Xen Kernel question

[barrios01]

I am puzzled. I have a Red Hat rel 5 with /lib/modules/2.6.18-53.1.4.el5xen/build/include. I was trying to install anti virus and it won't install due to the xen kernel that we have in the server. I am not sure what the purpose of having the xen kernel. The question is I guess is do we really need it. We only use the server for a Samba share and backup of all documents.


Do we need to set it up in this matter? or do we get a choice whether we can uninstall the xen kernel?

Sorry if I don't know certain details as to why it was done this way. I came aboard after the fact.

[Rubberman]

You only need the xen kernel if you are using xen for virtual machine management. A lot of drivers and other add-on kernel modules don't work with xen. I removed it from my CentOS 5 system and am using VirtualBox for virtual machines instead as it doesn't require the xen kernel.

In my case, I could not use the nVidia proprietary video drivers which I needed for running full motion video. Since it doesn't install with xen kernels, I got rid of xen. So far, after 18 months and 2 upgrades (from 5.1 to 5.3), I've had zero problems with the non-xen distribution.

[barrios01]

In order to remove the xen from the kernel I would have to use yum to download the kernel and install it; then use yum to remove it. right? Assuming that Red Hat uses yum instead of up2date.

Thank you for your help

[Rubberman]

Yes. RHEL and CentOS use yum for package management. Install the standard kernel(s), and optionally remove the xen kernel(s). Then reboot. Your grub menu should show the non-xen kernel(s). Be default, yum will keep up to 3 of each type so if you have a problem with the new kernel, you can revert to the old (working) one without much ado.