[plug] updating Debian kernel

[Tomasz Grzegurzko]

Jon Miller wrote:
> I need to do a kernel update on our Debian server from 2.4.26 to 2.6.11 or better.  When I did a apt-cache search kernel-image 2 of the images I got was:
> kernel-image-2.6-686 - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4.
> kernel-image-2.6-686-smp - Linux kernel image for version 2.6 on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP.
> The server has a P4  in it, from what I remember there is a feature in the BIOS that can turn on or off the Hyperthreading and with it on it's possible (correct me if I'm wrong here)  to run the system with the kernel-image-2.6-686-smp image.
> 1) is this correct
> 2) are there really any benefits to running this as a gateway server? or should I just stay with the kernel-image-2.6-686?
If you want to utilise the SMT (hyperthreading) feature of your CPU, you 
  should run an SMP kernel. I would leave the feature on; hey, thats why 
you buy a newer, faster, better CPU isn't it to get more out of it? =)
> 
> The current kernel is Linux mei 2.4.26 #9 Fri Sep 17 09:13:49 WST 2004 i686 unknown.
> 
> The only reason I have to do this is due to we are running a software (MyNetfone) a software VOIP product on the users desktop and we cannot get the voice to come back through and this was due to not having sip_conntrack as a module loaded or available.  It seems it is only available in a >= 2.6.11 kernel.
> 
> One more question, before I attempt to do this, I want to make a mirror image of the drive.  What is the best way of doing this?

You could tar up the drive, use an imaging tool (like g4u), or just 
install both kernels so you can always flip back if things go pear shaped!

> 
> Thanks
> 
> 
> Jon L. Miller,  ASE, CNS, CLS, MCNE, CCNA

Tomasz