menu.lst. Now reboot and check if the system is running the right kernel.

proxmox-ve-2.6.32:~# pveversion -v

pve-manager: 1.9-26 (pve-manager/1.9/6567)
running kernel: 2.6.32-6-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.32: 1.9-50
pve-kernel-2.6.32-6-pve: 2.6.32-50
qemu-server: 1.1-32
pve-firmware: 1.0-14
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-19
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.29-3pve1
vzdump: 1.2-16
vzprocps: 2.0.11-2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm: 0.15.0-1
ksm-control-daemon: 1.0-6

proxmox-ve-2.6.32:~# uname -a
Linux proxmox-5-17 2.6.32-6-pve #1 SMP Fri Nov 4 06:54:05 CET 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Kernel 2.6.35

• Latest KVM
• No OpenVZ

How to install 2.6.35

The 2.6.35 was introduced to support KSM. As KSM works now also with the default 2.6.32, this kernel branch will get no more updates, all users should switch to 2.6.32.

aptitude update
aptitude safe-upgrade
aptitude install proxmox-ve-2.6.35

To make sure that you boot into the new kernel, check /boot/grub/menu.lst. Now reboot and check if the system is running the right kernel.

proxmox-ve-2.6.35:~# pveversion -v

pve-manager: 1.9-24 (pve-manager/1.9/6542)
running kernel: 2.6.35-1-pve
proxmox-ve-2.6.35: 1.8-13
pve-kernel-2.6.35-2-pve: 2.6.35-13
qemu-server: 1.1-32
pve-firmware: 1.0-13
libpve-storage-perl: 1.0-19
vncterm: 0.9-2
vzctl: 3.0.28-1pve5
vzdump: 1.2-15
vzprocps: 2.0.11-2
vzquota: 3.0.11-1
pve-qemu-kvm: 0.15.0-1
ksm-control-daemon: 1.0-6