Does the kernel update automatically?

Question

I noticed that cPanel & WHM updates rpm packages every night. Why is my kernel outdated?

Answer

By default, each night, WHM updates your system software but does not update the kernel. This is left for your systems administrator to update manually. This can be done on the command line with this command:

yum update kernel

If you want cPanel & WHM also to update the system kernel, there is a tweak setting that you can enable.

Navigate to WHM »Server Configuration »Tweak Settings. In the System tab, set the setting, "Enable Linux kernel update during nightly maintenance." to On. If you select On, WHM will update the kernel. When you log in, WHM will notify you that your system requires a reboot.